Phantoms vs. Bears 11-21-08: Second Period

OK, that's frustrating. We're now down another goal, less than two minutes into the period. We're spending too much time in front of our own net again, or at least not enough time set up at Hershey's end. (This goal was assisted by Hershey's goalie; it was on their breakout rather than as the resut of a sustained play at our end.) Right away, we had a fight break out between Josh Beaulieu and his former teammate, Darren Reid. That's Beau's first fight of the season.

This is a shame -- Scotty seems to be fighting the puck tonight. He made one save that came off his pad while he was in the butterfly, and ricocheted off the back boards right back in front of our net. We were fortunate to avoid getting scored on that time, but not so lucky a few minutes later. 4-1 Hershey. I hasten to add that Scott's not the only embattled Phantom on the ice... we're ALL getting off our game in a major way. So much so, Clackson just took a retaliation penalty for roughing and we are now shorthanded. Giroux and Ross made the best of it, though, generating a rush and giving us a real opportunity to score. Boy, do they work well together. At least one thing's going right tonight, anyway -- two guys that haven't spent a lot of time as teammates this season, due to Ross's mutiple callups, are showing some nice chemistry

Scott is leaving some dangerous rebounds out there. This is uncharacteristic, and with any luck he'll make the adjustment to avoid letting that happen before the game is out.

Now it's the Phantoms' turn to go on the man advantage. We can't seen to get set up; somehow, a Bear keeps ending up with the darn puck and they either clear it or skate it past the blue line. Ah, THAT'S more like it -- we did get our rears in gear on that shift and Varlamov had to be sharp.

Back at even strength... With 10:21 left in the period, the SOG are Phantoms 19, Hershey 21.

Bellamy is welcomed back into our lineup with a penalty. We're shorthanded with nine and a half minutes left in the period.

We're about to go on a 4-on-3 for 47 seconds, followed by a 5-on-3 for the rest of the next two minutes; TWO Bears took penalties simultaneously.

YESSSS! Wth 1:11 left in the 5-on-3, we made it a 5-on-4 and scored another PP goal. NICE. Claude Giroux did the honors, assisted by Syvret. NICE. OK, we have another minute with the man advantage, so it's time to pour it on. Donati, Laliberte, Matsumoto, Curry, and Ratchuk are out.

OH OH OH Szwez came INCHES from putting another goal in. Darn, it, I seriously thought that puck was as good as in. GAAH. On the other hand, we are about to get yet another PP, so maybe we can bury this one instead. This was the result of our being able to stay n the Hershey end and apply pressure even after they had all their men back. Now it's Maroon's turn to get a very-near-miss. We wound up with Ross in the Hershey net, but not the puck. Shoot.

We still have 42 seconds of PP time, so there's still a chance. Matsumoto ensured an offensive-zone draw with a big blast that Varlamov had to hang onto for a whistle. LaLiberte was next on the nearly-scored list, having taken a screened shot that Varlamov only saw at the last instant. If his glove hadn't already been up, he'd never have deflected it in time.

OK, back at even strength. Hershey got themselves camped out in front of Munroe again, long enough to draw a delayed penalty. During the time that they had the extra skater on the ice, Hershey scored again. Now it's 5-2 with less than two minutes left in the period.

With 36.4 left in the period, we go on the PK again, with Curry in the box.

At the end of the period, Aubin carried his mask going up the tunnel. I suspect we will see him lead the team onto the ice to start the third period, but we shall see. SOG: Phantoms 25, Bears 24.