Phantoms vs. Norfolk Admirals 3-4-09: First Period

Scratches: DeSantis, Klotz, Beaulieu, Bellamy
Starters: Munroe, Guenin, Syvret, Kane, Nodl, Ross

Gratton warmed up with the team. Ross and Guenin have been returned from the Flyers, and Claude Giroux was recalled to the Flyers.

I darn near had a heart faiure earlier when the name of Patrick Maroon was mistakenly announced as a scratch. He's been en fuego lately, as has his entire line (including Matsumoto and Laliberte), so if there's one thing I *don't* want to see, it's a hot scorer get sidelined.

Next D pair: Bartulis/Kukkonen. Next line: Kalinski, Raduns, Gratton.

Former Phantom Steve Downie is suspended by the league pending review of an incident that happened over the weekend. He could be goine for as many as 20 games, meaning that he would not suit up again for Norfolk until their final game of the season.

Crumbs. Norfolk's first shot on goal clanged off the post and in. Shoot, but I hate playing catchup early. Well, we've done a lot of come-from-behind play this season, so we know we can do it.

Next line: Szwez, Sirianni, Clackson. Third D pair: Ratchuk/Curry. And the line I haven't mentioned yet is Matsumoto/Laliberte/Maroon.

SCOOOORE! Kane goes hard to the net and fires home Ross's pass! Nodl gets the secondary assist. 1-1. Nice work!

With 13:11 left, the score is 1-1 and the SOG are even at 5-5. The Phantoms are about to go on the PECOOOO Power Play. First PP unit is Ross, Kane, Nodl, Syvret, Kukkonen. SCORE with about half a minute left in the PP -- Laliberte from Maroon and Matsumoto! (Did I mention their line's on fire lately?) 2-1, Good Guys. SOG Phantoms 7, Admirals 5.

And instants later, we get a PK of our own, as Gratton goes for hookng. First PK unit: Kalinski, Raduns, Syvret, Guenin. Norfolk's number 9 took a bad spill... I didn't see what happened, but as we were sending the puck down to the other end, I saw him on the ice just outside the Norfolk blue line. He limped off favoring one leg pretty heavily. Owie.

We're still on the PK, and now we have Matsumoto/Laliberte with Kukkonen and Bartulis. There we go -- PK done. No SOG were allowed by either team. Gratton headed to the bench and Maroon came out to replace him.

A shift later, it's Maroon still out with Clackson and Sirianni, and these guys are buzzing in the Norfolk end. Curry and Ratchuk are on D, and Ratchuk made a nice defensie play to keep Norfolk from getting into our zone.

(Yo, ref, that's called tripping! Mumble grumble mumble...)

Whoa, nice glove save by Riku Helenius. He flashed the leather and kept his team within a goal. (Dang. ;) )

But the faceoff is in his end, and we got another scoring chance before Norfolk managed to get the puck out of their zone.

NICE lateral movement by Munroe! From a butterfly split, he made one save on the glove side, then shifted over to the opposite post to stop another puck. Good work. B ut we need to not let Norfolk do the east-west thing too often. It's bad for the fans' blood pressure. Um, I mean it allows for dangerous scoring chances that we shoudn't give up.

Oh, NOW the ref calls tripping. On Kukkonen. PK time. Masumoto, Laliberte, Syvret, and Guenin are out. Norfolk's #9 is named Jones, and he is back out. If igured he would be OK if he was able to get off the ice under his own power a whie ago. Still, I'd like to implement a No Owies Allowed rule.

NICE stop through traffic for Scotty Munroe. Gotta love those goalie with X-ray vision. :D Raduns, Kalinski, Guenin, and Syvret are out. We ony have one second left on this PK, but we're spending it taking a defensive zone draw. Good. We win, and away we go. Danger averted.

At the end of the first period, the Phantoms lead 2-1. SOG are Phantoms 12, Admirals 15.