Phantoms at Norfolk, First Period

Munroe is in goal to start, which is unsurprising, given his performance in the previous game. If a goalie doesn't earn a second consecutive start after a shutout, when DOES he deserve one? ;) I'm glad to see that good work is being rewarded.

Ross is in our lineup. I can see him on the ice with Boyd Kane on a penalty kill.

Jamie Heward is in Norfolk's lineup. I always liked him when he was here. I still don't know why the Flyers never called him up, even once, during his year here. I guess an All-Star performance and being named the AHL's top defenseman, as well as helping the team earn a Calder Cup, wasn't enough to impress The Powers That Be back then. But I digress.

We're on a PP now, and we have one man high in the slot, and OH did we just come close to scoring. Giroux got freaking STONED, but we did draw another penalty in the process. Maroon, Ross, and Downie are out on a 5-on-3 PP. That's a combination I like the sound of.

We have 15:10 left in the first period, and nearly the entire time so far we have played on special teams one way or the other. Ryan Fraser is the ref, and I haven't seen him call a game with this many infractions in a while. I'm surprised.

As the first period has progressed, I have liked the chances we've been creating. If we keep this up throughout the game, we're definitely gong to put pucks into the net before the game's over. It's a little surprising to me that the shot clock only reads 2 shots for us, as opposed to 4 for Norfolk, given the number of times we've set up and it's looked like we have had a shot as far as my internet connection is concerned.

We're back on the PP yet again. OH, and we ring it off the darn post! So close. GIROUX, however, scores by deflecting it off a Norfolk skate! Nice work. The goal is credited to Giroux, with assists from Downie and Ratchuk.

Good grief, Kalinski got levelled from behind in the slot, on a late hit, and isn't getting up. Clackson immediately got into a scrum with Henley, and our other three skaters all got into a shoving match also. I saw Bartulis and Matsumoto on the screen, but couldn't see who our other guy was. Surprisingly, the only penalties were matching roughing minors to Clackson and Henley. On the replay, the hit from behind took place just off-camera, but Kalinski's helmet came sailing into camera view just before the camera panned back to show him in a heap on the ice.

He's staying in the game, which is good. And I suspect Clackson has taken the name and number of the guy who hit him -- presumably Henley, since that's the guy Clackson made a beeline for.

Kane just got Ramo to give up a huge rebound, but unfortunately an Admiral was right there to scoop it out of harm's way. That's another thing that we could turn to our advantage, however -- if we are ready for rebounds and loose pucks, we could cash them in.

Yep, right out of the sin bin, Clackson and Henley are going to fight. Unsurprising, given that they have some unfinished business from their previous encounter. Clackson gives up a noticeable amount of size to Henley, who proceeded to grab on and send Clackson to the ice. No punches were thrown, really -- seems like Henley wrestled with Clackson to make the latter lose his footing, and they both went TIMBERRRR. Interestingly, even though Henley landed on top, Clackson managed to flip them over so he was atop the dogpile before the linesmen came in to adjourn the proceedings.

Kalinski is on the ice again. Good. He's taken some lumps in this period, between being boarded early on and then getting brained by Henley later on.

At the end of the first period, the Phantoms lead 1-0. The Phantoms also lead by one on the shot clock, with 9 shots to the Admirals' 8.