Phantoms at Hershey 11-15-08: Second Period

Though we didn't score on that minute of PP, we did score on a subsequent powerplay. Syvret, a former Bear, did the honors and got us on the board. Shortly thereafter, Jonathan Matsumoto was awarded a penaty shot, which he scored on, to the great delight of the Phantoms Phaithful who made the trip to Chocolate Town.

I'm sorry to say that the lead didn't last long, however, as we gave up a PP goal of our own not long afterward. The score stands at 2-2, and with 6:40 remaining in the period, the Bears have 16 SOG to our 15.

Aubin's making me nervous -- he just gave up a couple of huge rebounds. Fortunately, neither one had a Bear in position to take advantage of the opportunity. The trouble is, the same way the Phantoms got a LOT of spring in their step following Matsumoto's goal, onw it's the Bears who are playing with more energy. Getting stuck in our own end for long stretches of time never ends well.

Oh, but lo and behold. We did manage to take the play down in front of Varlamov for a spell, and drew a tripping penalty for our troubles. See, that's what comes of getting the opponent running around. :)

Oh, rats, and here come the Bears, shorthanded, with only Jason DeSantis back (and Syvret trying gamely to turn it into a 2-on-2). Aubin makes the save.

We're having a small break in the action as the ice crew removes a pane of glass in the corner behind Hershey's net. However, they are not replacing it with a new one -- they're reseating the original pane and affixing it back into position. I guess it was jarred loose without being damaged.

YES!!! We took our lead back with about 3 minutes remaining in the period. Matsumoto buries his second goal of the night. Beautiful!

Aubin followed this up by making a BEAUTIFUL east-west move to keep the puck out and preserve said lead. That Bear's going to be seeing that save in his sleep tonight -- he had the whole net to shoot at until Aubin made the lateral move.

My word, let's just say that this game does nothing to dispel my theory that AHL referees call the home team more tightly than the road team. Hershey just got a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, with 46.4 seconds remaining in the period. So the Phantoms are back on the PP at the end of this frame, as we were at the end of the first.

Now the Bears fans are chanting "Nigel s*cks!" as the intermission begins. LOL -- Philly fans get the rep, but even we don't spell out "BS" and chant objections to the ref specifically by name. ;).

In any event, on our way into the second intermission, the Bears have 18 SOG and the Phantoms have 19.