Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats 1-18-09: First Period

Scratches: Zarb, Guenin, Raduns, Ryan, Kane, Hersley, Szwez
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Briere, Ross, Giroux

Conspicuous by his absence in the scratches: Aubin. Actually, ditto for Teslak. Giroux has returned to our ineup, which is great for us. That's even more true thanks to the injury to Szwez (thanks to the Bears' Quentin freakin' Laing last night).

Aubin wll back up Munroe tonight. The players have just come out from the tunnel.

Early on, we had one scary moment where an Albany shot hit ur post and trickled across the crease. We were fortunate enough to get the disk out of harm's way before it coud be deflected by accident or design across the goal line.

Our first PP of the game followed a few minutes after this episode. We have a four-forward unit of Syvret, Ross, Briere, Giroux, and Briere on the ice. We didn't cash in the PP opportunity.

With 10:31 remaining in the period, Albany finally broke their extremely long shutout streak vs. Munroe. I'm sure the Phantoms' site will offer the final stats, when all is said and done. The Phantoms trail 1-0. We also trail on the shot clock 8-1. Well, we knew the streak couldn't last forever. Nice work, Muny, in keeping it going for multiple games, going back to the longest game in AHL playoff history last spring.

We just had another hairy moment in our end, where there was a goalmouth scramble to Munroe's right. To the left, standing by a wide-open net, was an unattended River Rat. The puck came out of the scramble and headed in the general direction of said Rat, but we lucked out and it was not within reach of his stick. Had he been able to reach the biscuit, he would have had the entre net to shoot at from the angle where he was.

We have another PP now, so let's see if we can make more effective work of this opportunity than we did of the previous one. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Nodl, Ratchuk, and Curry are out to start. We are trailing on the shot clock 11-2 as the PP begins. Now our second unt is out, and it's the same four-forward grouping we tried earlier. Albany clears the puck. Munroe sets it up for a defender to retrieve. Nope, no dce, we got no SOG during this PP either. But the ref's arm is up, so I suspect we are about to see what our PK units look like for the night.

Yep, Clackson goes for cross-cheking. Ur first PP unit is Matsumoto, Nodl, Syvret, and Parent. Matsumoto blocked a shot with his stick -- it broke his stick, but it took the vast majority of the momentum off the puck, leaving it sitting in the slot to be retrieved. He was about to go on a line change anyway, so he made sure the stick blade detached the rest of the way before leaving the ice. Next out, Nodl/Giroux with Syvret and Parent. Parent made a nice clearing attempt that did everything BUT cross the line (argh). But the penalty is over, and we're still standing, so all is well.

Clackson, Sirianni, Maroon, Curry, and Ratchuk are our guys on the ice following the PK. I found out earlier today that Dirianni was named to the ECHL's ALl-Star roster, but if he remains with us, he will miss the game. Personally, I really like Sirianni and I hope we keep him here even after our banged-up forwards are healthy again.

Speaking of him, there he goes to the sin bin. Briere, Ross, Parent, and Syvret are out to kill the penalty. We have less time remaining in the period than there is time on the penalty, so we stand a chance of starting the second period shorthanded. Next up: Giroux. Matsumoto, Bartulis, Curry. One minute left in the period.

The period is over. The score is Abany 1, Phantoms 0, and the River Rats lead on the shot clock, 14-2. Needless to say, we will have to get more pucks than THAT on net if we plan to score any goals.