Phantoms at Bridgeport Sound Tigers: 2-13-09: Recap and Box Score

I wasn't at home to watch the game online, but after checking the Phantoms score online I see that we lost in Bridgeport on Friday, 4-1.

Here is the link to the game recap on the Phantoms site.

And here is the link to the AHL box score.

Without even having seen the game, I can tell from the box score when the contest turned in the Sound Tigers' favor. It was after this extended penalty kill, which would have included a full two-minute two-man disadvantage for the Phantoms if Bridgeport hadn't scored:

2 - PHI Clackson, 2:23 - Unsportsmanlike conduct , 2 min (PP)
2 - PHI Clackson, 2:23 - Tripping , 2 min (PP)
2 - PHI Kane, 2:23 - Unsportsmanlike conduct , 2 min (PP)

I took one look at that and thought, "WHAT is the matter with this referee? *TWO* simultaneous unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties? What the heck official in his right mind calls this combination of penalties?" I can only imagine the ways I'd have ranted from one end of the Internet to the other if I'd been watching the cybercast when this went on. And that goes double for the fact that we did, in fact, give up two PP goals during that time frame. Those goals were what made the difference, as they turned a 1-0 Bridgeport lead into a 3-0 lead. Without those two goals, we'd have been down 1-0 in the third, our one third-period goal would have tied the score, and we'd never have given up that empty-net tally near the end of the game.

All we can do is rebound from this, learn to talk under our breath when the referee makes brutal calls instead of chewing his ear off, and go kick some Senator butt in Binghamton on Saturday night.