Phantoms vs. Povidence Bruins 2-28-09: Third Period

Wow, this ref is something with all these penalties one after the ther. As Matsumoto was exiting the box, the ref skated by him whie the Phantoms were on a rush, and his arm was up for another delayed penalty. This time it's the Baby Bs who are guity, so the Phantoms are on the PECOOOO POWER PLAY. Let's ee if we can retake the lead for the third time.

YES! LOL, exactly at the moment I typed the punctuation on the previous sentence, Matsumoto punctuated the PP with a puck in the net. Assists from Maroon and Kukkonen, and HAPPY NEW YEAR, the Phantoms are ahead again. 3-2, Good Guys, and the SOG are even at 24-24.

Now, a note to Our Heroes. Please commit everything short of mayhem to protect this lead. My blood pressure can't take all the back-and-forth. ;)

Wheeee... Aubin tried to wrap the puck around the boards from the back of our net, only to send it right to a Bruin in the corner. Fortunately, we had two guys on him immediately to get te puck back. The end result ws that Giroux went on the attack,a nd at some point during the breakout th Bs ran afoul of the ref yet again. Giroux was able to skte all the way around the net untouched because the ref's arm was up. Eventually, play ws stopped and we went on the PP.

With one second left in our PP, Kane goes off for roughing. Blah. So it's our turn to kill a penalty.

We have hardly seen anything resembling 5 on 5 hockey in this period. Just sayin'.

NICE glove save by Aubin. :) Gotta love when a neetminder snares the puck out of the air emphatically. I would, however, like to see us clear the puck. This line has been out for over a minute and they need a change. Good... Curry, Kukkonen, Kalinski, and Raduns go off. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Bartulis, and Syvret come on to replace them.

Now everyone is back on the ice, but we still need a clear. Kane, Nodl, Giroux, take the puck up ice -- even better than a cear. :() DeSantis fires from the faceoff circle, but it's into traffic as the Bs collapse around their net.

When the Bruins tri to take it back to our end, there's a mishap along the boards at our point. It seems lke one of the Bruins (#21) fell into the boards awkwardly -- I didn't quite see if he got hung up with the ref or linesman and lost his balance, or what happened. But he made a nasty thud sound when he hit ti e boards, and the trainer had to come out had help him re-orient.

SOG are 27-27... Oh, bah humbug, no they aren't. Freaking Providence fired one shot that found nothing but net, tying the game and giving the Bruins one more shot on goal than we have. 8:08 is gone in the period. 3-3.

Ratchuk and Kalinski double-team a Bruin at our blue line, and Kalinskin takes the puck away from him. On the ensuing rush, Kalinski not only crashes the net, but somehwo in the traffic he winds up running over the goalie as well. No penalty on the play, and nobody was hurt worse than being a bit shaken up. Fortunately.

Nice, matumoto -- he took th epuck away from a Bruin and sent it up to Laliberte at the Providence point. We came oh-so-close to ptting it in, as evidenced by the loud OHHHHH from the fans at that end of the ice. And loud is the only way to describe it, as we have over 10,000 fans in the house tonight. Nice. :)

Heh, when Ratchuk and a Bruin collided in the corner to Aubin's left, Ratchuk made certain that when he went down the Bruin also fell to the ice.

Ah, with 6:47 left in the period, the Phantoms are returning to the PECOOOOO Power Play. So let's see what we can do with this one. Kane, Nodl, Giroux, Syvret, and Kukkonen are the first group out. No dice. 3/4 of the way through the penalty, out come Curry, Ratchuk, Laliberte, Matsumoto, and Maroon. But now the darn Bruins are clearing the puck before we can get set up. So the PP ends and the score remains 3-3.

Ha, Clackson just flattened a guy who was going after the loose puck that he also had targeted.

3:31 left. SOG Phantoms 34, Bruins 30. Score 3-3. Even strength. Phantoms on the rush with Giroux/Kane/Nodl/Curry/Syvret. That'w an interesting tweak to the D... As is Bartulis/Kukkonen, the D pair that came out to replace them. Looks like for whatever reason, we're going with the more experienced D in the final minutes of the frame. Curry/Syret are out again with Matsumoto's lne. And again, Bartulis/Kukkonen with kalinski, raduns, and Giroux. (Ratchuk and DeSantis, the two rookie D, are the ones who haven't been out for several shifts.
Forward groupings looked a little jumbled, too, given that the previous threesome gave way to Matsumoto, Nodl, Kane. Now Maroon, Laliberte, Giroux, Syvret, Curry, and we are going into OT.

SOG at the end of the third period: Phantoms 36, Bruins 30. In 60 seconds, we will go to a 4 on 4 OT session.

First up in the OT: Giroux, Kane, Bartulis, Kukkonen. We had a couple hairy-looking moments in front of our net, but nothing came of it. Next up, Matsumoto, Laliberte, Syvret, Curry.

We really do appear to have shortened our bench to four D. Nodl, Giroux, Bartulis, and Kukkonen are the next foursome. I am not happy with the amount if time we are spending in our end. NOdl was replaced by Kalinski, but the other three remained the same. Now there's a scrap in the faceoff circle to Aubin's left, for a moment it looked like only alinski was getting sent off. The fans booed heartily, until a Bruin ws pried out of the crowd and steered into the visiting sin bin. So the penalties are ONE minute during OT, so we will have a minute of 3 on 3. Interesting. Giroux, Syvret, and Kukkonen are out for us. Smart move -- at least one offensive D-man and the guy who I'd say is our best forward right now.

Gaaah, Giroux got the shot on goal, but the darn rebound went behind the Phantom who was charging in to collect any loose pucks. Heck.

Now it's Matsumoto, Kalinski, Bartulis, and Curry (the D pairs got a tad tweaked when we had that penalty.)

Oh, COME ON, ref, it's a freaking CONTACT sport. Bartulis goes off for a minute with 1:21 left. Providence calls a timeout. OK, guys. Giroux, Kukkonen, Syvret and ha, we got the puck out of the zone. It didn't go too far over the blue line though, so we are back to defending. Nice play by Giroux to break up a chance. Bruins hit the post, thank goodness, and now our guy is back. Whew. My freaking nerves with this 4-on-3 stuff. With 11 seconds left, the Phantoms call timeout. SOG are Phantoms 39, Bruins 34. And that is how the OT ends. We now go to the only thing I dislike more than the freaking new Delay of Game rules... A shootout. I FREAKING LOATHE SHOOTOUTS. ARGH GRRRR AACK!

OK, now that I've gotten THAT out of my system... In the AHL the shootouts go five rounds, and after that it goes to sudden death rounds if need be.

Maroon goes first. No.
Bruins: yes.
Matsumoto goes: YES.
Bruins: no. 1-1
Giroux: no
Bruins: yes
Laliberte: YES 2-2
Bruins: no
Syvret: no
Bruins: no

So it's 2-2 at the en if the first five rounds.
Matsumoto: no
Bruins: no
Maroon: no
Bruins: no
Giroux: YES
Bruins: no

Phantoms win the shootout 3-2 and the game 4-3.