Phantoms vs. Providence Bruin s 2-28-09; First Period

Our scrtches are Klotz, Gratton, and Bellamy.

Ross is still called up, and Guenin was called up to join him today. Back with the Phantoms are Lasse Kukonen and Claude Giroux.
J-S Aubin gets the start tonight. Line combinations coul be interesting, as our starting lineup shows there's been some reordering of the forward groupings. Kalinski is centering Kane and Clackson. Syvret and DeSantis are the starting D.

Former Phantom Ned Lukacevic, who started the season on our team and was traded early on, is here with the P-Bruins.

Our second line is the usual Matsumoto/Laliberte/Maroon, with Bartulis and Kukkonen as the D pairl Ratchuk and Curry are the third D pair, with Nodl, GIroux, and ... Kane? That's interesting. He was with two different guys n the starting lineup.I guess we'll see who the regular winger is with Clackson/Kalinski later.

BTW, four seconds into the first shift, someone shoved at Clackson and there was a ten-skater conference over by the point in the Providence end. It never ceases to amaze me how cranky these teams are with one another, considering that we only see one another twice during the regular season. It's as if the ghost of the Flyers/Bruins rivalry lives on through the farm teams 30 years later.

SCORE! MAROOOOON with his 21st goal of the year, with assists from Laliberte and Matsumoto. NICE. 6:06 into the game, we take the lead. I like being ahead early.

But you know what I would have liked even better? STAYING ahead early. The dratted Bruins, and in particular the guy with the most interesting name in pro hockey, Wacey Rabbit, tied the game within two minutes. 1-1.

Oh, and Raduns is the winger who is with Clackson and Kalinski.

Nice defensive move by Matsumoto: Aubin made a save that sent the puck a good 15 feet straight up. As it fell, Matsumoto made sure to punch it out of harm's way so it wouldn't bounce into the net or onto the stick of a waiting Bruin at the edge of the crease.

With 10:40 left, SOG are Bruins 9, Phantoms 5. We h ave taken two shots on goal, at most, since we sored. And that's only because I'm not sure if the goal was our third or fourth shot on goal. We need to get something going in Providence's end, same as last night.

Matsumoto lugs the puck up ice, but he's got both defenders to contend with. Now it's Giroux coming on the ice to replace him, with Maroon crashing the net. Nope, no dice, though we did at least get the puck on net. In fact, we have more first period shots now (7) than we did in the entire first frame last nigt (5, and we stil have eight minutes and change remaining in the frame.

SCOOOORE! Clackson was at the crease's edge, and I think he distracted everyone enough that they never picked up the trailer. Kalnski swooped in and buried the puck. Assist to Sean Curry. We have 7:20 remaining in the period. SOG Providence 10, Phantoms 8.

Blast. And about two and a half minutes later, we have a HUGE scrum in front of our net. Curry's stick broke, and no matter how many Phantoms tried to interpose themselves between the puck and the twine, we let one too many rebounds fall into the danger zone. A Bruin was there to fire it home and tie the score again at 2-2.

With less than two minutes left in the period, Raduns goes to the box. Our first PK unit was Kane, Kalinski, Bartulis, and Kukkonen. Now it's Nodl, Giroux, Syvret, and Bartuls. There goes the end of the period. SOG Phantoms 11, Bruins 15. The score is 2-2, and the Phantoms will have 16 seconds of PK left when the second period begins.