Phantoms vs. Binghamton Senators, 3-21-09: First, Second, and Third Periods; OT; Shootout

I can't seem to get through to the available networks tonight, so I will post the entire blog file when I get home.

Nodl is still on the line with Matsumoto and Maroon, so Laliberte is still out of the lineup. Kalinski is on a line with Raduns and Szwez. The line of Ross, Kane, and Sirianni remains together from last night. Klotz is on a line, and is out on the ice, with Clackson and Beaulieu.

The D pairs are the same as last night. Guenin is with DeSantis, Kukkonen is with Bartulis, and Ratchuk is with Curry.

We just spent the first four and a half minutes of the game with no stoppage of play before the Sens went offside. The Phantoms have the only shot on goal.

OMG we lucked out -- the puck hit the post behind Scott Munroe and didn't deflect in off him. Even better, he was able to clear it away from the Senator waiting on the doorstep.

Bartulis made some nice defensive moves, including checking an attacker into our bench, to prevent Bingo from getting set up in our end.

The shots on goal, with 10 minutes left in the period, are Phantoms 3, Senators 6.

We get to go on the game's first PK, as Kalinski gets sent off immediately after a faceoff for hooking. The first unit is Kane, Ross, Kukkonen, and Guenin. Nice clear by Kane. Next up are Matsumoto, Nodl, Bartulis, Curry. Curry's stick broke in half just as we finished killing the penalty, but luckily we cleared the puck out and nothing bad came of it.

A nice little scrum at our half boards results in one Senator going to the sin bin for boarding. Time for the PECOOOOO POWER PLAAY. Matsumoto's line is the first one up.  'we finally got our first shot on goal since before the halfway mark of the period. Unfortunately, that turned out to be our only shot during the man advantage,

Nice save by Munroe and an even nicer clear of the rebound by Kukkonen.

Kalinski is getting sent off for holding with 3:04 remaining in the period. The first PK unit is Ross, Kane, Guenin, and Kukkonen, However, the first shot of the PK was a SH attempt by Ross, who got to the loose puck first and rushed up ice with it for all he was worth,

A Senator tried to do a wrap-around, but Munroe was ready for him and hugged the post. It was Bingo's 11th shot on goal.

At the end of the first period, the score is 0-0, and the SOG are Phantoms 5, Senators 11.
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RATCHUK with the end-to-end rush! Glass made the save, but the Senators took a hooking penalty. 21 seconds into the PP, we scored the game's first goal on a long shot that hit Glass's leg pad so hard, it bounced up and over and went into the net. Rob Sirianni scored, assisted by Ross and Kukkonen. I was surprised at how long it took to announce the goal. Maybe it was as hard to tell from the ice as it was from this angle who should get credit for the goal. In any event, 1-0, Good Guys. :)

Ratchuk was breaking in on the Bingo net with the puck. He and the Senator covering him fell. Somehow this translated into RATCHUK going to the box for tripping. :headdesk: :headdesk: :headdesk: Don't ask me what logic was behind THAT observation, but unfortunately the Sens tied the game on their PP. 1-1.

Guenin was already going to get a penalty, but the scrum at the stoppage in play ensured that more guys would go off. Guenin, Kane, and Yablonski of the Sens all went off for slashing.

This caused our first PK unit to consist of Ross and Raduns, instead of Ross and Kane.

NICE clear, Now we have Matsumoto and Kalinski as our PK unit. Banfield's arm is up again, this time for the Sens. With 17  seconds left in the PK, Bois of Bingo goes off.

Kukkonen turned the puck over, leading to a SH rush by Bingo, but the end result was a Senator in our net, the net against the  back boards, and a whistle stopping play.

With half a minute left on our PP, Munroe made a diving save on another SH attempt that led to the "Unbelievable" song being played. Dang, it's been a while since we've heard that one. This is 90s night, with music from that decade, but we still used to hear the song during games after a good save.

In any event, with seven minutes left in the period and the teams back at even strength, the SOG are Phantoms 13, Sens 19.

Sirianni gave us all a scare by slamming head first into the boards, and coming up holding his arm in a way that suggested an Upper Body Injury. He went up the tunnel with the trainer in tow, but to my surprise, they both came back out near the end of the period.

SOG at the end of the period: Phantoms 14, Sens 21.
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Sirianni is out for the faceoff to open the third period, which is an excellent sign.

Sean Curry just tried to put a Senator right through the boards. After the last couple of borderline-boarding hits from Bingo went uncalled, I was glad to see that Curry didn't get an infraction either.

We have a broken pane of glass over by the Bingo blue line. Accordingly, the song on the PA is "Walking on Broken Glass". :)

WHOA, Munroe got the puck *under* his pads while in a butterfly split. Needless to say, he froze until the whistle was blown, lest a wrong move inadvertently send the puck into the net.

With 8:51 remaining in the period, the score remains 1-1 and the SOG are Phantoms 15, Senators 28. In other words, we have only gotten one shot in this period so far.

Matsumoto slammed the Sens' number 16 into the boards hard enough to earn a glare from him, but then they both continued playing instead of getting into a scrum.

Clackson is out with Raduns and Kalinski, which is a tweak to that line. (Szwez is normally their other winger).

Guenin blocked a shot.

You know, I would have sworn we got a least one SOG a couple shifts ago, but we didn't get credit for it on the shot clock.

NICE save by Munroe. That was the Sens 29th shot (as opposed to our alleged total of 15).

There. NOW we finally got credit for the shot.

In the final minute, Matsumoto, Nodl, and Maroon are out with Curry and Bartulis, However, the Game will go into OT and each team will earn at least one point.

So the best we can gain on Bingo in the standings is one point tonight. However, we need that point, so I hope the hero is on our side of the scorecard tonight.

SOG at the end of the third period are Phantoms 16, Sens 31.

Bingo just took a one-minute OT penalty for Delay of Game. It's my un-favorite infration, but at least we benefit from it about as often as we get burnt by it, The Phantoms used their time out.

Ross, Kane, Kukkonen, and Sirianni are out (three forwards). for the 4 on 3 PP.

WOW, Bingo just rang one off our post as loudly as a clang from a fire alarm. Geesh, what a blast, but fortunately it stayed out.

Last minute of OT, and so far we have all the OT shots on goal. It won't count as a shot, but Bingo just clanged another puck off the iron,

SOG at the end of OT, Phantoms 22, Binghamton 31.

I FREAKING LOATHE SHOOTOUTS, but that's how we will determine who gets the bonus point.
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It took us into the sudden death portion of the shootout, but the Senators won the bonus point. So the point that we gained on them in the standings on Wednesday, we just lost again. Drat. We need these four-point-swing games.

We do have two more games vs. the Senators remaining, plus we still have three games in hand on them, So we are still mathematically capable of earning a playoff berth. Here's to postseason play, because we want to keep our team as long as possible.