Phantoms vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-20-09: Second Period

Wow -- we just had a LONG sequence without a break in play, and I think that Matsumoto was out for nearly all of it. He was on for at least two full shifts, including a stint with Kane nd SIrianni, and another with Beaulieu and Clackson. But what was impressive was at the end, he didn't look like he was about to keel over. Impressive conditioning. :)

The Phantoms have spent a mintue on the PP, and we are about to go on a 5 on 3 advantage. We HAVE to tie this game on this. I never in my leife heard of "throwing the stick" as a penalty beore, but evidently it's in the rulebook, as we just saw a Penguin go to the sin bin for it.
Our first mnute on PP didn't include a goal, but we stil have another minute of 5 on 4. We need to start shooting more and passing a it less, though. Nope, no dice. Even strength again... No PP goal this time.

Kane just came this-close to putting Pesonen over the boards into the Phantoms bench. NICE hit.

I can't believe that with 9:30 left in the period, we have only had three shots on goal. SOG are Phantoms 10, Penguins 17.

But as I was typing that, a Penguin took a penalty in the Phantoms' end. For crying out loud... And six seconds into the PP, Sirinni gets called for interference. So we are at 4 on 4.

Kand went right through Pesonen in our end in the faceoff circle. That's at least two solid hits he's dished out on Pesonen in this period so far. Heck, if it keeps that thorn in our side off the scoreboard for the rest of the game, let Kane keep it up.

Satan just hooked down Matsumoto, who still managed to dump the puck deep into the Pens' end while he was falling to the ice. Satan tried to plead his case to the referee, but away he goes. We have a 4 on 3 advantage for the eime being. Then we will have six seconds of 4 on 4 when this is done, and the rest of the penalty willb e a regular 5 on 4 PP for us. Ross, Kane, Kukkonen, and Curry-the-Dman are out. Ross blastee a shot through traffic. I don't know how Curry-the-goalie saw it, but he froze it. Faceoff: we have the same players oht. Kukkonen snot a bomb from center of the blueline. Again, Curry-the-goalie froze it. This time, we are changing ines. Matsumoto, Nod, and Maroon are with Ratchuk and DeSantis.

Apparently, the Pens have decided that this is Maul Jonl Matsumoto night. Taffe just tackled him in the neutral zone, but the ref missed it. That's OK, Guenin got away with an elbow to Bissonnette's chin about a minute later. Even Steven. ;)

With 3:21 left in the period, SOG are Phantoms 17, Penguins 21.

AGAIN there is a scrum in that one corner that's impossible to see from this seat. These guys need to start having their ten-skater conferences on other parts of the ice surface. ;) The only Phantom to get relegated to the sin bin is Clackson, along with #22 from the Penguins. We will be at 4 on 4, and there is 2:16 left in the period.

Engellund was mauling the daylights out of Matsumoto, cross-checking him while he was down on the ice. Banfield called it, and apparently he also decided to add an extra two for unsportsmanlike conduct. However, SECONDS later, Kukkonen got called for two for holding, so any PP we will have will take place in the next period. We are at 3 on 3 right now. Ross, Guenin, and Bartulis are our three guys who are out.

For most of the rest of the period, we had a lot of activity where guys from both teams looked like they were playing "hot potato" with the puck. We couldn't clear the darned thing, but the Pens couldn't get enough control of iti to do anything constructive.

Then we returned to 4 on 4, and things got very colorful, very fast. Lovejoy fell in our zone, allowing us to break out with the puck. Matsumoto get sent sprawling, Clackson stationed himself at the right post but didn't get passed the puck in time to deflect it home, as the period ended. In the midst of all this, Lovejoy got called for interference at the end of the period.

So at the end of the second period, the Penguins still ead 1-0. The Phantoms have 9 seconds of penalty time remaining. The Pens have two penalties remaining, one of which has 2:02 left on it, and the other of which has a full 2 minutes to go. So we are set to have a long 5-on-3 stint available to us in the coming period. Sog are Phantoms 17, Penguins 23.