Phantoms vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 3-11-09: Third Period

After Ross's line went of, we got a combo of Kalinski, Beaulieu, and Raduns. So I'm wondering if there is just a small bit of weaking going on out there. We'll have to see. Matsumoto's and Ross's lines were not changed, so I'm thinking about the third snd fourth line combos and wondering what's up there.

Come to think of it, Gratton limped into the tunnel at the end of the second period. I'm not sure what was hurting him, but his gait was not normal. I am currently looking for him on the bench, and I'm not seing him there. I don't know what's amiss, but whatever it is, he appears to have been given the rest of the game off.

One person who IS in the bench area is Neil Little. :) I'm glad they haven't sent him off to Parts Unknown right about now. I'd love to see him sit with both our goalies and make sure that they're where they need to be regarding confidence and fundamentals.

Here we go again with another PP, which is nice. Come to think of it, during the first four minutes of the period, we spent the vast majority of it in the Pens' zone and we were at even strength at the time. So that bodes well for us... Certainly it bodes better than our results at even strength earlier in tonight's game.

The first PP lne out was Matsumoto's.

CRIKEY, our annoucner Keith Jones just got naled with a puck in the mouth/ :( :( :( He's exiting via the Phantoms tunnel with our trainer in tow. Ouch and double ouch. Mike Thornton is in our tunnel, talking on a walke-talkie to I Know Not Whom. I don't see anyone with the headset on just now -- OH! SCOOOORE, so we need to have someone figure out who is going to announce the Phantoms PP goal. Here goes Shawn Hill into the announcers box to take over Keith's duties. Geesh. I can't help but remember a Flyers game where one of our goal judges got injured, where the report in the next day's papers said it's important to have depth in the off-ice officials. Well, the same apparently holds true here. And the goal was by SYVRET from ROSS and KANE. And geesh but I hope Keith's not too badly banged up.

We are still tilting the ice in the Pens' direction, even when we are at 5 on 5. I'm very pleased with that and SCOOOOOORE, Laliberte in the slot SLAMS one home! ALl-freaking-RIGHT! 6-4 and 3 minutes and change left in the period. COME ON, PHANTOMS! Assists from Maroooooon and Matsumoto.

Don't look now, but with 12:33 remaining in the period, The Penguins just got their first shot on goal in the frame. It took until a delayed penalty against us for them to get a puck on net.

PK time. Guenin blocked a shot. Syvret, Kane, nd Ross are also out there. Kane clears it halfway to New Jersey. We had a few more back-and-forth exchanges, including a nice Sh rush from Kalinski who evaded several attempts by Pens to steal the puck from him. However, we had one instance where Aubin was cheating a bit and when he made a leg save and was down on the ice, there was too much space between him and the far post. Our D and the Pens' O duelled for the puck, but the end result was a Wilkes-Barre goal. 7-4 Bad Guys.

Oh, what in the flying blazes is this now? I see Guenin and Matsumoto in the box with minors. At 10:36, it appears that this nitwit ref is about to put us on the PK for a full two-minute 5-on-3. Both get two minutes for slashing. It's about time for us to get the Chicken Dance song. HA HA HA HA, and just as I tuype it, the music guy plays it. LMHO... (For those who haven't seen this, at Phantoms games, the crowd chants, "Hey, Ref! You S*ck!" at the point of the song where the four claps take pace.)

NICE stop by Aubin. Kane, Syvret, and Kukkonen are out. Lasse follows up by blocking a shot. Good work. 50 seconds left on the PK, and we change forwards. Kalinski comes out. The D stay on the ice. I'm a little surprised by that.

15 seconds left in the PK... A rebound from a far-side shot comes out on the near side, and the waitng Pen has the entre net to aim at. 8-4 Pens. We have dug ourselves quite a hole in this game, and for the most part we have ony ourselves to blame, but we can thank the freaking ref for that goal-against. Blankety-blank-blank-blank.

This zebra just has no intention of letting play go at even strength for more than a few moments at a time. Raduns gets called for hooking immediately after the goal. More fargin' PK. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Guenin, and Bartulis are out. Ross, Kane, Kukkonen, and Syvret are next. Kukkonen starts rushing the puck shorthanded, resuting in an offensive-zone draw for us with 34 seconds of PK time left. Guenin comes out and Kukonen goes off. Kalinski and Beaulieu are also out. Syvret stays on. (What the heck is up with the D moves in this game tonight -- there are some non-changes that puzzle me.)

In any event, ow we are at even strengt, don't tell the ref or he'll call something on someone, and we are, again, hemming the Pens in. I wish we had done this earier in the game... We wouldn't be trailing quite this badly now.

Whoops, the ref saw 5 on 5 and decided the ice was too crowded, so he's giving the Phantoms a PP. Curry, Ratdhuk, Ross Kane SIrianni are out and we don;'t take long to cash in the PP goal. 11 seconds into the powerplay, Kane buries a shot, courtesy of Curry and Ross. 8-5 Penguins and there's just under 3 minutes remaining.

Raduns saved us from another goal-against, as the puck went off to the opposite side from the one Aubin was guarding. His quick stickwork prevented a Penguin's shot into a wide open goal. Still 8-5 Bad Guys. 1:30 remains in the period. SOG are Pens 36, Phantoms 22.

There goes the final horn. The Pens win 8-5. SOG at the end of the game: Penguins 37, Phantoms 23. Boyd Kane was the third star of the game.