At the start of the second period, an assist was added to the second Phantoms goal. Rob Sirianni is now credited with the secondary assist.
The description that I got, from someone who was watchng the game on TV, is that Klotz was hit with 2 or 3 rights and dropped, and may also have hit his head on the boards as he fell. I just hope that the precautions they took getting him off the ice were more of the "better safe than sorry" variety. Don't these boys know that they're not allowed to alarm us ike that? :( I hope he's OK.
So far in this period, there's been a lot of back-and-forth, but not many SOG to show for it. Five minutes into the period, both teams only have garnered two shots apiece.
Laliberte just nailed Crosty with a nice hit in the corner, to the Manchester goalie's left. THAT got the crowd applauding. :)
Maroon's parked in the tunnel, taking his skate off for some work, with 13:48 left. There appears to be a TV timeout, so that buys our equipment guys time to work on whatever they need to do. Oh, and there goes Matsumoto UP the tunnel while adjusting some of HIS gear. Dang, what's the deal with everybody's darn gear acting up at once? AT least Matsuoto and Maroon are on the same line, so Paddock won't have to get too crazy mixing and matching forwards for the next few minutes. Less than a minute's worth of game time later, Matsumoto is back on the bench and Maroon is putting his skate back on so all is well.
Crikey, now it's ROSS going up the tunnel for gear-related reasons. My gosh. It's the Revolt of the Inanimate Objects. Fortunately, he didn't need long to fix or adjust whatever caused the problem.
With 9:11 left in the period, Clackson just had a brief fight with Boyle. Dagnab, how tall IS Boyle? Clackson gave up a noticeable amount of height and reach in this bout. Once again, the sparring took place right in front of the Monarchs bench, so I saw preciious little of it. But both guys headed to the sin bin and they look relatively intact. Good. I like a good rumble as much as the next fan, but I could live without ever seeing another ambulance in a Zamboni tunnel, ever, anywhere, anytime.
It's been a relatively low penalty count in this game, but Manchester just took one for interference.PECOOOO POWER PLAY time for the Phantoms. Ross, Maroon, Laliberte, DeSantis, and Syvret are on the ice. Ross is buzzing around the net with the puck. We seem to be stationing someone BEHIND the net now and then, whidh is a tactic I don't recall having seen before. AAA, and it nearly worked, as we have Laliberte parked in the slot for a PERFECT shot on goal, once our guy behind the net got the puck to him. But the goalie made the save, and a Monarchs Dman cleared the rebound. It was a nice sequence, though, and I can see it succeeding if we do it often enough.
Aw, bleep. There goes the PP. Nodl goes for elbowing with 21 seconds left in the man advantage, so we wil have a brief period fo 4 on 4 followed by a PK.
Ross, Sirianni, Raduns, and Syvret are on the ice (three forwards and one D). The next PK unit was the more traditional two forwards/two D: Matsumoto, Laliberte, Bartulis, Curry. We killed the penalty successfully.
I'm just realizing how little we have seen of Beaulieu in this game so far. The last I heard, he's not cleared to fight yet, but I"m wondering with the limited amount of ice time he's getting how healthy he is. I know that Paddock tends to roll three lines and use the fourth line sparingly, but one would think that if we've got a shortened roster, we'd see a little more of the fourth-liners to compensate.
Drat. With 3:06 left in the period, freaking Manchester scored. There goes the shutout. It's what happens when we get stuck in our end. However, we still have a one-goal lead. We will just have to get the heck OUT of our end and bust our tails to get that goal back. The fact that we are currently being outshot 25-15 tells the tale of which end we are spending more time in. We've had six SOG so far in the second period, compared to 14 for the Monarchs. Since we have not had a parade to the sin bin, much of that has come while the teams were at even strength.
I wish the Flyers had thought to sed Giroux down for the duration of the NHL All-Star Break. Not only would he be able to participate in the AHL All Star game, in which he was named to the starting lineup, but he would be helping the Phantoms tonight and tomorrow night into the bargain.
Failng that, I would love to see guys who were called up to the Flyers, then got injured (Gratton and Kalinski), recover and return to the Phantoms lineup. I think we would be spending less time in our own zone if we had those players back on our roster.
Anyway, at the end of the second period, the SOG totals are Phantoms 16, Monarchs 27. The score is 2-1, Phantoms.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Phantoms vs. Manchester Monarchs 1-23-09: First Period
After a slight delay getting to the game, when I realized I needed to pick up batteries for my camera, I'm here! I arrived just in time to hear the scratches: Zarb, Guenin, Kane, Hersley, and Szwez. Nate Raduns is back in the linep, yay!
Two seconds into the game, Klotz and Westgarth(?) got into a fight. When I could see them, Klotz was holding his own perfectly well. Then the fight migrated toward the benches, and I couldn't see over the people standing up anymore.
But what I did see was Westgarth and one of our guys start waving for the trainer, and the Zamboni doors open to admit the stretcher. I STILL can't see over the people standing up, but everyone from both teams who was on the ice is clustered around one area near the Manchester bench, so I am presuming that's where the first aid is beng administered. Poor Garrett. :( I hope he's OK.
They backed the ambulance as far into the Zamboni tunnel as they could safely get it, and took Klotz out on a stretcher. God knows what happened, but I'll be asking on the flyersphans board ASAP. I'm sure some people have the game on TV so they might have had a better vantage point.
Marty Murray, the captain of the Monarchs, was taken by the LA Kings from us on waivers a couple seasons ago. I'm still ticked at them for taking him -- I always liked him when he was here. He's one guy I wish well, though he's welcome to have a quiet night tonight. ;)
Bellamy came out to replace Klotz in the starting lineu, and play resumed. So far, we have faced five shots on goal, with 15:47 remaining in the period, but we have gotten no SOG of our own.
With 13:34 left in the period, Nodl drew the first penalt of the game (besides the coincidental majors to Klotz and Westgarth). Raduns, Ross, Syvret, and aren't are the first PK unit. Next up, Matsumoto, Laliberte, Curry, and Bartulis. SOG with 12:55 left in the frame are 7-0, Monarchs. God bless Munroe, he's been a rock for this team since he came back from the Flyers. Laliberte skated the puck far enougn out of the zone that he could dump it into the Monarchs' zone, and allow us to make another line change. We seem to be using the same eight guys as our PK units, at least so far, and it's interesting to see how short the shifts are that they're taking. With 14 seconds left on the PK, this is the fifth separate shift of PKers. Now Laliberte is rushing the puck up ice for all he's worth. He got an attempted shot on goal, but he also drew a penalty. We will now play at 4 on 4 for two seconds, followed by a Phantoms PP.
Matsumoto, Nodl, Sirianni, Ratchuk, and Curry are the first PP unit. Next PP unit, Ross, Maroon, Laliberte, DeSantis, and Syvret. Oh, and we have a shot on goal now. :) Both Syvret and DeSantis have attempted one-timers from the point. Though neither reached the net, it's something we need to see a bit more of. (Partcularly since we have gotten shut out in three games during the past couple of weeks.) Manchester did kill the penalty successfully, and we are at even strength again.
Oh, SWEET -- on our next rush, we fired in a rebound to open the scoring! SOG are 8-3 in favor of Manchester, but the score is 1-0, Phantoms, courtesy of Matt Clackson! Raduns and Bellamy assisted. NICE play!
With 6 minutes remaining in the period, we hae Parent headed to the sin bin. Matsumoto and Nodl are the first two PK forwards, with Syvret and Curry. After a false start on the faceoff, Nodl ws swapped for Raduns. Bwahaha, and two Monrchs just ran into one another. :) heh heh, that's one way to kill a penalty.
Nodl, Ross, DeSantis, and Bartulis just gave us a shorthanded scoring chance, but nothing came of t. That's what we could use, a nice SH goal. : Oh, but I'll take a nice clear, instead, like the one we just got. Boy, whoever swatted that could replace Pat Burrell in the Phillies batting order... I think it was Ross.
BTW, Mr. Ross is going to get his shot at the All-Star game this year, which he missed last year due to having his appendix removed. Several of the AHL All-Stars are going to miss this year's game due to injury or callup, and Ross was named to replace one of the guys who couldn't make it. Heck, I think it was an oversight that he wasn't chosen on his own merit n the first place, so I'm glad to see he is getting his shot after all.
Aaaand there goes Dravecky into the sin bin, giving the Phantoms a PP with 3:24 left in the period. Ross, Laliberte, and Maroon are out with DeSantis and Syvret. And we somehow have wound up battling for the puck in OUR end. Hmm... Let's try this again, shall we? Out we go, offsides we go, faceoff in the neutral zone. And Manchester cleared the puck again -- we are having a bear of a time getting into the Manchester end during this PP. A minute is gone in the man advantage and we haven't got anything to show for it yet. RATCHUK -- well, NOW we have something to show for our efforts! Matsumoto assisted on the goal 2-0, Good Guys, and there is now a minute remaining in the first period.
GO GO GO GO, aah there was a goalmouth scramble in front of Manchester's net but we didn't manage to bury the puck this time around. We did get a ten-skater glaring match, however.
SOG at the end of the first period: Phantoms 9, Manchester 13. But the important stat, the score, is Phantoms 2, Monarchs 0.
Two seconds into the game, Klotz and Westgarth(?) got into a fight. When I could see them, Klotz was holding his own perfectly well. Then the fight migrated toward the benches, and I couldn't see over the people standing up anymore.
But what I did see was Westgarth and one of our guys start waving for the trainer, and the Zamboni doors open to admit the stretcher. I STILL can't see over the people standing up, but everyone from both teams who was on the ice is clustered around one area near the Manchester bench, so I am presuming that's where the first aid is beng administered. Poor Garrett. :( I hope he's OK.
They backed the ambulance as far into the Zamboni tunnel as they could safely get it, and took Klotz out on a stretcher. God knows what happened, but I'll be asking on the flyersphans board ASAP. I'm sure some people have the game on TV so they might have had a better vantage point.
Marty Murray, the captain of the Monarchs, was taken by the LA Kings from us on waivers a couple seasons ago. I'm still ticked at them for taking him -- I always liked him when he was here. He's one guy I wish well, though he's welcome to have a quiet night tonight. ;)
Bellamy came out to replace Klotz in the starting lineu, and play resumed. So far, we have faced five shots on goal, with 15:47 remaining in the period, but we have gotten no SOG of our own.
With 13:34 left in the period, Nodl drew the first penalt of the game (besides the coincidental majors to Klotz and Westgarth). Raduns, Ross, Syvret, and aren't are the first PK unit. Next up, Matsumoto, Laliberte, Curry, and Bartulis. SOG with 12:55 left in the frame are 7-0, Monarchs. God bless Munroe, he's been a rock for this team since he came back from the Flyers. Laliberte skated the puck far enougn out of the zone that he could dump it into the Monarchs' zone, and allow us to make another line change. We seem to be using the same eight guys as our PK units, at least so far, and it's interesting to see how short the shifts are that they're taking. With 14 seconds left on the PK, this is the fifth separate shift of PKers. Now Laliberte is rushing the puck up ice for all he's worth. He got an attempted shot on goal, but he also drew a penalty. We will now play at 4 on 4 for two seconds, followed by a Phantoms PP.
Matsumoto, Nodl, Sirianni, Ratchuk, and Curry are the first PP unit. Next PP unit, Ross, Maroon, Laliberte, DeSantis, and Syvret. Oh, and we have a shot on goal now. :) Both Syvret and DeSantis have attempted one-timers from the point. Though neither reached the net, it's something we need to see a bit more of. (Partcularly since we have gotten shut out in three games during the past couple of weeks.) Manchester did kill the penalty successfully, and we are at even strength again.
Oh, SWEET -- on our next rush, we fired in a rebound to open the scoring! SOG are 8-3 in favor of Manchester, but the score is 1-0, Phantoms, courtesy of Matt Clackson! Raduns and Bellamy assisted. NICE play!
With 6 minutes remaining in the period, we hae Parent headed to the sin bin. Matsumoto and Nodl are the first two PK forwards, with Syvret and Curry. After a false start on the faceoff, Nodl ws swapped for Raduns. Bwahaha, and two Monrchs just ran into one another. :) heh heh, that's one way to kill a penalty.
Nodl, Ross, DeSantis, and Bartulis just gave us a shorthanded scoring chance, but nothing came of t. That's what we could use, a nice SH goal. : Oh, but I'll take a nice clear, instead, like the one we just got. Boy, whoever swatted that could replace Pat Burrell in the Phillies batting order... I think it was Ross.
BTW, Mr. Ross is going to get his shot at the All-Star game this year, which he missed last year due to having his appendix removed. Several of the AHL All-Stars are going to miss this year's game due to injury or callup, and Ross was named to replace one of the guys who couldn't make it. Heck, I think it was an oversight that he wasn't chosen on his own merit n the first place, so I'm glad to see he is getting his shot after all.
Aaaand there goes Dravecky into the sin bin, giving the Phantoms a PP with 3:24 left in the period. Ross, Laliberte, and Maroon are out with DeSantis and Syvret. And we somehow have wound up battling for the puck in OUR end. Hmm... Let's try this again, shall we? Out we go, offsides we go, faceoff in the neutral zone. And Manchester cleared the puck again -- we are having a bear of a time getting into the Manchester end during this PP. A minute is gone in the man advantage and we haven't got anything to show for it yet. RATCHUK -- well, NOW we have something to show for our efforts! Matsumoto assisted on the goal 2-0, Good Guys, and there is now a minute remaining in the first period.
GO GO GO GO, aah there was a goalmouth scramble in front of Manchester's net but we didn't manage to bury the puck this time around. We did get a ten-skater glaring match, however.
SOG at the end of the first period: Phantoms 9, Manchester 13. But the important stat, the score, is Phantoms 2, Monarchs 0.
Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Recap and Box Score; All-Star update
Here is the recap of the Phantoms/Senators game from the Phantoms website.
And here is the link to the box score from the AHL's site.
We received word that Claude Giroux would NOT be sent down to the Phantoms in order to allow him to participate in the AHL All-Star events. He had been slated to play on Team Canada. However, Jared Ross was named to PlanetUSA, to replace someone who'd been either injured or called up. It's good to see him get this opportunity, as he'd been named to the team LAST year but had to decline because of an appendectomy.
Go Jared!
And here is the link to the box score from the AHL's site.
We received word that Claude Giroux would NOT be sent down to the Phantoms in order to allow him to participate in the AHL All-Star events. He had been slated to play on Team Canada. However, Jared Ross was named to PlanetUSA, to replace someone who'd been either injured or called up. It's good to see him get this opportunity, as he'd been named to the team LAST year but had to decline because of an appendectomy.
Go Jared!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Third Period
With 11:41 left in the third period, there hasn't been a whole lot to report. Gerber has been murder, particularly in a sequence where Matsumoto and Maroon combined for three consecutive shots on goal. Gerber is down from the Ottawa Senators on a conditioning assignment. I wonder if we can convince the Ottawa Sens that Gerber is fit enough to be called up right now, as in "before this period is over"? ;)
Our announcer just told a story about former Flyer Denis Hamel's one-timers. When Bingo was practicing in Philly, he shot a puck right through the end glass during the morning skate... his shot went above the net and not only hit the glass, but penetrated the glass and went about ten feet back into the seats. To quote Brian Smith, "If that had happened during a game, it would have killed the goal judge." Good grief! If I ever get a seat behind Hamel's opponent's net, remind me to wear a goalie mask to the game.
We have just given up our 38th shot on goal. Prior to Sunday's game, we had eleven consecutive games where we gave up at least 38 shots. We had a welcome break from that trend on Sunday, but unfortunately, we appear to have gone right back into letting our goaltender see truckloads of rubber per game.
Munroe has gone to the bench, and Bellamy is the 6th skater. We have 1:44 left to play, and I'm thinking of a prior road game this very season when we managed to put in two very-late goals with our netminder pulled. Paddock has called timeout with a faceoff in the Binghamton zone. Whatever we did that night, let's do it again, shall we? Nodl, Maroon, Matsumoto, Ross, Laliberte, and Syvret are our skaters. (Only one defenseman is in that group.) Unfortunately, when play resumes, the Senators managed to get hold of the puck and put in an empty-net goal despite Syvret's attempts to fill in as a goaltender. The score is now 3-0, Senators.
And there goes the final horn. Martin Gerber has earned a 32-save shutout, and the Phantoms were outshot 41-32.
Our next two games are at home on Friday and Saturday, vs. the Manchester Monarchs and Lake Erie Monsters, respectively. From there, we will go into the All-Star Break.
Our announcer just told a story about former Flyer Denis Hamel's one-timers. When Bingo was practicing in Philly, he shot a puck right through the end glass during the morning skate... his shot went above the net and not only hit the glass, but penetrated the glass and went about ten feet back into the seats. To quote Brian Smith, "If that had happened during a game, it would have killed the goal judge." Good grief! If I ever get a seat behind Hamel's opponent's net, remind me to wear a goalie mask to the game.
We have just given up our 38th shot on goal. Prior to Sunday's game, we had eleven consecutive games where we gave up at least 38 shots. We had a welcome break from that trend on Sunday, but unfortunately, we appear to have gone right back into letting our goaltender see truckloads of rubber per game.
Munroe has gone to the bench, and Bellamy is the 6th skater. We have 1:44 left to play, and I'm thinking of a prior road game this very season when we managed to put in two very-late goals with our netminder pulled. Paddock has called timeout with a faceoff in the Binghamton zone. Whatever we did that night, let's do it again, shall we? Nodl, Maroon, Matsumoto, Ross, Laliberte, and Syvret are our skaters. (Only one defenseman is in that group.) Unfortunately, when play resumes, the Senators managed to get hold of the puck and put in an empty-net goal despite Syvret's attempts to fill in as a goaltender. The score is now 3-0, Senators.
And there goes the final horn. Martin Gerber has earned a 32-save shutout, and the Phantoms were outshot 41-32.
Our next two games are at home on Friday and Saturday, vs. the Manchester Monarchs and Lake Erie Monsters, respectively. From there, we will go into the All-Star Break.
Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: Second Period
We will begin the second period at 4-on-4, with coincidental roughing minors having been handed out.
Nothing of much note took place during that sequence, but seconds after the penalties expired, the Phantoms got their first PP of the night. Our PP is currently 6th best in the league -- let's see how we do. (Oh this announcer -- he keeps calling our player "MatsuMAto".... argh.) AAAAH -- POSTAGE, as Ross clangs one off the iron. Ah, so close.
Within a minute of the Sens' penalty ending, they were awarded the opportunity to kill another penalty. And early on in that PK, the Senators took a high-stcking infraction that will leave them with a two-man deficit. OK, Phantoms, let's do this -- we really do need to get some good stuff going here.
We're going with the four-forward PP unit for the first shift of this two-man advantage. Ross is playing the left point. Now its Syvret's turn to ring one off the post. Have these darn pucks got a magnet in 'em tonight?
Fata is fighting with Maroon -- I am having a rough time with this image that keeps freezing up on me, but I did manage to see the replay of the bout. Fata stunned Maroon at one point early in the fight, and Maroon was operating at a disadvantage from that poitn forward. Both guys will sit for five minutes.
Yikes -- we spent a lot of time in front of Martin Gerber, but once the Sens managed a breakout, Scott Munroe had to make some circus saves to keep our deficit at only one goal.
Unfortunately, minutes later, a shot that former Phantom Marc Cavosie took deflected off a stick and found its way in. With under 5 minutes remaining in the second period, the Phantoms now trail 2-0.
That's what we need to do -- start deflecting pucks off anything and everything. Maybe if we pretend we're playing pinball for a while, we'll find a way to pull even. I'm pleased that we have managed to hem the Senators into their own zone at various points during this period, as that aspect of our game has been conspicuous by its absence in some recent games. However, if the goalie can see the puck all the way, he's going to stop the shot the vast majority of the time.
Ryan Parent is getting sent to the penalty box with 5.9 seconds remaining in the period. The Phantoms will have 1:55 of penalty time remaining to kill at the start of the third period. The score at the end of the second period os Senators 2, Phantoms 0.
Nothing of much note took place during that sequence, but seconds after the penalties expired, the Phantoms got their first PP of the night. Our PP is currently 6th best in the league -- let's see how we do. (Oh this announcer -- he keeps calling our player "MatsuMAto".... argh.) AAAAH -- POSTAGE, as Ross clangs one off the iron. Ah, so close.
Within a minute of the Sens' penalty ending, they were awarded the opportunity to kill another penalty. And early on in that PK, the Senators took a high-stcking infraction that will leave them with a two-man deficit. OK, Phantoms, let's do this -- we really do need to get some good stuff going here.
We're going with the four-forward PP unit for the first shift of this two-man advantage. Ross is playing the left point. Now its Syvret's turn to ring one off the post. Have these darn pucks got a magnet in 'em tonight?
Fata is fighting with Maroon -- I am having a rough time with this image that keeps freezing up on me, but I did manage to see the replay of the bout. Fata stunned Maroon at one point early in the fight, and Maroon was operating at a disadvantage from that poitn forward. Both guys will sit for five minutes.
Yikes -- we spent a lot of time in front of Martin Gerber, but once the Sens managed a breakout, Scott Munroe had to make some circus saves to keep our deficit at only one goal.
Unfortunately, minutes later, a shot that former Phantom Marc Cavosie took deflected off a stick and found its way in. With under 5 minutes remaining in the second period, the Phantoms now trail 2-0.
That's what we need to do -- start deflecting pucks off anything and everything. Maybe if we pretend we're playing pinball for a while, we'll find a way to pull even. I'm pleased that we have managed to hem the Senators into their own zone at various points during this period, as that aspect of our game has been conspicuous by its absence in some recent games. However, if the goalie can see the puck all the way, he's going to stop the shot the vast majority of the time.
Ryan Parent is getting sent to the penalty box with 5.9 seconds remaining in the period. The Phantoms will have 1:55 of penalty time remaining to kill at the start of the third period. The score at the end of the second period os Senators 2, Phantoms 0.
Phantoms at Binghamton Senators 1-21-09: First Period
One benefit of having problems with the Phantoms' streaming audio is that I got to hear, from the Binghamton announcer, what's wrong with some of our players. Kane, Guenin, and Hersley all have shoulder injuries. Raduns has a concussion, and Szwez is out with what's listed as a "lower body injury". I'm so glad that we have to rely on the opponent's media people to tell us what injuries our own guys have. Sigh.
Anyway, it appears that Giroux has been recalled to the Flyers. Chris Zarb is in our lineup tonight (which is good news, as he was practicing witih the injured Phantoms a few days ago). Giroux's absence has cleared the way for Billy Ryan to return to the lineup.
It appears that the Phantoms will be the first team to kill a penalty, with Maroon going to the box 14 minutes and change into the first period. Our 4th-best PK is about to lock horns with the league's best PP. And we will have to give this particular round to the Senators, as they did put in a PP goal with a few seconds remaining on the man advantage. Beans. They had their guy planted at our post, waiting for a loose puck or a rebound to come his way, and he cashed in the opportunity that came to him. Oh, well, it's only one goal.
At the end of the first period, the Senators are outshooting the Phantoms 13-11, which at least is a much smaller margin than we've faced in recent games. The Phantoms trail 1-0 on the scoreboard. There were a few guys yapping at one another at the final horn, so we'll see at the start of the second period if any penalties are announced.
Anyway, it appears that Giroux has been recalled to the Flyers. Chris Zarb is in our lineup tonight (which is good news, as he was practicing witih the injured Phantoms a few days ago). Giroux's absence has cleared the way for Billy Ryan to return to the lineup.
It appears that the Phantoms will be the first team to kill a penalty, with Maroon going to the box 14 minutes and change into the first period. Our 4th-best PK is about to lock horns with the league's best PP. And we will have to give this particular round to the Senators, as they did put in a PP goal with a few seconds remaining on the man advantage. Beans. They had their guy planted at our post, waiting for a loose puck or a rebound to come his way, and he cashed in the opportunity that came to him. Oh, well, it's only one goal.
At the end of the first period, the Senators are outshooting the Phantoms 13-11, which at least is a much smaller margin than we've faced in recent games. The Phantoms trail 1-0 on the scoreboard. There were a few guys yapping at one another at the final horn, so we'll see at the start of the second period if any penalties are announced.
Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats 1-18-09: Recap and Box Score
Here's the recap of the game from the Phantoms site.
And here is the link to the box score.
Don't look now, but the Phantoms have quietly embarked on a four-game win streak. We're looking to extend that to five games in Binghamton tonight. Let's go, Phantoms!
And here is the link to the box score.
Don't look now, but the Phantoms have quietly embarked on a four-game win streak. We're looking to extend that to five games in Binghamton tonight. Let's go, Phantoms!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats 1-18-09: Third Period
Nodl got the period off to an interesting start, with a breakaway, but the THUD of a puck hitting goalie pads signalled that we have yet to score during this contest. Nice try, though. Feel free to do it again. :)
FINALLY!!! SCORE!!! Nodl took a hit in the slot (I have the pic of him on his back), but he made the play that tied the score! Asssts to Briere and Ross. Welcome to a Brand New Game! NOW the Phantom are playing with a lot of spring in their step, and the crowd is buzzing.
YES!!! Keep this Giroux/Matsumoto/Laliberte set together! Matsumoto just scored, assisted by Giroux ad Syvret! Boy, Matsumoto is en fuego lately! Keep up the great work!
On the next shift, Parent goes for hooking, however, leaving us with our PK to defend the lead. Ross, Briere, Syvret, and Curry are first up. Briere got a brekaway, but couldn't get a goal, dang it. Saaaay... It crosses my mind that we have not had a PP since the first period. On the other hand, the ref has been equally lenient on both sides, since there hasn't been a parade to the sin bin tonight, so I won't get too cranky about the calls just yet.
The penalty is over, we have 4:45 left in the period, and the SOG are Albany 29, Phantoms 15. Briere is leading another rush, and he has THREE guys draped on him. This is the kind of thing that I think helped us blow out the Sharks on Wednesday: extra coverage on Briere means other Phantoms are wide open.
Yikes -- Bartulis slams hard into the boards after a River rat commits a hookng infraction. Oskars is back on the bench (with his helmet off) getting his senses back together, and we are on a PP for the first time in a while. (There goes another thing that was rectified soon after I wrote a comment about it. Should have muttered to myself about the lack of a PP sooner, too I guess. ;)
The penalty has expired, and Albany has called timeout. With a minute and a half remaining, they are going to pull their goalie and go with the extra skater. We have Briere, Ross Giroux, Syvret, and Parent on the ice. ROSS makes them pay, with 38.8 seconds remaining, with an empty net goal! 3-1, good guys! Hs 19th goal of the year, with Syvret assisting.
Phantoms win 3-1 I'm headed down o watch the jersey auction now.
FINALLY!!! SCORE!!! Nodl took a hit in the slot (I have the pic of him on his back), but he made the play that tied the score! Asssts to Briere and Ross. Welcome to a Brand New Game! NOW the Phantom are playing with a lot of spring in their step, and the crowd is buzzing.
YES!!! Keep this Giroux/Matsumoto/Laliberte set together! Matsumoto just scored, assisted by Giroux ad Syvret! Boy, Matsumoto is en fuego lately! Keep up the great work!
On the next shift, Parent goes for hooking, however, leaving us with our PK to defend the lead. Ross, Briere, Syvret, and Curry are first up. Briere got a brekaway, but couldn't get a goal, dang it. Saaaay... It crosses my mind that we have not had a PP since the first period. On the other hand, the ref has been equally lenient on both sides, since there hasn't been a parade to the sin bin tonight, so I won't get too cranky about the calls just yet.
The penalty is over, we have 4:45 left in the period, and the SOG are Albany 29, Phantoms 15. Briere is leading another rush, and he has THREE guys draped on him. This is the kind of thing that I think helped us blow out the Sharks on Wednesday: extra coverage on Briere means other Phantoms are wide open.
Yikes -- Bartulis slams hard into the boards after a River rat commits a hookng infraction. Oskars is back on the bench (with his helmet off) getting his senses back together, and we are on a PP for the first time in a while. (There goes another thing that was rectified soon after I wrote a comment about it. Should have muttered to myself about the lack of a PP sooner, too I guess. ;)
The penalty has expired, and Albany has called timeout. With a minute and a half remaining, they are going to pull their goalie and go with the extra skater. We have Briere, Ross Giroux, Syvret, and Parent on the ice. ROSS makes them pay, with 38.8 seconds remaining, with an empty net goal! 3-1, good guys! Hs 19th goal of the year, with Syvret assisting.
Phantoms win 3-1 I'm headed down o watch the jersey auction now.
Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats 1-18-09: Second Period
The Phantoms have 19 seconds remaining on the PK to start the second period. Briere, Ross, Parent, and Syvret are out. When Sirianni exited the sin bin, he wen
t to the bench and was replaced by Giroux. That line proceeded to create a scoring threat, even though they weren't credited with a shot on goal. (I'm not sure how that is, since it was by our efforts that the puck wound up frozen under the goaltender, but I'll keep my peace.)
Our next shift saw us right back in front of the Albany net, though, so whatever Paddock said to the troops between periods, they appear to have taken to heart. Next shift: Klotz vs. Blanchard. Short, active fight with more punching than jersey-hauling. I'd give Klotz the takedown and the edge where the punches were concerned. (Particularly so since it was a punch by Klotz that made the difference i n sending Blanchard to the ice.)
With 14:57 left in the period, the SOG are Albany 15, Phantoms 2. We have not gotten ANY pucks on net, and the Rats have gotten a grand total of one, since the start of the period. Ah, that should count as a shot for us. FINALLY. 37 seconds after I said something, we get a puck on goal. 'Bout time -- maybe I should have griped sooner. ;)
Other than that, however, we hafe seen a lot of end-to-end skating and passing, but nether team has made a lot of noise yet.
Matsumoto's line came the closest so far to getting us a goal. Matsumoto's shot and the subsequent rebound were enough to bring the crowd to ts feet, but unfortunately the puck remained on the wrong side of the goal line.
It's interesting -- we seem to have reverted back to the Briere/Ross/Nodl line we were using last night Let's see if that brings us onto the scoreboard. Of course, it's not going to bring us anythng unt we get back to the Albany end, instead of havng Rats cycling the puck in front of Munroe like they are right now. Giroux, meanwhile, has been moved onto a line with Matsumoto/Laliberte (who just gave us a nice rush and a shot on goal. Giroux took the ensuing faceoff in the Albany end.
Whoops -- Ratchuk gets two for tripping, so now we get to put our PKing skills on display again. This invoved Ross and Briere heading up the ice for a SH break, but unfortunately, no goal resulted.
We are back at even strength, and spending more time than I would like to see in our own end of the ice. With 3:30 left, the SOG are ALbany 21, Phantoms 7. We aren't going to tie the score while we're parked in front of Munroe.
We did generate some valid scoring opportunities in the waning minutes of the period. However, at the end of the second period, the score remained Albany 1, Phantoms 0. The shots on goal are River Rats 23, Phantoms 8.
t to the bench and was replaced by Giroux. That line proceeded to create a scoring threat, even though they weren't credited with a shot on goal. (I'm not sure how that is, since it was by our efforts that the puck wound up frozen under the goaltender, but I'll keep my peace.)
Our next shift saw us right back in front of the Albany net, though, so whatever Paddock said to the troops between periods, they appear to have taken to heart. Next shift: Klotz vs. Blanchard. Short, active fight with more punching than jersey-hauling. I'd give Klotz the takedown and the edge where the punches were concerned. (Particularly so since it was a punch by Klotz that made the difference i n sending Blanchard to the ice.)
With 14:57 left in the period, the SOG are Albany 15, Phantoms 2. We have not gotten ANY pucks on net, and the Rats have gotten a grand total of one, since the start of the period. Ah, that should count as a shot for us. FINALLY. 37 seconds after I said something, we get a puck on goal. 'Bout time -- maybe I should have griped sooner. ;)
Other than that, however, we hafe seen a lot of end-to-end skating and passing, but nether team has made a lot of noise yet.
Matsumoto's line came the closest so far to getting us a goal. Matsumoto's shot and the subsequent rebound were enough to bring the crowd to ts feet, but unfortunately the puck remained on the wrong side of the goal line.
It's interesting -- we seem to have reverted back to the Briere/Ross/Nodl line we were using last night Let's see if that brings us onto the scoreboard. Of course, it's not going to bring us anythng unt we get back to the Albany end, instead of havng Rats cycling the puck in front of Munroe like they are right now. Giroux, meanwhile, has been moved onto a line with Matsumoto/Laliberte (who just gave us a nice rush and a shot on goal. Giroux took the ensuing faceoff in the Albany end.
Whoops -- Ratchuk gets two for tripping, so now we get to put our PKing skills on display again. This invoved Ross and Briere heading up the ice for a SH break, but unfortunately, no goal resulted.
We are back at even strength, and spending more time than I would like to see in our own end of the ice. With 3:30 left, the SOG are ALbany 21, Phantoms 7. We aren't going to tie the score while we're parked in front of Munroe.
We did generate some valid scoring opportunities in the waning minutes of the period. However, at the end of the second period, the score remained Albany 1, Phantoms 0. The shots on goal are River Rats 23, Phantoms 8.
Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats 1-18-09: First Period
Scratches: Zarb, Guenin, Raduns, Ryan, Kane, Hersley, Szwez
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Briere, Ross, Giroux
Conspicuous by his absence in the scratches: Aubin. Actually, ditto for Teslak. Giroux has returned to our ineup, which is great for us. That's even more true thanks to the injury to Szwez (thanks to the Bears' Quentin freakin' Laing last night).
Aubin wll back up Munroe tonight. The players have just come out from the tunnel.
Early on, we had one scary moment where an Albany shot hit ur post and trickled across the crease. We were fortunate enough to get the disk out of harm's way before it coud be deflected by accident or design across the goal line.
Our first PP of the game followed a few minutes after this episode. We have a four-forward unit of Syvret, Ross, Briere, Giroux, and Briere on the ice. We didn't cash in the PP opportunity.
With 10:31 remaining in the period, Albany finally broke their extremely long shutout streak vs. Munroe. I'm sure the Phantoms' site will offer the final stats, when all is said and done. The Phantoms trail 1-0. We also trail on the shot clock 8-1. Well, we knew the streak couldn't last forever. Nice work, Muny, in keeping it going for multiple games, going back to the longest game in AHL playoff history last spring.
We just had another hairy moment in our end, where there was a goalmouth scramble to Munroe's right. To the left, standing by a wide-open net, was an unattended River Rat. The puck came out of the scramble and headed in the general direction of said Rat, but we lucked out and it was not within reach of his stick. Had he been able to reach the biscuit, he would have had the entre net to shoot at from the angle where he was.
We have another PP now, so let's see if we can make more effective work of this opportunity than we did of the previous one. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Nodl, Ratchuk, and Curry are out to start. We are trailing on the shot clock 11-2 as the PP begins. Now our second unt is out, and it's the same four-forward grouping we tried earlier. Albany clears the puck. Munroe sets it up for a defender to retrieve. Nope, no dce, we got no SOG during this PP either. But the ref's arm is up, so I suspect we are about to see what our PK units look like for the night.
Yep, Clackson goes for cross-cheking. Ur first PP unit is Matsumoto, Nodl, Syvret, and Parent. Matsumoto blocked a shot with his stick -- it broke his stick, but it took the vast majority of the momentum off the puck, leaving it sitting in the slot to be retrieved. He was about to go on a line change anyway, so he made sure the stick blade detached the rest of the way before leaving the ice. Next out, Nodl/Giroux with Syvret and Parent. Parent made a nice clearing attempt that did everything BUT cross the line (argh). But the penalty is over, and we're still standing, so all is well.
Clackson, Sirianni, Maroon, Curry, and Ratchuk are our guys on the ice following the PK. I found out earlier today that Dirianni was named to the ECHL's ALl-Star roster, but if he remains with us, he will miss the game. Personally, I really like Sirianni and I hope we keep him here even after our banged-up forwards are healthy again.
Speaking of him, there he goes to the sin bin. Briere, Ross, Parent, and Syvret are out to kill the penalty. We have less time remaining in the period than there is time on the penalty, so we stand a chance of starting the second period shorthanded. Next up: Giroux. Matsumoto, Bartulis, Curry. One minute left in the period.
The period is over. The score is Abany 1, Phantoms 0, and the River Rats lead on the shot clock, 14-2. Needless to say, we will have to get more pucks than THAT on net if we plan to score any goals.
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Briere, Ross, Giroux
Conspicuous by his absence in the scratches: Aubin. Actually, ditto for Teslak. Giroux has returned to our ineup, which is great for us. That's even more true thanks to the injury to Szwez (thanks to the Bears' Quentin freakin' Laing last night).
Aubin wll back up Munroe tonight. The players have just come out from the tunnel.
Early on, we had one scary moment where an Albany shot hit ur post and trickled across the crease. We were fortunate enough to get the disk out of harm's way before it coud be deflected by accident or design across the goal line.
Our first PP of the game followed a few minutes after this episode. We have a four-forward unit of Syvret, Ross, Briere, Giroux, and Briere on the ice. We didn't cash in the PP opportunity.
With 10:31 remaining in the period, Albany finally broke their extremely long shutout streak vs. Munroe. I'm sure the Phantoms' site will offer the final stats, when all is said and done. The Phantoms trail 1-0. We also trail on the shot clock 8-1. Well, we knew the streak couldn't last forever. Nice work, Muny, in keeping it going for multiple games, going back to the longest game in AHL playoff history last spring.
We just had another hairy moment in our end, where there was a goalmouth scramble to Munroe's right. To the left, standing by a wide-open net, was an unattended River Rat. The puck came out of the scramble and headed in the general direction of said Rat, but we lucked out and it was not within reach of his stick. Had he been able to reach the biscuit, he would have had the entre net to shoot at from the angle where he was.
We have another PP now, so let's see if we can make more effective work of this opportunity than we did of the previous one. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Nodl, Ratchuk, and Curry are out to start. We are trailing on the shot clock 11-2 as the PP begins. Now our second unt is out, and it's the same four-forward grouping we tried earlier. Albany clears the puck. Munroe sets it up for a defender to retrieve. Nope, no dce, we got no SOG during this PP either. But the ref's arm is up, so I suspect we are about to see what our PK units look like for the night.
Yep, Clackson goes for cross-cheking. Ur first PP unit is Matsumoto, Nodl, Syvret, and Parent. Matsumoto blocked a shot with his stick -- it broke his stick, but it took the vast majority of the momentum off the puck, leaving it sitting in the slot to be retrieved. He was about to go on a line change anyway, so he made sure the stick blade detached the rest of the way before leaving the ice. Next out, Nodl/Giroux with Syvret and Parent. Parent made a nice clearing attempt that did everything BUT cross the line (argh). But the penalty is over, and we're still standing, so all is well.
Clackson, Sirianni, Maroon, Curry, and Ratchuk are our guys on the ice following the PK. I found out earlier today that Dirianni was named to the ECHL's ALl-Star roster, but if he remains with us, he will miss the game. Personally, I really like Sirianni and I hope we keep him here even after our banged-up forwards are healthy again.
Speaking of him, there he goes to the sin bin. Briere, Ross, Parent, and Syvret are out to kill the penalty. We have less time remaining in the period than there is time on the penalty, so we stand a chance of starting the second period shorthanded. Next up: Giroux. Matsumoto, Bartulis, Curry. One minute left in the period.
The period is over. The score is Abany 1, Phantoms 0, and the River Rats lead on the shot clock, 14-2. Needless to say, we will have to get more pucks than THAT on net if we plan to score any goals.
Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Recap and Box Score
Here is the recap of the game from the Phantoms website.
And here is the box score from the AHL site.
The Phantoms will play at home vs. the Albany River Rats tonight. We will have special jerseys on which will be auctioned off for charity after the game. That auction stands to get a HUGE boost, because there'll be a Briere game-worn jersey among the offerings.
Yes, Daniel Briere will take part in the third of a possible three AHL rehab games tonight. So, stop on down if you want to see Mr. Briere for the cost of an AFFORDABLE hockey ticket. Be there or be square!
Go Phantoms!
And here is the box score from the AHL site.
The Phantoms will play at home vs. the Albany River Rats tonight. We will have special jerseys on which will be auctioned off for charity after the game. That auction stands to get a HUGE boost, because there'll be a Briere game-worn jersey among the offerings.
Yes, Daniel Briere will take part in the third of a possible three AHL rehab games tonight. So, stop on down if you want to see Mr. Briere for the cost of an AFFORDABLE hockey ticket. Be there or be square!
Go Phantoms!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Third Period, OT, shootout.
I see Laing back on the ice for the Bears. I have not seen nor heard Szwez's name since Laing hit him in the first period. Great, that's all we need: another possible injury. Our freaking press box isn't crowded enough already with guys in various stages of injury-recovery. :headdesk: I hope it's nothing major.
In the first six or so minutes of the period, both teams have had a couple of Keystone-Kops moments, but neither team has created much in the way of scoring opportunities. Now there's a protracted string of shots on the Phantoms net, but Munroe is equal to the task.
That seemed to wake up both teams, though. There is a lot of end-to-end movement going on, but the teams appear more organized and determined than they did earlier in the period.
We are being outshot in this period 13-2. Once again, the Phantoms have given up more than 40 SOG. Ratchuk blocked a stuff attempt at the post, but the rebound went out into the slot, where a Bear put it in. There was, however, a fallen Bear landing on Munroe at the time the puck went in. And the entire sequence could have been avoided if, as our announcer pointed out, our D's clearing attempt had not hit the referee's skates and stayed in. (That's the second time in this game that Fraser's feet kept the puck in the Phantoms zone, but who's counting?) There are no video replays to support or disprove the Phantoms' objections to goalie interference, however, so the goal will stand 3-2 Bad Guys.
The Phantoms have gone on a PP, as Clackson's preferred waltz partner Amadio has been sent to the box to feel shame. We're getting some chances, but so far, no dice. Nope -- no PP goal for us, at least not this time. The score remains 3-2.
MATSUMOTO -- he got stoned earlier in the game, but he wouldn't be denied this time! He made a nice highlight-reel maneuver at the post to tie the game. 3-3! :) Assists to Laliberte and Maroon.
After a long Nasty Session between the teams with 3:30 remaining, the sole penalty that was assesses was a ten-minute misconduct to Clackson. That's rather mystifying to those of us who can't hear what was going on, but at least we're not going shorthanded this late in the game. And speaking of late penalties, we're getting coincidental minors to Ross and a Bear whose name I missed.
Nodl and Sirianni are our first 4-on-4 forward pair. Matsumoto/Laliberte are next. Nodl/Maroon was yet another combination that we saw during the 4-on-4. But we didn't see a lot else of note, and now the penalties are over.
The Phantoms have called a timeout, prior to a defensive-zone draw. We have given up 48 shots on goal so far, and our season high of shots given up is 49. The game's not over yet, so we could be on the verge of setting a new mark there.
Looks like the Bears are getting back at us for all the times when our clock at the Spectrum has wigged out on them: a little while ago, they took two seconds off the clock. This time, they are adding 2.5 seconds, giving us 9.7 seconds remaining.
There goes the horn to end the third period. We've garnered at least one point from this game. Hershey still has 48 shots on goal as we take the minute-long break before the overtime.
Our first four players: Ross, Nodl, Syvret, Parent. Matsumoto/Laliberte got sprung on a long pass by Parent, but no luck. And there's Hershey's 49th shot. And their 50th and 51st, to boot. Scott Munroe needs a star of the game, have I mentioned that recently?
OMG times ten, Laliberte was robbed, absolutely freaking ROBBED. Machesney stopped two shots, plus a defenseman piled in to help prevent another puck from reaching the net. Oh, brother, we came this-close to a GWG on that play.
Here we go -- the game ended at 3-3, so we are going for the bonus point from the skills competition. Or, in other words, there will be a shootout. Munroe finished the game with 49 saves.
Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Maroon: no, 0-0
Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES, 1-0
Hershey: no, 1-0
Phantoms, Ross: YES, 2-0
Hershey: yes, 2-1
Phantoms, Nodl: no, 2-1
Hershey: yes, 2-2
Phantoms, Ratchuk: no, 2-2
We are tied after five rounds, so now we go to sudden death.
Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Laliberte: no, 2-2
Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES!!! 3-2! Phantoms win in the seventh round of the shootout, hallelujah! And I'm laughing -- the Phantoms' announcer's voice isn't quite as hoarse as mine, but it's close. LMHO, poor guy has laryngitis and he gets to call, not just a game, but an OT and a shootout into the bargain. (Not to mention that this is a three-game-in-three-night weekend, so he got to do play-by-play last night as well, and he's likely to be at it again tomorrow at the Spectrum.)
Well, the Good Guys pulled out a 4-3 victory, coming back from behind twice. THIS is more like it! Now if we could just figure out how to allow fewer SOG per game...! But I'd rather lead on the scoreboard than the shot clock, so I'll take it.
In the first six or so minutes of the period, both teams have had a couple of Keystone-Kops moments, but neither team has created much in the way of scoring opportunities. Now there's a protracted string of shots on the Phantoms net, but Munroe is equal to the task.
That seemed to wake up both teams, though. There is a lot of end-to-end movement going on, but the teams appear more organized and determined than they did earlier in the period.
We are being outshot in this period 13-2. Once again, the Phantoms have given up more than 40 SOG. Ratchuk blocked a stuff attempt at the post, but the rebound went out into the slot, where a Bear put it in. There was, however, a fallen Bear landing on Munroe at the time the puck went in. And the entire sequence could have been avoided if, as our announcer pointed out, our D's clearing attempt had not hit the referee's skates and stayed in. (That's the second time in this game that Fraser's feet kept the puck in the Phantoms zone, but who's counting?) There are no video replays to support or disprove the Phantoms' objections to goalie interference, however, so the goal will stand 3-2 Bad Guys.
The Phantoms have gone on a PP, as Clackson's preferred waltz partner Amadio has been sent to the box to feel shame. We're getting some chances, but so far, no dice. Nope -- no PP goal for us, at least not this time. The score remains 3-2.
MATSUMOTO -- he got stoned earlier in the game, but he wouldn't be denied this time! He made a nice highlight-reel maneuver at the post to tie the game. 3-3! :) Assists to Laliberte and Maroon.
After a long Nasty Session between the teams with 3:30 remaining, the sole penalty that was assesses was a ten-minute misconduct to Clackson. That's rather mystifying to those of us who can't hear what was going on, but at least we're not going shorthanded this late in the game. And speaking of late penalties, we're getting coincidental minors to Ross and a Bear whose name I missed.
Nodl and Sirianni are our first 4-on-4 forward pair. Matsumoto/Laliberte are next. Nodl/Maroon was yet another combination that we saw during the 4-on-4. But we didn't see a lot else of note, and now the penalties are over.
The Phantoms have called a timeout, prior to a defensive-zone draw. We have given up 48 shots on goal so far, and our season high of shots given up is 49. The game's not over yet, so we could be on the verge of setting a new mark there.
Looks like the Bears are getting back at us for all the times when our clock at the Spectrum has wigged out on them: a little while ago, they took two seconds off the clock. This time, they are adding 2.5 seconds, giving us 9.7 seconds remaining.
There goes the horn to end the third period. We've garnered at least one point from this game. Hershey still has 48 shots on goal as we take the minute-long break before the overtime.
Our first four players: Ross, Nodl, Syvret, Parent. Matsumoto/Laliberte got sprung on a long pass by Parent, but no luck. And there's Hershey's 49th shot. And their 50th and 51st, to boot. Scott Munroe needs a star of the game, have I mentioned that recently?
OMG times ten, Laliberte was robbed, absolutely freaking ROBBED. Machesney stopped two shots, plus a defenseman piled in to help prevent another puck from reaching the net. Oh, brother, we came this-close to a GWG on that play.
Here we go -- the game ended at 3-3, so we are going for the bonus point from the skills competition. Or, in other words, there will be a shootout. Munroe finished the game with 49 saves.
Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Maroon: no, 0-0
Hershey: no, 0-0
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES, 1-0
Hershey: no, 1-0
Phantoms, Ross: YES, 2-0
Hershey: yes, 2-1
Phantoms, Nodl: no, 2-1
Hershey: yes, 2-2
Phantoms, Ratchuk: no, 2-2
We are tied after five rounds, so now we go to sudden death.
Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Laliberte: no, 2-2
Hershey: no, 2-2
Phantoms, Matsumoto: YES!!! 3-2! Phantoms win in the seventh round of the shootout, hallelujah! And I'm laughing -- the Phantoms' announcer's voice isn't quite as hoarse as mine, but it's close. LMHO, poor guy has laryngitis and he gets to call, not just a game, but an OT and a shootout into the bargain. (Not to mention that this is a three-game-in-three-night weekend, so he got to do play-by-play last night as well, and he's likely to be at it again tomorrow at the Spectrum.)
Well, the Good Guys pulled out a 4-3 victory, coming back from behind twice. THIS is more like it! Now if we could just figure out how to allow fewer SOG per game...! But I'd rather lead on the scoreboard than the shot clock, so I'll take it.
Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Second Period
Clackson had an early wrestling match with huge Bear whose name I don't recall having seen before: Wellar. They went off for fighting. I believe Clackson already led the league in fights; if so, having two bouts in one game won't do anything to diminish his supremacy.
The period has gone relatively evenly so far. The most notable event has been that Arsene hit Bellamy and stunned him. As this took place behind the play, I'm a little surprised that no penalty was called.
We didn't have to wait long to have a powerplay, however, as Bourque obliged by slashing Ryan. Our first PP unit is Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte with Syvret and Desantis. SCOOOORE -- Laliberte buried the rebound of the rebound of the rebound. Nice work, guys! It helped that Syvret, one of our D, came in and got involved with the goalmouth scramble. That, per our announcer, disorganized the Bears' PK enough that we were able to keep hacking at the puck until we got it in.
OMG, ROSS!!! As I was typing the previous paragraph, he got a breakaway end-to-en rush, and scored to tie the game! NICE, Rossco! Assist from his buddy Scott Munroe. :) 2-2, and welcome to a new game!
On the following shift, we incurred a penalty to Beaulieu, so we are shorthanded. Nodl proceeds to carry the puck up ice and be a nuisance to the Bears. No major SH chance came of it, but we did shave a few seconds off the PK. Munroe gave us all we needed to withstand the rest of that penalty kill, and the teams are back at full strength.
Machesney (Bears goalie) had to come way out to play a puck. Ross tried to tip it away from him. Sloan of the Bears slashed Ross in retaliation, Ross went after him, and the end result is a ten-player shoving match in the corner. It appears that Ross gets slashing, Sloan gets cross-checking, and Arsene gets roughing, so the Phantoms are on the PP. I'm not convinced that a replay would show that those players broke those specific rules (other than Arsene/roughing), but the upshot is the naughty players were correctly identified and they're in the sin bin. Dang -- Machesney stoned Matsumoto on our best chance of the PP.
Soon after the return to even strength, Curry gets set off for boarding. Really, the players who turn to face the boards upon seeing that they are about to be hit should get sent to the freakin' box for unsportsmanlike conduct. If they can give "unsportsmanlike conduct, diving" penalties, they should give penalties to the people who turn a legal hit into a hit from behind when it's too late for the check-thrower to redirect his trajectory.
Two Bears collide, but one of them, Bourque, trips Matsumoto to prevent a breakaway, so he's in the sin bin and we will be at 4 on 4 for a while. Syvret came inches from scoring for the Phantoms -- the dratted puck rolled slowly through the crease. Too bad nothing was in its path to deflect it in, but oh well. SO close!
Sirianni just got two nice attempts. His first shot was blocked, but he got the puck back and took another one that Machesney had to be quick to deflect.
Speaking of goalies that need to be quick, The Wrong Giroux (Alexandre) deflected a teammate's shot on goal, and Munroe had to be sharp to track the puck and freeze it. Giroux tied a league record earlier in the game by scoring in 14th consecutive game. He leads the league in scoring -- no surprise, given stats like the above! I guess he's not just a Phantoms-killer, then. Looks like he's just an everyone-he-plays-against killer.(Dear Caps: call this guy the heck back up and KEEP him up this time, wouldja? KTHXBAI.)
The second period is over. The Phantoms staged a nice comeback, and the score remains tied at 2-2. Shots on goal: Phantoms 21, Bears 29.
Win the third period, guys!
The period has gone relatively evenly so far. The most notable event has been that Arsene hit Bellamy and stunned him. As this took place behind the play, I'm a little surprised that no penalty was called.
We didn't have to wait long to have a powerplay, however, as Bourque obliged by slashing Ryan. Our first PP unit is Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte with Syvret and Desantis. SCOOOORE -- Laliberte buried the rebound of the rebound of the rebound. Nice work, guys! It helped that Syvret, one of our D, came in and got involved with the goalmouth scramble. That, per our announcer, disorganized the Bears' PK enough that we were able to keep hacking at the puck until we got it in.
OMG, ROSS!!! As I was typing the previous paragraph, he got a breakaway end-to-en rush, and scored to tie the game! NICE, Rossco! Assist from his buddy Scott Munroe. :) 2-2, and welcome to a new game!
On the following shift, we incurred a penalty to Beaulieu, so we are shorthanded. Nodl proceeds to carry the puck up ice and be a nuisance to the Bears. No major SH chance came of it, but we did shave a few seconds off the PK. Munroe gave us all we needed to withstand the rest of that penalty kill, and the teams are back at full strength.
Machesney (Bears goalie) had to come way out to play a puck. Ross tried to tip it away from him. Sloan of the Bears slashed Ross in retaliation, Ross went after him, and the end result is a ten-player shoving match in the corner. It appears that Ross gets slashing, Sloan gets cross-checking, and Arsene gets roughing, so the Phantoms are on the PP. I'm not convinced that a replay would show that those players broke those specific rules (other than Arsene/roughing), but the upshot is the naughty players were correctly identified and they're in the sin bin. Dang -- Machesney stoned Matsumoto on our best chance of the PP.
Soon after the return to even strength, Curry gets set off for boarding. Really, the players who turn to face the boards upon seeing that they are about to be hit should get sent to the freakin' box for unsportsmanlike conduct. If they can give "unsportsmanlike conduct, diving" penalties, they should give penalties to the people who turn a legal hit into a hit from behind when it's too late for the check-thrower to redirect his trajectory.
Two Bears collide, but one of them, Bourque, trips Matsumoto to prevent a breakaway, so he's in the sin bin and we will be at 4 on 4 for a while. Syvret came inches from scoring for the Phantoms -- the dratted puck rolled slowly through the crease. Too bad nothing was in its path to deflect it in, but oh well. SO close!
Sirianni just got two nice attempts. His first shot was blocked, but he got the puck back and took another one that Machesney had to be quick to deflect.
Speaking of goalies that need to be quick, The Wrong Giroux (Alexandre) deflected a teammate's shot on goal, and Munroe had to be sharp to track the puck and freeze it. Giroux tied a league record earlier in the game by scoring in 14th consecutive game. He leads the league in scoring -- no surprise, given stats like the above! I guess he's not just a Phantoms-killer, then. Looks like he's just an everyone-he-plays-against killer.(Dear Caps: call this guy the heck back up and KEEP him up this time, wouldja? KTHXBAI.)
The second period is over. The Phantoms staged a nice comeback, and the score remains tied at 2-2. Shots on goal: Phantoms 21, Bears 29.
Win the third period, guys!
Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: First Period
I wasn't able to catch this game from the very beginning. However, Clackson has had the obligatory bout with Amadio. I swear those two have scrapped in almost every Phantoms/Bears contest we've had so far this season. The Phantoms wound up on a PP from that event, as Amadio picked up an extra minor.
At the time of the end of the PP, the Phantoms were outshooting the Bears 5-1. Thats the good news. The bad news is that we are nearly at the END of the first period and we have not had a shot on goal since. Not at even strength, not on another PP, not while shorthanded. Nada.
The Bears, meanwhile, have been offering us approximately a shot per minute from that point forward. The final horn just sounded, and we were outshot 16-0 during that time period. We are currently being outshot 17-5 as we go into the first intermission.
If that were the only place where we were trailing, it wouldn't be quite so tough. However, we have also given up two goals to Alexandre Giroux, the darn Phantoms-killer that Washington shouldn't have sent back down. One of those goals was at even strength, and the other was on a late Bears PP. So the Phantoms trail 2-0.
We do not have Briere in our lineup. However, it was announced earlier today that Briere will, in fact, partake in a third rehab contest with the Phantoms, in our home game on Sunday night. That serves multiple purposes. First of all, it lets Briere rehab another game before returning to the Flyers. It gives our GM time to straighten out the Flyers' salary cap situation in advance of Briere's return to the Flyers lineup. And as the Phantoms are going to have a jersey auction on Sunday night, it will be a huge boost to the fundraising effort to be able to auction off a Briere jersey along with those of the rest of the team.
One more note before I close out this post... we incurred one of those penalties that no coach will gripe about, nor will any player complain about having to kill off. Laing of the Bears laid out Szwez with a hit, shaking him up badly enough that he headed up the tunnel with our trainer. Moments later, Oskars Bartulis flattened Laing and left HIM in a heap on the ice. Laing wound up communing with the Bears trainer, and Bartulis got two minutes for charging. But when players are sticking up for one another, no coach or teammate will raise an objection to being shorthanded.
Here's hoping that neither player is dented too seriously. I'll be on the lookout for both of them in the second period.
At the time of the end of the PP, the Phantoms were outshooting the Bears 5-1. Thats the good news. The bad news is that we are nearly at the END of the first period and we have not had a shot on goal since. Not at even strength, not on another PP, not while shorthanded. Nada.
The Bears, meanwhile, have been offering us approximately a shot per minute from that point forward. The final horn just sounded, and we were outshot 16-0 during that time period. We are currently being outshot 17-5 as we go into the first intermission.
If that were the only place where we were trailing, it wouldn't be quite so tough. However, we have also given up two goals to Alexandre Giroux, the darn Phantoms-killer that Washington shouldn't have sent back down. One of those goals was at even strength, and the other was on a late Bears PP. So the Phantoms trail 2-0.
We do not have Briere in our lineup. However, it was announced earlier today that Briere will, in fact, partake in a third rehab contest with the Phantoms, in our home game on Sunday night. That serves multiple purposes. First of all, it lets Briere rehab another game before returning to the Flyers. It gives our GM time to straighten out the Flyers' salary cap situation in advance of Briere's return to the Flyers lineup. And as the Phantoms are going to have a jersey auction on Sunday night, it will be a huge boost to the fundraising effort to be able to auction off a Briere jersey along with those of the rest of the team.
One more note before I close out this post... we incurred one of those penalties that no coach will gripe about, nor will any player complain about having to kill off. Laing of the Bears laid out Szwez with a hit, shaking him up badly enough that he headed up the tunnel with our trainer. Moments later, Oskars Bartulis flattened Laing and left HIM in a heap on the ice. Laing wound up communing with the Bears trainer, and Bartulis got two minutes for charging. But when players are sticking up for one another, no coach or teammate will raise an objection to being shorthanded.
Here's hoping that neither player is dented too seriously. I'll be on the lookout for both of them in the second period.
Phantoms vs. Lowell Devils 1-16-09: Recap and Box Score
Here is the official site recap for Friday's Phantoms/Devils match.
And here's the box score. This game was quite the nail-biter.
Tonight, the Phantoms play the second of a three games/three nights weekend. We're currenty in the first period of a contest in Hershey, so I'll be working on that game's blog when I finish with this post.
And here's the box score. This game was quite the nail-biter.
Tonight, the Phantoms play the second of a three games/three nights weekend. We're currenty in the first period of a contest in Hershey, so I'll be working on that game's blog when I finish with this post.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Phantoms vs. Lowell Devils 1-16-09: Third Period
You know, as well as our PP has done in the past two games, that's how deficient our PK has been tonight. We gave up the tying goal while Lowell was on a PP, and since then the teams have been trying to kill each other in the effort to get the go-ahead goal. The score is 4-4 with 10:24 left in the period, and the SOG are Phantoms 16, Devils 36. We are poised to give up at least 38 shots for something like the tenth game in a row, which has got to be some kind of team record. It's not a record I'm particularly happy about, either. We need, and I do mean NEED, to stop being the team who's been hemmed into our end of the ice.
We need to stay out of the box, but even better, I would like to see us DRAW a penalty by putting Lowell on the defensive and forcing them to break up a scoring chance of ours.
SZWEZ!!!! So far, he is sthe hero of the night, as he has put us ahead with a goal! Assist by Clackson. Now GO PHANTOMS! hold this lead!
Here we go -- final minute of the game and the Devils have pulled the goalie. Clackson, Szwez, Sirianni, Bartulis, and Curry are on the ice.
Yiiiii, someone just fired the puck at about a zillion miles per hour down to the other end, but it missed the net. Hence, icing. The Phantoms have called timeout with 21.5 seconds left.
Hooray, we gutted that one out! Phantoms 5, Devils 4!
We need to stay out of the box, but even better, I would like to see us DRAW a penalty by putting Lowell on the defensive and forcing them to break up a scoring chance of ours.
SZWEZ!!!! So far, he is sthe hero of the night, as he has put us ahead with a goal! Assist by Clackson. Now GO PHANTOMS! hold this lead!
Here we go -- final minute of the game and the Devils have pulled the goalie. Clackson, Szwez, Sirianni, Bartulis, and Curry are on the ice.
Yiiiii, someone just fired the puck at about a zillion miles per hour down to the other end, but it missed the net. Hence, icing. The Phantoms have called timeout with 21.5 seconds left.
Hooray, we gutted that one out! Phantoms 5, Devils 4!
Phantoms vs. Lowell Devils 1-16-09: Second Period
The good news is, Maroon did come out of the tunnel at the start of the second period. The bad news is, in the first two minutes of the period, Ratchuk was interfered with, got slammed hard into the boards, and required the trainer's assistance. The ensuing man advantage led to our third PP goal of the night, with a goal from Syvret from the point Assists to Briere and DeSantis.
Ratchuk is still in the game, however. More power to him.
We killed off a holding penalty to Maroon; that's the good news. The not-so-good news is that we get to do it again, this time for Bartulis and holding-the-stick. Briere and Ross are out with Parent and Syvret. Ross hounded a Devil all the way back into Lowell's end, then punctuated it with a thump to the guy before play headed back to our end.
The Devils did manage to bring their deficit within two goals, late in the period. However, I think we can get that goal back if we appy ourselves, particuarly if we happen to get another man advantage. Our PP has been en fuego in these past two games. I hope we can keep up the PP scoring when Briere returns to the Flyers.
WE just had a big scrum over in the corner to Scott Munroe's right, of which I could see none. However, when the dust cleared, we had Clackson and Maroon in the sin bin for roughing, along with one Devil (Fraser). So we are killing a penalty during the final three minutes of the second period. Ross and Briere are out with Parent and Syvret. Unfortunately, our inability to clear the puck cost us, and the Pantoms lead is now whittled down to one goal. 4-3, Good Guys, and we ha better start inflicting some damage on the Devils side of the ice. We have only gotten two shots on goal so far in this period, and we only have 2:08 left until the intermission.
Blah. Too many men on the ice -- that's all we need, to go shorthanded with 1:28 left in the freaking period. OK, Phantoms, play like you mean it, because we only have Briere in the lineup until the end of this game. We can't depend on having him to mesmerize opponents every time he sets foot on the ice.
Matsumoto and Nodl came out on a shorthanded break. Matsumoto's shot missed the net, but at least we spent time in the Lowell end. I'll take anything that chews up PK time without doing us harm.
There goes the end of the period. SOG are Phantoms 11 (a grand total of TWO shots in the second period), Devils 28. Color me Not Happy about the amount of time we didn't spend on the attack during this period. Yes, one of our shots went in. Still, it's not good that our opponent's goalie only stopped ONE puck in the entire 20-minute frame.
However, we do lead where it counts, on the scoreboard, 4-3. In order to remain in the lead for the rest of the game, we wil have to offer more of a challenge to Lowell than we did in the past period.
We have 32 seconds of penalty time left to serve at the start of the third period.
Ratchuk is still in the game, however. More power to him.
We killed off a holding penalty to Maroon; that's the good news. The not-so-good news is that we get to do it again, this time for Bartulis and holding-the-stick. Briere and Ross are out with Parent and Syvret. Ross hounded a Devil all the way back into Lowell's end, then punctuated it with a thump to the guy before play headed back to our end.
The Devils did manage to bring their deficit within two goals, late in the period. However, I think we can get that goal back if we appy ourselves, particuarly if we happen to get another man advantage. Our PP has been en fuego in these past two games. I hope we can keep up the PP scoring when Briere returns to the Flyers.
WE just had a big scrum over in the corner to Scott Munroe's right, of which I could see none. However, when the dust cleared, we had Clackson and Maroon in the sin bin for roughing, along with one Devil (Fraser). So we are killing a penalty during the final three minutes of the second period. Ross and Briere are out with Parent and Syvret. Unfortunately, our inability to clear the puck cost us, and the Pantoms lead is now whittled down to one goal. 4-3, Good Guys, and we ha better start inflicting some damage on the Devils side of the ice. We have only gotten two shots on goal so far in this period, and we only have 2:08 left until the intermission.
Blah. Too many men on the ice -- that's all we need, to go shorthanded with 1:28 left in the freaking period. OK, Phantoms, play like you mean it, because we only have Briere in the lineup until the end of this game. We can't depend on having him to mesmerize opponents every time he sets foot on the ice.
Matsumoto and Nodl came out on a shorthanded break. Matsumoto's shot missed the net, but at least we spent time in the Lowell end. I'll take anything that chews up PK time without doing us harm.
There goes the end of the period. SOG are Phantoms 11 (a grand total of TWO shots in the second period), Devils 28. Color me Not Happy about the amount of time we didn't spend on the attack during this period. Yes, one of our shots went in. Still, it's not good that our opponent's goalie only stopped ONE puck in the entire 20-minute frame.
However, we do lead where it counts, on the scoreboard, 4-3. In order to remain in the lead for the rest of the game, we wil have to offer more of a challenge to Lowell than we did in the past period.
We have 32 seconds of penalty time left to serve at the start of the third period.
Phantoms vs. Lowell Devils 1-16-09: First Period
Here's our second game with Briere in the lineup. In the timespan between the pregame warmup and the opening faceoff, it looks to be a good crowd tonight, despite the facts that the wind chill gives us a temperature of 0 degrees F, and the Sixers have a home game at the Center tonight. (Normally, inclement weather or another event running concurrently at the Sports Complex have a negative impact on walk-up attendance.)
Start: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Briere, Nodl, Ross
Boy, do I ever have laryngitis. I'll have to resort to "Doing the Wheeler" in the event of having reason to celebrate for the Phantoms tonight, as my voice is seriously out of commission.
I missed some of the scratches, due to some conversation regarding some neighboring fans and where their seats are located. However, Teslak is still our backup and Aubin remains scratched. I still have no idea just how he injured himself back in November, but boy it must have been a doozy, poor guy. It's a good seven weeks since then, and he has played a grand total of one period. I do wish the AHL would require teams to at least give us an idea of the ETA of injured players' return to the lineup.
Here comes Briere through the tunnel, once again high-fiving every little kid's hand that's extended in his direction. :)
Hee, the ceremonial first puck was dropped by "Andy Reid" and "David Akers" -- or at least, two people with the same names as those Eagles-connected individuals. :D Speaking of Da Iggles, Sunday's game has been rescheduled for 7 PM, to allow people time to watch the Eagles game and still come to the Phantoms game if they so choose.
With 15:25 remaining in the first period, the Lowell Devils seem to be slightly less hypnotized by the presence of Briere in the ineup. We are being outshot 4-2, rather than seeing him get double-teamed and having open ice created for our other players.
Blast it, and now the Devils have scored 24 seconds later. We had a scramble in our end (with a different line than Briere's on the ice), and one too many times, the Devils got the puck first. So we trail 1-0, and now the shot clock reads Phantoms 3, Devils 9.
But now our top line is making some waves in the Lowell end, which I like the look of. BINGO, there goes NODL with a goal! We just did precisely the same thing to Lowell that they did to us a minute and a half ago: just kept tryying to get the puck on net until finally Nodl fired it into the net from the slot. Assists to Ross and Bartulis. 1-1.
We are still creating chances in the Devils end, even though we haven't gotten a shot since we scored. Any time spent on the attack can be transated into a goal, if all goes well, though, so I don't mind.
Crud, this can't be good. Maroon just went face first into the boards, went down, and didn't move. The Devils' captain got two minutes for boarding. Finally, our trainer got Maroon backfrom la-la land, and they went to the bench. I don't know why they didn't go drectly up the tunnel, as Maroon looks like he's not entirely coherent yet I hope he's not as out-on-his-feet as he appears to be from this angle. :(
Nodl nearly had a PP goal, what a shot! But he is now stationed in the slot for another try. Nope, no dice, Devs clear.
Parent is now gong into the sin bin for interference. Ross and Briere are the first PK forward pairing out, and they are joined by Syvret and Curry. Eeeeek, we just had a moment where Munroe and Curry both were sitting inside the net after a mad scramble. However, the puck remained out.
Nodl and Matsumoto are our second PK pair, with Bartulis and DeSantis, and they cleared the puck. Nice. That gives us the opportunity to bring out the first K unit again, for the final half-minute of the kill. Briere proceeded to break up the ice just as the penalty expired, causing a Devils defender to hook him down. Not only did said Devil get two for hooking, but another Devil got two for unsportsmanlike onduct. The Phantoms are about to go on a two-man adantage for two minutes.
Or not -- as ROSS scored early on, assisted by Syvret and Briere. We still have 1:46 of 5-on-4 PP remaining, as well. :)
AGAIN!!! We score with 53 seconds remaining on the PP. THis was Laliberte from Matsumoto and Rachuk! 3-1 Good Guys. :) they're changing goalies now, from Frazee to Caruso. But really, I don't blame the goalie. Maybe the coach is trying to wake his team up.
LOL, Ross, Briere, and the Devils' Gionta are on the ice together. Three of the most vertically-challenged guys in the league, I'd wager. :D
At the end of the period, the SOG are Phantoms , Devils, 14. But the score is 3-1, Phantoms, so I don't mind our being outshot.
Start: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Briere, Nodl, Ross
Boy, do I ever have laryngitis. I'll have to resort to "Doing the Wheeler" in the event of having reason to celebrate for the Phantoms tonight, as my voice is seriously out of commission.
I missed some of the scratches, due to some conversation regarding some neighboring fans and where their seats are located. However, Teslak is still our backup and Aubin remains scratched. I still have no idea just how he injured himself back in November, but boy it must have been a doozy, poor guy. It's a good seven weeks since then, and he has played a grand total of one period. I do wish the AHL would require teams to at least give us an idea of the ETA of injured players' return to the lineup.
Here comes Briere through the tunnel, once again high-fiving every little kid's hand that's extended in his direction. :)
Hee, the ceremonial first puck was dropped by "Andy Reid" and "David Akers" -- or at least, two people with the same names as those Eagles-connected individuals. :D Speaking of Da Iggles, Sunday's game has been rescheduled for 7 PM, to allow people time to watch the Eagles game and still come to the Phantoms game if they so choose.
With 15:25 remaining in the first period, the Lowell Devils seem to be slightly less hypnotized by the presence of Briere in the ineup. We are being outshot 4-2, rather than seeing him get double-teamed and having open ice created for our other players.
Blast it, and now the Devils have scored 24 seconds later. We had a scramble in our end (with a different line than Briere's on the ice), and one too many times, the Devils got the puck first. So we trail 1-0, and now the shot clock reads Phantoms 3, Devils 9.
But now our top line is making some waves in the Lowell end, which I like the look of. BINGO, there goes NODL with a goal! We just did precisely the same thing to Lowell that they did to us a minute and a half ago: just kept tryying to get the puck on net until finally Nodl fired it into the net from the slot. Assists to Ross and Bartulis. 1-1.
We are still creating chances in the Devils end, even though we haven't gotten a shot since we scored. Any time spent on the attack can be transated into a goal, if all goes well, though, so I don't mind.
Crud, this can't be good. Maroon just went face first into the boards, went down, and didn't move. The Devils' captain got two minutes for boarding. Finally, our trainer got Maroon backfrom la-la land, and they went to the bench. I don't know why they didn't go drectly up the tunnel, as Maroon looks like he's not entirely coherent yet I hope he's not as out-on-his-feet as he appears to be from this angle. :(
Nodl nearly had a PP goal, what a shot! But he is now stationed in the slot for another try. Nope, no dice, Devs clear.
Parent is now gong into the sin bin for interference. Ross and Briere are the first PK forward pairing out, and they are joined by Syvret and Curry. Eeeeek, we just had a moment where Munroe and Curry both were sitting inside the net after a mad scramble. However, the puck remained out.
Nodl and Matsumoto are our second PK pair, with Bartulis and DeSantis, and they cleared the puck. Nice. That gives us the opportunity to bring out the first K unit again, for the final half-minute of the kill. Briere proceeded to break up the ice just as the penalty expired, causing a Devils defender to hook him down. Not only did said Devil get two for hooking, but another Devil got two for unsportsmanlike onduct. The Phantoms are about to go on a two-man adantage for two minutes.
Or not -- as ROSS scored early on, assisted by Syvret and Briere. We still have 1:46 of 5-on-4 PP remaining, as well. :)
AGAIN!!! We score with 53 seconds remaining on the PP. THis was Laliberte from Matsumoto and Rachuk! 3-1 Good Guys. :) they're changing goalies now, from Frazee to Caruso. But really, I don't blame the goalie. Maybe the coach is trying to wake his team up.
LOL, Ross, Briere, and the Devils' Gionta are on the ice together. Three of the most vertically-challenged guys in the league, I'd wager. :D
At the end of the period, the SOG are Phantoms , Devils, 14. But the score is 3-1, Phantoms, so I don't mind our being outshot.
Phantoms vs. Worcester Sharks 1-14-09: Recap and Box Score
Pardon the slightly-belated nature of this particular post... I've been fighting the annual battle with whatever upper-respiratory bug is going around this winter and the less I sleep, the more challenging it is to bear in mind when I have a post left to make.
In any event, click here to see the thoroughly enjoyable official game recap from the Phantoms/Sharks tilt. And if you liked that, then you'll like this box score, as well.
In any event, click here to see the thoroughly enjoyable official game recap from the Phantoms/Sharks tilt. And if you liked that, then you'll like this box score, as well.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Phantoms vs. Worcester Sharks 1-14-09: Third Period
It's been a relatively quiet period so far. Along with his first assist and goal as a Phantoms, Briere can now add his first penalty. We killed off our shorthanded situations with no difficulty so far, and we now have 8:25 remaining in the third period. The SOG are Phantoms 22, Sharks 35, but for once our being outshot is not an ominous sign. CLOD, oops CLAUDE Lemieux has been getting heckled, but given the edge he has played with for all these years, he should be well used to that. ;)
In the "Great things come in small packages" department, I have reason to believe, after observation tonight, that Jared Ross is ever so slightly taller than Danny Briere. :) I can't help but smile to think that the top guys on both the Flyers and Phantoms are some of the most vertically-challenged indiiduals in the organization. We can add Matsumoto to that list, too, though he's not quite so compact-in-frame as the above-mentioned pair. (Hey, I'm vertically-challenged myself, so I take an extra interest in these details.)
Well, there goes ONE power play that we won't score on. We took a penalty soon afterward, and we are now at 4 on 4. Other than this, I have to double-check the box score to be certain, ut I think we scored on every previous PP that we were awarded. If we hadn't had a perfect record on our PPs tonight, we were DARN close to it.
We have one minute remaining in the game, and we are at full strength again. And the Phantoms have won the first LOPSIDED decision we have had in a while. It feels good, for sure! :)
The stars of the game were:
#3: Danny Briere
#2: Scott Munroe
#1: Jared Ross
It's nice to see three Phantoms stars of the game... it's been a while since we have snared all three of those honors.
Great job, Phantoms! Let's see more of it on Friday! :)
In the "Great things come in small packages" department, I have reason to believe, after observation tonight, that Jared Ross is ever so slightly taller than Danny Briere. :) I can't help but smile to think that the top guys on both the Flyers and Phantoms are some of the most vertically-challenged indiiduals in the organization. We can add Matsumoto to that list, too, though he's not quite so compact-in-frame as the above-mentioned pair. (Hey, I'm vertically-challenged myself, so I take an extra interest in these details.)
Well, there goes ONE power play that we won't score on. We took a penalty soon afterward, and we are now at 4 on 4. Other than this, I have to double-check the box score to be certain, ut I think we scored on every previous PP that we were awarded. If we hadn't had a perfect record on our PPs tonight, we were DARN close to it.
We have one minute remaining in the game, and we are at full strength again. And the Phantoms have won the first LOPSIDED decision we have had in a while. It feels good, for sure! :)
The stars of the game were:
#3: Danny Briere
#2: Scott Munroe
#1: Jared Ross
It's nice to see three Phantoms stars of the game... it's been a while since we have snared all three of those honors.
Great job, Phantoms! Let's see more of it on Friday! :)
Phantoms vs. Worcester Sharks 1-14-09: Second Period
CLOD Lemieux... Oops, Claude Lemieux took a penalty early n the second period. The Phantoms proceeded to respond on this PP as we did on the previous three: with a goal. This time, Matsumoto did the honors, digging at a loose puck in the crease until it squeaked in at the post. I am extremely impressed at how the Phantoms are getting results tonight. It's not only Briere, though obviously, his presence is a big help. When he is on the ice, if he draws double coverage, then one of our other guys is left open. If he doesn't, then he has the speed and skill to do real damage. So far, given that his only point was a PP assist, but he was on the ice for three of our goals, he has been creating room for our other guys.
All right, make that FOUR of our goals. He just stole the puck about halfway through a Phantoms penalty kill, flew up the ice, and with one Dman back, fired the puck straight into the net. Freakin' beautiful play! :) It's kind of nice to think that even when we are shorthanded, the Sharks might have to pay more attenton to keeping him OFF the the scoreboard than on their regular PP system.
Clackson just got into a fight with McEwen that was a LONG tilt, and I mean LONG. It was a lot of wrestling, but Clackson got in a few nice lefts here and there, particularly toward the end. Instantly after the ensuing faceoff, Klotz and McLaren also went, and this time it was a relatively lengthy bout, though ot quite so protraced as its predecessor, that was highly active; there were some heavy-duty fisticuffs being thrown on both sides. Klotz looked a little bloodied on his way up the tunnel, but I couldn't tell where the damage actually was so I'm hopping it's no worse than minor dents and dings. I can't really give a win in either bout, but I tip my cap to all four gladiators for having a lot of staying power.
Ah, shazbot, there goes the shutout. With 6:29 remaining, the score is now 6-1, Good Guys. I noticed that the next line that came onto the ice, following the goal-against, was the Briere line. I'd say we should go for getting that goal back, but that would almost be bad sportsmanship, given the lopsided score. (On the other hand, if we see things like Ross bring down a rain of headgear, I won't object a bit. :D
Whoa, Rob Bellamy just got SERIOUSLY blatantly hauled down during an attack. Patrick Traverse, the ex-Bear, gets to go to box and feel shame. Szwez, Beaulieu, Sirianni, Ratchuk, and Curry are on the PP... That's a combo we don't normally see as a PP unit. Looks like Paddock is giving some special-teams time to players who are less likely to see ice time with the man advantage.
Beans, Szwez just went up the tunnel with the trainer in tow. Freakin' heck, I hope it's not too bad. Speaking of guys who've undergone in-game repair work, Klotz is back on the bench.
HERE COME THE HATS, Rossco just put in the third one! Assists to DeSantis and Nodl. :)
And just think -- we still have a little of this period and the entire third period, left to go. The Sharks need to stay out of the box... I don't think that Worcester has kiled a penalty yet.
Then again, now we are killing a penalty of our own. Maroon has gone to the sin bin, and we will have 1:24 more PK time remaining at the start of the third period.
At the end of the second period, the Phantoms lead 7-1, and the SOG tally is Phantoms 19, Sharks 27.
All right, make that FOUR of our goals. He just stole the puck about halfway through a Phantoms penalty kill, flew up the ice, and with one Dman back, fired the puck straight into the net. Freakin' beautiful play! :) It's kind of nice to think that even when we are shorthanded, the Sharks might have to pay more attenton to keeping him OFF the the scoreboard than on their regular PP system.
Clackson just got into a fight with McEwen that was a LONG tilt, and I mean LONG. It was a lot of wrestling, but Clackson got in a few nice lefts here and there, particularly toward the end. Instantly after the ensuing faceoff, Klotz and McLaren also went, and this time it was a relatively lengthy bout, though ot quite so protraced as its predecessor, that was highly active; there were some heavy-duty fisticuffs being thrown on both sides. Klotz looked a little bloodied on his way up the tunnel, but I couldn't tell where the damage actually was so I'm hopping it's no worse than minor dents and dings. I can't really give a win in either bout, but I tip my cap to all four gladiators for having a lot of staying power.
Ah, shazbot, there goes the shutout. With 6:29 remaining, the score is now 6-1, Good Guys. I noticed that the next line that came onto the ice, following the goal-against, was the Briere line. I'd say we should go for getting that goal back, but that would almost be bad sportsmanship, given the lopsided score. (On the other hand, if we see things like Ross bring down a rain of headgear, I won't object a bit. :D
Whoa, Rob Bellamy just got SERIOUSLY blatantly hauled down during an attack. Patrick Traverse, the ex-Bear, gets to go to box and feel shame. Szwez, Beaulieu, Sirianni, Ratchuk, and Curry are on the PP... That's a combo we don't normally see as a PP unit. Looks like Paddock is giving some special-teams time to players who are less likely to see ice time with the man advantage.
Beans, Szwez just went up the tunnel with the trainer in tow. Freakin' heck, I hope it's not too bad. Speaking of guys who've undergone in-game repair work, Klotz is back on the bench.
HERE COME THE HATS, Rossco just put in the third one! Assists to DeSantis and Nodl. :)
And just think -- we still have a little of this period and the entire third period, left to go. The Sharks need to stay out of the box... I don't think that Worcester has kiled a penalty yet.
Then again, now we are killing a penalty of our own. Maroon has gone to the sin bin, and we will have 1:24 more PK time remaining at the start of the third period.
At the end of the second period, the Phantoms lead 7-1, and the SOG tally is Phantoms 19, Sharks 27.
Phantoms vs. Worcester Sharks: First Period
Daniel Briere is playing his first rehab game with the Phantoms, and he is in the starting line. Jared Ross, normally a center, has been moved to wing for the occasion. Ross still wears the C, due to Boyd Kane's injury.
Our injured guys include Nate Raduns, who got hurt over the weekend.
Claude Lemieux is wearing number 32 for Worcester. Here's hoping that if he makes his usual pest of himself, that we give back as good as we get (without being called for retaliation infractions.)
The Phantoms were being outshot 5-2 when we opened the scoring, early in the first period. Sean Curry did the honors.
Scott Munroe is in goal for the Phantoms, with Michael Teslak as backup. I don't know how this bodes for the return of Niittymaki to the Flyers lineup. I do know that Aubin is still not healthy. Frankly, that makes me a tad nervous, as he was backing up Teslak for the whole road trip (minus one period). If he's still hurt, IMO Aubin should not be backing up; he should be in the press box. Otherwise, in case of injury to our starter, we'll be replacing one dented goalie with another, and that's not a solution any sane team would employ.
Clackson and Moore just got in the World's Shortest Fight, none of which could I see over the people standing up. But neither guy looked particularly the worse for wear so I will presume, unless a Youtube clip proves otherwise, that someone lost an edge and went down early on.
In the time since scoring our goal, we have continued to be outshot. The current tally of shots, as we go on our first PP of the night, is Sharks 11, Phantoms 4, with the third of those being our goal.
Briere came out with our second PP unt, along with Maroon and Nodl. They promptly increased our goal total to 2, as Maroon scored with assists from Nodl and Briere. There was a huge cheer for Briere's name, as there was when he was announced as a starter. Briere is about as down-to-earth of a guy as I've seen in here, btw... He came up the tunnel high-fiving every fan's hand that was extended in his direction (most of which belonged to kids). :) Some sports stars might have forgotten where they "came from", so to speak, but Briere Gets It.
SCOOOORE, and once again it was a tally from the line centered by Briere. :) Ths time it was Ross, assisted by Syvret and Nodl. 3-0 GOOD GUYS, and it's so darn nice to be able to write about a multi-goal lead at last!
Now we're back on the Pecooooo Power Play and SCOOOORE -- Ross again! :) Assists this time were from Maroon and Syvret.
Wow, wow, wow, what a period we just had! The SOG are Phantoms 9, Sharks 14... But no fewer than FOUR of our shots found the net. The score at the first intermission is Phantoms 4, Sharks 0.
Our injured guys include Nate Raduns, who got hurt over the weekend.
Claude Lemieux is wearing number 32 for Worcester. Here's hoping that if he makes his usual pest of himself, that we give back as good as we get (without being called for retaliation infractions.)
The Phantoms were being outshot 5-2 when we opened the scoring, early in the first period. Sean Curry did the honors.
Scott Munroe is in goal for the Phantoms, with Michael Teslak as backup. I don't know how this bodes for the return of Niittymaki to the Flyers lineup. I do know that Aubin is still not healthy. Frankly, that makes me a tad nervous, as he was backing up Teslak for the whole road trip (minus one period). If he's still hurt, IMO Aubin should not be backing up; he should be in the press box. Otherwise, in case of injury to our starter, we'll be replacing one dented goalie with another, and that's not a solution any sane team would employ.
Clackson and Moore just got in the World's Shortest Fight, none of which could I see over the people standing up. But neither guy looked particularly the worse for wear so I will presume, unless a Youtube clip proves otherwise, that someone lost an edge and went down early on.
In the time since scoring our goal, we have continued to be outshot. The current tally of shots, as we go on our first PP of the night, is Sharks 11, Phantoms 4, with the third of those being our goal.
Briere came out with our second PP unt, along with Maroon and Nodl. They promptly increased our goal total to 2, as Maroon scored with assists from Nodl and Briere. There was a huge cheer for Briere's name, as there was when he was announced as a starter. Briere is about as down-to-earth of a guy as I've seen in here, btw... He came up the tunnel high-fiving every fan's hand that was extended in his direction (most of which belonged to kids). :) Some sports stars might have forgotten where they "came from", so to speak, but Briere Gets It.
SCOOOORE, and once again it was a tally from the line centered by Briere. :) Ths time it was Ross, assisted by Syvret and Nodl. 3-0 GOOD GUYS, and it's so darn nice to be able to write about a multi-goal lead at last!
Now we're back on the Pecooooo Power Play and SCOOOORE -- Ross again! :) Assists this time were from Maroon and Syvret.
Wow, wow, wow, what a period we just had! The SOG are Phantoms 9, Sharks 14... But no fewer than FOUR of our shots found the net. The score at the first intermission is Phantoms 4, Sharks 0.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Recap and Box Score; Briere will Rehab with Phantoms
Here is the link to the game recap from Sunday's game.
And here is the link to the box score.
Now, for the surprise of the day. According to the Flyers' website, Daniel Briere will spend two games rehabbing with the Phantoms. We've never been tasked with augmenting the recovery of the Flyers' best player before, so that's a nice thing. Besides -- not only will it give Briere some extra time to see if he's completely game-ready, it also buys our GM some time to make additional moves to clear salary cap space.
So here's to seeing these next couple of Phantoms games be mutually beneficial to both Briere and the Phantoms. Goodness knows we could use all the offense we can get, if his health's up to providing it. And if all goes well, then heck, Flyers, go crazy -- leave him with us for all THREE games he's eligible to play. :) We won't mind. Honest.
And here is the link to the box score.
Now, for the surprise of the day. According to the Flyers' website, Daniel Briere will spend two games rehabbing with the Phantoms. We've never been tasked with augmenting the recovery of the Flyers' best player before, so that's a nice thing. Besides -- not only will it give Briere some extra time to see if he's completely game-ready, it also buys our GM some time to make additional moves to clear salary cap space.
So here's to seeing these next couple of Phantoms games be mutually beneficial to both Briere and the Phantoms. Goodness knows we could use all the offense we can get, if his health's up to providing it. And if all goes well, then heck, Flyers, go crazy -- leave him with us for all THREE games he's eligible to play. :) We won't mind. Honest.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Third Period
We've resumed play in the third period. Not a lot of note happened for the first few minutes, besides the call of a high-sticking infraction to Jonathan Matsumoto just now. Our first PK pair iS Ross/Szwez. Parent and Syvret are the D.
We successfully killed the penalty, and with 13:45 remaining, we got or second PP of the game. WHAT are these pinheads running the arenavision doing? We're taking a shot on goal and the view switches to a tiny kid eating a huge apple in the crowd? WTH? :banghead:
Unfortunately, we took a penalty of our own that erased the rest of our man advantage. Sirianni will sit, we'll play 4-on-4, and at the end of the Monsters' penalty, we will have a 40-second shorthanded stint. I like the chances that we're generating with the extra room on the ice during the 4-on-4. But Weiman, Lake Erie's goaltender, was equal to all challenges until the Monsters got their man back. Now we're killing the last 40 seconds of the tripping call. The Monsters are cycling, but so far have only gotten one shot on net with the man advantage. Now we're at even strength, but Lake Erie got a few more attempts on our net before we managed to break out of our zone.
Just as we reached the other end, Lake Erie helped us a bit more by taking an interference penalty. we gave up a shorthanded shot on goal, now we seem to be having some issues getting ourselves down to Lake Erie's end and getting set up. we have Ryan, Maroon, (couldn't see the third forward), Ratchuk, and Curry. OH, so close, we deflected a shot on goal but it went just high. Rats. The penalty is over, we are at even strength, and there is 7:38 left in the third period. Both teams are now 0-for-4 on PP opportunities tonight.
The Phantoms are really pressing to get that goose egg off the board. Unfortunately, they managed to break out when Smith got behind our D with the puck. He padded the Monsters' lead with another goal. It's now 3-0, Bad Guys. We have 5 minutes and change remaining in the period.
When some lady makes a big sign for the Lake Erie goalie, with "I LOVE TYLER WEINMAN" in huge letters, is it wrong to giggle upon realizing that she has spelled his name wrong (it should be Weiman)? If so, oops. Sorry. Didn't mean it. Couldn't help it.
What's the problem with this video all of a sudden? It's freezing up like last Friday's stream. At least I can hear the audio, if all I'm seeing is a slide show. Thank goodness it's a stoppage in play. I don't need to see fans dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe".
Play has resumed, and so has the video stream, thank goodness. Unfortunately, with one minute remaining in the game, we have given up 38 SOG for the ninth game in a row. It's awfully hard to win games when our opponent is getting that many opportunities on our net.
There goes the final horn. The Phantoms have been shut out for the second consecutive game.
We went 1-4 on this extended road trip. At the halfway point of the season, we have a record of 20-18-1-1.
I'll be back with the recap and box score when they're finalized and available online.
We successfully killed the penalty, and with 13:45 remaining, we got or second PP of the game. WHAT are these pinheads running the arenavision doing? We're taking a shot on goal and the view switches to a tiny kid eating a huge apple in the crowd? WTH? :banghead:
Unfortunately, we took a penalty of our own that erased the rest of our man advantage. Sirianni will sit, we'll play 4-on-4, and at the end of the Monsters' penalty, we will have a 40-second shorthanded stint. I like the chances that we're generating with the extra room on the ice during the 4-on-4. But Weiman, Lake Erie's goaltender, was equal to all challenges until the Monsters got their man back. Now we're killing the last 40 seconds of the tripping call. The Monsters are cycling, but so far have only gotten one shot on net with the man advantage. Now we're at even strength, but Lake Erie got a few more attempts on our net before we managed to break out of our zone.
Just as we reached the other end, Lake Erie helped us a bit more by taking an interference penalty. we gave up a shorthanded shot on goal, now we seem to be having some issues getting ourselves down to Lake Erie's end and getting set up. we have Ryan, Maroon, (couldn't see the third forward), Ratchuk, and Curry. OH, so close, we deflected a shot on goal but it went just high. Rats. The penalty is over, we are at even strength, and there is 7:38 left in the third period. Both teams are now 0-for-4 on PP opportunities tonight.
The Phantoms are really pressing to get that goose egg off the board. Unfortunately, they managed to break out when Smith got behind our D with the puck. He padded the Monsters' lead with another goal. It's now 3-0, Bad Guys. We have 5 minutes and change remaining in the period.
When some lady makes a big sign for the Lake Erie goalie, with "I LOVE TYLER WEINMAN" in huge letters, is it wrong to giggle upon realizing that she has spelled his name wrong (it should be Weiman)? If so, oops. Sorry. Didn't mean it. Couldn't help it.
What's the problem with this video all of a sudden? It's freezing up like last Friday's stream. At least I can hear the audio, if all I'm seeing is a slide show. Thank goodness it's a stoppage in play. I don't need to see fans dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe".
Play has resumed, and so has the video stream, thank goodness. Unfortunately, with one minute remaining in the game, we have given up 38 SOG for the ninth game in a row. It's awfully hard to win games when our opponent is getting that many opportunities on our net.
There goes the final horn. The Phantoms have been shut out for the second consecutive game.
We went 1-4 on this extended road trip. At the halfway point of the season, we have a record of 20-18-1-1.
I'll be back with the recap and box score when they're finalized and available online.
Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Second Period
The game has resumed, the penalty has expired, the score remains 0-0, the little kid who's being shown in closeup on the arenavision is cute and looking at the huge slice of pizza she's eating is making me hungry.
Oh, and the Phantoms are about to get their first PP of the game. Ross, Sirianni, Szwez, Curry, and Syvret are our first PP unit. We are creating chances, which I like to see, but dang it, we did eventually got a pass intercepted. Teslak made a nice stop on a shorthanded chance, then handed off the puck to our D so we wouldn't have to get a faceoff in our zone. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Maroon, DeSantis, and (I can't see our other defenseman) are our second PP unit.
The Monsters did kill their penalty, but they also iced the puck, meaning that we were able to change lines but they had to keep their guys on the ice.
Szwez just got freaking STONED by the Monsters' goalie Weiman. Doggone, what a save. Ross's rebound went right to Szwez, and he took two SOG, on which he was downright robbed. Oh, look at who's on the Monsters -- our former Phantom Jesse Boulerice. Cool.
The people in charge of the Lake Erie arenavision have GOT to stop putting noise meters and fans on the screen WHILE PLAY IS IN PROGRESS. It's stupendously aggravating to have non-play-related images on the screen for 5-10 seconds after the play-by-play has resumed.
I'm actually surprised that the Lake Erie player didn't get called for delay of game here, as he skated STRAIGHT into his net during a multiple-shot-on-goal sequence for the Phantoms. It didn't really appear that he made any attempt to avoid hitting the net and knocking it way off its moorings.
Well, anyway, nothing was called, and we're approximately halfway through the period. The score remains 0-0 and if I heard right, the shots are even at 22 apiece.
Blah. The freaking Monsters did manage to score on the shift following that announcement. Rats. I was trying to figure out why the Lake Erie Monsters, whose jersey shows a sea monster (or lake monster, really), have a mascot working the crowd that's a... bald eagle? While the freaking arenavision was focusing on said mascot, play resumed and the Monsters scored. 1-0, Monsters.
Here goes another penalty against the Phantoms -- holding the stick against Matsumoto. Lake Erie's PP has not been particularly effective this year -- 12%, according to our announcer. (I spent the first intermission battling to get the Philly audio instead of the Lake Erie audio, and eventually succeeded.) Unfortunately, Lake Erie started getting multiple chances in quick succession, and it cost us. I'm still trying to determine if the goal went in during the PP or immediately after the penalty expired. Either way, the score is now 2-0 Monsters.
I just checked the box score during a break in play -- the second Monsters goal came one second after the penalty expired. The eagle mascot is tobogganing down the arena stairs, and the faceoff is in progress (but we still haven't cut over to the action on the ice).
LOL. They're showing the arena keyboard player with a caption, "He's what Willis was talking about". Bwahaha! Now if they could just get the darn cameras cut over to the play once the teams line up for the faceoff, instead of dawdling, I could get to like these arenavision operators.
The second period is now over. The Monsters lead 2-0, and the SOG are Lake Erie 25, Phantoms 24.
Oh, and the Phantoms are about to get their first PP of the game. Ross, Sirianni, Szwez, Curry, and Syvret are our first PP unit. We are creating chances, which I like to see, but dang it, we did eventually got a pass intercepted. Teslak made a nice stop on a shorthanded chance, then handed off the puck to our D so we wouldn't have to get a faceoff in our zone. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Maroon, DeSantis, and (I can't see our other defenseman) are our second PP unit.
The Monsters did kill their penalty, but they also iced the puck, meaning that we were able to change lines but they had to keep their guys on the ice.
Szwez just got freaking STONED by the Monsters' goalie Weiman. Doggone, what a save. Ross's rebound went right to Szwez, and he took two SOG, on which he was downright robbed. Oh, look at who's on the Monsters -- our former Phantom Jesse Boulerice. Cool.
The people in charge of the Lake Erie arenavision have GOT to stop putting noise meters and fans on the screen WHILE PLAY IS IN PROGRESS. It's stupendously aggravating to have non-play-related images on the screen for 5-10 seconds after the play-by-play has resumed.
I'm actually surprised that the Lake Erie player didn't get called for delay of game here, as he skated STRAIGHT into his net during a multiple-shot-on-goal sequence for the Phantoms. It didn't really appear that he made any attempt to avoid hitting the net and knocking it way off its moorings.
Well, anyway, nothing was called, and we're approximately halfway through the period. The score remains 0-0 and if I heard right, the shots are even at 22 apiece.
Blah. The freaking Monsters did manage to score on the shift following that announcement. Rats. I was trying to figure out why the Lake Erie Monsters, whose jersey shows a sea monster (or lake monster, really), have a mascot working the crowd that's a... bald eagle? While the freaking arenavision was focusing on said mascot, play resumed and the Monsters scored. 1-0, Monsters.
Here goes another penalty against the Phantoms -- holding the stick against Matsumoto. Lake Erie's PP has not been particularly effective this year -- 12%, according to our announcer. (I spent the first intermission battling to get the Philly audio instead of the Lake Erie audio, and eventually succeeded.) Unfortunately, Lake Erie started getting multiple chances in quick succession, and it cost us. I'm still trying to determine if the goal went in during the PP or immediately after the penalty expired. Either way, the score is now 2-0 Monsters.
I just checked the box score during a break in play -- the second Monsters goal came one second after the penalty expired. The eagle mascot is tobogganing down the arena stairs, and the faceoff is in progress (but we still haven't cut over to the action on the ice).
LOL. They're showing the arena keyboard player with a caption, "He's what Willis was talking about". Bwahaha! Now if they could just get the darn cameras cut over to the play once the teams line up for the faceoff, instead of dawdling, I could get to like these arenavision operators.
The second period is now over. The Monsters lead 2-0, and the SOG are Lake Erie 25, Phantoms 24.
Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: First Period
I have been having a ton of issues trying to get the Phantoms audio on this gamecast instead of the Lake Erie (Cleveland) audio. I have finally given up on it and am watching the game with the home team's announcer instead of our own. It's infuriating that the ability to get the road team's audio with the cybercast appears to be malfunctioning this weekend.
Anyway... it's extremely late in the first period, and the score is currently 0-0. It has not been a penalty-fest, as it took until a few minutes ago before the first penalties were called, and even then it was coincidental minors.
Now, however, with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first period, the Lake Erie Monsters will be granted the first PP of the game. Mike Ratchuk will go. LMHO, the Lake Erie screen just showed a little blurb of information about Ratchuk: according to them, he has a pet mouse which he brings on roadtrips. :) Cute!
The first period has ended witih a 0-0 score. There will be a small amount of PK time remaining for the Phantoms at the start of the second period.
Anyway... it's extremely late in the first period, and the score is currently 0-0. It has not been a penalty-fest, as it took until a few minutes ago before the first penalties were called, and even then it was coincidental minors.
Now, however, with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first period, the Lake Erie Monsters will be granted the first PP of the game. Mike Ratchuk will go. LMHO, the Lake Erie screen just showed a little blurb of information about Ratchuk: according to them, he has a pet mouse which he brings on roadtrips. :) Cute!
The first period has ended witih a 0-0 score. There will be a small amount of PK time remaining for the Phantoms at the start of the second period.
Phantoms at Grand Rapids 1-10-09: Griffins Take the Rematch
I completely missed Saturday's rematch in Grand Rapids due to not being at home. However, speaking from the standpoint of content on the Phantoms' side of the box score, I fear I didn't miss a whole lot. The Griffins shut out the Phantoms, 4-0, putting an end to our win streak after one game.
Here is the link to the game recap, and here is a link to the box score.
I can't offer a lot of opinions about a game I was unable to watch, except to say that once again, our goaltender was bombarded with shots. Teslak stopped 44 out of 48. We have got to figure out what is wrong, that we have had a long number of games in a row where we have given up excessively high numbers of shots on goal. And then we have to remedy that. We can't live in our end of the ice and expect to win games... we have got to start being the team doing the bombarding of the opposing netminder.
Anyway, on to posting about today's game, which I will attempt to do live (even though I can't seem to get the Philadelphia audio on the freaking gamecast again -- freaking AHL Live has Gremlins again). Go Phantoms!
Here is the link to the game recap, and here is a link to the box score.
I can't offer a lot of opinions about a game I was unable to watch, except to say that once again, our goaltender was bombarded with shots. Teslak stopped 44 out of 48. We have got to figure out what is wrong, that we have had a long number of games in a row where we have given up excessively high numbers of shots on goal. And then we have to remedy that. We can't live in our end of the ice and expect to win games... we have got to start being the team doing the bombarding of the opposing netminder.
Anyway, on to posting about today's game, which I will attempt to do live (even though I can't seem to get the Philadelphia audio on the freaking gamecast again -- freaking AHL Live has Gremlins again). Go Phantoms!
Phantoms at Grand Rapids 1-9-09: FINALLY a win! Recap and Box Score
Due to not being available to post last night, I got a bit behind in posting. However, the good news is that the Phantoms won Friday night's game in 4-3 OT, so the Evil Losing Streak is officially over.
The online video streaming problems were either never repaired, or repaired after I gave up on them, so I couldn't live-blog Friday's game.
However, here is the link to the game recap on the Phantoms site, and here is the link to the box score.
It's unfortunate that Teslak wasn't honored as one of the three stars, as from what I can gather, he made a couple of ten-bell saves without which we'd never have reached OT in the first place. So kudos to him.
I'll create a separate post about Saturday's game, which I missed entirely, before moving on to posting about the game today (Sunday).
The online video streaming problems were either never repaired, or repaired after I gave up on them, so I couldn't live-blog Friday's game.
However, here is the link to the game recap on the Phantoms site, and here is the link to the box score.
It's unfortunate that Teslak wasn't honored as one of the three stars, as from what I can gather, he made a couple of ten-bell saves without which we'd never have reached OT in the first place. So kudos to him.
I'll create a separate post about Saturday's game, which I missed entirely, before moving on to posting about the game today (Sunday).
Friday, January 9, 2009
Phantoms at Grand Rapids 1-9-09: Connectivity problems
Boy, what a FRIGHTFUL connection we have tonight. I have missed most of the broadcast so far, on hold with the AHL Live Chat tech support.
The only thing I can discern, between the bits and drabs of video that are coming up, is that Szwez/Downey fought in the first few seconds of the game, and that there was another fight a few minutes ago.
I can't seem to access the Phantoms audio no matter what I do, and the video is more like a slide show than video.
AHL Live tech support said that there are some streaming issues at the arena, that the road team audio is available by radio, and that there are problems with the video. Um... yeah, I can confirm that diagnosis.
I hope they get the Gremlins out of the connection. As the game stands now, this is literally unwatchable.
To wit, the frozen-video stream jumped back into action just in time to show us the Griffins get a goal. The Grand Rapids announcer -- did I mention that the Philly audio is not available in combination with the video tonight? -- said that the Griffins have "tied the game at 1-1". Um, 1-1? I didn't even know the Phantoms had scored. The screen was frozen for that part of the game, I guess.
Well, I hope the Phantoms score more goals, whether I can see them or not. But I sure would rather see them.
The only thing I can discern, between the bits and drabs of video that are coming up, is that Szwez/Downey fought in the first few seconds of the game, and that there was another fight a few minutes ago.
I can't seem to access the Phantoms audio no matter what I do, and the video is more like a slide show than video.
AHL Live tech support said that there are some streaming issues at the arena, that the road team audio is available by radio, and that there are problems with the video. Um... yeah, I can confirm that diagnosis.
I hope they get the Gremlins out of the connection. As the game stands now, this is literally unwatchable.
To wit, the frozen-video stream jumped back into action just in time to show us the Griffins get a goal. The Grand Rapids announcer -- did I mention that the Philly audio is not available in combination with the video tonight? -- said that the Griffins have "tied the game at 1-1". Um, 1-1? I didn't even know the Phantoms had scored. The screen was frozen for that part of the game, I guess.
Well, I hope the Phantoms score more goals, whether I can see them or not. But I sure would rather see them.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: Recap and Box Score; AHL All-Star Selections
Here is the link to the recap of the game from the Phantoms site.
And here is the link to the box score.
On a more upbeat note, congratulations to Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret of the Phantoms, who were named to the AHL's Team Canada All-Star team on Tuesday. This follows on the heels of Giroux's being named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December.
Giroux is currently on callup to the Flyers, so he'll only be able to participate in the All-Star events if they send him back down. I hope they do that for him, even if it means calling him right back up the moment the game is over. I think it'd be a great experience for him to be there.
And here is the link to the box score.
On a more upbeat note, congratulations to Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret of the Phantoms, who were named to the AHL's Team Canada All-Star team on Tuesday. This follows on the heels of Giroux's being named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December.
Giroux is currently on callup to the Flyers, so he'll only be able to participate in the All-Star events if they send him back down. I hope they do that for him, even if it means calling him right back up the moment the game is over. I think it'd be a great experience for him to be there.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: Third Period
There has been a ton of back-and-forth during this period. That tends to make me nervous, because historically neither the Phantoms nor the Flyers have been teams prone to playing that sort of river hockey. There have been a lot of examples of this kind of play in recent Phantoms games; however, none of said games have resulted in wins. So I would just as soon see us find some ways to control the pace of the game enough to prevent these end-to-end-to-end sequences from happening.
Case in point: after a great chance by Maroon, the Bulldogs brought it back and Kemp, on a shot that may have been deflected, increased Hamilton's lead to 4-1. They did give Kemp credt for the goal, so apparently the powers-that-be have decided that the shot was not deflected. Either way, the hole that the Phantoms need to climb out of has just gotten a bit deeper.
We're currently shorthanded, with Bartulis in the box. I'm pleased to see us clearing the puck with authority, repeatedly. Boy, do I welcome the return of THAT aspect of our game.
TESLAK -- what a great couple of blocks he made at the very end of that PK! Good job!
Meanwhile, on my TV screen, the Flyers are going into a shootout vs. the Capitals. Have I mentioned recently that I BLEEPING LOATHE SHOOTOUTS? I see no logic to ending a team game with a one-on-one skills competition. So as far as I'm concerned, the Flyers/Caps game ended in a tie, and they are competing for a bonus point in a skills competition.
OK, then, back to the Phantoms game. There's a surprisingly long pause on the ice while Jeff Szwez gets sent off for slashing. I don't know if it was a TV timeout or what it was, but that stoppage in play took a lot longer than I'd expected.
Teslak just made another pair of great saves, both on Lehoux. Who, speaking of Lehoux, just got sent off for slashing. We'll be playing at 4 on 4 for a little while, with 4:17 left in the third period. After that, we'll have a 1:15 PP of our own.
Maroon to Clackson, whose shot gets stopped, but MAROOOOON gets the rebound and buries one with 44.8 seconds remaining! The score is now 4-2. Maroon gets the goal, assisted by Clackson and Ratchuk.
With six seconds remaining, we get coincidental minors to Maroon and Beauregard.
Unfortunately, we could draw no closer to tying the game than that. We go down 4-2 to the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Flyers lost also, 2-1 in a shootout. So this wasn't an ideal night for Philly hockey fans, for sure.
We have a few more contests left in this road trip, where I hope we will work out the bugs in our game and break this seven-game winless streak.
Case in point: after a great chance by Maroon, the Bulldogs brought it back and Kemp, on a shot that may have been deflected, increased Hamilton's lead to 4-1. They did give Kemp credt for the goal, so apparently the powers-that-be have decided that the shot was not deflected. Either way, the hole that the Phantoms need to climb out of has just gotten a bit deeper.
We're currently shorthanded, with Bartulis in the box. I'm pleased to see us clearing the puck with authority, repeatedly. Boy, do I welcome the return of THAT aspect of our game.
TESLAK -- what a great couple of blocks he made at the very end of that PK! Good job!
Meanwhile, on my TV screen, the Flyers are going into a shootout vs. the Capitals. Have I mentioned recently that I BLEEPING LOATHE SHOOTOUTS? I see no logic to ending a team game with a one-on-one skills competition. So as far as I'm concerned, the Flyers/Caps game ended in a tie, and they are competing for a bonus point in a skills competition.
OK, then, back to the Phantoms game. There's a surprisingly long pause on the ice while Jeff Szwez gets sent off for slashing. I don't know if it was a TV timeout or what it was, but that stoppage in play took a lot longer than I'd expected.
Teslak just made another pair of great saves, both on Lehoux. Who, speaking of Lehoux, just got sent off for slashing. We'll be playing at 4 on 4 for a little while, with 4:17 left in the third period. After that, we'll have a 1:15 PP of our own.
Maroon to Clackson, whose shot gets stopped, but MAROOOOON gets the rebound and buries one with 44.8 seconds remaining! The score is now 4-2. Maroon gets the goal, assisted by Clackson and Ratchuk.
With six seconds remaining, we get coincidental minors to Maroon and Beauregard.
Unfortunately, we could draw no closer to tying the game than that. We go down 4-2 to the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Flyers lost also, 2-1 in a shootout. So this wasn't an ideal night for Philly hockey fans, for sure.
We have a few more contests left in this road trip, where I hope we will work out the bugs in our game and break this seven-game winless streak.
Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09; Second Period
Early in the second period, there seems to be an issue with the ice. They're sending out for a bucket of snow, I presume from what the Zamboni shaved off during the intermission, and are repairing an area all along the boards near the hash marks with it. The snow has been applied, and they are following up with a dose of water to freeze it over.
After giving the touched-up area enough time to freeze over, play was allowed to resume.
Now, BOTH Phantoms alumni are on the ice for Hamilton: Gainey and Anderson.
To my surprise, the Bulldogs' shot on goal over three minutes into the period was the first shot of the second frame for either team.
While we are getting set up in the Bulldogs zone, Bellamy gets hauled down, no call. On the same shift, Klotz gets shoved to the ice: no call. Boy, I hope that we get the same measure of leniency if one of our defenders takes down a Hamilton player.
Here we go -- now there IS someone else from Hamilton getting called for hooking, a couple of plays later. This is the Phantoms' second PP of the game. Ross is out with Szwez, Sirianni, Curry, and Syvret. CURRY!!! He scores with a huge bomb from the left point -- NICE job! And it's a pleasure to see our powerplay actually looking potent again -- this is the first game in a while that we looked in-control from the first drop of the puck with the man advantage. Curry gets the goal, with assists from Syvret and Sirianni. That assist puts Syvret back into a tie for the lead-scoring AHL defenseman. 2-1, Hamilton.
During a protracted stoppage in play, our announcer mentioned that we have six players on recall to the Flyers: Munroe, Nodl, Gratton, Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Some of the above-mentioned guys are injured -- Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Gratton missed some time with a hand injury, as well -- this blogger would like to see the Flyers stop breaking our guys once they call them up.
Laliberte is getting sent off for tripping, resulting in the bulldogs' third PP of the night. Syvret proceeds to clear the puck out. The Bulldogs come back in, but the Phantoms are doing a goo job of keeping them from getting set up. Out it goes, thanks to Beaulieu and BTW, welcome back to our PK unit, Josh. Hamilton did manage to generate some scoring opportunities, but the Phantoms defended well.
The penalty is over, but lo and behold, we are getting sent to the box once again. It's Syvret this time. Curry and Matsumoto are creating a shorthanded rush, during which we weren't able to get a shot off -- but we did manage to whittle some seconds off this shorthanded stint, so I'll take it.
Once the Bulldogs got the puck back down to our end, we had some issues getting it cleared again. The puck bounced off Koharski at one point, to which I grumble, "MOVE, will you?" Bad enough we have a deficit of skaters on the ice; we don't need an official to create additional obstacles for us to overcome. Three Phantoms in front of Teslak were not enough to keep the rebound from going to Steve Gainey, and the Bulldogs are now ahead 3-1 with their second PP goal of the game.
With 2:34 left in the second period, the Phantoms are getting a PP -- we really, really need to cash this opportunity in. Unfortunately, Hamilton cleared the puck out, and pursued it with us into our end, resulting in a game of keep-away at our half-boards. Eventually we get ourselves in position in the Bullogs end, albeit with half the man-advantage gone. We are cycling the puck, and while I don't mind seeing us control the puck, I would like to see us direct the disk on net since we're not going to score too effectively by passing around the perimeter.
We did end the period having taken the same number of shots in this frame as the Bulldogs did: 9. We also scored one goal apiece. The score at the end of two periods is Hamilton 3, Phantoms 1.
After giving the touched-up area enough time to freeze over, play was allowed to resume.
Now, BOTH Phantoms alumni are on the ice for Hamilton: Gainey and Anderson.
To my surprise, the Bulldogs' shot on goal over three minutes into the period was the first shot of the second frame for either team.
While we are getting set up in the Bulldogs zone, Bellamy gets hauled down, no call. On the same shift, Klotz gets shoved to the ice: no call. Boy, I hope that we get the same measure of leniency if one of our defenders takes down a Hamilton player.
Here we go -- now there IS someone else from Hamilton getting called for hooking, a couple of plays later. This is the Phantoms' second PP of the game. Ross is out with Szwez, Sirianni, Curry, and Syvret. CURRY!!! He scores with a huge bomb from the left point -- NICE job! And it's a pleasure to see our powerplay actually looking potent again -- this is the first game in a while that we looked in-control from the first drop of the puck with the man advantage. Curry gets the goal, with assists from Syvret and Sirianni. That assist puts Syvret back into a tie for the lead-scoring AHL defenseman. 2-1, Hamilton.
During a protracted stoppage in play, our announcer mentioned that we have six players on recall to the Flyers: Munroe, Nodl, Gratton, Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Some of the above-mentioned guys are injured -- Giroux, Kalinski, and Powe. Gratton missed some time with a hand injury, as well -- this blogger would like to see the Flyers stop breaking our guys once they call them up.
Laliberte is getting sent off for tripping, resulting in the bulldogs' third PP of the night. Syvret proceeds to clear the puck out. The Bulldogs come back in, but the Phantoms are doing a goo job of keeping them from getting set up. Out it goes, thanks to Beaulieu and BTW, welcome back to our PK unit, Josh. Hamilton did manage to generate some scoring opportunities, but the Phantoms defended well.
The penalty is over, but lo and behold, we are getting sent to the box once again. It's Syvret this time. Curry and Matsumoto are creating a shorthanded rush, during which we weren't able to get a shot off -- but we did manage to whittle some seconds off this shorthanded stint, so I'll take it.
Once the Bulldogs got the puck back down to our end, we had some issues getting it cleared again. The puck bounced off Koharski at one point, to which I grumble, "MOVE, will you?" Bad enough we have a deficit of skaters on the ice; we don't need an official to create additional obstacles for us to overcome. Three Phantoms in front of Teslak were not enough to keep the rebound from going to Steve Gainey, and the Bulldogs are now ahead 3-1 with their second PP goal of the game.
With 2:34 left in the second period, the Phantoms are getting a PP -- we really, really need to cash this opportunity in. Unfortunately, Hamilton cleared the puck out, and pursued it with us into our end, resulting in a game of keep-away at our half-boards. Eventually we get ourselves in position in the Bullogs end, albeit with half the man-advantage gone. We are cycling the puck, and while I don't mind seeing us control the puck, I would like to see us direct the disk on net since we're not going to score too effectively by passing around the perimeter.
We did end the period having taken the same number of shots in this frame as the Bulldogs did: 9. We also scored one goal apiece. The score at the end of two periods is Hamilton 3, Phantoms 1.
Phantoms @ Hamilton Bulldogs 1-6-09: First Period
Oh, how much did it make my day (not) to hear that Jamie Koharski is our ref? I guess I can't carp too loudly, as we have only seen him a few times so far this season. (Thank God.)
Apparently, Teslak had a little brain lock moment at the end of the US national anthem. He forgot that as we're in Canada, we still had one more anthem to go before he could replace his mask and get ready to play. :)
Former Phantom Chad Anderson is in the Bulldogs lineup. And another former Phantom, Steve Gainey (son of Bob Gainey), has been signed to a PTO by Hamilton.
The Phantoms have gotten an early PP, but although we got set up in the Hamilton zone, we weren't able to open the scoring during the man advantage.
Unfortunately, a few minutes after that, the Phantoms were victimized by a protracted mad scramble in front of our net. The rat fink puck just wouldn't cooperate with anybody not wearing a Bullogs sweater, and the end result was a puck in the Phantoms net. 1-0, Bulldogs.
I see Beaulieu on the ice, which is good news. There's one player that we've gotten back from injury.
We're about to go on the PK, as Klotz has gone off for boarding.
We survived that shorthanded situation, as well as a curious stoppage of play that happened while we were on the attack. Nobody, including the officials, seemed to be able to discern why, exactly, play was stopped. (See my grumbling in the first paragraph.) Matsumoto questioned the officials as to why the faceoff was about to be moved out of our zone, causing them to confer and correct that decision. The faceoff was held where it belonged, INSIDE the Bulldogs zone.
We just had another alarming scramble in front of our net where if the Hamilton player had been able to raise the puck, he'd have put it in easily. Thank goodness the puck was being ornery again.
While we were shorthanded, with Matsumoto in the sin bin, Yannick Lehoux just BLASTED a slapshot past Teslak. He ripped that puck, which caught the crossbar and deflected down into the net. 2-0, Bad Guys.
Meanwhile, one of our guys gets hauled down right in front of the referee, who just stands and watches. No call. As long as he is equally lenient to both teams, I'll keep my peace.
Today, two Phantoms were named to the Canadian All-Stars: Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret. I'm pleased for them. This presumes, of course, that Giroux is sent back down by the Flyers in time for him to play in the game. I'd have liked to see Scott Munroe get chosen as well, but then again All-Star games ten to be flat-out murder on goalies. So maybe it's to the team's advantage that we're not sending our starting goaltender to be bombarded by a bazillion shots in an exhibition game where defense is practically unheard of.
At the end of the first period, the SOG count is Phantoms 5, Bulldogs 15. So I guess our goaltenders are getting bombarded by zillions of shots anyway... but at least it's a Real Game that they're getting this kind of workout during, not an exhibition.
The score is currently Hamilton 2, Phantoms 0.
Apparently, Teslak had a little brain lock moment at the end of the US national anthem. He forgot that as we're in Canada, we still had one more anthem to go before he could replace his mask and get ready to play. :)
Former Phantom Chad Anderson is in the Bulldogs lineup. And another former Phantom, Steve Gainey (son of Bob Gainey), has been signed to a PTO by Hamilton.
The Phantoms have gotten an early PP, but although we got set up in the Hamilton zone, we weren't able to open the scoring during the man advantage.
Unfortunately, a few minutes after that, the Phantoms were victimized by a protracted mad scramble in front of our net. The rat fink puck just wouldn't cooperate with anybody not wearing a Bullogs sweater, and the end result was a puck in the Phantoms net. 1-0, Bulldogs.
I see Beaulieu on the ice, which is good news. There's one player that we've gotten back from injury.
We're about to go on the PK, as Klotz has gone off for boarding.
We survived that shorthanded situation, as well as a curious stoppage of play that happened while we were on the attack. Nobody, including the officials, seemed to be able to discern why, exactly, play was stopped. (See my grumbling in the first paragraph.) Matsumoto questioned the officials as to why the faceoff was about to be moved out of our zone, causing them to confer and correct that decision. The faceoff was held where it belonged, INSIDE the Bulldogs zone.
We just had another alarming scramble in front of our net where if the Hamilton player had been able to raise the puck, he'd have put it in easily. Thank goodness the puck was being ornery again.
While we were shorthanded, with Matsumoto in the sin bin, Yannick Lehoux just BLASTED a slapshot past Teslak. He ripped that puck, which caught the crossbar and deflected down into the net. 2-0, Bad Guys.
Meanwhile, one of our guys gets hauled down right in front of the referee, who just stands and watches. No call. As long as he is equally lenient to both teams, I'll keep my peace.
Today, two Phantoms were named to the Canadian All-Stars: Claude Giroux and Danny Syvret. I'm pleased for them. This presumes, of course, that Giroux is sent back down by the Flyers in time for him to play in the game. I'd have liked to see Scott Munroe get chosen as well, but then again All-Star games ten to be flat-out murder on goalies. So maybe it's to the team's advantage that we're not sending our starting goaltender to be bombarded by a bazillion shots in an exhibition game where defense is practically unheard of.
At the end of the first period, the SOG count is Phantoms 5, Bulldogs 15. So I guess our goaltenders are getting bombarded by zillions of shots anyway... but at least it's a Real Game that they're getting this kind of workout during, not an exhibition.
The score is currently Hamilton 2, Phantoms 0.
Monday, January 5, 2009
It's official: Munroe and Nodl are recalled to the Flyers
The Flyers have recalled Scott Munroe and Andreas Nodl. Click here for the article on Yahoo Sports.
Phantoms at Toronto Marlies 1-3-09: Recaps and Box Scores and Callups, oh my!
I was not able to watch Saturday's Phantoms/Marlies game online. However, the unfortunate results were that we gave up a hat trick to Max Taylor en route to a 6-1 loss. None of the numbers in this game are pretty. Not the final score, not the number of shots we gave up, not the fact that Aubin's first game time since he got injured in late November involved his giving up three goals in the first period, and replaced by Munroe at the start of the second. Here's the link to the recap on the Phantoms site. And if you need to see hard statistics, then here's the link to the box score.
But the fun doesn't stop there. I was looking at some Flyers-related articles on Yahoo! earlier today. All I can say is, "Here comes the test of our goaltending and of the guys in front of the goalie."
Flyers Injuries Article 1
Furthermore:
Flyers Injuries Article 2
Aubin has no choice but to get his rear in gear ASAP. He was fighting the puck in more games than not BEFORE he got hurt. Then he missed a good six weeks due to injury. His return to the ice last Saturday was somewhat less than stellar, as he gave up three goals on 12 shots in the first period of the game. Following that, it was Munroe who led the team out of the tunnel to start the second and third periods.
Well, now Aubin has got to pull himself together, and backstop a decimated Phantoms lineup out of this losing streak. Yes, we've been hit hard by the injury and callup bugs. Yes, the Flyers keep freakin' calling up our guys and then breaking them (Powe, Kalinski, AND Giroux are all hurt). Time to muddle through and get some ugly wins, preferably of the low-scoring variety since so much of our firepower is either on the IR, or with the Flyers (and on the IR).
If I didn't think he could do it, I wouldn't be writing this post. But this is one of those "crunch time" moments in an athlete's career. It's the sort of challenge that kids dream of conquering, and anyone in any sort of competition has nightmares about falling short in. Here's hoping that J-S comes through on the "conquering" side of the equation.
I presume we will see Teslak returned here for the duration of Munroe's callup, particularly since he got moved to the Sea Wolves where they didn't exactly have a goalie shortage to begin with.
But the fun doesn't stop there. I was looking at some Flyers-related articles on Yahoo! earlier today. All I can say is, "Here comes the test of our goaltending and of the guys in front of the goalie."
Flyers Injuries Article 1
Right wing Joffrey Lupul will miss at least two weeks with a pulled abdominal muscle he sustained in Friday’s win over Anaheim, and backup goaltender Antero Niittymaki will miss at least a week with a strained a groin muscle he sustained in a 2-1 shootout loss at Los Angeles on Saturday.
Furthermore:
Flyers Injuries Article 2
The latest news concerns goalie Antero Niittymaki. According to Holmgren, Niittymaki suffered a groin injury in the shootout loss in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The injury was not disclosed right away and he did not leave the game, playing injured in the overtime and shootout. But he is doubtful for tomorrow night in Washington and the team will not say anything more before today at the earliest. Scott Munroe will be called up from the Phantoms to take Niittymaki's place on the bench, but for how long no one knows.
Aubin has no choice but to get his rear in gear ASAP. He was fighting the puck in more games than not BEFORE he got hurt. Then he missed a good six weeks due to injury. His return to the ice last Saturday was somewhat less than stellar, as he gave up three goals on 12 shots in the first period of the game. Following that, it was Munroe who led the team out of the tunnel to start the second and third periods.
Well, now Aubin has got to pull himself together, and backstop a decimated Phantoms lineup out of this losing streak. Yes, we've been hit hard by the injury and callup bugs. Yes, the Flyers keep freakin' calling up our guys and then breaking them (Powe, Kalinski, AND Giroux are all hurt). Time to muddle through and get some ugly wins, preferably of the low-scoring variety since so much of our firepower is either on the IR, or with the Flyers (and on the IR).
If I didn't think he could do it, I wouldn't be writing this post. But this is one of those "crunch time" moments in an athlete's career. It's the sort of challenge that kids dream of conquering, and anyone in any sort of competition has nightmares about falling short in. Here's hoping that J-S comes through on the "conquering" side of the equation.
I presume we will see Teslak returned here for the duration of Munroe's callup, particularly since he got moved to the Sea Wolves where they didn't exactly have a goalie shortage to begin with.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Phantoms vs. Bridgport Sound Tigers 1-2-09: Recap and Box Score
Here is the link to Friday's Phantoms/Sound Tigers game recap on the Phantoms site.
And here is the link to the game's box score.
I will not be able to live-blog the Phantoms @ Marlies game today. However, I will be able to blog about it after the game.
But let me just say that I do have the game on at the moment, and we have given up a PP goal early. The game is tied at 1-1, but it's a source of concern to me that we have been scored on in our last three penalty kills (the final two last night, and the first one today). Here's hoping we tighten that up ASAP. We have a long road trip in progress, so we can just concern ourselves with playing a nice, boring-style, back-to-basics road game and get our special teams back to the way they were performing until the final week or two of December.
Go Phantoms!
And here is the link to the game's box score.
I will not be able to live-blog the Phantoms @ Marlies game today. However, I will be able to blog about it after the game.
But let me just say that I do have the game on at the moment, and we have given up a PP goal early. The game is tied at 1-1, but it's a source of concern to me that we have been scored on in our last three penalty kills (the final two last night, and the first one today). Here's hoping we tighten that up ASAP. We have a long road trip in progress, so we can just concern ourselves with playing a nice, boring-style, back-to-basics road game and get our special teams back to the way they were performing until the final week or two of December.
Go Phantoms!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1-2-09: Third Period, OT
Munroe made a fantasti save early, to preserve our lead. :) I'm thinking, as I have posted on several other games already this season, that Muny is turning in a star-worthy performance tonight.
I was surprised a little while ago when, during a scrum at the boards behind the Phantoms net, all five Phantoms skaters were involved, but numbers 3 and 4 on the Sound Tigers were way back at our blue line watching what was transpiring. That's not what I expect to see from any team, the leaving of their teammates to e outnumbered in a multi-player shoving match. And if I saw two of our guys leave three teammates to the mercies of five opposing guys, I would be ranting like anything about it.
But nothing much happened in the scrum anyhow -- no fights or penalties ensued. And we are back at work now, trying to get set up in the Bridgeport end. Yet again, that has proven to be easier said than done. YO, go Muny, he deflected a dangerous bouncing puck away from the goal. Those knuckle-pucks are a challenge, for sure.
After a commercial timeout, we are ready to have a faceoff in our end. Raduns was replaced by Maroon in the faceoff circle. It took us a couple tries to get the puck out, but in a few moments, the Sound Tigers carried it right back in. We are going to have to withstand a heavy-duty charge from Bridgeport, as they are desperate to even the score with ess than nime minutes to play. Even better, I would like to see us being the ones to dictate the goings-on and pressure the Sound Tigers for a while. We can start by winning this faceoff in front of the Sound Tigers net, which we did. Matsumoto, Szwez, and Lalierte are out with Ratchuk and Curry. I can't believe this line hasn't scored yet tonight, given the way they have been best at evading the Bridgeport defenders. Well, they still have time. :) Ross just knocked 44 off the puck, resulting in Maroon's retrieving the puck and takign a shot on goal. Danis froze it, so we earned an offensive-zone draw from it. All from Ross knocking one guy off the puck... If anyone ever needs to explain or give examples how one event can lead to a chain of several others in quick succession, I suggest that the instructor make use of any hocey game tape. They'll find a plethora of examples to illustrate their point.
HOW did Parent "interfere" with a guy when said guy HAD THE FREAKING PUCK... Nygel P. strikes again. And what do you know, the flipping Sound Tigers score right off the faceoff. Thanks, Nygel, you nimrod, for the stupidest penalty of the night. So far, anyway. The game isn't over yet. Phantoms 1, Referee 1.
Raduns/Clackson/Maroon are out. Next faceoff, it's Matsumoto's lne again. Boy, if we eer needed a line to create a scoring opportunity, it would e now. There's 3:38 left in the game, and the score is tied. The SOG are Phantoms 23, Sound Tigers 32.
Next, Ross/Nodl/Sirianni. NICE GLOVE SAVE by MUNROE, he batted it aside with his mitt. That was as timely a stop as we've seen tonight, and we have seen a bunch of them. A Bridgeport player shooting from the top of our slot just nailed one of his teammates. The puck bounced to one of our own guys, so now we are in the Sound Tigers end trying to retake the lead. (The Sound Tiger wasn't injured, fortunately.) We came darn cose to a goal with a mad scramble in front of the Bridgeport net, but the Danis was right there to reject whatever came his way.
Last minute of the period. Ross's lne is buzzing in the Bridgeport endd, but no luck. Now the Sound Tigers are rushing back. Munroe snared the shot and hung on for a faceoff with 4.8 left in the third period. I can't believe we are this close to giving up a point to a divisional rival because of that IDIOTIC freaking penalty... GRRR.
Oh, well. The third period is over. The score is 1-1 and the SOG are Phantoms 25, Sound Tigers, 36.
Ross and Nodl are out with Parent and Syvret. Ross rushes the puck up the left wing, but the dump-in gets stopped behind the Sound Tigers net. There we go with chain reactions again. The shot that Munroe saved led to another shot, which we retrieved and rushed up the ice. That drew a penalty and the Phantoms are about to embark on a one-minute PP, as soon as our 30-second timeout is complete. The AHL is trying out one-minute minor penalties during OTs this year. Ross and Maroon are out with Curry and Syvret. Maroon just got nailed by a high shot and startled me when he dropped like a tree. Fortunately, he bounced right back up. We have 40 seconds left in this PP. Curry has the puck at the to of the slot, Syvret shot through a uge crowd, but somehow Danis tracked the puck through everyone and managed to freeze it. Matsumoto and Laliberte came out for the fina few seconds of the PP, along with parent and Bartulis soon after we returned to even stremgth. Now the forwards are Raduns and ryan. Munroe smacked down another shot on goal, and Ryan is now hounding a Sound Tiger in the Bridgeport end. We're trying to get a line change accomplished... And we do. Nod/Ross/Parent/Bartulis are out and in our zone. We have just over two mintues left, and Ross is tring to blast through tree Bridgeport players to get a shot. Incredibly, he DOES get through them, though he takes a spill and bounces back up.
Good old Nygel, here we go. He's sending Nodl off with 1:37 left, o we will be shorthanded for a minute. Bridgeport is now using their 30-second timeout.
Our PK unit will be Ross, Syvret, and Parent. Parent blocked a shot. The next puck clanged incredibly LOUDly off the post. Ross broke his stick stopping the next shot , but he proceeded to drop to a knee and stop yet another one.
Unfortunately, eventually the puck went out to a Sound Tiger in ther ight faceoff circle, and he scored.
So we went from a 1-0 lead to a 2-1 OT loss on two PP goals, all because of the one horrid interference call that staryted it all. Drat.
Stars: Munroe, Danis, and Iggulden (GWG).
I was surprised a little while ago when, during a scrum at the boards behind the Phantoms net, all five Phantoms skaters were involved, but numbers 3 and 4 on the Sound Tigers were way back at our blue line watching what was transpiring. That's not what I expect to see from any team, the leaving of their teammates to e outnumbered in a multi-player shoving match. And if I saw two of our guys leave three teammates to the mercies of five opposing guys, I would be ranting like anything about it.
But nothing much happened in the scrum anyhow -- no fights or penalties ensued. And we are back at work now, trying to get set up in the Bridgeport end. Yet again, that has proven to be easier said than done. YO, go Muny, he deflected a dangerous bouncing puck away from the goal. Those knuckle-pucks are a challenge, for sure.
After a commercial timeout, we are ready to have a faceoff in our end. Raduns was replaced by Maroon in the faceoff circle. It took us a couple tries to get the puck out, but in a few moments, the Sound Tigers carried it right back in. We are going to have to withstand a heavy-duty charge from Bridgeport, as they are desperate to even the score with ess than nime minutes to play. Even better, I would like to see us being the ones to dictate the goings-on and pressure the Sound Tigers for a while. We can start by winning this faceoff in front of the Sound Tigers net, which we did. Matsumoto, Szwez, and Lalierte are out with Ratchuk and Curry. I can't believe this line hasn't scored yet tonight, given the way they have been best at evading the Bridgeport defenders. Well, they still have time. :) Ross just knocked 44 off the puck, resulting in Maroon's retrieving the puck and takign a shot on goal. Danis froze it, so we earned an offensive-zone draw from it. All from Ross knocking one guy off the puck... If anyone ever needs to explain or give examples how one event can lead to a chain of several others in quick succession, I suggest that the instructor make use of any hocey game tape. They'll find a plethora of examples to illustrate their point.
HOW did Parent "interfere" with a guy when said guy HAD THE FREAKING PUCK... Nygel P. strikes again. And what do you know, the flipping Sound Tigers score right off the faceoff. Thanks, Nygel, you nimrod, for the stupidest penalty of the night. So far, anyway. The game isn't over yet. Phantoms 1, Referee 1.
Raduns/Clackson/Maroon are out. Next faceoff, it's Matsumoto's lne again. Boy, if we eer needed a line to create a scoring opportunity, it would e now. There's 3:38 left in the game, and the score is tied. The SOG are Phantoms 23, Sound Tigers 32.
Next, Ross/Nodl/Sirianni. NICE GLOVE SAVE by MUNROE, he batted it aside with his mitt. That was as timely a stop as we've seen tonight, and we have seen a bunch of them. A Bridgeport player shooting from the top of our slot just nailed one of his teammates. The puck bounced to one of our own guys, so now we are in the Sound Tigers end trying to retake the lead. (The Sound Tiger wasn't injured, fortunately.) We came darn cose to a goal with a mad scramble in front of the Bridgeport net, but the Danis was right there to reject whatever came his way.
Last minute of the period. Ross's lne is buzzing in the Bridgeport endd, but no luck. Now the Sound Tigers are rushing back. Munroe snared the shot and hung on for a faceoff with 4.8 left in the third period. I can't believe we are this close to giving up a point to a divisional rival because of that IDIOTIC freaking penalty... GRRR.
Oh, well. The third period is over. The score is 1-1 and the SOG are Phantoms 25, Sound Tigers, 36.
Ross and Nodl are out with Parent and Syvret. Ross rushes the puck up the left wing, but the dump-in gets stopped behind the Sound Tigers net. There we go with chain reactions again. The shot that Munroe saved led to another shot, which we retrieved and rushed up the ice. That drew a penalty and the Phantoms are about to embark on a one-minute PP, as soon as our 30-second timeout is complete. The AHL is trying out one-minute minor penalties during OTs this year. Ross and Maroon are out with Curry and Syvret. Maroon just got nailed by a high shot and startled me when he dropped like a tree. Fortunately, he bounced right back up. We have 40 seconds left in this PP. Curry has the puck at the to of the slot, Syvret shot through a uge crowd, but somehow Danis tracked the puck through everyone and managed to freeze it. Matsumoto and Laliberte came out for the fina few seconds of the PP, along with parent and Bartulis soon after we returned to even stremgth. Now the forwards are Raduns and ryan. Munroe smacked down another shot on goal, and Ryan is now hounding a Sound Tiger in the Bridgeport end. We're trying to get a line change accomplished... And we do. Nod/Ross/Parent/Bartulis are out and in our zone. We have just over two mintues left, and Ross is tring to blast through tree Bridgeport players to get a shot. Incredibly, he DOES get through them, though he takes a spill and bounces back up.
Good old Nygel, here we go. He's sending Nodl off with 1:37 left, o we will be shorthanded for a minute. Bridgeport is now using their 30-second timeout.
Our PK unit will be Ross, Syvret, and Parent. Parent blocked a shot. The next puck clanged incredibly LOUDly off the post. Ross broke his stick stopping the next shot , but he proceeded to drop to a knee and stop yet another one.
Unfortunately, eventually the puck went out to a Sound Tiger in ther ight faceoff circle, and he scored.
So we went from a 1-0 lead to a 2-1 OT loss on two PP goals, all because of the one horrid interference call that staryted it all. Drat.
Stars: Munroe, Danis, and Iggulden (GWG).
Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1-2-09: Second Period
No shots on goal took place during the remainder of our PP; nor, in fact, did a puck reach either goaltender during the first four minutes and 15 seconds of the second period. However, that's when we went on another PP, so I would hope that we take another shot at some point within the next couple of minutes. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Sirianni, Curry, and Syvret are out for our first shift. Man, Bridgeport's number 10 just blocked a shot with his right arm and he is in ALL kinds of pain, poor guy. But he's a hockey player and he's staying out. And, actually, at the end of that shift he's the one who rushed the puck for a shorthanded shot on goal I suspect he'll be sore later on, though.
Brigeport killed the penalty, but we did manage to get a couple of shots on goal during that time frame. So here's to us not having a lengthy shot-free span of the kind that we had in the first frame.
Munroe just made a nice stop, absorbing the puck that was fired at warp speed into his logo. We've had some rebounds come forth at both ends of the ice, but this shot didn't create one. Muny followed that with a few circus saves on the following shift, earning the song "Unbelievable" at the next stoppage of play. The team owes him a dinner for keeping the puck out during that scramble.
Um, OK, people, it's time to give Danis some saves to make again. He's just standing here since we took those shots during our previous PP. We have 11:09 left in the period, and he's had far too easy of a time. It's frustrating to see those times when we just can't seem to set up in the opposing zone. We haven't had as many of those yet tonight as we have had in rcent games, and I do chalk that up at least in part to the flu that was hitting the team and the key absences from our lineup. HOwever, from the spring in the team's step, it looks like a lot of our guys are well on the way to recovering from the flu, and the longer the same guys are out injured, the more used to our existing lineup we should be able to get.
Someone just went up the tunnel with equipment trouble, but I didn't see who it was. I guess I'll wait until he comes back out. :)
Ryan, skating into the Sound Tigers zone, just wound up to take a shot, only to see a Bridgeport defenseman who was backing in lie down on the ice, ready to block it, So he waited until he had someone else to center it to, and passed the puck.
TRIPPING -- and the ref sees it my way for once. A Sound Tiger just slid hmself along the ice and took Nodl's skates out from under him. We are on the PECOOOOO POWER PLY, ond I see Sean Curry is the guy who had the gear problems. He's just coming back up the tunnel even as I type. Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte are out with DeSantis and Ratchuk.
Heh, the teams are at even strength, and the Sound Tiger who had intended to touch up the puck for icing on the Phantoms utterly missed the disk. We regained possession, eventually leading to a tripping call on Bridgeport and antoher PECOOOO POWER PLAY Maroon, Nodl, and Ross took the first PP shift. Once again, the first SOG during the penalty was a SH one by the Sound Tigers. However, Matsumoto is on hand to come charging up the ice with the puck, along with Laliberte and Sirianni, to try and get us set up to get some shots. Nope, no dice. The penalty is over and we are back down at the Phantoms end of the ice. The only SOG in that whole two minutes was the one the Sound Tigers took.
At the end of the second period, the score remains 1-0 in favor of the Phantoms, with the SOG being 15 for the Phantoms and 24 for Bridgeport.
Brigeport killed the penalty, but we did manage to get a couple of shots on goal during that time frame. So here's to us not having a lengthy shot-free span of the kind that we had in the first frame.
Munroe just made a nice stop, absorbing the puck that was fired at warp speed into his logo. We've had some rebounds come forth at both ends of the ice, but this shot didn't create one. Muny followed that with a few circus saves on the following shift, earning the song "Unbelievable" at the next stoppage of play. The team owes him a dinner for keeping the puck out during that scramble.
Um, OK, people, it's time to give Danis some saves to make again. He's just standing here since we took those shots during our previous PP. We have 11:09 left in the period, and he's had far too easy of a time. It's frustrating to see those times when we just can't seem to set up in the opposing zone. We haven't had as many of those yet tonight as we have had in rcent games, and I do chalk that up at least in part to the flu that was hitting the team and the key absences from our lineup. HOwever, from the spring in the team's step, it looks like a lot of our guys are well on the way to recovering from the flu, and the longer the same guys are out injured, the more used to our existing lineup we should be able to get.
Someone just went up the tunnel with equipment trouble, but I didn't see who it was. I guess I'll wait until he comes back out. :)
Ryan, skating into the Sound Tigers zone, just wound up to take a shot, only to see a Bridgeport defenseman who was backing in lie down on the ice, ready to block it, So he waited until he had someone else to center it to, and passed the puck.
TRIPPING -- and the ref sees it my way for once. A Sound Tiger just slid hmself along the ice and took Nodl's skates out from under him. We are on the PECOOOOO POWER PLY, ond I see Sean Curry is the guy who had the gear problems. He's just coming back up the tunnel even as I type. Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte are out with DeSantis and Ratchuk.
Heh, the teams are at even strength, and the Sound Tiger who had intended to touch up the puck for icing on the Phantoms utterly missed the disk. We regained possession, eventually leading to a tripping call on Bridgeport and antoher PECOOOO POWER PLAY Maroon, Nodl, and Ross took the first PP shift. Once again, the first SOG during the penalty was a SH one by the Sound Tigers. However, Matsumoto is on hand to come charging up the ice with the puck, along with Laliberte and Sirianni, to try and get us set up to get some shots. Nope, no dice. The penalty is over and we are back down at the Phantoms end of the ice. The only SOG in that whole two minutes was the one the Sound Tigers took.
At the end of the second period, the score remains 1-0 in favor of the Phantoms, with the SOG being 15 for the Phantoms and 24 for Bridgeport.
Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers 1-2-09: First Period
During the pregame skate, I noticed that Jared Ross is wearing the C. Kane is, apparently going to be back later rather than sooner, as for short-term absences we're more likely to go with 3 assistant captains than reassign the C. On Kane's behalf, "DARN!" On Ross's behalf, "Go get 'em, Jared!" In any event, that makes TWO of our erstwhile top line out of the lineup. Giroux is up with the Flyers, and Kane is injured. It's going to make a royal hash of our regular PP and PK units, as well. Nothing like getting various combinations used to playing on special teams with one another, I guess.
Scratches: Zarb, Guenin, Beaulieu, Kane, Hersley.
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Ross, Nodl, Sirianni.
Good old ref Nygel P. -- we can't even get 90 seconcs into the game without a penalty being called. Matsumoto goes off for slashing. Ross/Nodl with Syvret/Parent are the first PK grouping. Ryan and Raduns are now out with Bartulis and Curry. So far, so good. Sort of... Parent and the trainer made their way up the tunnel. That can't be what we want to see. We've got enough banged-up D already without losing a guy before the first four minutes have passed.We kept the puck out despite a lot of activity in front of our net, and when Matsumoto got out, he and Szwez returned the favor. We hustled down to the Bridgeport end, and got a couple of solid attempts on goal. The score remains 0-0.
NICE HIT, Ratchuk -- his pass got picked off, so he buried the guy who took the puck in the corner. That's one way to atone for a slip-up.
Oh, good, Parent is out again. He must not have needed too much repair work. That's a relief. Because I can say for certain that besides Zarb, EVERY other scratched guy on our list is injured. And to be frank, I suspect that Zarb's banged-up, as well. I seem to recall that in the last game he played, he was having a long conversation with the trainer while on the bench.
Anyway, back to the game. We have a bit more activity in front of our net in the past couple of shifts than I would like to see. I want us to be he first team to score in this game... We have to stop playng catch-up. And Mastumoto/Szwez/Laliberte have been looking ike a grouping that is capable of putting us on the board. That is, if the attempts they are making would reach the flipping net. We haven't had a shot on goal for about five minutes now -- we are being outshot 10-2, and those two shots came shortly after we killed the penalty.
If we need to kill a penalty before taking a shot on goal, then we are in luck. Sirianni is in the sin bin for trippng. Nodl s making a shortanded rush, though he got corralled into the half-boards in the Bridgeport end. Ross/Nodl just spent some quality time trying to generate a shorthanded shot on goal... We didn't actually get one, but then again nether did the Sound Tigers for the amount of time we were in their zone. We killed a good 20-30 seconds playing in the Sound Tigers end and the neutral zone to start the penalty. That's always good. Of course, the Sound Tigers did eventually get ino our end, and Munroe had to stop a ong shot from the point through a scree. We also did luck out at one point, when Munroe was down after making a save, and the Sound Tigers; number 71 shot the rebound wide of the open net. Hey, I'll take some luck here and there. I'll happily accept any combination of lucky and good that will earn us a W. :)
Szwez just BURIED his fellow number 38 over at the Briegeport haf-boards. The Bridgeport player limped off the ice. THere's 8:52 left in the first period, and we are being out shot 14-2. Let me describe to you the number of ways that I am NOT HAPPY with the ay we are being outshot right now. Grrrrrr... OK we were shorthanded for four minutes. That still doesn't account for the shot differential. It's odd, because I like a lot of things I see when we are actually tryig to create offense, but the freaking puck just doesn't seem to be reaching the net. At all.
Now here we go with a defensive zone draw, after which we have ended up in our zone again. Maroon, Raduns, and Clackson are out with Bartulis and DeSantis. Oh, holy cow, we dodged another bullet for sure... Yet another Sound Tiger missed a wide open net.
Finally, with 6:10 left in the period, Ross gets our third shot on goal. Geesh, about time!
But I guess that there is something to be said in favor of lulling the opposng goaltender to sleep, as our fifth shot, which came almost immediately on the heels of the previous two, went in the net. Ratchuk fired a bomb from the point and scored, assisted by Nodl and Ross. 1-0 good guys, and we are finaly playing with a freaking lead again. :)
Clackson and Bridgeport's #18 had a brief fight on the shift after the goal. It hardly lasted more than a few seconds before Clackson got the takedown.
Syvret just had an incredible keep-in at the Bridgeport blueline. He stre-e-e-etched his stick out and swept the puck back into the zone before it had completely crossed the blue paint into the neutral zone. Go, go, gadget hockey stick. :)
A Sound Tiger just RIPPED a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Munroe's pad save bounced waaaay out toward the blueline. One of our D scooped it up and aremoved it from harm's way.
Parent just blasted one from the right point, only to see his stick separate neatly into two halves. Gosh darn freaking stick breakages. What a pain in the nether end.
Oh, here we have something familiar: a PP in the final minute of the period. We didn't score on it, so we will still have 1:11 left of PP time to start the second period. AT the end of the first period, we have a 1-0 lead. The shot count is Phantoms 8, Sound Tigers 17.
Scratches: Zarb, Guenin, Beaulieu, Kane, Hersley.
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Syvret, Parent, Ross, Nodl, Sirianni.
Good old ref Nygel P. -- we can't even get 90 seconcs into the game without a penalty being called. Matsumoto goes off for slashing. Ross/Nodl with Syvret/Parent are the first PK grouping. Ryan and Raduns are now out with Bartulis and Curry. So far, so good. Sort of... Parent and the trainer made their way up the tunnel. That can't be what we want to see. We've got enough banged-up D already without losing a guy before the first four minutes have passed.We kept the puck out despite a lot of activity in front of our net, and when Matsumoto got out, he and Szwez returned the favor. We hustled down to the Bridgeport end, and got a couple of solid attempts on goal. The score remains 0-0.
NICE HIT, Ratchuk -- his pass got picked off, so he buried the guy who took the puck in the corner. That's one way to atone for a slip-up.
Oh, good, Parent is out again. He must not have needed too much repair work. That's a relief. Because I can say for certain that besides Zarb, EVERY other scratched guy on our list is injured. And to be frank, I suspect that Zarb's banged-up, as well. I seem to recall that in the last game he played, he was having a long conversation with the trainer while on the bench.
Anyway, back to the game. We have a bit more activity in front of our net in the past couple of shifts than I would like to see. I want us to be he first team to score in this game... We have to stop playng catch-up. And Mastumoto/Szwez/Laliberte have been looking ike a grouping that is capable of putting us on the board. That is, if the attempts they are making would reach the flipping net. We haven't had a shot on goal for about five minutes now -- we are being outshot 10-2, and those two shots came shortly after we killed the penalty.
If we need to kill a penalty before taking a shot on goal, then we are in luck. Sirianni is in the sin bin for trippng. Nodl s making a shortanded rush, though he got corralled into the half-boards in the Bridgeport end. Ross/Nodl just spent some quality time trying to generate a shorthanded shot on goal... We didn't actually get one, but then again nether did the Sound Tigers for the amount of time we were in their zone. We killed a good 20-30 seconds playing in the Sound Tigers end and the neutral zone to start the penalty. That's always good. Of course, the Sound Tigers did eventually get ino our end, and Munroe had to stop a ong shot from the point through a scree. We also did luck out at one point, when Munroe was down after making a save, and the Sound Tigers; number 71 shot the rebound wide of the open net. Hey, I'll take some luck here and there. I'll happily accept any combination of lucky and good that will earn us a W. :)
Szwez just BURIED his fellow number 38 over at the Briegeport haf-boards. The Bridgeport player limped off the ice. THere's 8:52 left in the first period, and we are being out shot 14-2. Let me describe to you the number of ways that I am NOT HAPPY with the ay we are being outshot right now. Grrrrrr... OK we were shorthanded for four minutes. That still doesn't account for the shot differential. It's odd, because I like a lot of things I see when we are actually tryig to create offense, but the freaking puck just doesn't seem to be reaching the net. At all.
Now here we go with a defensive zone draw, after which we have ended up in our zone again. Maroon, Raduns, and Clackson are out with Bartulis and DeSantis. Oh, holy cow, we dodged another bullet for sure... Yet another Sound Tiger missed a wide open net.
Finally, with 6:10 left in the period, Ross gets our third shot on goal. Geesh, about time!
But I guess that there is something to be said in favor of lulling the opposng goaltender to sleep, as our fifth shot, which came almost immediately on the heels of the previous two, went in the net. Ratchuk fired a bomb from the point and scored, assisted by Nodl and Ross. 1-0 good guys, and we are finaly playing with a freaking lead again. :)
Clackson and Bridgeport's #18 had a brief fight on the shift after the goal. It hardly lasted more than a few seconds before Clackson got the takedown.
Syvret just had an incredible keep-in at the Bridgeport blueline. He stre-e-e-etched his stick out and swept the puck back into the zone before it had completely crossed the blue paint into the neutral zone. Go, go, gadget hockey stick. :)
A Sound Tiger just RIPPED a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Munroe's pad save bounced waaaay out toward the blueline. One of our D scooped it up and aremoved it from harm's way.
Parent just blasted one from the right point, only to see his stick separate neatly into two halves. Gosh darn freaking stick breakages. What a pain in the nether end.
Oh, here we have something familiar: a PP in the final minute of the period. We didn't score on it, so we will still have 1:11 left of PP time to start the second period. AT the end of the first period, we have a 1-0 lead. The shot count is Phantoms 8, Sound Tigers 17.
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