Phantoms Lose Ugly
There have been two definite patterns for Terry Murray's Adirondack Phantoms this season, They need to play strong team defense to have a chance to win, and they rely heavily on
Brayden Schenn and
Sean Couturier to supply most of their offensive output.
Last night against the Binghamton Senators, the Phantoms managed to score four goals without Schenn recording a point. Couturier (who had a game-high eight shots on goal) had a single assist.
The red-hot
Harry Zolnierczyk stepped up to score two goals, while the Phantoms got one tally apiece from defenseman
Marc-Andre Bourdon and checking line forward
Rob Bordson. Adirondack racked up 49 shots on goal for the game.
That's the good news.
The bad news: The Phantoms completely misplaced their defensive commitment and execution. Binghamton had free reign in the offensive zone all night, and the Phantoms left goaltenders
Scott Munroe (three saves on seven shots) and
Cal Heeter (20 saves on 22 shots) to fend for themselves on second-chance opportunities.
The result was an ugly 7-4 loss.
Most of the game was an uphill struggle for the Phantoms. The Senators took a 2-0 lead less than six minutes after the opening faceoff, and tallied four times in all to take a 4-2 to the locker room at the first intermission. Adirondack battled back to tie the game in the middle staza on goals by Bourdon (power play) and Zolnierczyk (shorthanded). However, the Phantoms yielded a late period goal to trail 5-4, and never pulled even again.
Binghamton got two goals and an assist from Andre Benoit, multi-point games from Mike Hoffman (one goal, two assists), Jakob Silfverberg one goal, one assist), and Hugh Jessiman (two assists), and single tallies from Pat Cannone, Mark Stone and Derek Grant. Stone's goal was the game-winner.
The Phantoms fell to 9-10-0-0 on the reason. The Senators improved to 11-4-1-1.
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Friday games: Flyers in Europe
* KHL:
Ilya Bryzgalov was selected as the top star of the game in CSKA Moscow's 2-1 win over Amur Khaborovsk. Bryzgalov stopped 33 of 34 shots, including 14 of 15 in the second period.
* KHL:
Jakub Voracek did not record a point in 18:41 of ice time in Lev's 3-2 win over Neftekhimik. Voracek has one point (1G) in last 6 GP.
* SM-liiga:
Max Talbot and Ilves Tampere came up blank against ex-Flyer Sami Kapanen's KalPa Kuopio team, falling 4-0. Talbot had one shot on goal and was minus-one in 19:18 of ice time.
* Bundesliga:
Bruno Gervais recorded an assist in Heilbronn's 6-3 win over Lausitzer. He also took a minor penalty in the game.
* Allsvenskan:
Matt Read registered one assist in a 2-1 road win for Södertälje SK against Troja/Ljungby. SSK got outshot by a 42-18 margin but hung on for the victory.
* DEL:
Danny Briere earned a power play assist for Eisbären Berlin in a 4-2 loss to ERC Ingolstadt. Berlin held a 2-1 lead after two periods but ran into penalty trouble in the third period, taking three minor penalties and yielding power play goals on all three to lose the game, 4-2. Ex-Flyers and Phantoms forward Jared Ross had one assist for Ingolstadt.
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Friday games: Flyers junior prospects
* MHL:
Valeri Vasiliev did not record a point and was plus-one in JHC Spartak's 8-4 win over Russkie Vityaz Chekhov.
* OHL:
Scott Laughton scored a goal in the Oshawa Generals' 4-2 win over the Kingston Frontenacs. Teammate
Colin Suellentrop did not record a point but was plus-one in the game.
* OHL:
Nick Cousins had a goal and an assist in Sault Ste. Marie's 6-4 win over the lowly Erie Otters. The Greyhounds bombarded Erie goalie Oscar Dansk with 53 shots.
* WHL:
Taylor Leier tallied a goal in the Portland Winterhawks' 5-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds. The Hawks have now won five in a row.
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Friday Games: Flyers collegiate prospects
* Union College got shut out 4-0 by Quinnipiac.
Shayne Gostisbehere was even in the game. Quinnipiac goalie Eric Hartzell, an invitee to the Flyers summer prospect camp in July, earned a 20-save shutout.
*
Anthony Stolarz was the backup goaltender in University of Nebraska-Omaha's 3-2 win over Minnesota. Senior goaltender John Faulkner earned the win with 19 saves.
*
Nick Luukko did not record a point but was plus-one with two shots on goal in Vermont's 2-1 win over Maine.
*
Michael Parks (leg injury) remained out of the North Dakota lineup in a 5-3 loss to North Dakota.
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Saturday games
In tomorrow's blog, I will have a full results rundown of a busy Saturday slate of Flyers-related games. The notable games on the docket include:
* The Phantoms hosting the Albany Devils at 7 PM.
* The Titans at home against the Elmira Jackals at 7 PM.
*
Ruslan Fedotenko in KHL action. He and his Donbass team will go head-to-head with Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Bäckström and the rest of Dynamo Moscow. Donbass is coming off an upset win over SKA St. Petersburg.
*
Tom Sestito and the Sheffield Steelers in EIHL action.
* Most of the Flyers junior and collegiate prospects in action.
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