Phantoms Prevail in Shootout
It wasn't always pretty, it wasn't always artistic. But the Adirondack Phantoms got a much needed victory last night to snap a four-game losing streak, as they downed the East Division leading Syracuse Crunch via shootout, 4-3.
Brayden Schenn snapped out of a four-game pointless mini-slump with two goals and an assist in the second period, as well as successfully converting his attempt during the shootout.
Sean Couturier had two assists for Adirondack.
Tye McGinn tallied the first Adirondack goal.
The Phantoms trailed, 1-0, after the opening period. Brett Connolly got the Crunch on the board first with a late-period tally. The middle stanza was marked by a parade to the penalty box, as referee Jon McIsaac started to call anything and everything.
McGinn tied the match on an early second period power play deflection goal originally credited to Couturier. Shortly thereafter, Schenn then one-timed home a Couturier feed for a power play goal that put the Phantoms ahead for the first time.
The latter half of the second period was a seesaw affair, in which the two clubs traded off goals every few minutes. P-C Labrie made it a 2-2 game, only for Schenn to pot another goal to restore a 3-2 lead for the Phantoms. Late in the period, the Phantoms gave up too much space to Cory Conacher and paid the price on his 10th goal of the season.
The third period was also filled with penalties, but was scoreless. Overtime did not decide the contest either, so the game went to the skills competition. Schenn and
Garrett Roe hit the mark for the Phantoms, while Ondrej Palat was the lone Crunch shooter to convert his opportunity.
Goaltender
Scott Munroe was solid in the first and third periods for the Phantoms, and stopped 29 of 32 shots in regulation and overtime to earn his team a point. He earned a second point by stopping three of four in the shootout.
The Phantoms, who are still banged up on the blueline, are back in action today for the third time in three days. After a road game in Rochester on Friday and last night's home tilt in Glens Falls, the team is off to Providence for a late-afternoon game on Sunday.
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Titans Taste Defeat Again
The struggling Trenton Titans came out on the wrong side of a 6-5 shootout verdict last night in Charleston, coming away with overtime and shootout losses from back-to-back games against the Stingrays.
New Jersey Devils prospect Kelly Zajac (brother of NHLer Travis) scored a pair of goals for the Titans, who also got single tallies from Stephen Schultz (one goal, two assists),
Ian Slater (one goal, one assist) and Kory Nagy (one goal, one assist).
Rookie Flyers prospect
Marcel Noebels extended his current point-streak to four straight games with a pair of assists. His hot-and-cold season pattern to date: points in each of the first eight games (2 goals, 7 assists), pointless in the next nine; points in four straight games (4 goals, 3 assists).
Flyers goaltending prospect
Niko Hovinen returned to the net for Trenton. He had a rough first period but got a little better as the game went along. In total, he stopped 30 of 35 shots in regulation and overtime. He was beaten twice in five tries in the shootout. Andy Bohmbach was the lone Titans player to score in the shootout.
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Read scores in SSK sendoff
Playing for the final time for Allsvenskan team Södertälje SK, Flyers forward
Matt Read tallied his team's lone goal in a 2-1 road loss to Djurgårdens IF Stockholm on Saturday.
In 20 games with SSK, Read produced 24 points (6 goals, 18 assists). Just as impressively, his two-way play was a big part of a dramatic turnaround by the team. When he arrived, the club was mired near the bottom of the standings in the league. During his stint, SSK went 15-3-2.
Read will now return to North America. If the NHL lockout is not settled and the season gets canceled (I still don't expect that to happen), he may go back to Södertälje.
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