Phantoms come away empty
There were few positives that the Adirondack Phantoms could take away from Friday night's 3-0 loss to the Syracuse Crunch. The Flyers' AHL affiliate showed fight and cohesion during the game's numerous after-the-whistle clashes, but there was far too little of it on display between the whistles.
Syracuse goaltender Riku Helenius did not have to work especially hard to earn a 21-save shutout. Even with eight power play opportunities, the Phantoms created sparse forechecking pressure throughout the night. Adirondack generated just four shots in the third period.
Alex Killorn, Richard Panik and Radko Gudas scored for Syracuse, which improved its Eastern Conference leading record to 16-6-1-2. Adirondack lost for the sixth time in its last seven games, falling into the Eastern Conference cellar with a 10-13-1-0 record.
The Phantoms did an exceptionally poor job of taking care of the puck in this game. They committed numerous turnovers of both the forced and unforced variety in all three zones. There were far too many low-percentage passes and not nearly enough puck support.
On nights where the Phantoms lose ugly, there are often two prominent factors: 1) poor special teams play, primarily on the power play 2) overreliance on
Brayden Schenn and
Sean Couturier to do all the heavy lifting offensively. If neither one steps up, the team as a whole struggles mightily to generate a sustained attack (let alone score a goal).
Those themes were very much prevalent on Friday night. The Phantoms went 0-for-8 on the power play, and yielded a mid second period shorthanded goal by Richard Panik that put them down 2-0 in the game. Adirondack never recovered from it. Meanwhile, neither Schenn nor Couturier had one of their better games. The team's top two centers combined for three shots on goal, and no one else picked up the slack.
Goaltender
Scott Munroe turned in a competent performance in the game, turning back 23 of 26 shots. There was little he could have done differently on two of three goals, and it's a tall order to keep a team in a game when there is zero offensive support.
The Phantoms patchwork defense held together about as well as could be expected. The team has been sorely missing the physical presence of starters
Marc-Andre Bourdon (illness) and
Oliver Lauridsen (upper body). That has left the club with three puck-moving types handling huge minutes:
Erik Gustafsson, struggling second-year defenseman
Brandon Manning and veteran
Danny Syvret.
Gustafsson limped off the ice late in regulation after taking a puck in the foot. The Phantoms' top defenseman's status is unknown for tonight's game as of this writing. Adirondack hosts Manchester in a 7 p.m. game at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Titans take much-needed win
The Flyers ECHL affiliate has been having an even tougher time than the Phantoms. It has been a six-week-long scuffle for the Trenton Titans. On Friday night, however, the team rose up to beat an even more desperate Wheeling Nailers team, 4-2.
The game was tied, 2-2, at the second intermission. Trenton win the game with a pair of unanswered goals in the third period.
New Jersey Devils prospect Kelly Zajac tallied a pair of goals for Trenton, who also got single goals from Justin Taylor and Eric Baier. Among Flyers-affiliated prospects, the Titans received one assist apiece from
Marcel Noebels and
Matt Mangene. New Jersey goaltending prospect Scott Wedgewood earned the win with 32 saves.
Rookie forward
Andrew Johnston (concussion) remains sidelined for the Titans.
Trenton is back in action tonight, hosting the Elmira Jackals at the Sun National Bank Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
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