Phantoms and Titans win

It had been nearly a month since the Flyers' AHL and ECHL affiliates won on the same night. Last night, for the first time since Nov. 23, both the Adirondack Phantoms and Trenton Titans skated off with victories. In Glens Falls, the Phantoms held off the St. John's IceCaps, 3-2. In Trenton, the Titans outslugged the Elmira Jackals, 5-4.

Brayden Schenn broke a 2-2 tie in the third period to score the winning goal for the Phantoms. He ripped a wrist shot high over the glove hand of St. John's goaltender Eddie Pasquale to put the Phantoms ahead of good at 5:16 of the final stanza.

Earlier, the Phantoms had held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 only to see the IceCaps come back. Defenseman Brandon Manning beat Pasquale to the short side with a left circle shot for a first-period power play that opened the scoring in the game. Sean Couturier and Danny Syvret earned the assists.

In the second period, Couturier worked a picturesque give-and-go with Eric Wellwood, who received a perfect return feed from Couturier and snapped the puck past Pasquale for his second goal of the season. Defenseman Jeff Dimmen, who started off the play, drew the other assist.

Goaltender Scott Munroe earned the win with 23 saves on 25 shots. He played well overall but would have liked to have the second St. John's goal back. Defenseman Zach Redmond pinched up into the right corner and flipped a puck out in front, which hit the goalie and banked into the net. Thereafter, he slammed the door.

The win was just the Phantoms' second in their last nine games (2-6-1). Meanwhile, the previously struggling Titans won for the third time in their last four games.

After a scoreless first period, the Titans and Jackals combined for nine goals over the final 40 minutes of the game. Titans captain Andy Bohmbach scored the game winner with 3:12 remaining on the clock in the third period. Trenton also got goals from Marcel Noebels, Jake Drewiske, Ryan Grimshaw and Phil DeSimone.

The prettiest of the Titan goals was scored by Noebels. The German rookie top-shelved a wrist shot over Marc Cheverie, knocking the goalie's water bottle airborne off the top of the net. Matt Mangene earned the primary assist. Noebels has recorded at least one point in eight of the last nine games (seven goals, six assists).

New Jersey Devils prospect Scott Wedgewood got the start in goal for the Titans. He turned back 26 of 30 shots for the win, including a flurry of saves late in the game.

The Titans are in Evansville on Friday night and Fort Wayne on Saturday. The Phantoms are in Syracuse on Friday and Bridgeport on Saturday before breaking for Christmas.

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Mixed news on injury front

Yesterday, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren provided some long-awaited injury updates on Flyers and Phantoms players.

The good news:

* Claude Giroux is back to 100 percent and could join the Flyers for the start of training camp if and when there is one. Word from Germany is that Giroux will wait until after the holidays to make a decision about a return date to play for Eisbären Berlin in lieu of an NHL lockout settlement.

* Andrej Meszaros has reached a point in his recovery from Achilles tendon repair surgery that he would more likely than not be cleared to start the season on time if an NHL season were to begin in mid-to-late January. Be aware, though, that it may still take awhile beyond that for him to fully regain his effectiveness on the ice.

* Andreas Lilja is now fully recovered from late-summer hip surgery. He's ready to go if and when there's an NHL season. He's already received medical clearance to play.

* X-rays on Erik Gustafsson were negative. The defenseman limped off after blocking a shot with his right foot and has missed the Phantoms' last two games. Officially, he is day-to-day with a deep bruise.

Now for the bad news: After two-plus weeks of the organization deeming the absence of Marc-Andre Bourdon from Phantoms' games and practices to be related to an unidentified "illness", the Flyers finally admitted what everyone suspected all along. Bourdon has a concussion, and there is no timetable for a return.

Bourdon's most recent concussion is his fourth since 2011, third in the 2012 calendar year, and third in a span of roughly 25 games played. He had two last season that were never officially reported: one in February and another in the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs (which ended his season). He played 17 games for the Phantoms this season before the most recent concussion.

Holmgren admitted his concern over Bourdon to Tim Panaccio, but attempted to put a more optimistic long-range outlook that the player will recover fully and be able to return and play for years to come.

“He has concussion issues,” Holmgren said to CSN Philly. “I’m concerned because he is out and not playing. But I think there has been players who have had a similar history like his and have been fine.”

Today, Phantoms captain Ben Holmstrom will undergo knee surgery in Philadelphia. Thereafter, the club will have a better sense of whether the player sustained a complete anterior cruciate ligament tear or a lesser injury with a shorter recovery timetable.

Lastly, there is no change in the status of Chris Pronger. He still has episodes of migraine headaches and other post-concussion syndrome symptoms, but has improved in terms of the frequency between episodes.

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European seasons resume

Now that the Channel One Cup tournament and European Trophy playoffs are complete, the European club team seasons have resumed in many of the Euro leagues. Here's a look at the status of locked-out Flyers players who are still in Europe.

* Ruslan Fedotenko skated 22:14 of ice time yesterday in Donbass Donetsk's 4-2 win over HC Yugra.

* Jakub Voracek, who went pointless in three Channel One Cup tourney games for a Czech team that collectively had an awful tournament, has returned to Lev Prague. The KHL team is an action tomorrow, hosting Salvat Yulaev Ufa.

* Ilya Bryzgalov may or may not be in goal today for CSKA Moscow when the team hosts Ak Bars Kazan. The game is the first since former Flyers player Slava Butsayev was named CSKA's interim head coach.

* Max Talbot and Ilves Tampere are on the road today to take on HPK Hämeenlinna. He has been practicing this week as the center of a line with Boston Bruins winger Daniel Paille and young Finnish forward Matias Sointu (whose play has been one of the few bright spots for the last-pace team). From Christmas to New Years, Talbot and best friend Bruno Gervais (Heilbron Falcons, Bundesliga) will join Swiss team Fribourg-Gotteron for the annual Spengler Cup tournament.

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