The Phantoms return from four straight road games and five of the past six away from the PPL Center to face the Bridgeport Sound Islanders tonight to begin a set of three straight home games.
Photo: Jack Mitroka
Futile February?
5-3 over the slow second month wasn’t enough to climb in the standings–still seventh place out of eight and not threatening to make much of a move. 22-21-5-2 isn’t losing hockey but it’s not good enough, either.
March Comes In Like A Leg Of Lamb
Already cooked.
Well, it felt that way as the Phantoms got shut out in Utica last night. They were able to get 28 shots off, but ran into a hot goalie and couldn’t overcome. Also couldn’t overcome another night when they gave up too many penalties.
The other current issue is the loss of starters. Fs Olle Lycksell and Bobby Brink, D Ronnie Attard, and G Felix Sandstrom have all been recalled to Philadelphia in recent days. G Cal Peterson returns from the Flyers–a move many of us saw coming from a mile away. F Alex Kile returns from Maine. Lycksell, Brink and Attard are responsible for 34G, 34A, and 68pts over 91 games played this season.
Here’s what the lines looked like last night at Utica:
17 Wilson – 22 Gardner – 19 Allison
16 Avon – 56 Gaucher – 20 Marody
13 Furry – 24 Brooks – 27 Tuomaala
14 Wisdom – 48 Kile – 3 Karashik
6 Andrae – 2 Grans
37 Ginning – 7 Belpedio
98 Mete – 5 Samson
40 Petersen (31 Gahagen)
Discussion: Laczynski remains an injury scratch, while Wilson and Belpedio have been able to return. Desnoyers scratch could be either injury or ineffectiveness. Playing Karashik at forward is a choice, unless they functionally played 11F/7D.
GAME DAY!
Saturday Night Hockey Live tonight is “Hockey For Everyone” Night. DJ Brad Scott is here and they’ve got a great game for us tonight!
Bridgeport has been the dreadful team in the division this season and the reason the Phantoms have never been in any real danger of falling into last place. Games versus the Phantoms didn’t begin until this last road bunch, and the Phantoms were able to scratch out a win. The Islanders affiliate has been playing a bit better lately, but 3-5-1-1 in their last 10 isn’t something too scary.
Some old friends on this team: Carsen Twarynski is wearing #11 and Cole Bardreau is wearing #21. Can you believe this is Cole’s 10th season in the AHL? Golly, they grow up fast.
One thing Bridgeport doesn’t do is give up a lot of penalties. Thus, the special teams advantage the Phantoms seem to have tonight might be mitigated somewhat.
OFFICIALS
Referee Liam Maaskant (#62)
Referee Casey Terreri (#75)
Linesperson Kirsten Welsh (#10)
Linesperson Josh Cleary (#45)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- Mediocre goalie play has been one of the stories of this season. Gahagen can be solid at times. Watch for him to start tonight and watch to see if he can stay put in the net and push the rebounds to the corners.
- Watch to see if the Phantoms can manage to stay out of the box
- Watch to see if Desnoyers is back in the lineup tonight. He’s been largely invisible this season, if it was indeed a benching, does it light a fire? Or, is he hurt?
- Watch for better lines. I think there might be a better way to stack the offense to generate some reliable pressure on the other team despite missing some key players. That comes with some trade off. See if they go that route tonight. But I’m not saying I have the answer–I’m just looking for some variation after having been shut out.
- Watch the play at 5-on-5. We’re not likely to get a lot of man-advantage opportunities from this team so we’ll need to make our hay at full strength.
Up Next
Tomorrow is meLVin’s birthday party. It’s a bit different every year because it’s on the Pladottlian Calendar which doesn’t match ours directly. Anyway, despite the chaos I do like seeing all the mascot friends around and hope I get to heckle Tux this season. It’s a 3PM tilt versus the Mighty Bears. Remember the bars and restaurants might be closed on Sunday or not open yet prior to the game. Also, parking can be more flexible on Sundays if you’re at least a block from Hamilton Street.
Then Friday right back here for Wilkes-Barre.
Happy National Pig Day (obs.) to all who celebrate,
See you at the arena,
@Kram207