“And this hole in my heartCan’t be filled with the things I do”
-Extreme
About Last Night
Remember the part about the hole and we were gonna dig out of it and don’t take Bridgeport lightly and all that? Yeah, didn’t come to be. Plenty of chances at the net last night but no real urgency to get the puck to go in. Uninspired play left 7593 sitting on their hands most of the night in a 2-1 loss.
Cal Peterson went back in the net as we speculated yesterday, based on his strong play. Both goals were nice shots, but open looks also means the goalie should be able to pick up on it. Cooper Marody returned with full cage to protect the melon following his injury last weekend. Rookie D Hunter McDonald made his pro debut and seemed to play fine in his short time before leaving with an injury. Flyers brass were all in attendance last night which should have portended a more spirited game.
Lines From Last Night
13 Furry 22 Gardner 27 Tuomaala
24 Brooks 9 Laczynski 20 Marody
17 Wilson 56 Gaucher 14 Wisdom
10 Polei 91 Desnoyers 16 Avon
6 Andrae 2 Grans
98 Mete 7 Belpedio
19 McDonald 5 Samson
40 Petersen (31 Gahagen)
Gratton & Bouquot, the Penn State connected players signed for next year have joined Reading now.
Playoff Picture
The Phantoms loss coupled with Springfield’s win over Syracuse takes the margin back down to one point for the final playoff spot and keeps the magic number static at 20. Even more importantly, perhaps, Wilkes-Barre lost at home to Utica last night while Charlotte won, lifting the Checkers into third place in the Atlantic. Why is that important? Because if the season ended today (it doesn’t) we’d make the playoffs but we’d get exactly zero home games in the first round. Just like last season. Fun.
Here’s the playoff primer: AHL Playoffs
Photo: Jack Mitroka
GAME DAY!
It’s “Kid’s Takeover” Day at the rink today with a 3:05PM start. Who knows, maybe the kiddos can get the thing off the ground on time? Doors at 2PM–1:45 for Season Ticket Members. It’s also a “white out” game so wear your white jersey today.
Seats are still available but in short supply. There’s even some surge pricing going on out there on the secondary market. Grab your tickets before you head downtown. Parking can be free in some areas on Sundays downtown, but not in the arena block. Use caution or park in your regular deck or lot. Restaurants and bars may have different hours on Sunday afternoons compared with your usual hockey nights–check on that and consider going out after the game rather than before.
The hated Penguins are in town. They are on a 3/3 this weekend and they’ve lost their first two, so they’ll be hungry. Their backup goalie started last night so expect we’ll be facing the All Star Blomqvist this afternoon. Perhaps Samu can get him off his game by saying mean things to him in Finnish. The Phantoms have both the rest and travel advantage this afternoon. The Phantoms are 4-4 versus the Wilkes-Barre team this season. Over the past five years, the Phantoms are 25-18-5-2 against the Pittsburgh affiliate–not at all the one-sided Penguins advantage some would have you believe.
OFFICIALS
Referee Brendan Schreider (#20)
Referee Mike Dietrich (#15)
Linesperson Robert Peterkin (#51)
Linesperson Michael Magee (#41)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch Today
- Almost certainly Gahagen in net today. Watch to see how he plays having been down the past two games
- Watch to see if the lines get jumbled a little. I don’t hate them the way they were last night, but a Sunday matinee might be the time to mix things up a bit.
- Watch to see a more physical game than what we saw Wednesday versus Springfield and last night against Bridgeport. How will the Phantoms respond? Probably favorably I would think. The pure fancy finesse games don’t suit us, especially without Lycksell, Brinker, Attard who are up with the Fly guys.
- The last time here against the Penguins affiliate, I observed them targeting the smaller players like Andrae and Tuomaala. Do they do that again? Do they get away with it?
- Watch for the Phantoms to use some air passes to break out of their zone. It’s a tactic we’ve employed against this team in the past.
- Watch to see how the kiddos do with the game presentation. Probably better, right?
Up Next
This concludes the three home games this week. The Hamilton Street Heroes take their show on the road next weekend to face Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre (again) Friday and Saturday respectively, before a weird Tuesday night affair in Chocolatetown.
The Phantoms return on Friday April 5 to face Portland, followed by Saturday at home versus Cleveland and a Sunday in Scranton as the Season Ticket Bus Trip invades Casey Plaza on 4/7.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207