Records:
Overall: 12-12-4-1 (7th Place in Division)
Home: 8-4-1-1
Away: 4-8-3
White Jerseys: 8-6-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-0
Orange Jerseys: 3-4-1
Black Jerseys: 0-1-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 0-1
Fridays: 3-4-1
Saturdays: 5-4-2
Sundays: 0-1-0-1
Wednesdays: 4-1-1
Tuesday/Thursday: 0-2
Sunday 3/3: 0-0-0-1
Post-Game Event Day: 1-0
October: 2-3-1-1
November: 7-3-2
December: 3-6-1
Player Movement
D Emil Andrae remains with the Phantoms through the NHL roster freeze. It’s a move which has allowed the Flyers to call up F Olle Lycksell a couple times. Olle is with the Flyers as of this writing.
Lines last night in Wilkes:
17 Wilson 22 Gardner 27 Tuomaala
43 Eklind 18 Abols 72 Gendron
16 Avon 73 Rizzo 13 Furry
91 Desnoyers 56 Gaucher 74 Wisdom
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
6 Andrae 3 Grans
37 Ginning 5 Samson
40 Petersen (Backup: 31 Gahagen)
Scratches
8 Ben Gleason 20 Cooper Marody 32 Eetu Makiniemi 55 Xavier Bernard 57 Mason Primeau 90 Anthony Richard
Discussion
The fourth line and the top pair each had a difficult game it seems. The loss of Lycksell, who has been playing some good hockey of late on that line with Gaucher and Wisdom, hurts especially with Marody and Richard on the shelf.
GAME DAY!
It’s photo night! Take photos with your favorite players on the ice following tonight’s game. Look for details in your in-box prior to the game. It’s also Saturday Night Hockey Live with a musical guest. It’s also “seat change” night for season ticket members. See your email for details and arrive early.
Season Ticket gates at 5:45 in the plaza or via Air Products. All gates 6:00PM. Show starts at 7:05 with puck drop promptly at 7:18PM. While good seats still remain for this game, they are selling fast go grab yours before you head downtown. Some deals are available on the secondary market.
Good Charlotte
AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. The Checkers have not played since losing to woeful Bridgeport on home ice last Sunday. However, they are on a 7-3 clip in their last 10 games and sit in fourth place in the AHL Atlantic. This is our first look at them this season.
Old friend Kyle Criscuolo is on this team as well as some other names which may be familiar as opponents. It’s a large roster; perhaps they’ve had some injuries.
This is the #1 power play unit in the entire AHL right now, overall as well as a road squad. Their penalty kill is #4 in the entire league and leads the nation at this level in short-handed goals.
OFFICIALS
Referee Liam Maaskant (#45)
Referee Sydney Harris (#9)
Linesperson John Rey (#16)
Linesperson Jud Ritter (#34)
Scouting the refs: It’s our first look at Harris this season. Maaskant was involved in two uneven games earlier this season and has a penchant for calling Holding penalties.
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- Watch for Gahagen in net tonight as we go back-to-back
- Watch to see if the 91-56-74 line is still together. How do they look? Is the change from Lycksell to Desnoyers really that big?
- Watch to see if 19 and 7 are still together on defense. They had a tough game last night it seems; how do they look today?
- Watch to see if the Phantoms can just avoid special teams altogether. Power plays are great and all but this team racks up the shorties.
- Watch to see which jerseys the team wears. I called it the other night when they broke out the white-outs. They wore orange last night. I’m thinking alternate black tonight if it’s not the home whites.
- It’s only the second post-game event night of the season. Watch to see if they can avoid the pattern of the past where they always dump these games.
Up Next
It’s Charlotte again on Tuesday for a New Years affair. Charlotte will get their money worth on the road trip by grabbing a game in Hershey tomorrow before the rematch on Tuesday.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207