Take a tied hockey game and add some hot water and a tincture of Ref Show and what do you get? Shoot-Out Americano where the visiting Phantoms were able to come out with a win following a couple of fortuitous review results. Did Rochester get the game-winner? Nope. Did the Phantoms get the shoot-out goal? Yup. That was last night in Rochester.
On Wednesday at the PPL Center the Hamilton Street Heroes took care of business against the Belleville Senators in a close game that the Phantoms were able to take care of in regulation. I wrote some notes about the referees in the game, but it turns out perhaps the team was not as sharp in the last two periods of the game. And, the change in the way the penalties were being called was warranted–that’s the take I got from reading the coach comments following the game.
Photo: Jack Mitroka
Records:
Overall: 19-14-5-1 (4th Place in Division, on points)
Home: 10-5-2-1
Away: 9-9-3
White Jerseys: 11-6-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-1
Orange Jerseys: 4-4-1
Black Alternate Jerseys: 3-2-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 0-1-1
Fridays: 5-4-2
Saturdays: 8-4-2
Sundays: 0-2-0-1
Wednesdays: 5-1-1
Tuesday/Thursday: 1-3
Sunday 3/3: 0-1-0-1
Post-Game Player Event Day: 2-0
October: 2-3-1-1
November: 7-3-2
December: 4-7-1
January: 6-1-1
Player News
G #80 Keith Petruzzelli is up from Reading. He spent AHL time the past three seasons with the Toronto Marlies. Peterson took a hard hit late in the Wednesday game, but finished the game. Gahagen got the start last night with Petz as backup.
Lines last night in Rochester:
17 Wilson 22 Gardner 27 Tuomaala
43 Eklind 18 Abols 72 Gendron
13 Furry 73 Rizzo 90 Richard
91 Desnoyers 56 Gaucher 74 Wisdom
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
37 Ginning 3 Grans
8 Gleason 5 Samson
31 Gahagen (Backup: 80 Petruzzelli)
Scratches: 6 Emil Andrae 16 J.R. Avon 20 Cooper Marody 32 Eetu Makiniemi 36 Sawyer Boulton 40 Cal Petersen
Discussion: We know for sure that Makiniemi and Peterson were injured. The extent of Peterson’s injury is not known–he could be in the concussion protocol–but Makiniemi could still be out a while. Marody hasn’t really played this season; we can only conclude his injury is severe. Andrae, Avon, and Boulton should be OK as far as I’ve heard. We’ll need a guy tonight because reports are that Gleason may be unavailable (lower body). Xavier Bernard is so badly injured that he’s not even listed with the scratches any longer. That’s tough to do on a team with Marody.
GAME DAY!
There’s a community book drive tonight on Air Products Night. The funniest line I heard about Air Products Night is that everyone gets a balloon of a random gas as they arrive and it’s up to you if you want to try breathing it or not. Take your chances?
It’s Saturday Night Hockey Live! The musical guest is….Bowtie Ben?!? His band MidSummer Band will be playing! See below for more information.
Rochester is in town for a rematch of last night’s game. They are the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres and are in second place in the AHL North chugging along at 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games. They have a few AHL veterans you may recognize, but as far as old friends it’s Felix Sandström. That is why tonight’s jersey auction is over-run with his past jerseys! We’ll likely see him play in net tonight. He’s 6-4-1 on the season with 2.96 GAA and .894 Sv Pct.
Rochester bring only the 26th-ranked power play overall but as a road unit they are #12. The PK is 17th overall, dropping to 22nd on the road.
As a Saturday game, it should be a little more crowded, but good seats still remain on the primary and secondary markets. Prices are as low as $18 on the ticket hub.
MEDIA KIT
OFFICIALS
Referee John Lindner (#92)
Referee Patrick Hanrahan (#52)
Linesperson John Rey (#16)
Linesperson T.J. Dockery (#27)
Scouting the Refs: OK, so late-game variance last night in Rochester was Rumble and Verbeek–the common denominator with the third-period Ref Show in Hershey last week is Rumble. We’ll keep an eye out. Verbeek was here on Wednesday and while they let them play early, there were more penalties late. Maybe we deserved it though. Still, late game variance. Anyway, that is all to say that I don’t have any notes for this pair tonight. Let’s see what we get.
What To Watch
- Watch to see if Gahagen gets back-to-back. Petruzzelli is an AHL veteran though, so it is a possibility. Gahagen has been playing well lately, and is now familiar with this team. I’d go with Parker.
- Watch to see if Richard looks like his old self. I didn’t think so on Wednesday, which was his second game back from injury. Tonight will be the fourth. He did lead the team in shots last night (tied w/ Samu) so I think it’s coming back.
- Assuming Gleason is out with injury, watch for who replaces him. If it’s NOT Andrae, we can probably conclude that he’s nicked up as well.
- Last game of the week for the team–can they finish strong?
- Watch for what jersey they wear. We still had whites on Wednesday but perhaps because Belleville was on a long roadie and only had the darks? Anyway, caught a glimpse of a new alternate, so that’s a possibility tonight.
Up Next
They’ve got the week off so here’s to hoping they leave it all on the ice tonight. It’s two at home next weekend with Springfield on Friday–no promotion because you know having dollar dogs again this month would just be too too much–and Bridgeport on Saturday for youth jersey night. The youth jersey giveaway is a cool purple meLVin jawn, so worth bringing the kiddos out to get one!
The team will finish a 3/3 next weekend with a game up the pike in Wilkes-Barre. Then, they have a road rematch with Bridgeport the following Wednesday (29th) which will take them into the All Star Break. After the two home games next weekend, the next home games are Friday and Saturday February 7 and 8.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
PS: Here’s the livestream from the MidSummer Band’s recent release party for their new EP. The band takes the stage after the opener, at about 1:14:55. Look for them at 6PM tonight when the doors open, as well as during the second intermission. Will Ben introduce himself? Get a cast member to do it?
