November 17, 2009

2009-10 Record: 7-6-1-0, 15 points (4-1-1-0 Home, 2-4-0-0 Road), Sixth Place - East Division

Week 7 Recap:

Week 7 had a polar opposite feel in Adirondack’s two-game weekend at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Friday night the Phantoms began their ten game regular season series with East Division rival Binghamton and they suffered their worst home defeat of the young season 5-0 to the Senators. They allowed three first period goals, their worst start of the year as Erik Condra opened the scoring at 5:03 of the first period, converting on a Phantoms defensive zone turnover. Derek Smith made it 2-0 less than two minutes later when he scored a back-door power play goal from a cross-ice pass from Josh Hennessy. Senators captain Denis Hamel made it 3-0 at 16:19 and nearly scored again moments later, but his breakaway effort was denied by a fantastic save from Phantoms goaltender Johan Backlund. Hamel did score his second goal of the game in the second period and Smith added another power play goal late in the third period to round out the scoring. Binghamton goaltender Mike Brodeur stopped all 21 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. The power play goals allowed by Adirondack were the first since October 23rd vs. Hartford, snapping the Phantoms streak of 25 consecutive penalties killed off.

Saturday night was a complete 180-degree turn for Adirondack as they came out with significantly more energy, intensity and focus and secured a 3-2 shootout win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Patrick Maroon set the tone early by dropping the gloves with Bridgeport forward Matt Martin just two seconds after the opening face off; the first period ended without a goal, but the Phantoms out-shot the Sound Tigers 13-4. David Laliberte opened the scoring with a power play goal at 4:55 of the second period, his second goal of the year, and Adirondack fired 19 more shots on former Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe, but they could not stretch their lead. In the last minute of the period Greg Moore tied the game and then Martin scored a power play goal of 3:18 of the third period to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. 74 seconds later the score was tied at 2-2 as Stefan Legein caused a turnover, raced down the ice and then fired home his own rebound for a stunning unassisted short-handed goal at 4:32 that brought the Civic Center crowd to its feet. In the shootout Phantoms rookie goaltender Nic Riopel allowed a goal to Trevor Smith in the first round, but then stopped the next six shooters to record his first career professional victory. Krys Kolanos tied the score for Adirondack in the fourth round and Maroon finished what he started with the shootout-winning goal in the seventh round.

Week 8 Preview:

Adirondack completes a three-game home stand this week with their first Wednesday night home game of the season on November 18th as they host the Toronto Marlies at 7:00 pm. It will be the only trip to Glens Falls by Toronto this season and the final game of their two-game season series. Head Coach Greg Gilbert, who was behind the Marlies bench for the last three years, will record his 900th career game as a head coach on Wednesday. Then the Phantoms hit the road on Saturday as they begin their eight-game season series with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. The Penguins and the Norfolk Admirals are the two East Division teams that Adirondack has not played yet this year.

Week 8 is the fifth straight week where Adirondack plays just two games; part of a stretch where the Phantoms play just six games in 24 days. Coincidentally, their Wednesday night opponent Toronto is the only other team in the AHL to have played just 14 games in the league’s first seven weeks. Even though the Phantoms currently sit in sixth place in the East Division, they have three games in hand on first place Hershey and have the third best winning percentage (0.563). After this week their game schedule doubles in frequency; starting on Thanksgiving Day in Binghamton, Adirondack with play 12 games in 24 days.

Week 8 Schedule:

(All games are broadcast LIVE on Classic Hits Q-101.7 FM and can also be heard for free over the Internet at www.phantomshockey.com and can be viewed via internet pay-per-view video on www.ahllive.com.)

Wednesday, November 18 – 7:00 pm – Glens Falls Civic Center – Glens Falls, NY

vs. Toronto Marlies (6-5-1-2, 15 pts)

Tied-Sixth Place, North Division

The Marlies have only played 14 games, which is tied with Adirondack for the fewest in the AHL; however they are five points behind fifth place Grand Rapids (with one game in hand) and six points behind fourth place Abbotsford (with five games in hand). Wednesday’s game is the fifth of a six-game road trip for Toronto. Friday they travel to Lake Erie and then return to Ontario for a six-game home stand. Goaltender Joey MacDonald blanked the Phantoms 3-0 on October 30th, but has since lost his last two starts (4-1 and 5-1); goalie James Reimer is 2-0-1 in his last three starts. Mike Zigomanis, who had 13 assists in just seven games for the Marlies, was placed on team suspension on November 10th after he left for Europe to join Djurgardens IF of the Swedish Elite League.
Leading Scorers: Christian Hanson (RW) – 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 14 GP & Mike Zigomanis (C) – 13 points (0 goals, 13 assists) in 7 GP.
Leading Goaltender: James Reimer (G) – 2.37 GAA, 0.922 save pct., 3-1-1 in 5 GP.
Who’s Hot: James Reimer (G) – 1.62 GAA, 0.949 Sv.%, 2-0-1 record in his last 3 games played. Viktor Stalberg (LW) – 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) in his last five games played. Christian Hanson (RW) – 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists) and a +3 rating in his last five games played.

Saturday, November 21 – 7:05 pm – Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza – Wilkes-Barre, PA

@ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (8-5-1-1, 18 pts)

Tied-Second Place, East Division

The Penguins had their three-game winning streak halted last Saturday in Hershey as they lost to the Bears 3-1. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s defense has been very stingy; the team has a 1.60 goals-against average over their last five games. The Penguins will travel to Hartford for a Thursday night game with the Wolf Pack, before returning home to host the Phantoms on Saturday. This will be the first of eight games between Adirondack and Wilkes-Barre this season. The Phantoms were 4-5-0-1 against the Penguins last year. Goaltender John Curry has started 12 of the team’s first 15 games; he is 2-2-1 in his last five games played. Center Dustin Jeffrey is tied for second in the AHL in assists (14).
Leading Scorer: Dustin Jeffrey (C) – 15 points (1 goal, 14 assists) in 15 GP.
Leading Goaltender: John Curry (G) – 2.06 GAA, 0.929 save pct., 7-4-1 in 12 GP.
Who’s Hot: Dustin Jeffrey (C) – 7 assists and a +4 rating in his last five games played. Luca Caputi (LW) – 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) and a +1 rating in his last five games played. Chris Lee (D) – 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in his last four games played.

Week 7 Game Results:

November 13, 2009 Binghamton 5 @ Adirondack 0

November 14, 2009 Bridgeport 2 @ Adirondack 3 - SO

Phantoms Player of the Week: (Week 7)

Nic Riopel – G – #35 1 GP, First Pro Win, 1.91 GAA, 0.926 Sv.%, 6-for-7 in Shootout

Rookie goaltender Nic Riopel checked off his first career professional victory on Saturday night as the Phantoms beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-2 in a shootout. The Beloeil, Quebec native stopped 25-of-27 shots through regulation and overtime and, after allowing a goal on Bridgeport’s first shooter, denied six straight shootout attempts for the win. Riopel has a 2.70 goals-against average a 0.904 save percentage and a 1-3-0 record in the first four starts of his pro career.

Phantoms Quick Hits:

· SATURDAY GOOSE-EGG GONE – Adirondack won their first game on a Saturday this season over the weekend, beating Bridgeport 3-2 in a shootout. The Phantoms had started the year 0-4-1-0 in games on Saturday nights before beating the Sound Tigers.

· COACHING MILESTONE – Phantoms Head Coach Greg Gilbert is approaching quite a milestone this week. Gilbert will record his 900th career game as a head coach on Wednesday, November 18th at the Glens Falls Civic Center, fittingly against his former club the Toronto Marlies. In 899 games behind the bench as a head coach in the NHL, AHL and OHL Gilbert has a record of 408-354-76-61 (0.530).

· THAT IMPORTANT FIRST PERIOD – Adirondack’s early season record is heavily influenced by the score after the first period of play. The Phantoms are 0-3-1-0 when trailing after twenty minutes of play, but are 7-3-0-0 when leading or tied after the opening frame. Similarly they are 5-2-0-0 when scoring the first goal of the game and are 2-4-1-0 when allowing the first goal.

· 500 CLUB – Defenseman Sean Curry returned to the lineup after missing four games due to an injury and on Saturday night vs. Bridgeport he played in his 500th career professional game. Curry has appeared in 468 career AHL games and he is two points away from his 100th career AHL point (30 goals, 68 assists).

· SHOTS GALORE – After managing just 21 shots on goal and being shutout 5-0 by Binghamton on Friday night, Adirondack responded by firing a season-high 52 shots on goal against Bridgeport goalie Scott Munroe on Saturday. It was just the fifth time in 14 games this season that the Phantoms have out-shot their opponents; they are 3-1-1 those games and are 4-5-0-0 when being out-shot.

· SHOOTOUT STATS – Saturday’s 3-2 win over Bridgeport was Adirondack’s first shootout of the 2009-10 season. It was their first shootout win since February 28, 2009 when Claude Giroux scored in the 8th round to give the Phantoms as 4-3 win over the Providence Bruins. The Phantoms most recent shootout was on April 8, 2009 at Albany when Jakub Petruzalek gave the River Rats the win with a shootout goal in the 5th round.

Phantoms Recent Transactions

November 13 – ADD – David Laliberte (RW) – Returned on loan from Philadelphia (NHL).

November 9 – DELETE – Oskars Bartulis (D) – Recalled from loan by Philadelphia (NHL).

Adirondack Phantoms Team Leaders:

Games Played: Five players tied (14)

Goals: Jon Matsumoto (6)

Assists: Patrick Maroon & Jon Matsumoto (7)

Points: Jon Matsumoto (13)

Plus/Minus: Jon Matsumoto (+4)

Penalty Minutes: Matt Clackson (49)

Power Play Goals: Jon Matsumoto (3)

Short Handed Goals: Stefan Legein & Jon Matsumoto (1)

Game-Winning Goals: Six players tied (1)

Shots: Jon Matsumoto (45)

Shooting Percentage: Andreas Nodl (21.4%)

Saves: Johan Backlund (236)

Wins: Johan Backlund (5)

GAA: Johan Backlund (2.66)

Save Percentage: Johan Backlund (0.908)

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Adirondack will complete their three-game home stand on Wednesday, November 18th as they host the Toronto Marlies for a 7:00 pm face off at the Glens Falls Civic Center; it will be the Marlies’ only to Glens Falls this season.

The Time Warner Cable Cup Four-Pack is now on sale at the Phantoms office, starting as low as $56. 2009-10 Phantoms full and partial season ticket packages are still available for the 2009-10 season presented by Bud Light. For more information please contact the Adirondack Phantoms at (518) 480-3355 or online at www.phantomshockey.com.