February 19, 2010

GLENS FALLS, NY – David Laliberte led all scorers with three points and Joey Mormina broke a 3-3 tie with a blistering power play goal halfway through the third period as the Adirondack Phantoms took down the Hershey Bears 5-3 Friday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Adirondack came out with loads of energy to start the game and built an early 9-2 shots on goal advantage, but Hershey advantageously cashed in with two quick goals off of Phantoms turnovers. Alexandre Giroux scored an unassisted goal at 6:30 after causing a giveaway in the neutral zone and Francois Bouchard made it 2-0 at 10:35 when Adirondack failed the clear the puck away from their net. The Phantoms out-shot the Bears 15-9 in the first period, but had no goals to show for their efforts.

That changed in the second frame as rookie defenseman Joonas Lehtivuori roofed his wrist shot over the glove of goalie Braden Holtby at 6:14, scoring his fourth of the season from Patrick Maroon and Jon Matsumoto. Jason Ward tied the game at 12:40 when he shoveled in a rebound from Jonathon Kalinski and Andreas Nodl for his 10th goal of the season, bringing the crowd of 4,407 to its feet. The Bears regained the lead at 14:39 on Giroux’s second goal of the game, a power play goal where he slid the puck into the open net after a Keith Aucoin wrap-around attempt went wide. But the Phantoms rallied to score a crucial goal at 17:34 as David Laliberte sped down the right wing and ripped a shot under the blocker of Holtby for a power play goal, tying the game at 3-3.

Hershey is 33-0-0-0 when leading after two periods this season and they were 5-1-0-1 when tied after forty minutes, all the more reason why Laliberte’s goal was a key ingredient in Adirondack’s win. The other main factor was Joey Mormina’s howitzer of a slap shot from the blue line that blazed into the net at 9:48 for the Phantoms’ second power play goal of the game, assisted by Laliberte and Maroon, to give the home team a 4-3 lead. With time winding down and Holtby called to the bench for the extra attacker, Laliberte thought he had scored his second goal of the night, but his empty net goal was waived off by the referee because one of his teammates was offside. Seconds later Jared Ross found the empty net, his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Laliberte at 19:48, sealing the Phantoms 5-3 victory.

Johan Backlund made 15 saves in the game on 18 shots to record his 18th win of the season, as the Phantoms improved to 26-25-2-2 on the year. Braden Holtby took just his fourth loss of the year, stopping 37-of-41 shots as Hershey dropped to 41-11-0-2. Adirondack out-shot the Bears 42-18 in the game, holding their guests to just nine shots over the final two periods. The Phantoms were 2-for-6 on the power play and Hershey was 1-for-5 with the man-advantage.

Adirondack travels to Albany on Saturday, February 20th for a 5:00 pm face off in Round Nine of the Time Warner Cable Cup series with the River Rats at the Times Union Center. Sunday, February 21st the Phantoms head up to Montreal, Quebec as they battle the Hamilton Bulldogs at 1:00 pm at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens. Adirondack’s next home game is against the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday, February 24th; a 7:00 pm face off at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

There is no better way to watch Phantoms Hockey than by sharing it with a group of your family and friends. Bring a group of 15 or more people to the Glens Falls Civic Center and qualify for incredible discounted ticket prices off the regular box office rates. For more information about group tickets, contact the Phantoms at (518) 480-3355 or online at www.phantomshockey.com. Don’t miss a minute of the exciting action of the Adirondack Phantoms 2009-2010 Season presented by Bud Light.

FINAL BOX SCORE

Hershey Bears 3 At Adirondack Phantoms 5 - Status: Final
Feb 19, 2010 - Glens Falls Civic Center

Hershey 2 1 0 - 3
Adirondack 0 3 2 - 5

1st Period-1, Hershey, Giroux 28 6:30. 2, Hershey, Bouchard 14 (Bourque, Perreault), 10:35. Penalties-Ross Adk (hooking), 0:53; Aucoin Her (slashing), 4:15; Laliberte Adk (hooking), 14:04.

2nd Period-3, Adirondack, Lehtivuori 4 (Maroon, Matsumoto), 6:14. 4, Adirondack, Ward 10 (Kalinski, Nodl), 12:03. 5, Hershey, Giroux 29 (Aucoin, Bourque), 14:39 (pp). 6, Adirondack, Laliberte 12 (Lehtivuori), 17:34 (pp). Penalties-Bouchard Her (slashing), 4:04; Stephenson Adk (holding), 6:56; Bouchard Her (cross-checking), 9:02; Laliberte Adk (goaltender interference), 13:57; Mormina Adk (misconduct - unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:39; Amadio Her (holding), 16:20; Matsumoto Adk (slashing), 18:09.

3rd Period-7, Adirondack, Mormina 4 (Laliberte, Maroon), 9:48 (pp). 8, Adirondack, Ross 6 (Laliberte, Mormina), 19:48 (en). Penalties-Helmer Her (roughing), 7:18; Pinizzotto Her (cross-checking), 9:04; Klotz Adk (misconduct - unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 9-5-4-18. Adirondack 15-12-15-42.

Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 1 of 5; Adirondack 2 of 6.

Goalies-Hershey, Holtby 17-4-1 (41 shots-37 saves). Adirondack, Backlund 18-11-2 (18 shots-15 saves).

A-4,407

Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Frank Murphy (29).