December 30, 2011

A marathon shootout affair that felt like it might never end eventually did when Tyler Brown stuffed a five-hole push in the 12th round for a 3-2 victory. Jason Bacashihua held the Portland Pirates to one goal in 12 rounds in his stellar performance for his second shootout win of the year.

Denis Hamel had scored in the second round of the shootout and both teams would squarely hit the post twice on their way through the lengthy post-overtime battle. But Justin Pogge and Jason Bacashihua simply kept matching each other save-for-save until Brown finally was able to break the long deadlock.

Adirondack moved out of a tie in the conference standings with Portland via the entertaining victory and improved to 16-13-2 on the season as well as 2-1 in shootout games.

The game featured much to be excited about for the Friday night crowd at the Glens Falls Civic Center including a penalty shot for captain Ben Holmstrom with just 43 seconds remaining in regulation with a chance to win it. Holmstrom was denied on that opportunity, but they simply set the stage for the drama to come including a terrific penalty kill effort at the end of the third and into the overtime to stay alive.

Tyler Brown came off the bench as the 12th Phantom in the shootout to finally end the evening. The rookie out of Wasaga Beach, Ontario comes to the Phantoms from Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League where he had 25 goals last year. Brown only has one goal this season with Adirondack, coming against Portland back on October 21. His shootout winner does not count as a regular goal on his statistics.

Jason Bacashihua made several dazzling saves in the shootout going in pretty much every possible direction. Included in his highlight-reel caliber performance were a ninth round sliding stop to his right with his blocker to deny Ethan Werek and also a fine kick save with his left leg in the 11th round on Michael Stone. Both saves were necessary to keep the game going an give Brown the chance to put it home in the 12th.

At first, it appeared the game was not destined to go as long as it did as Adirondack raced out to a 2-0 lead and appeared as though they were on the verge of extending that advantage even further.

Mike Testwuide scored for the Phantoms in the first period pushing a loose puck home on a scramble in the crease. It was just the kind of goal with traffic down low that head coach Joe Paterson had been hoping to see more of from his team. It was Testwuide's fourth of the year nicely set up by an assist from Eric Wellwood. After starting slowly out of the gates, Testwuide has once again found the hot scoring touch with three goals in his last four games.

Eric Wellwood extended the Phantoms lead to 2-0 with a power play goal from the right circle early in the second period. The play was possible after Erik Gustafsson's nice play keeping the puck in the zone on the right point. For Wellwood, it was only his second game back after missing over a month with an injury. Gustafsson was playing in his first game with the Phantoms since October 28. He had been with the Flyers but was sidelined following wrist surgery in November. He was activated from the injured-reserve earlier in the day and made it to Glens Falls just a couple hours before game-time.

Much of the rest of the second period was spent in the Portland zone including a couple of shifts in which Portland looked like they were just barely hanging on in their efforts to block everything the Phantoms attackers were blasting at the net.

But the Pirates would finally mount a counter-strike late in the second and back-to-back penalties on the Phantoms allowed Ryan Duncan to score a key 5-on-3 goal late in the second to get the Pirates on the board.

Portland tied the score six minutes into the third on Brock Trotter's nice backhand feed from the right-wing corner with Ethan Werek crashing the net, knocking into Bacashihua, and pushing the puck in.

The game would stay 2-2 for the rest of regulation and overtime but not without a fair amount of drama and chances. Portland would have three power play opportunities for the final 13 minutes of the third but the Phantoms penalty kill would scramble and battle and get the job done over and over to keep the game tied.

Adirondack had a power play opportunity of their own in the third but the Pirates would withstand that too.

Both teams had some great chances in the overtime with neither converting bringing the night to the 12-round marathon conclusion and eventually the exciting Phantoms win.

The victory ends the season series for the Phantoms and the Pirates with Adirondack going 2-2 against Portland. Shots on goal in the game were 28 for Portland and 27 for Adirondack. The Phantoms were 1-for-3 on the power play while their penalty kill played a gigantic role in the victory by limiting the Pirates to 1-for-7 including three huge kills down the stretch.

Adirondack continues their homestand with their traditional New Year's Eve game against the Albany Devils at 7:00pm.



Upcoming Events

Saturday, December 31, 7:00 - Albany Devils at Phantoms. Big New Year's Eve game! Time Warner Cable Cup Rivalry game.

Wednesday, January 4, 7:00 - Binghamton Senators at Phantoms. $1 hot dogs.

Friday, January 6, 7:00 - Outdoor Classic! Hershey Bears vs. Adirondack Phantoms at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Catch all the action of Phantoms hockey all season long on the team's flagship station, Classic Hits Q101.7 and on phantomshockey.com. Bob Rotruck has the broadcast coverage 30 minutes prior to game-time with Countdown to Faceoff.. Be sure to follow the Phantoms on twitter @phantomshockey and on facebook.com/adkhockey

Portland Pirates 2 at Adirondack Phantoms 3 (SO) - Status: Final SO
Friday, December 30, 2011 - Glens Falls Civic Center

Portland 0 1 1 0 - 2
Adirondack 1 1 0 0 - 3

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Testwuide 4 (Wellwood, Holmstrom), 13:09. Penalties-Rowe Adk (hooking), 6:07; Gustafsson Adk (holding), 19:48.

2nd Period-2, Adirondack, Wellwood 6 (Gustafsson), 3:35 (PP). 3, Portland, Duncan 6 (Stone, Oystrick), 18:07 (PP). Penalties-Goncharov Por (charging), 2:09; Arsene Por (fighting), 4:08; Holmstrom Adk (fighting), 4:08; Watkins Por (tripping), 7:23; Hoffman Por (boarding), 13:03; Marshall Adk (hooking), 16:30; Eddy Adk (delay of game), 16:54.

3rd Period-4, Portland, Werek 3 (Trotter), 6:37. Penalties-Rome Por (roughing), 7:46; Eddy Adk (slashing), 7:46; Holmstrom Adk (hooking), 8:04; Arsene Por (interference), 11:42; McGinn Adk (hooking), 14:14; McGinn Adk (delay of game), 18:28.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout - Portland 1 (Duncan NG, Trotter G, MacLean NG, Eckford NG, Goncharov NG, Oystrick NG, Hextall NG, Rome NG, Werek NG, Watkins NG, Stone NG, Ross NG), Adirondack 2 (Akeson NG, Hamel G, Wellwood NG, Roe NG, Holmstrom NG, Harper NG, Testwuide NG, McGinn NG, Gustafsson NG, Kalinski NG, Rowe NG, Brown G).
Shots on Goal-Portland 12-4-10-3-0-29. Adirondack 11-7-9-0-1-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Portland 1 / 7; Adirondack 1 / 4.
Goalies-Portland, Pogge 4-3-3 (27 shots-25 saves). Adirondack, Bacashihua 5-3-1 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-3,210
Referees-David Banfield (44), Dan Dreger (51).
Linesmen-Rich Patry (52), Brent Colby (7).