Perhaps it was the special green jerseys on St. Patrick's Day that made the difference. Adirondack dominated play in the first period and appeared on the verge of taking the early lead at Hershey, but somehow the host Bears survived and turned things around following a time-out. Hershey went on from there to defeat the visiting Phantoms 5-2 on Sunday evening at Giant Center.

Veteran Jeff Taffe led the Hershey attack with two goals and two assists while young goaltending talent Phillip Grubauer turned in a 36-save effort to lead the Bears. Grubauer had a 40-save shutout against the Phantoms in this building three weeks ago for the first of his AHL career and his hex against the Phantoms continued for the first 44 minutes of this game as well.

Marcel Noebels scored his eighth of the season against his fellow countryman and former youth German National Teammate in Grubauer. And Garrett Roe added his seventh of the year in the closing moments of the game. Roe has scored goals in back-to-back games. Brian Boucher took the loss for Adirondack but certainly could not be pinned with the blame on the majority of the goals.

The game was the fourth out of seven in the team's longest road-trip of the season which continues Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Norfolk before concluding on Saturday at Connecticut.

Adirondack kept the puck in the Hershey zone for about 90% of the play in the first period it seemed. They were dominating on the attack and the Bears struggled to even get the puck past their own blue-line as the Phantoms rolled their fore-checkers over and over.

Grubauer made several nice saves including a pair of consecutive stops point-blank on Jason Akeson right on top of him following a cross-ice feed by Roe. Hershey head coach Mark French used his team's timeout when Adirondack was completely in charge and out-shooting the Bears 12-1. That proved to be a sharp decision as the Bears would right the ship shortly after the bench-huddle.

Hershey somehow escaped from the first period and even ended up with the lead when Peter LeBlanc would strike on the reboun of a Jeff Taffe shot for his seventh of the year. Bears 1 - Phantoms 0 at the end of one despite Adirondack so clearly having the better of the play for almost the entirety of the opening 20 minutes.

The Bears would carry momentum into the opening minutes of the second period as well and would thrive with more open ice. Hershey scored 4-on-4 with a pair of former Philadelphia Phantoms stars teamming up. Boyd Kane won the puck in the corner and found an open Ryan Potulny on the top of the crease to chip in his 13th of the year to make it 2-0.

Just barely over a minute later, Hershey would score a 4-on-3 power-play goal with another of their veterans lighting the lamp. Jeff Taffe's 17th of the year came on a quick cross-ice feed by Casey Wellman.

Wellman himself would score a fluky goal early in the third period when his power-play shot from the top of the left circle would deflect off the skate of Phantoms defenseman Andreas Lilja and in past Boucher to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Marcel Noebels would get the Phantoms on the board just 20 seconds later to make it 4-1 on a scramble in front with assists going to Jason Akeson and Garrett Roe.

Jeff Taffe would score his second of the game and 18th of the year to complete a four-point night with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. He was joined by Dmitri Orlov speeding out of the box and they successfully converted on their 2-on-1 give-and-go to extend the advantage to 5-1.

The shots in the third period at that point were 10-2 yet Hershey had somehow scored on both of their shots.

Garrett Roe jumped across and snuck one in short-side on Grubauer with 1:55 left for his seventh of the year to close out the scoring.

Adirondack out-shot the Bears 38-24 including a dominant 17-4 in the third period. The Phantoms had their power-play streak snapped going 0-for-4 on the man-advantage. Hershey was 2-for-5.

Scratches for the Phantoms included David Laliberte, Cullen Eddy and Jeff Dimmen.
Jason Akeson had a pair of assists in the game to take over the Race to 100. Akeson has 92 career points with the Adirondack Phantoms while Erik Gustafsson has 91. One of those two can become the first ever to reach 100 points with the Adirondack Phantoms. Currently, the all-time points leader in Adirondack Phantoms history is Denis Hamel wit 96.

Appropriately for St. Patrick's Day, Zack FitzGerald reached the 400 milestone for professional games in his career.

Adirondack's longest road-trip of the season continues Tuesday at 7:15 at the Norfolk Admirals and the Phantoms will again play there Wednesday night at 7:15.

The Phantoms' next home game is Sunday, March 24 at 3:00 in the season-series finale against the Portland Pirates. It will be Dax's Kids Club Day featuring a post-game open-skate with the players presented by Glens Falls Hospital. Call the Phantoms to purchase your Sunday Family 3-Packs at 518-480-3355.

Adirondack Phantoms 2 at Hershey Bears 5 - Status: Final
Sunday, March 17, 2013 - Giant Center

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

1st Period-1, Hershey, LeBlanc 7 (Taffe, Stafford), 19:14. Penalties-Potulny Her (interference), 6:32; Taffe Her (tripping), 16:40.

2nd Period-2, Hershey, Potulny 13 (Kane), 3:24. 3, Hershey, Taffe 17 (Wellman, Orlov), 4:32 (PP). Penalties-FitzGerald Adk (roughing), 2:58; Pope Her (roughing), 2:58; Konan Adk (roughing), 3:40; Syvret Adk (slashing), 5:36; Lilja Adk (tripping), 11:24.

3rd Period-4, Hershey, Wellman 13 (Taffe, DiSalvatore), 4:06 (PP). 5, Adirondack, Noebels 8 (Roe, Akeson), 4:26. 6, Hershey, Taffe 18 (Orlov, DiSalvatore), 12:49. 7, Adirondack, Roe 7 (Akeson, Lilja), 18:05. Penalties-Carman Her (boarding), 0:52; Wahl Adk (tripping), 3:41; Kane Her (interference), 7:47; Orlov Her (holding the stick), 10:43; Lilja Adk (boarding), 18:42.

Shots on Goal-Adirondack 14-7-17-38. Hershey 7-13-4-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Adirondack 0 / 5; Hershey 2 / 5.
Goalies-Adirondack, Boucher 3-5-1 (24 shots-19 saves). Hershey, Grubauer 10-5-1 (38 shots-36 saves).
A-10,856
Referees-T.J. Luxmore (49).
Linesmen-Luke Murray (92), Matt McNulty (26).


UPCOMING

Tuesday, March 19 (7:15) - Adirondack Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals

Wednesday, March 20 (7:15) - Adirondack Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals

Saturday, March 23 (7:00) - Adirondack Phantoms at Connecticut Whale

Sunday, March 24 (3:00) - Portland Pirates at Adirondack Phantoms. Finally back at home!! Dax's Kids Club Game. Post-Game Skate with the Phantoms presented by Glens Falls Hospital. Sunday Family 3-Packs

Friday, March 29 (7:00) - Adirondack Phantoms at Binghamton Senators

Saturday, March 30 (7:00) - Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Adirondack Phantoms. Phantoms Poster Night for first 3,000 fans presented by Glens Falls Printing

Call the Phantoms in advance for tickets and Sunday Family 3-Packs and SAVE! 518-480-3355


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