POWER SURGE IN PHILLY

Three Man-Up Goals Send Phantoms Past Penguins

PHILADELPHIA – The Phantoms scored three power play goals and killed off a lengthy third-period 5-on-3 en route to a 4-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Wachovia Spectrum on Sunday afternoon.

The Phantoms opened the scoring midway through the first period. Jared Ross fired a shot from the right circle that hit a leg and skipped high to Stefan Ruzicka. The speedy Slovak was able to glove the puck to his feet and push it in front, and Boyd Kane reached in to poke the puck past Ty Conklin for the 1-0 lead at 9:55.

A second power play goal gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Jonathan Matsumoto had the puck deep in the right side just ahead of the goal line and tried to thread a pass through bodies in front. The puck came right back to him, and instead of trying to center again he directed the puck on net, found a keyhole and beat Conklin from the sharp angle at 4:32.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton answered the second goal less than three minutes later. The Penguins were still set up in the Phantoms end following a power play, and a flurry of shots finally saw a rebound come to Alex Goligoski on Brian Boucher’s weak side. Goligoski was able to fire it home before Boucher could get back to the post, making it 2-1 at the 7:16 mark.

Pete Zingoni regained the two-goal advantage for the club early in the third period with yet another power play goal. Alexandre Picard sprung Zingoni in the neutral zone a step ahead of the defense, and Zingoni was able to get far enough ahead to fire a shot that rolled over Conklin’s pads and in, giving Philadelphia a 3-1 lead at 6:01 of the frame. Stefan Ruzicka iced matters with an empty-netter with 39 seconds remaining.

Boucher took the win and earned first star honors with 29 saves, including a dazzling, yoga-like stop from his back on a Jonathan Filewich breakaway. Conklin took the loss with 23 saves on 26 of the Phantoms 27 shots.

The Phantoms return to action on Friday, October 12 against the Albany River Rats at 7:05 at the Wachovia Spectrum. It’s Museum Madness night at the Spectrum, with several area museums setting up displays on the concourse. Tickets are available at the Wachovia Complex box office, online at ComcastTIX.com or phantomshockey.com, or by phone at 1-800-298-4200.

Phantoms season tickets and game plans are still available for the 2007-08 season. Fans can secure the same great seat at a discount for 6, 10, 20 or 40 Phantoms home games this season while receiving an impressive list of exclusive benefits. Packages start as low as $60!

For more information or to make a deposit, call the Phantoms at 215-465-4522 during normal business hours. Single-game tickets for the entire season are available via ComcastTIX at www.phantomshockey.com, with kids tickets only $10 for any seat, any game, all season long. More information is also available at the Phantoms website, Phantomshockey.com

Sunday, October 07, 2007