ROSS IS BOSS

Philadelphia’s Leading Scorer Lifts Phantoms Over Monarchs

MANCHESTER, NH – Jared Ross scored two goals to anchor a three-goal second period and boost the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 3-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday night at Verizon Wireless Arena. Philadelphia bucked a two-game losing trend and pushed its East Division lead back to eight points over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which was upended by Hershey.

After the teams played a scoring-free first period, Ross started the scoring just 29 seconds into the second. He was part of a Phantoms posse that was charging into the Manchester crease, and Ross poked the puck over the line just before the onslaught took the net off its pegs.

Manchester tied the game at 1-1 near the game’s halfway point. Kevin Dallman went coast-to-coast and fired a shot on Scott Munroe as he crossed into the Phantoms end. Munroe made the save, but Dallman swooped onto the rebound with two Phantoms tailgating and fired it in for a power play goal at 9:46.

At 13:04, Kyle Greentree put the Phantoms up to stay. David Laliberte took a shot that Manchester goaltender Daniel Taylor stopped, but the rebound came right into the slot towards a charging Greentree. The big winger didn’t get all of the puck, but the off-speed shot fooled Taylor and eluded him for a 2-1 Phantoms advantage.

Ross made it 3-1 under some similar circumstances at the 16:43 mark. He came in on the right side near the right face-off circle and fired a shot that caused his stick to snap in half. The puck in turn knuckled and stayed along the ice, fooling Taylor, and wiggled through his legs. When Ross raised his stick for the customary goal celebration, he held half of it in each hand.

Manchester made things interesting with 1:22 to play. Drew Bagnall took a shot from the point that David Meckler deflected downward to the ice and between Munroe’s pads to draw the Monarchs within a goal. But the Phantoms buckled down and declined any additional scoring.

Each team took 28 shots, with Munroe stopping 26 of them and Taylor denying 19 of 22 over two periods. Erik Ersberg played the third in relief and interrupted six bids. Greentree’s goal was his sixth tally and 11th point in his last nine games, while Ross’s two goals marked his second multi-goal game of the season and gave him points in all three games played since returning from an appendectomy on Wednesday. He has five points (2G, 3A) in those three games.

Philadelphia completes its four-game road swing Sunday afternoon against the league-leading Providence Bruins. The Phantoms return to the Wachovia Spectrum on Tuesday, Feb. 12 to face the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05. Tickets are available at the Wachovia Complex box office, online at ComcastTIX.com or phantomshockey.com, or by phone at 1-800-298-4200.

Saturday, February 09, 2008