TONIGHT'S GAME – The Philadelphia Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers) tonight welcome the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers). It’s the only regular season game between the two here in Philadelphia, and comes on the heels of their game in Hartford on Wednesday. Tonight, just across the parking lot, the NHL affiliates are going toe to toe. The Phantoms have a record of 40-23-3-3 record and 86 points through 69 games. The Phantoms are in first place in the East Division. The Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins are one point back of the Phantoms with 85 in 68 games. The Albany River Rats are four points behind the Phantoms with 70 games played. The Hershey Bears are in fourth with 74 points. They are one up on the Binghamton Senators and three ahead of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The top four teams in the division make the playoffs---The Pack are in second place in the Atlantic Division, 10 points behind the AHL leading Providence Bruins and just two points ahead of the third place Portland Pirates. The dogfight for fourth includes the Springfield Falcons and Manchester Monarchs.
PHANTOMS – WOLF PACK LAST GAME – The Phantoms lost a heartbreaker in Hartford on Wednesday night, 5-4 in overtime. Triston Grant gave the Phantoms 1-0 and 2-1 leads with goals in the front end of the first and second period. Before the close of the second, Boyd Kane expanded the lead to 3-1 with a power play marker. In the final seven minutes of regulation, the teams combined to score four goals, including the game-tying goal from Greg Moore with just 15 seconds left on the clock. Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau’s second of the night and team leading 28th dented the Philly twine on the power play 37 seconds into overtime for the 5-4 final. Martin Houle took the loss in net with 26 saves, including 15 in the first two periods. Miika Wiikman was the winner with 35 saves total.
ALL-TIME - This is the 950th regular season game in Phantoms franchise history. Philadelphia has an all-time record of 488-337-39-20 and 65 ties. The Phantoms have 1100 points in 949 games.
THE SERIES – This is the second of two regular season games scheduled with the Hartford this season. In the Nutmeg State on Wednesday, the Phantoms were defeated in overtime, 5-4. This is the 28th all-time regular season game between the Phantoms and Wolf Pack. The Phantoms are 10-10-3-1 with three ties. The Phantoms are winless in their last two home games against Hartford (0-1-0-1) and four overall (0-2-1-1). The Phantoms last win against Hartford came in Connecticut on Dec 10, 2005 when they won 3-2 in overtime. The last home win was January 28, 2005, by a 5-1 count.
PHANTOM FILES – With Wednesday’s 5-4 overtime loss, several forgettable firsts or near-firsts were attained by the Phantoms. The blemish was the first for the Phantoms when scoring four or more goals in a game. They now have a 19-0-1-0 record in that situation. The Phantoms were leading Wednesday’s game 3-1 after two periods. With the OTL, they now have a 25-1-1-0 record when up through 40 minutes. The regulation loss came in Albany by a 2-1 count on March 2. Incidentally, the Phantoms are 17-4-0-1 when leading after one. The Wolf Pack are now 2-13-0-1 when trailing after two---Pete Zingoni has points in five straight games and assists in four straight. He has a goal and five assists during his run and is +6 during the up-tick---Lars Jonsson had a goal and two assists on Wednesday night in Hartford, his first multipoint game of the season. He also has points in three of his last four games, totaling a goal and four assists---The Phantoms are 3-5-1-1 in their last 10---In 14 games that have gone beyond 60 minutes this season fro the Phantoms, they have three overtime wins, three overtime losses, five shootout wins and five shootout losses, good for 22 of a possible 28 points.
PACK IN, PACK OUT – The Pack has the third-best power play in the AHL, clicking 20.9% of the time. They are tied with three other teams for the fewest shorthanded goals given up with four total. Andrew Hutchinson leads the club and is second among AHL defensemen with 12 power play goals. He also has 22 power play assists. Overall, Hutchinson leads all AHL blueliners with 57 points on 15 goals and 42 assists—Corey Potter leads all defensemen and is second in the AHL with a +29 rating---The Pack are 21-11-1-3 at home and 24-8-2-1 on the road. They have outscored their opponents by a combined 118-91 at home and 96-71 on the road---In 13 overtime games, the Hartford Wolf Pack have three overtime wins, two overtime losses, two shootout wins and six shootout losses. That’s 18 of a possible 26 points.
ON THE AIR – Thanks to the Philadelphia Area Dodge Dealers, the Phantoms are providing free audio broadcasts of all Phantoms games this season. It is the first time in the team's 12-year history that fans have the opportunity to enjoy audio broadcasts for all 80 of the Phantoms regular season games plus playoffs. The Phantoms official website, Phantomshockey.com, in conjunction with league and team partner B2 Networks, provides the home for the audio. Broadcaster Mike Thornton handles the play-by-play.
NEXT GAME – The Phantoms make the short trip to Hershey tomorrow night to face the Bears at 7:05. Philadelphia’s next home game is Friday, March 28 against the Binghamton Senators at 7:05 here at the Wachovia Spectrum.
