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Norfolk Admirals

Admirals Score Early and Often in Sweep of Phantoms

February 11, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Norfolk Admirals News Release


NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk Admirals (29-18-1-2) scored four goals on 25 shots in the opening period and held on to defeat the Adirondack Phantoms (22-24-1-1), 7-3, on Saturday night at Norfolk Scope Arena. The Admirals now hit the road for a two-game trip beginning tomorrow evening in Charlotte.

Fourteen different Admirals picked up at least one point in the victory. Cory Conacher scored twice and reclaimed the league lead in goals with 27. Tyler Johnson picked up a goal and two assists. Richard Panik, Mike Kostka, Mike Angelidis and Trevor Smith also scored for Norfolk, while Dustin Tokarski turned aside 22 of 25 shots for his AHL-leading 21st victory of the season.

Panik gave the Admirals a 1-0 lead with his 11th goal of the season. After a shot by Ondrej Palat was turned aside, Panik jammed a loose rebound under the right leg of Phantoms netminder Michael Leighton at 2:48.

The next three Norfolk goals would come via the power play. As the Admirals skated with a five-on-three advantage, Kostka extended the Admirals lead to 2-0 with a slap shot over the glove of Leighton at 4:36.

Norfolk's lead tripled to 3-0 after a shot by Mark Barberio deflected to Conacher, who sent a backhander over Leighton at 5:07.

Three minutes later, Conacher capped off the scoring in the opening period. After picking up the rebound of a Trevor Smith shot, Conacher buried the puck under the Phantoms netminder to give Norfolk a 4-0 lead at 8:20. The goal was Conacher's AHL-leading 27th of the season.

Norfolk out-shot Adirondack, 25-8, during the first period and entered the first intermission with a 4-0 lead.

The visitors narrowed the Admirals' lead to 4-1 when Tyler Brown backhanded a rebound over the glove of Tokarski at 4:23 of the second period.

Norfolk stretched its lead to 5-1 on Angelidis' 11th goal of the season. Standing in front of the net, Angelidis picked up a pass from Alexandre Picard and tucked a shot over the glove of Leighton at 3:31 of the final frame.

However, it took only 31 seconds for the Phantoms to respond. While standing on the edge of the right faceoff circle, Jonathon Kalinski deflected a Brandon Manning shot over Tokarski to narrow the Admirals' lead to 5-2 at 4:02.

With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, Trevor Smith sent a slap from between the faceoff circles over the catching hand of Leighton to give Norfolk a 6-2 lead. The goal was Smith's 19th on the season and came at 13:23 of the third.

The Phantoms' comeback attempt continued as they narrowed the deficit to 6-3 with a power play goal by Manning. Four seconds into a man advantage, Manning fired a shot from just inside the zone, which found its way through a screen and behind Tokarski at 14:38 of the third.

Johnson answered back with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Matt Fornataro fed Johnson a pass in front of the Phantoms net. Johnson slipped the puck behind Leighton for his 16th goal of the season at 17:36.

Dustin Tokarski (21-11-0) turned aside 23 of 27 shots in the victory. Michael Leighton (15-19-0) stopped 41 of 48 shots in the loss.

Norfolk was 3-for-6 on the power play while Adirondack was 1-for-8.

The Admirals head out on a quick two-game road trip, beginning tomorrow night in Charlotte. The puck drops against the Checkers at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. Before returning home, the Admirals will visit the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday night. All games can be heard at 102.1-FM, 1490-AM and 1021TheGame.com. You can also watch on a pay-per-view basis at AHLLive.com.

Norfolk will return home next Friday night, as they induct the Admirals Hall of Fame class of 2012. Aaron Downey and Chris Phelps will be inducted as the 11th and 12th members of the Admirals Hall of Fame during a pre-game ceremony on Friday, February 17, before the Admirals take on the Syracuse Crunch at 7:30 p.m. at Norfolk Scope Arena.

Friday night is also American Cancer Society Hockey Night 2012. Red Level tickets for this game are available for just $10. If you were to buy these tickets at the Scope Box Office on game night, they'd be $17.50 - you save 43%! Contact your Relay for Life leader for more details.

Individual tickets for all regular season games start at just $12. Tickets are available now at the Scope Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000 and online at ticketmaster.com.

Don't miss a minute of the action by purchasing your 2011-12 season tickets today. Season tickets start at just $350 while 10-Packs are available for as little as $110. Stop by the Admirals' Administrative Offices at Scope, call (757) 640-1212 weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or visit norfolkadmirals.com anytime!

Three Stars:

1. Cory Conacher - NOR

2. Mark Barberio - NOR

3. Tyler Johnson - NOR

NOTES ... Tokarski improved to 3-0-0 vs. the Phantoms this season ... The Admirals scored seven goals for the second time this season ... The 25 shots in the first period by Norfolk tied an AHL season high and is one off the AHL Admirals franchise record ... Did not play: Richard Petiot, Michel Ouellet, Eric Neilson.

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