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Akeson Tallies 100th Assist in Setback at Hartford

February 4, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


The milestones keep coming for Jason Akeson. One game he's breaking the Adirondack Phantoms all-time goals record previously held by Denis Hamel. The next game he's the first Adirondack Phantom to record 100 career assists. His helper on a Tye McGinn power-play goal would not be enough, however, as the visiting Phantoms fell on the road to the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Akeson becomes the 10th player in Phantoms' history to reach 100 career assists with the franchise. That includes 13 seasons of the Philadelphia Phantoms from 1996-2009 and also five seasons of the Adirondack Phantoms from 2009-2014.

Adirondack had to improvise a bit with their lineup for this game and were without "Ironman" Rob Bordson who missed this contest with an illness. Bordson's team-record streak of 144 consecutive games played came to an end as a result. Kyle Flangan and Derek Mathers were also among the scratches for this game.

Danny Kristo (17th), Oscar Lindberg (13th), Bretton Stamler (1st) and former Phantom and Flyer Darroll Powe (8th) all scored in the Wolf Pack win while David LeNeveu turned aside 25 of 26 drives between the pipes.

Kristo tallied just 23 seconds into the game curling a Heeter rebound around his left-leg into the goal. It was the quickest goal the Phantoms have surrendered this season.

Adirondack quickly responded with a power-play goal less than four minutes into the game when Jason Akeson's drive was battled for in the crease by Ben Holmstrom and Tye McGinn. Holmstrom's stick was blocked by Hartford defenders but McGinn on the right-side of the crease was able to muscle his way it and deposit his 13th of the season as well as his sixth in his last six games. McGinn also has 12 points in hislast 11 games since January 4 on eight goals and four assists.

The score would stay tied at 1-1 for only about a minute-and-a-half though as Michael Haley's feed into the slot would set up Oscar Lindberg to jam one through in the crease.

Chris VandeVelde almost made the score 2-2 late in the first period when he raced out of the Phantoms zone on a shorthanded breakaway. VandeVelde was completely in the clear and moved the puck to his backhand but LeNeveu made the left-leg kick save to keep the Wolf Pack in front.

Cal Heeter made his top save of the night with just under a minute to go in the first period with a spectacular left-toe stop on J.T. Miller's one-timer drive in the high slot.

Defenseman Bretton Stamler capitalized on a long-rebound between the circles shortly after a face-off win to score his first of the season about eight minutes into the second period as Hartford extended their advantage to 3-1. A couple minutes after that, head coach Terry Murray opted to use his timeout to try to get his players reset.

Darroll Powe cranked a blast from the top of the left-circle over the glove of Heeter with 5:20 left in the second period making the score 4-1. The shot might have deflected off a defenseman's skate up high perhaps changing the direction of the drive. Heeter was removed from the game at that point in favor of Yann Danis who held the Wolf Pack off the board the rest of the way.

Adirondack had a couple of big power-play opportunities in the third period in some late efforts to cut into the margin. Powe received a five-minute elbowing major and game misconduct with 6:10 remaining on a massive hit against Petr Straka. The Phantoms' rookie laid on the ice face-down for a few moments while Ben Holmstrom dropped the gloves with Powe. But Straka eventually got to his feet and was even okay to stay in the game and took a couple more shifts before the night ended.

So Adirondack received a five-minute major power play with an opportunity to score multiple goals but Hartford was able to kill off a couple minutes of it and then most of the rest of the time was spent 4-on-4 after former Wolf Pack Kris Newbury received an elbowing minor.

Hartford out-shot Adirondack 31-25. The Phantoms were 1-for-7 on the power play while the Wolf Pack were held to 0-for-4. The Phantoms and Wolf Pack have played eight times this season and will meet again for just a couple more in March. The Phantoms fell to 22-21-2 while the Wolf Pack won their sixth in their last nine to improve to 17-23-5 in their efforts to climb out of the Eastern Conference cellar.

The Phantoms continue their road-swing on Saturday night at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Sunday afternoon at 3:00 at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. After that is the AHL All-Star Break from February 10-13. The Phantoms return to Glens Falls for a Valentine's Day matchup with the Portland Pirates on Friday, February 14 at 7:00. Purchase your tickets in advance to save by calling the Phantoms at 518-480-3355.



American Hockey League Stories from February 4, 2014


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