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Cashing in for a Road Standings Point

February 14, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


Jason Bacashihua played one of his finest games of the year in returning to the Phantoms lineup and made 35 saves, including a handful of the spectacular variety, en route to earning a valuable road standings point via a 2-1 overtime loss at the Toronto Marlies on Valentine's Night at Ricoh Coliseum.

"Cash" was tremendous over and over, especially through a perfect 15 save effort in the third period, in keeping the Phantoms in the game. Some of his show-stopping saves had the Marlies players occasionally shaking their heads in disbelief.

In the end, it was a former teammate of his with the St. Louis Blues, veteran Mike Zigomanis, who would put home the game-winner late in the extra period. Immediately after the result, the Phantoms players all converged on Bacashihua to congratulate him on his effort and for leading the way to the important point in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

Denis Hamel had scored for the Phantoms on a weird-angle backhander from behind the goal-line in the first period. At first, it appeared he was not even aware that the shot had somehow snuck in past Toronto goalie Mark Owuya as he crashed into the end-boards after throwing it towards the net thus preventing him from seeing the end result. But when Eric Wellwood and Ben Holmstrom arrived to meet him in the corner and congratulate him on his team-leading 16th goal, he learned he actually had tied the game at 1-1.

It is Hamel's 331st career goal, 11th all-time in the AHL. The 34-year-old veteran is also second in goals among active AHL'ers only to Alexandre Giroux of Springfield and is also well on his way to an amazing 10th AHL season of 20 or more goals.

Toronto 2009 first-rounder and seventh overall pick, Nazem Kadri, had scored on a wrister from the high-slot just three minutes into the game to give the Marlies the initial 1-0 lead before Hamel would tie it about four minutes later.

Luke Pither almost gave the Phantoms the lead in the second period when his big slapper from a Shane Harper feed from the corner would ring off the inside of the post behind Owuya's left-skate and somehow bounce barely out.

But it was Jason Bacashihua who stole the show on the evening even though the Marlies picked up the win. On Kadri a couple times, and Josh Engel, and Phillipe Dupuis and Nicolas Deschamps who all had some great chances only to be denied by the quick glove of the Phantoms goalie or the occasional fine leg or stick save.

It was Adirondack's second overtime loss of the season moving their record in the extra-session to 4-2. Interestingly, both Phantoms overtime setbacks happened in their only two games in Canada on remarkably similar goaltenders' battled. On Decebmer 6 in Hamilton, the Phantoms and Bulldogs battled to a 0-0 tie until the last minute of overtime when Michael Leighton would finally get beaten on the only goal of the night.

In this one, there were some similarities for Bacashihua and Owuya to their previous battle against each other back in November at the Glens Falls Civic Center in which both goalies traded remarkable saves throughout the night and Adirondack eventually prevailed 2-1 in the shootout. In that game, Bacashihua made his best save with just 10 seconds remaining in regulation when he robbed Mike Zigomanis on a late 3-on-1 rush. But in this contest, "Ziggy" would exact his own revenge against his former St. Louis teammate and this time would not miss.

The game was Bacashihua's first since January 28. He spent the last few days up with the Philadelphia Flyers as their backup to Sergei Bobrovsky while Ilya Bryzgalov was sidelined with the flu. Bacashihua did not play in his quick stretch with the big club and met the team in Toronto on Sunday.

Adirondack had some late scrambling to put together their lineup for the Tuesday contest. The Phantoms were without Tye McGinn and Mike Testwuide both out with injuries from Saturday's game. Also out were Andrew Rowe and Matt Walker with injuries, Cullen Eddy with a one-game suspension, and Matt Ford away on personal leave.

The Phantoms received Eric Wellwood back from a quick callup to Philadelphia and also recalled Andy Bohmbach (C) and Tyler Hostetter (D) from the Trenton Titans of the ECHL to fill out the new-look lineup.

Now that the three-game roadie is completed, the Phantoms return to Home Sweet Home for a Friday night battle with the Manchester Monarchs at the Glens Falls Civic Center. That is the only home game in a stretch of eight for the Phantoms which has them on the road for seven of them. Friday's game also begins a tough three-in-three weekend that will see the team travel to Bridgeport Saturday night and to Manchester on Sunday afternoon.

Upcoming Events

Friday, February 17, 7:00 - Manchester Monarchs at Adirondack Phantoms. $2 draft beer specials. Adirondack Red Wings legend Glenn Markosky to drop ceremonial first puck.

Saturday, February 18, 7:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Sunday, February 19, 3:00 - Adirondack Phantoms at Manchester Monarchs

Monday, February 20, 7:00 - Phantoms Power Hour LIVE from McGinny's. Player guests TBA.

Sunday, February 26, 3:00 - Syracuse Crunch at Adirondack Phantoms. Phantoms Poster Giveaway for first 3,000 fans courtesy of Glens Falls Printing. Post-Game Autograph Session with the Phantoms players. Sunday Family 3-Pack ($39 for 3 tickets, 3 sodas, 3 hot dogs, 1 large popcorn and 1 program).

Get great savings with the Phantoms when you bring your group of 15 friends or co-workers to a game. Group-rates available as low as $13 per person. Call the Phantoms to find out more at 518-480-3355.

Check out the Half-Price Discount Outlet at phantomshockey.com for great savings from some of our awesome Phantoms corporate partners. Get half-off cards to local restaurants and other stores!

Catch all the action of Phantoms hockey all season long on the team's flagship station, Classic Hits Q101.7 and on phantomshockey.com. Bob Rotruck has the broadcast coverage 30 minutes prior to game-time with Countdown to Faceoff.. Be sure to follow the Phantoms on twitter @phantomshockey and on facebook.com/adkhockey



American Hockey League Stories from February 14, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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