Devils Clamp Down on Phantoms Offense
February 15, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release
What a difference a day makes. Less than 24 hours after the Phantoms racked up a team-record 55 shots on goal, Adirondack's offense had the clamps put on them by Albany's stifling D only accumulating 16 shots in a 4-1 loss at Times Union Center on Saturday.
Things started well for the Adirondack Phantoms when Chris VandeVelde connected with Kyle Flanagan on a nice give-and-go a little over two minutes into the game. VandeVelde's eighth of the season gave Adirondack an early 1-0 advantage and was his first goal in a little over two months. VandeVelde had spent about five weeks with the Philadelphia Flyers in-between his goals with the Phantoms.
Albany responded a couple minutes later on a steal at the Phantoms line when Harri Pesonen found Tim Sestito rushing to the left-circle. But Yann Danis would stop everything else for the rest of the period and keep the game tied at 1-1 despite the Phantoms being out-shot 14-5 in the opening period.
The Devils scored a couple more goals a little over two minutes apart in the second period with Rod Pelley capitalizing on an aggressive forecheck win by his teammates and then Mattias Tedenby depositing the rebound of a Reece Scarlett point-shot.
The Phantoms kept the game close with some strong penalty-kill efforts. At the end of the second period, Adirondack grinded their way through 1:32 of Albany's 5-on-3 undamaged. They did the same again early in the third when the Devils had another 1:33 of 5-on-3. But the Phantoms offense were unable to maintain the break-neck pace of the game before and Albany's defense held the Phantoms in check.
Joe Whitney scored a long empty-netter with two minutes left to seal the win. The goal was still charged to Yann Danis even though it was essentially an empty-netter from the red-line. Danis was going to the bench and then recognized that Albany had stolen the puck so he tried to dive back and block the long drive.
The Phantoms had more shots in the first period on Friday (18) against Portland than they had in the entire game on Saturday. The 16 shots in the game equaled the lowest all-time for the Adirondack Phantoms which previously happened twice a couple seasons ago on October 23, 2011 at Rochester and December 3, 2011 at Norfolk. The Phantoms also had a 16 shot game the season before that on January 21, 2011 at Philadelphia against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Albany out-shot Adirondack 31-26. The Phantoms were 0-for-2 on the power play while the Devils were 0-for-5. Yann Danis was pinned with the loss despite playing rather well and Scott Wedgewood picked up the win for the Devils although did not receive too many serious challenges for the Phantoms.
Adirondack went 3-3-0 at Times Union Center this season. Albany leads the season series 6 games to 4. The Phantoms will have a chance for revenge next Friday night when the Devils make their next visit to the Glens Falls Civic Center. Adirondack will wear special Olympic-themed jerseys for that game which will be auctioned to the fans after the game on almost exactly the 34th Anniversary of the famous Lake Placid Miracle on Ice game. Call the Phantoms in advance to save on tickets at 518-480-3355.
Next up for the Adirondack Phantoms is the conclusion of this three-in-three weekend. The Phantoms travel through an East-Coast snowstorm overnight for a Sunday afternoon game at 4:00 against the Portland Pirates in Lewiston, Maine. The game is a rematch of Friday's crazy shot-fest in Glens Falls when the Phantoms racked up a team-record 55 shots and the two teams combined for a Phantoms franchise-record 100 shots in the wild shootout which Portland won 3-2.
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