Devils Win Penalty-Filled Evening
March 11, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release
In a night featuring 130 combined penalty minutes, the Albany Devils prevailed 2-1 at the Glens Falls Civic Center Friday night to take a five games to four lead in the season series battle for the Time Warner Cable Cup with just three games remaining.
Tim Sestito of the Albany Devils stole the limelight from his younger brother Tom Sestito making his Phantoms debut. The older of the Sestito brothers broke a 1-1 deadlock early in the 3rd period for just his fourth of the year.
Eric Wellwood's shorthanded goal late in the first period that tied the game at 1-1 was the lone Phantoms tally. It was Wellwood's 14th of the season assisted smartly by Rob Bordson picking it off in the Albany zone. Chad Wiseman's 11th of the season had gotten the scoring started early in the first period for the Devils.
Mike Testwuide hit the post on the backdoor in the second period. And Michael Ryan found the iron midway through the third from the left-wing just missing his chance to equalize the score. Later in the third a puck from the left-wing would squirt through McKenna and lay dead center in the blue paint with Ben Holmstrom trying to fight his way through to tap it in. But Albany was just able to clear it out of harms way in the nick of time.
But the penalties might have been the bigger story of the night in the emotionally charged battle. Three players received game misconducts in the game including Jon Kalinski and Zac Rinaldo for the Phantoms and Darcy Zajac of Albany.
The biggest melee of the night happened late in the second period when Adirondack's Andrew Rowe ran into Albany goalie Mike McKenna. It is unclear whether Albany's Darcy Zajac might have pushed Rowe on the play. After the collision, McKenna went after Rowe but backed off when he saw Zajac jump in. Then various players paired off including Kalinski stepping up for Rowe to go at Zajac. Kevin Marshall was engaged with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond while Andrew Rowe was tangled for a bit with Albany's Louis Robitaille.
By the end of the night, Adirondack had taken 73 total penalty minutes while Albany was charged with 57.
The emotions and intensity were not much of a surprise to many fans paying attention to the season series which has been getting more and more heated with each meeting. This was the third game of the week between the two teams.
There are still three games remaining in the Time Warner Cable Cup Series including a March 29 match-up in Albany followed by two games back in Glens Falls on April 1 and April 6.
The loss ends the Phantoms two game win streak. Adirondack is 3-2 in their last five. It is only the third regulation loss for the Phantoms in their last 13 games (6-3-4). The Phantoms are now 15-10-7 under Head Coach Joe Paterson. They are 17-10-7 since December 17.
Newcomer Harry Zolnierczyk made his pro debut. The Ivy League Player of the Year out of Brown University wore number 24 and had a couple close calls for assists or goals. Tom Sestito looked sharp in his Phantoms debut and created several scoring chances and delivered a number of aggressive forechecks. Marc-Andre Bourdon played his first game for the Phantoms since an injury on January 1. He had played all three games last weekend with Greenville (SC) of the ECHL on a conditioning stint.
The Phantoms return to action Saturday night at 7:00 against the Hershey Bears on Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame Night. Inductees Hugo Belanger, Jody Gage and Hugo Belanger will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Adirondack concludes their weekend of action Sunday at 3:00 with an away game at the Springfield Falcons.
Phantoms Notes: Scratches for the game included Matt Walker, Stefan Legein, Matt Clackson, Luke Pither and Logan Stephenson.
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