Flanagan Fires Five-Hole in 9th Round

December 26, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


Rookie center Kyle Flanagan converted in the ninth-round of a lengthy shootout at Springfield to propel the Phantoms to a thrilling 3-2 marathon victory in their return from the Holiday Break. A pair of Brandons scored earlier for Adirondack with Brandon Alderson and Brandon Manning staking the Phantoms to an initial 2-0 lead. Nick Cousins and Petr Straka each had a pair of assists and Cal Heeter had another impressive showing between the pipes in what was his ninth consecutive start.

#27 Kyle Flanagan Adirondack again took down the top team in the league and improved to 3-0-1 against the Falcons who have the AHL's best win percentage. Against the rest of the AHL (all teams not Adirondack) the Springfield Falcons are an astonishing 19-2-3. But the Phantoms have had Springfield's number so far this season. Adirondack entered the game as the only team in the league to have defeated the Falcons twice. And now Adirondack is the only team to have defeated them three times.

Adirondack won their fifth out of their last seven to improve to 14-12-2 overall. The Phantoms have gone 13-8-0 in their last 21 games dating back to October 26. Springfield extended their point-streak to eight games (6-0-2) as their overall record moved to 20-4-4.

It was a gritty, team-effort for the Phantoms just to put themselves in position to secure the win. Adirondack had to hold Springfield to 1-for-8 on the power play which included a full two-minutes of 5-on-3 at the end of the second period that even briefly turned into a 6-on-3 for a few seconds when the Phantoms were tagged with yet another infraction and the delayed penalty was in effect. Adirondack had to kill a couple more penalties to begin the third as different skaters courageously got in front of a couple of big slapshots to help push Cal Heeter through the various predicaments. Ben Holmstrom and Nick Cousins both came up hobbling after diving right on top of monster slapshots but both would be able to return to the game.

Alderson tallied just 2:05 into the game on the backdoor on a cross-ice feed from the left-wing wall by Cousins to open the scoring. Alderson's first attempt to slam it behind Jeremy Smith somehow stopped dead on the ice but he had enough time to reset and then fire forward with a second attempt and bury his fourth goal of the year. Alderson and Cousins were linemates and roommates last year in Major Juniors with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.

Adirondack built on their 1-0 lead midway into the second period when Brandon Manning ripped his big slapshot from center-point for his fifth of the season and his third goal in his last three games.

A little over a minute later, Springfield would register on an Andrew Joudrey goal in the slot. The seven-year veteran picked up the rebound of a Jonathan Marchessault shot off Heeter's left-leg and was able to carry it a little to the left-wing for the opening.

The Phantoms received big-time penalty trouble at the end of the second period when Rob Bordson and Bruno Gervais were tagged with tripping and hooking infractions on the same play allowing Springfield a full two-minutes of five-on-three to conclude the frame. Midway through that opportunity, Ben Holmstrom would get called for yet another penalty. With three of Adirondack's top penalty killers all side-by-side-by-side in the sin-bin, it was up to an improvised lineup on the three-man to get to the intermission unscathed. Kyle Flanagan and Tye McGinn both had valuable clears to grind the clock down and keep the Phantoms in front by a goal at the second break.

Spencer Machacek scored on a big even-strength slapper from the left-point with 10 minutes remaining on a shot that appeared to deflect off a Phantoms' stick in the slot and then over the right shoulder of Heeter.

Heeter turned aside a breakaway opportunity by Jake Hansen with 2:40 left to keep the game deadlocked.

And then in overtime, Adirondack would receive their own opportunities on the man-advantage as Springfield took consecutive penalties allowing Adirondack a 5-on-3 chance for 45 seconds. But Jeremy Smith made the big saves to keep the Falcons alive.

Jason Akeson scored in the first round of the shootout for the Phantoms but Jonathan Marchessault got it back in the second round for Springfield. After that, it was Cal Heeter and Jeremy Smith making save after save. Very few opportunities were misses or bad shots. Both goalies appeared to barely get a glove on a couple of shots. Heeter also made three nice kick saves on different shooters to keep the shootout score deadlocked at 1-1 until the ninth round when Flanagan would convert five-home on Jeremy Smith for the win.

The rookie out of St. Lawrence University was a Hobey Baker Finalist last year. It was Flanagan's first shootout goal in three attempts. The game was the longest shootout of the season for the Phantoms but still wasn't terribly close to their franchise record 15-round marathon last year on April 14 when Mark Alt scored the game winner.

The Phantoms also won a six-round shootout at Hartford on December 13 with another rookie, Petr Straka, notching the winner in that one. Adirondack improved to 2-2 in shootouts this season while Springfield fell to 6-3. The Falcons only win against Adirondack was in a shootout back on October 19 in Glens Falls.

Adirondack is now 8-5-1 on the road and are currently 2-1-0 on their four-game road-trip which concludes Friday at Albany.

The Phantoms improved to 11-1-1 in games in which they score the first goal. In all "extra hockey" games the Phantoms are combined 4-2 which includes a 2-0 record in overtime decisions and 2-2- in shootouts.

The Phantoms are 8-3-1 when they score a power-play goal. And Adirondack now has a power-play goal in eight of their last 12 games.

Springfield outshot Adironadack 31-29. The Phantoms were 1-for-6 on the power play while the Falcons were held to 1-for-8.

This was Game 4 out of 8 in the season series between the two Northeast Division Rivals. Adirondack will return to Springfield on Martin Luther King, Jr.Day for an afternoon contest on Monday, January 20. The Falcons next visit to Glens Falls is not until March 8.

Adirondack continues their three-in-three stretch Friday night at the Albany Devils. The Phantoms return home Saturday and Tuesday against the Providence Bruins and Worcester Sharks. Saturday night is Phantoms Youth T-Shirt Night presented by UniFirst. Tuesday is a special 5:00 PM start-time for the traditional New Year's Eve game at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Purchase your tickets in advance to save by calling the Phantoms at 518-480-3355.



American Hockey League Stories from December 26, 2013


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