McGinn's 4-Points Paces Phantoms

Published on March 19, 2013 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


Tye McGinn contributed on all four Phantoms goals to lead Adirondack to a 4-1 victory at the Norfolk Admirals on Tuesday night in Game 5 of the team's 7-game road-trip. McGinn had two goals, including an empty-netter, and two assists as Adirondack improved to 4-2-1 in their last seven games and 2-1-0 in the most recent three games of their long roadie.

Erik Gustafsson had a goal and an assist while Jason Akeson added a pair of helpers to the attack. Brian Boucher made 27 saves on 28 shots faced and was just nine minutes away from his first Phantoms shutout since the 2007-08 season when he had four blankings with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Frederick Anderssen was the losing goalie for the affiliates of the Anaheim Ducks.

Adirondack remains undefeated against Norfolk this season now with a 3-0-0 mark and can sweep the season-series with a victory in the rematch on Wednesday night.

McGinn has been a big-time Admirals killer over the past couple of seasons. No matter which affiliation they are, Tye McGinn apparently likes playing in Norfolk and against Norfolk. Two out of his four career multi-goal games have come at Norfolk Scope Arena. And three of his four career multi-goal games have come against the Norfolk Admirals either as the Tampa Bay affiliate last year or the Anaheim affiliate this year.

His other multi-goal game was last October against the Syracuse Crunch who, of course, operated as the Norfolk Admirals last year. It's all about Norfolk-Success for Tye McGinn.

Erik Gustafsson opened the scoring 8:58 into the first period finding an opening up the left-wing and rifling a shot in short-side on Anderssen for his fifth of the year. Garrett Roe neatly set it up with is assist on the play and Adirondack led 1-0 at the first intermission after out-shooting the Admirals 12-6 in the opening frame.

Gustafsson's goal was his 100th career point as a pro. It was his 93rd with the Phantoms while he also has 7 points in the NHL. He added an assist later while Akeson had a pair of points. Jason Akeson with 95 career Adirondack points and Erik Gustafsson with 94 career points with the Phantoms are now closing in on Denis Hamel's 96 career points for the top spot in Adirondack Phantoms' history.

Tye McGinn would score exactly 20 minutes after Gustafsson's goal. Jason Akeson connected with McGinn on a stretch pass and McGinn shook off a defender on his partial-breakaway opportunity to sneak a nifty backhander over Anderssen's left-leg to stretch the lead to 2-0 at 8:58 into the second period.

Just over a minute later, Adirondack converted on a power play. Garrett Roe slid to block an odd-man rush back in the Phantoms' end and then McGinn and Marcel Noebels would play a little give-and-go on the right-wing side with neither one quite feeling it with the shooting opportunity. McGinn then connected with Danny Syvret trailing on the play and sneaking into the high-slot to blast his shot off the inside of the post for his fifth of the year.

Adirondack led 3-0 and then went on to kill back-to-back power plays by Norfolk at the end of the second period to preserve the margin with Boucher turning in some of his best saves on the night.

The Phantoms had a chance to ice the game away early in the third period with 1:22 of 5-on-3 time after consecutive Norfolk penalties but the Admirals penalty-kill held tough to keep their team in the game.

Devante Smith-Pelly cut in from the right-wing corner and muscled one through the stick of Boucher with just 9:02 left in the game to break the shutout bid.

Tye McGinn buried his second of the game with an empty-netter in the closing seconds for his 13th of the year finishing off the 4-1 victory.

Both teams were 1-for-5 on the power play. Adirondack out-shot the Admirals 31-28.

Harry Zolnierczyk returned to the Phantoms' line-up after hi quick call-up to Philadelphia. Brandon Manning missed the game with a lower-body injury. Healthy scratches included David Laliberte, Ian Slater and Jeff Dimmen. Derek Mathers was scheduled to arrive to join the team on his Amateur Tryout Contract but did not play in the game and was also listed as a scratch.

Adirondack will have logged over 2,200 miles on the bus by the time their 7-game road-trip concludes Saturday night in Hartford against the Connecticut Whale.

The Phantoms play their first home game in over two weeks this Sunday afternoon against Portland with a Post-Game Skate with the Phantoms players presented by Glens Falls Hospital. Get your Sunday Family 3-Packs for only $43 (regular price would be $76) for 3 tickets, 3 hot dogs, 3 sodas, 1 large popcorn and 1 program. Call the Phantoms at 518-480-3355.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2013


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