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Phantoms Bounce Bears in Philadelphia

February 1, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


The Adirondack Phantoms thrived in their exciting opportunity to perform in an NHL venue and defeated the Hershey Bears 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Tye McGinn returned to Philly where he has proven to be quite popular in his quick stays with the Flyers over the past couple of years. In his first game back, McGinn earned #1 Star of the Game honors with a three-point day on one goal and two assists.

Dax was dancing. The kids were having a great time. The players were afforded the opportunity to play in an NHL arena. And the Phantoms pulled out a nice bounce-back victory. All told, it was a pretty good Saturday for the Phantoms. And 16,116 were on-hand at Wells Fargo Center for the big day. That included over 80 fans who rode down on a pair of Phantoms fan-buses from Glens Falls as well as several other fans who traveled to the game on their own. That's a lot of travel from some tremendously loyal fans in the North Country. Phantoms season-ticket holders who redeemed their flex-ticket for this one were given the VIP treatment. The gang had their own luxury suite where they enjoyed the Phantoms win in fine-style.

Tyler Brown, Ben Holmstrom and Jason Akeson scored the other goals for the Phantoms in the impressive win as they bounced back from a 5-3 setback to the Bears just 18 hours earlier in Glens Falls.

Akeson's goal in the third period sniping it far-side, high-glove from the left circle was his 49th with the team breaking the all-time Adirondack Phantoms record of 48 goals held by Denis Hamel. The crowd in Philadelphia was informed of the accomplishment right away after the goal was scored and Akeson received a nice ovation from the thousands of Phantoms fans in the building.

The Adirondack Phantoms are now 3-2-0 all-time in Philadelphia including 2-2-0 at Wells Fargo Center and 1-0-0 in their outdoor game at Citizens Bank Park. In fact, this game was the first Philadelphia encounter between the Phantoms and Bears since that magical night of January 6, 2012 when Shane Harper scored the overtime winner in front of an AHL record-crowd of 45,653.

Both teams were playing after an overnight bus-ride from Glens Falls following Friday night's game and then had a quick turnaround to get it cranked up for the 1:00 PM start on Saturday afternoon.

Tyler Brown opened the scoring early in the day with his perfect blast rushing into the left circle beating Phillip Grubauer hugh glove. Kyle Flanagan had won a faceoff in his own zone and Marc-Andre Bourdon was able to chip the puck to the racing Brown who took care of the rest for his first goal of the season. It was just Brown's second game back since returning from a shoulder injury sustained over a month ago.

Tye McGinn chipped one through at the top of the crease on a nice pass across from the right-wing wall by Kris Newbury. And the Phantoms had a 2-0 lead at the seven-minute mark of the game.

The rest of the period primarily belonged to the Hershey Bears who out-shot the Phantoms 13-6 in the opening 20 minutes and challenged Cal Heeter with a number of promising opportunities. Matt Watkins found the puck after Ryan Potulny nudged it forward a couple of inches. Dane Byers started the play with a steal in the corner to set up Watkins backhander past Heeter. The only goal Heeter allowed on 29 shots faced would pull Hershey to within a goal at the first break.

Both teams went scoreless in the second period but that's not to say there weren't chances. Hershey had four straight power plays to begin the second but the Adirondack penalty-kill found their stride once again and killed them all away.

Ben Holmstrom knocked through a rebound of a Tye McGinn shot early in the third for his ninth of the year. Holmstrom chipped the puck five-hole on Grubauer at 5:29 into the final period to push Adirondack's lead to 3-1. Jason Akeson finished the scoring with his record-setting goal at 8:35 into the final period for the 4-1 final.

The Phantoms improved to 22-20-2 and pulled to within six points of eighth-place Hershey in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Hershey fell to 23-15-6. The Phantoms are 3-1-0 against Hershey this year and will see the Bears two more times down at Giant Center including a season-finale matchup on April 19 that could potentially have interesting playoff implications.

The game was the 182nd all-time meeting between the Phantoms and the Bears since 1996. The Phantoms are 86-86-10 all-time against Hershey. The Phantoms previously called Philadelphia home when they played at the Spectrum for 13 seasons from 1996-2009. Now the Adirondack Phantoms are in their fifth season playing in Glens Falls, NY.

The Phantoms have three away games coming up this week traveling to Hartford, Wilkes-Barre and Bridgeport on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. Adirondack's next home game is a Valentine's Day encounter with the Hershey Bears on Friday, February 14. Call the Phantoms for tickets in advance to save: 518-480-3355.

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