Phantoms defeat Manchester 5-2
March 2, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release
(PHILADELPHIA, March 2, 2003) - Rookie Patrick Sharp scored twice and Kirby Law added a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Phantoms ended a five-game winless streak with a convincing 5-1 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in front of 9,853 at the First Union Spectrum.
Defensemen Brad Tiley and Kirk Furey each chipped in two assists for Philadelphia, which was 0-3-1-1 in its last five contests. Goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who stopped all 13 shots he faced during a relief appearance vs. Hamilton on Friday, needed to make just 18 saves to notch the win tonight.
The Phantoms improved to 17-0-2 when scoring at least four goals in a game and recorded their most convincing win since a 5-1 triumph over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 3.
Travis Scott finished with 21 saves for Manchester, which extended its winless streak to eight games (0-6-2), including 0-3-2 during its current 10-game road trip. The Monarchs had captured the first-ever meeting between the teams back on Nov. 30 - a 4-1 decision in Manchester.
"Our plan tonight was to get the puck deep and catch them down low, they are a tired hockey team," said Law. "Tonight was a big push to the playoffs."
Philadelphia enjoyed one of its finest periods in the first, jumping out to a 3-1 lead and outshooting the Monarchs, 15-5. Guillaume Lefebvre opened the scoring 1:44 into the game after taking a pass from defenseman Wade Skolney. Lefebvre streaked down the far side and beat Scott with a shot from the top of the circle for his seventh of the season.
Law made it 2-0 at 8:43 during a lengthy possession in the Manchester end. Following a missed shot by Ben Stafford, Peter Vandermeer made a nice play to keep the puck inside the blue line and fed Law for a shot from the far circle. The rebound kicked back out to Law, who netted his 15th goal from a difficult angle.
Dane Jackson cut the gap to 2-1 with a power-play goal at the 16:30 mark. Mike Pudlick and Steve Kelly assisted on Jackson's sixth of the year. But Andre Savage answered with a power-play goal of his own with 19.9 seconds left to extend the lead to 3-1. Peter White and Tiley set up Savage's seventh goal.
"We wanted to have a good start and jump on a tired team," said Phantoms head coach John Stevens. "A solid first period got us rolling. Lefebvre got a huge goal for our team. Sharp was tremendous, I'm sure it was his best game. The puck found its way to the net tonight. Niittymaki was excellent, he seems to get better and better every game."
Sharp tallied the lone goal of the second period at 7:49. On the power play, Tiley took a pass from Furey and fired a shot that soared wide left. The puck kicked off the end boards back to Sharp, who deposited his ninth of the season.
Sharp capped the scoring 33 seconds into the final period and registered his first career multi-goal game with a drive into the top right corner. Law and Furey set up the play.
"It feels pretty good," said Sharp about scoring twice. "Hopefully we can build off this game. We need to bring out a lot of energy. We didn't want the other team to come back, so we pressed the whole game."
The Phantoms play at Syracuse on Wednesday before hosting the Worcester IceCats on Friday at 7:05 p.m. and the Lowell Lock Monsters on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Philadelphia then squares off with the Admirals in Norfolk next Sunday afternoon.
Phantoms Notes: The first 4,000 fans received a Justin Williams bobblehead doll tonight, courtesy of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers ... David Harlock returned to the lineup after missing 15 games due to a broken jaw ... White has eight points (3G, 5A) in his last eight games ... Furey had his first multi-point game of his AHL career.
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