Phantoms Playoff Notes

Published on April 28, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


PHILADELPHIA PHANTOMS VS. ALBANY RIVER RATS

EAST DIVISION SEMIFINALS - SERIES UPDATE

SERIES SCHEDULE/RESULTS

Game 1: Wed. 4/16 Phantoms 0 at Albany 4

Game 2: Fri. 4/18 Albany 0 at Phantoms 3

Game 3: Sun. 4/20 Albany 4 at Phantoms 1

Game 4: Tue. 4/22 Phantoms 2 at Albany 1

Game 5: Thu. 4/24 Phantoms 3 at Albany 2 (5 OT)

Game 6: Sat. 4/26 Albany 1 at Phantoms 0 (OT)

Game 7: Tues. 4/29 Albany at Phantoms, Wachovia Center

The Albany River Rats and Philadelphia Phantoms are headed to a Game 7 in the East Division Semifinals. It will take place Tuesday, April 29 at 7:05 at the Wachovia Center.

Albany forced the Game 7 with a 1-0 overtime win in Game 6 on Saturday afternoon at the Wachovia Center. Kirk MacDonald scored 10:38 into the first overtime to break the scoreless deadlock and keep the River Rats alive in the series. Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe and Albany netminder Michael Leighton each made 40 saves.

Game 7 tickets are currently on sale at the Wachovia Complex box office, online at www.phantomshockey.com or by calling 1-800-298-4200.

SERIES NOTES

Game 5 received national attention after entering the record books as the longest game in American Hockey League history. It ended at 12:39 AM after 5 hours, 38 minutes when Ryan Potulny scored at 2:58 of the fifth overtime period. The Phantoms put 101 shots on Albany goaltender Michael Leighton, who absorbed the loss despite making 98 saves. Scott Munroe made 65 saves on the night. The stick, gloves and puck used by Potulny to score the game-winning goal in Game 5 are all headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

At one point during the regular season, Scott Munroe and Michael Leighton were battling atop the goaltender rankings in the AHL, and they are showing why this playoff series. Munroe strung together a shutout streak of 175:22 - less than four minutes shy of three complete regulation games - between a second period goal in Game 5 and the overtime goal in Game 6. Despite that streak, Munroe did not have an official shutout during that time. Leighton, meanwhile, has two shutouts in the series. Ryan Potulny's game winner in Game 5 is the only goal he's allowed in 158:23.

This will be just the third Game 7 in Phantoms history and the first in nine years. The Phantoms are 1-1 in the previous two. They lost to Hershey in Game 7 of the 1997 Mid-Atlantic Division Finals and beat Kentucky 9-3 in Game 7 of the 1999 Western Conference Semifinals. Both games were at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Jared Ross, who led the Phantoms in scoring this season, leads the way in the playoffs as well with three goals. He scored two of them in Game 5, including the one that forced the overtime session.

Michael Leighton has shut the Phantoms out twice this series, the seventh and eighth times in team playoff history. The first goaltender to ever shut the Phantoms out in the playoffs was Martin Biron, who did so for Rochester in the 1999 Western Conference Finals. That was Biron's only career playoff shutout at any professional level until he blanked the Capitals in Game 2.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 28, 2008


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