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Points slip away from Phantoms

April 8, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


ALBANY, NY - Cory Quirk scored with 3:06 left in regulation and the Albany River Rats came from behind in a nine-round shootout to knock off the Philadelphia Phantoms 4-3 at Albany's Times Union Center. The shootout setback, coupled with a shocking Binghamton comeback in Syracuse, leaves the Phantoms and Senators tied in the East Division standings entering the final weekend of play for both teams.

The Phantoms jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on the first professional goal for James van Riemsdyk. He fought his way down the left wing past Benn Olson and got a shot away that Justin Peters stopped. But van Riemsdyk muscled the rebound past Peters to give Philadelphia the advantage.

Albany tied it up with 8:32 left to go in the second period. Jakub Petruzalek carried the puck up the left wing and fired a shot that Scott Munroe stopped, but the rebound came right to Yanick Tifu. He swept it home to knot the match at 1-1.

Philadelphia jumped ahead again at the 14:43 mark when Jared Ross sent a pretty cross-ice pass to Oskars Bartulis, who was pinching in from the left point and was all by himself when he lifted it over Peters for the 2-1 advantage.

But the Rats evened it up again with just over two minutes to play by scoring on their fifth power play opportunity. Brian Rodney's slapshot from the high slot got through traffic and was deflected by Jakub Petruzalek past Munroe to the stick side, sending the game to the second intermission tied at 2-2.

In the third period, Jonathon Kalinski put the Phantoms up 3-2 when he knocked home the rebound of a shot from Lasse Kukkonen with 9:52 left in the frame. But Quirk was credited with a goal late in the period on a puck that pinballed around in the goalmouth and ended up past Munroe, forcing extra play.

In the shootout, the Phantoms held a 1-0 lead after four rounds, leaving the game on the stick of Jonathan Paiement. But he scored to force extra rounds, and the shootout continued until Peters stopped Patrick Maroon in the ninth round to secure the win.

Munroe took the shootout loss after making 25 saves in regulation. Peters stopped 39 shots in regulation and five more in the shootout to take the win.

In Syracuse, the Binghamton Senators forced overtime on a goal with four seconds left in regulation, and then won the game on a goal 36 seconds into overtime. As a result, both the Phantoms and Senators have 91 points - Philadelphia on a record of 42-29-2-5 and Binghamton with a mark of 41-28-5-4. The Phantoms close their season with a home-and-home series against the Hershey Bears, while Binghamton wraps up with a home game against Norfolk on Friday and a road contest at Albany on Saturday.

The Phantoms next take the ice on Friday night, April 10 in the final regular season game ever at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Hershey Bears visit in a 7:05 start, and fewer than 500 tickets remain for the contest. Adult tickets are just $10 and kids tickets just $5 for Friday's game. Tickets are available through ComcastTIX at 1-800-298-4200, at the Wachovia Complex box office or online at Phantomshockey.com.



American Hockey League Stories from April 8, 2009


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