Tigers foil Phantoms

Published on November 11, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


Despite a strong defensive showing on Friday night at the Wachovia Spectrum, the Phantoms lost to the visiting Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 3-2. It was the Purple'> s eighth straight game without a win.

Bridgeport opened the scoring 30 seconds shy of the first period's halfway mark. Evgeny Tunik took the puck in on a rush and fired a shot that goaltender Rejean Beauchemin stopped. The rebound, however, went straight to Matt Koalska at the right post, and he buried his third of the year to give the Sound Tigers the 1-0 lead.

The Phantoms found the equalizer with just 6.5 seconds left in the period. Eric Meloche, back after missing five straight due to injury, threw a puck from an acute angle on the left wing side at the net. The bid hit traffic and popped up in the air eventually catching the crest of Dan Cavanaugh's jersey, and finally came to rest behind goaltender Chris Madden. It was Cavanaugh's first point as a Phantom.

Philadelphia took the lead at the 9:29 mark of the second period. While operating on the power play, John Slaney wrapped the puck around the net. It rode the boards to Brent Kelly, who found Pat Kavanagh alone on the far post. Kavanagh settled the disc as he skated at the top of the crease and tucked it under the fallen netminder on the backhand for the 2-1 advantage.

Travis Brigley tied the affair just three minutes later and Allan Rourke capped the eventual game-winner at 18:50. The goal was collected just moments after a 5-3 man advantage evened up. Referee Justin St. Pierre triggered multiple two man advantages for the Sound Tigers and eight total power plays. Bridgeport did not notch a goal on the power play, while the Phantoms went 1-4.

Phantoms head coach John Stevens summed up the evening. "The first period I thought we played extremely hard, and our forecheck was getting established, but we spent half the period in the penalty box and you can't do that," he said. "In the second period - we have an inability to stay on page right now. We turn one puck over at their blue line that clearly should have gone in, and we spend the next five minutes in our end because of penalties. We keep preaching the game plan. The guys need to show an ability to stay with it, dig in and play hard 60 minutes on the same page for the hockey team."

The Phantoms are 0-7-0-1 in their last eight and 4-8-0-1 overall. A PDF boxscore is attached.

Philadelphia returns to action Saturday night with the front half of a home-and-home series with the Binghamton Senators. Game time is 7:05, and the action is available for online viewing via B2 Networks, with Mike Thornton's play-by-play, at www.phantomshockey.com . The teams return to the Wachovia Spectrum on Sunday for a 5:05 puck drop. It's Macaroni Madness night at the Spectrum - fans are encouraged to bring boxes of macaroni and cheese to use as noisemakers during the game, and to donate afterwards to Philabundance. All kids tickets for all Phantoms games are just $8. To purchase, go to phantomshockey.com and click tickets. To charge by phone, call (215) 336-2000, (856) 338-9000 or (302) 984-2000.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 11, 2005


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