Wild One against Binghamton

December 1, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


So many chances. The Adirondack Phantoms had the puck down in Binghamton's end for some good sustained pushes and they out-shot the visitors 48-30. But in the end, the Senators were able to capitalize on more of their opportunities to pull out a 7-4 victory at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Friday evening. 6'7" tall goalie Ben Bishop allowed four goals on his end but made several big and important stops on Adirondack shots to preserve the win.

It appeared momentum had swung the Phantoms' way midway through the second period when Harry Zolnierczyk's spectacular shorthanded goal brought the Phantoms back to even at 4-4 on a rush that brought everyone to their feet in disbelief. But Binghamton shortly thereafter re-took the lead 5-4 and then held that margin until the final minute when they put the game away with two more in the final seconds.

It was a wild goal-scoring affair in the first period with Binghamton enjoying a 4-2 lead after the opening 20 minutes. And with that, head coach Terry Murray said the Phantoms were already in a tough spot.

"Teams that have the lead after the first period are going to win games in the .800 range percentage-wise so it's a big chore," Murray said. "You're going to have to dig in big time to be able to get back into it. And we did. The guys showed a lot of work, a lot of pride in their game. A lot of battle and tied the game up. At the end of the day, you don't get the job done but it was a lot of dig in."

Binghamton maintained their claim as the hottest team in the AHL as the speedy Senators won their seventh straight to improve to 11-4-2. The Phantoms are 3-2-0 on their longest homestand of the season with one game remaining and fell to 9-10-0 overall.

Binghamton capitalized on a couple early breakaways against Scott Munroe to open a 2-0 lead. Pat Cannone jumped on a pick-off at the Phantoms line and rifled his breakaway drive through Munroe just two minutes in. And down two-men due to penalties a couple minutes later, Hugh Jessiman would race out of the box just in time to grab a blocked shot bounding his way. His centering-feed to Andre Benoit on the 2-on-0 break would be chipped in and the Senators were up by a couple less before the six-minute mark of the game.

Adirondack would get a lucky bounce of their own to get on the board. Cullen Eddy's attempt to dump it in deflected off a metal uprising and somehow went perfectly to Rob Bordson in the slot who scored his third of the year, all in the last four games.

Mike Hoffman's power play goal deflected past the left skate of Munroe and Binghamton was up 3-1 at 11:46 of the first.

But Harry Zolnierczyk would slam home his first of the night on a backhand feed from behind the goal by Sean Couturier as the Phantoms cut the margin to 3-2.

The wild first period of scoring concluded with a power-play slapper from the left point by Andre Benoit for his second the night. The screened Munroe had allowed his fourth of the evening and the previous red-hot goalie for the Phantoms made way for rookie Cal Heeter.

"They're just pulling it back and shooting," Murray said. "The one was probably a screen. The other was a re-direction. That assignment is getting missed right there. Any time you get a re-direction by one of their forwards that's a defenseman's job to tie up sticks right away."

For his part, Heeter made several spectacular saves in his first game action in two weeks as he gave the Phantoms a chance for the big comeback. And it appeared for quite awhile that was exactly in the works for the Phantoms on this night.

Marc-Andre Bourdon stepped up to the left circle from his defensive spot and was met perfectly on a cross-ice feed by Garrett Roe for a power-play goal in the second period cutting the deficit to 4-3.

And a few minutes later, Harry Zolnierczyk would rejoin his team out of the box a Adirondack killed the first of a two-man disadvantage. The fresh-legged Harry Z showed incredible speed up the left-wing as he burned past the Binghamton D and created his own breakway. He drew goalie Ben Bishop out to try to meet him and Zolnierczyk smoothly pulled the puck around him to set up and easy backhand into the now vacated net.

It was perhaps one of the greatest goals in Adirondack Phantoms' history and brought everyone to their feet to a deafening ovation at the impressive individual effort. For Zolnierczyk, it was his second goal of the night and his seventh of the season. All of his goals this season have come at home.

After that was another sustained possession in the Binghamton zone as the Phantoms kept blasting away at Bishop and dominating in the shots on goal statistic. But on the Senators' rush back the other way, rookie Mark Stone would grab a mid-slot rebound from David Dziurzynski and thwart the Adirondack momentum to give Binghamton a 5-4 lead at the second intermission.

Adirondack had some more close calls in the third and had their best opportunities at the end with a late power-play and pulled goalie for a 6-on-4 attack. But eventually Derek Grant would score an empty-net goal to make it 6-4 and if that hadn't fully decided matters, Jakub Silfverberg would just nine seconds later on Heeter for the 7-4 final.

Adirondack recorded a season high 48 shots on goal as they kept coming and coming at Ben Bishop all night long. They out-shot the Senators 48-30. But Binghamton was able to hang on for the win in the second game of the eight regular season encounters between the two New York rivals.

The game featured the Glens Falls debut of the Flyers Ice Girls who signed autographs out front and also appeared on the ice during the breaks.

It was also the end of the tremendously successful Movember campaign during Phantoms Fight Cancer month. Phantoms players and staff helped generate big money for men's cancer research, treatment and issues in our area. The money is being calculated and we will find out who won the donation race soon. And now we expect to see a bunch of freshly shaven Phantoms players when they take the ice on December 1.

The Ice Girls are back Saturday night as the Phantoms conclude their longest homestand of the season. Their sixth consecutive home game will be against Time Warner Cable Cup rivals Albany for a 7:00 contest. The Devils lead the 12-game season series 2 games to 1. Adirondack is the defending cup champions taking last year's series 7 games to 3.

Saturday night also features a post-game skate with the Phantoms players presented by Glens Falls Hospital. Fans must bring their skates to be allowed on the ice to mingle with the players and get photos and autographs.



American Hockey League Stories from December 1, 2012


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