Wolf Pack Penalty Kill Thwarts Phantoms

January 29, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


The Wolf Pack survived six Adirondack power plays to push their way through to a 5-2 victory on Wednesday night at XL Center in Hartford, CT. Trailing 3-2 early in the third period, the Phantoms received a golden opportunity after back-to-back Hartford penalties. But Adirondack was unable to convert in their 1:20 of 5-on-3 in the key momentum swing of the evening.

For the second game in a row, Tye McGinn would score in the opening minute but the early jump would prove to not be enough. Hartford rookie Danny Kristo scored two goals and one assist to pace the Wolf Pack attack. Former Phantom Danny Syvret scored the first of Hartford's five tallies. Veteran goalie Dov Grumet-Morris made some rather impressive saves among his 28 total stops for the win. Cal Heeter took the tough loss with 24 saves on 29 shots.

Jason Akeson recorded assists on both Phantoms goals giving him 146 career points moving him into a three-way tie for 11th all-time in franchise history with current Hartford D-Man Danny Syvret and also Colonie, NY native Craig Darby.

Former Wolf Pack Kris Newbury helped open the scoring by carrying the puck to the left circle from behind the goal where he found himself all alone. Instead of shooting, Newbury waited for McGinn to find an opening. When that happened Newbury gunned the puck across for the backdoor tip as McGinn scored his 11th of the season. McGinn has four goals in his last three games and also has six goals in his last eight games.

Danny Syvret's blast from center-point late in the first period rang off the right iron and into the net on a picture-perfect power-play pipe-strike that tied the score at 1-1 at the first break.

Ryan Bourque received a pass as he split the defense on the power-play and moved in all alone on Heeter on a partial breakaway for a goal in the opening minute of the second period to push Hartford in front 2-1. Bourque had four or five other point-blank or breakaway opportunities on Heeter but only scored on the one.

Danny Kristo dangled around a Phantoms defenseman in the right circle to knife in towards Heeter for a highlight-reel goal midway through the second period as Hartford extended the lead to 3-1. Kristo's first of the night was his 15th of the season to lead Wolf Pack scorers.

Adirondack's Marcel Noebels similarly dragged the puck impressively around a Hartford blueliner and while he was hooked down was still able to get enough on his backhand drive to push a key goal through Grumet-Morris that barely made it across the goal-line. It was just Noebels' second goal of the season but with barely over three minutes remaining in the second period, the Phantoms were within a goal again at 3-2 and carried momentum into the second intermission.

Then the Phantoms had their huge 5-on-3 opportunity for 80 seconds in the third period. A couple of Brandon Manning slappers were blocked by Wolf Pack skaters and Grumet-Morris made a couple of other decent saves. But his biggest save came right after the two penalties had expired when he robbed Tye McGinn from the right circle by snapping up the glove as he was initially going down. It was perhaps his best stop of the night and kept Hartford ahead by their slim one-goal advantage. Shortly after that big save, the momentum shift was fully realized when Kristo jammed in his second of the game and 16th of the season after T.J. Hensick stole a puck in the corner following Adirondack's attempts to get the puck out of the zone.

Oscar Lindberg's blast rushing up to the top of the right circle would finish the night's scoring with just under five minutes left for the 5-2 final.

Adirondack finished 0-for-6 on the power play while Hartford was 2-for-4. The Wolf Pack scored a pair of power-play goals in back-to-back games against the normally top-notch Phantoms penalty-kill in Hartford's wins on Sunday and Wednesday. Adirondack's record moves to 21-19-2 while Hartford improved to 15-22-5.

Adirondack will have a chance for revenge when they return to Hartford next Tuesday, February 4. But before that is a key Showdown Series with the Hershey Bears on Friday in Glens Falls and Saturday in Philadelphia. Hershey currently holds down the eighth-place position in the Eastern Conference with a six-point margin over Adirondack. This weekend represents an opportunity for the Phantoms to narrow that margin to just two points. Adirondack is already 2-0-0 against the Bears this season with a pair of overtime wins.

Friday night in Glens Falls is Pack The House Night with $10 tickets available presented by UpgradeToComfort.com. The Phantoms are aiming for their third sellout of the season at the Glens Falls Civic Center as the community looks to show the rest of the league yet again the quality of fan support they have in the area. Call the Phantoms for tickets at 518-480-3355.

Saturday at 1:00, the Phantoms and Bears will meet again, but this time at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Seats on the Phantoms second Fan Bus to the game are on sale now via Upstate Transit but are only available while they last. Call Upstate Transit to find out more: 518-584-5252.



American Hockey League Stories from January 29, 2014


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