Sunday, October 28, 2012

Adirondack 4, Syracuse 3 (OT) 10/28

Before center Brayden Schenn scored on a late power play to force overtime Sunday, the Adirondack Phantoms had gone more than 209 minutes without scoring a power play goal.

They needed just 76 seconds to score one again.

Schenn, who tied the game with a one-timer with 62 seconds to play, capped off his four-point night with an assist on Brandon Manning’s game-winning goal on the first shot of overtime as the Phantoms came back to beat the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

The Phantoms trailed 3-2 with about two minutes remaining in regulation, but caught a break when Syracuse’s Richard Panik was whistled for a foul on defenseman Danny Syvret at 17:55.

That power play turned into a five-on-three advantage 17 seconds later when J.T. Wyman’s clearing attempt sailed over the glass, an automatic penalty in the American Hockey League.

The Phantoms pulled goaltender Cal Heeter for an extra attacker, resulting in a six-on-three advantage. Schenn played give-and-go with fellow NHL lockout casualty Sean Couturier before driving a slap shot from the face-off circle past Syracuse goalie Riku Helenius with 1:02 to play.

Manning won the game 14 seconds into the extra session with a slap shot from the right point. The second-year pro was the last Phantom to score a power play goal before Schenn, tallying at 9:22 of the second period in the team’s 4-3 victory over the St. John’s IceCaps last Saturday.

Manning’s game-winning goal Sunday came on another multi-man advantage, as Syracuse inadvertently sent five players out to kill a penalty with 11 seconds left in regulation. Couturier assisted on both the game-tying and game-winning goals, giving him six points in seven games.

Schenn’s four-point night gave him nine points in seven games, which is tops on the team.

Power forward Tye McGinn set up the screen on Manning’s winner, using his 6-foot-2 frame to obscure Helenius’ view of the drive. The winger had already scored two goals in an eight-minute span the second period as the Phantoms turned a 1-0 intermission deficit into a 2-1 lead by 8:45.

It was the third multi-goal game of McGinn's AHL career. All three have come against affiliates of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Schenn recorded assists on both of McGinn’s tallies, while rookie winger Matt Mangene assisted on McGinn's go-ahead goal for his first professional point.

But Syracuse’s Alex Killorn, a rookie out of Harvard, scored a four-on-four goal at 13:31 of the second and scored on a four-on-three goal 30 seconds later to put Syracuse up 3-2 as the Phantoms showed shades of the penalty trouble that cost them in Saturday’s loss to Rochester.

They spotted their opponents seven power plays and Syracuse converted on two of them, including Brett Connolly’s power-play goal off a botched clearing attempt 8:21 into the game. It marked the seventh time in seven games that the Phantoms allowed the first goal.

But the late rally helped the Phantoms finish 2-for-10 with the man advantage while salvaging two points in their first three-in-three of the season. They opened the weekend with back-to-back blowout losses to Albany and Rochester and had been outscored 11-3 in those two contests.

Heeter, a rookie from Ohio State, finished with 32 saves to earn his first professional victory and the Phantoms improved to 3-4 on the season. Helenius stopped 25 as Syracuse fell to 4-1-1-1.

The teams will meet in a rematch Friday at Glens Falls Civic Center. Face-off is 7 p.m.

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