It’s kind of the story of the night: “We said let’s go and play in their end,” John Persson said.
Backstory might be nice, I guess. There was a shift in the second period where Vaughan-Quine-Persson got pinned deep. Adirondack got some shots, kept it deep. Adirondack got a change, kept it deep. Adirondack forced a turnover, kept it deep.
Then a lot of crazy stuff happened: another penalty shot, a Bridgeport penalty, a short-handed goal. The next time those three forwards were together… Dallas Jackson put a shot from the left-wing boards off Persson in front, and they had a lead.
That’s what Persson said; they had spent enough time in the Bridgeport end, so go turn the tables. They did.
“I always use the expression ‘bend but don’t break.’ It’s something coach (Mark) Morris used all the time in Manchester,” Scott Pellerin said. “We weren’t able to get the puck out, but we were able to get a save, a faceoff, a chance. Those are times when you have to have that belief you’re going to do whatever you have to do.
And pretty much that’s what happened all night. An awful start, with a couple of breakaways and a couple of two-on-ones in the first few minutes alone for the Phantoms. Then they played in the Phantoms’ end and forced a turnover. They fell behind, then forced a turnover. They went up. They gave up a short-handed goal of their own.
And then came one big shift to start the third, with Persson (in Anders Lee’s spot because of a misconduct) playing the key role. “We got in his kitchen,” Pellerin said, getting on him to play a more physical game and skate. Persson helped Strome win a battle to set up Matt Donovan’s goal, then joined a two-on-one with Strome (Halmo led it) to score the eventual game-winner.
Didn’t look like this would happen after the first 23 seconds, but here they are, winners of six in a row against teams not from Albany.
“Give credit to our guys,” Pellerin said. “They continued battling back.”
…..
Scooter Vaughan re-upped on another PTO.
Ryan Strome had the bag packed and the sticks taped up to head to St. John’s; leaving tonight.
With that Donovan goal:
| Place | Name | Years | GP | G | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Trent Hunter | 2001-03 | 150 | 60 | 76 | 136 |
| 8 | Justin Mapletoft | 2001-05 | 240 | 47 | 83 | 130 |
| 9 | Ben Walter | 2007-09 | 133 | 40 | 76 | 116 |
| 10 | Rhett Rakhshani | 2009-12 | 120 | 44 | 69 | 113 |
| 11 | Matt Donovan | 2010-14 | 172 | 29 | 84 | 113 |
| 12 | Jesse Joensuu | 2007-11 | 177 | 42 | 69 | 111 |
| 13 | Mark Wotton | 2006-11 | 368 | 22 | 88 | 110 |
You’re probably sick of “it was 50 years ago today” stuff, so I’ll just say I’m going home to watch “A Hard Day’s Night.” Team’s off until Friday; we’ve got some stuff going on during the week, so we may or may not be watching the all-star festivities, but we’ll toss some notes up here as we’re moved. More as warranted.