Posted on Sat, Apr. 26, 2008
After Rats winger Kirk MacDonald scored at 10:38 of overtime to help Albany take a 1-0 victory over the Phantoms Saturday afternoon at the Wachovia Center, the Phantoms could only hang their heads.
Previously holding a three-games-to-two series lead against the Rats, the Phantoms are now faced with a dreaded Game 7 situation instead of getting a much-needed break in preparation for the next round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
“It was a tough one,” goaltender Scott Munroe said. “It was a great chance for us to win the series and get a couple days off but we were unable to put the puck in the net.”
“I was happy with the effort and the energy,” said Phantoms head coach Craig Berube. “I thought we came out hard in the third and I thought we came out hard in overtime.”
After the Phantoms’ historic five-overtime win Thursday night at Times Union Center saw them play an astounding 142 minutes and 58 seconds of hockey, there was no doubt that fatigue played a factor in the game 6 loss.
But the Phantoms refused to accept fatigue as an excuse of not being able to close out the East division semifinal series.
“Our guys are tired, I understand that, but we fell short,” Berube said. “Some guys played lots of minutes and I think it showed a little bit here tonight but there was no effort problem or lack of competing. I thought that was there all game.”
“Once you got into it, it wasn’t too bad,” Phantoms captain Boyd Kane said. “I’m sure everyone’s feeling the same and you just have to gut it out and give it all you have.”
“When you play eight periods in 35 hours, guys are going to be tired,” he added.
Though it took until overtime, MacDonald was able to end Munroe’s 176-minute, 22-second shutout streak against the Rats. MacDonald took a pass from forward Nicolas Blanchard and fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle.
Despite countering with 41 shots of their own on Albany goaltender Michael Leighton, the Phantoms were held scoreless for the second time in the series. But they hope that their plan to bury their rebound chances in front will finally solve Leighton’s resiliency in game 7.
“We have to find a way to get [the puck] by him,” said Phantoms captain Boyd Kane. “He sees the first shot and we have to find a way to get rebounds in.”
“I thought we got a lot of shots blocked tonight and missed the net,” Berube said. “Personally that’s the one thing I’m not happy with…our shot selection.”
“I think we’re just not quite bearing down enough at the net,” he added. “We have to dig a little bit harder at their net.”
With Game 7 slated for Tuesday night at the Wachovia Center and with the Phantoms’ season on the line, they look to move past the disappointing game 6 defeat and advance to the East division finals where the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are waiting.
“It’s a hard fought series and goals are hard to come by with two good defensive teams and two good goaltenders,” Kane said. “That’s what we played all year for home ice and we’re going to come out and win.”
“You come out and you play hard and try to execute,” Berube said. “We have to execute better around the net.”
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