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UPDATE 8:45 PM EST
Neither Scott Laughton nor Colin Suellentrop got on the scoresheet tonight in the Oshawa Generals' 5-3 win over the London Knights. Both players took a minor penalty apiece in the game. However, Suellentrop was a plus-three on the night.
Oshawa's Boone Jenner scored a goal in the game to re-take sole possession of the Ontario Hockey League scoring lead. He had been tied with Flyers prospect Nick Cousins entering the day. Cousins went scoreless in his game earlier today.
Oshawa is now off until Friday when they visit the Kitchener Rangers.
UPDATE 5:30 PM EDT
Not much went right for the Phantoms today in their second game of the regular season, as the team dropped a 4-0 decision on the road against the Springfield Falcons. Curtis McElhinney earned a 31-save shutout for Springfield. The Phantoms went 0-for-7 on the power play, including four opportunities in the opening period.
Cal Heeter struggled in his AHL regular season debut, yielding a pair of questionable goals and stopping just 16 of 20 shots for the game. Five of the shots came in the final 4:35 of play.
Zac Rinaldo was arguably the Phantoms most effective forward in the game, skating with a lot of energy and hustling up several scoring chances. Eric Wellwood and Andrew Johnston came the closest to scoring but were robbed by McElhinney.
After starring in the opening night victory over Portland, the line anchored by Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn was unable to get much going in this game despite combining for seven shots on goal.
The Phantoms top defensive pairing of Erik Gustafsson and Marc-Andre Bourdon has been out on the ice for four of the seven goals the Phantoms have yielded in the first two games. Neither player has recorded a point in the first two games. Bourdon had his first fight of the young season, taking on Cody Bass.
Former Flyers prospect Michael Chaput was a thorn in the Phantoms' side all game. He had a running battle with Ben Holmstrom, and the two eventually dropped the gloves. Chaput also took a bit of a cheapshot at an unsuspecting Couturier with the stick late in the second period, drawing a cross-checking penalty and raising the ire of Adirondack. Brandon Manning was the first of several players to come to Couturier's defense. Couturier was fine, and did not miss a shift.
One of the Adirondack goal-scorers from the opening game, Harry Zolnierczyk was not quite as lucky. He took a puck up high to the mouth and/or nose. Harry Z left the ice in a hurry with a towel pressed to his bleeding face. He did not return to the game.
As the game entered the third period, Terry Murray shook up the line combinations in the hopes of getting some positives established before the end of game. Adirondack got a few scoring chances but was unable to get on the board.
The Phantoms do not play again until next weekend. They have Friday and Saturday games in St. John's against the IceCaps.
UPDATE 4:45 PM EDT
Nick Cousins entered today tied with Oshawa's Boone Jenner for the OHL scoring lead. However, Cousins went pointless today in Sault Ste. Marie's 3-1 loss to Sarnia.
UPDATE 3:00 PM EDT
Final score today from the UK Elite Ice Hockey League: Sheffield Steelers 2 - Belfast Giants 1. Tom Sesito scored in his home debut for the Steelers. In the third period, he had his first EIHL fight and got the instigator and a misconduct.
In two games played to date, Sestito has two goals and 19 penalty minutes. Sheffield returns to action on Friday, when they host Cardiff.
UPDATE 11:00 AM EDT
Final score today from Germany's DEL: Eisbären Berlin 6 - Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 2. It was another huge game for Danny Briere and Claude Giroux. Briere scored a hat trick, with one goal apiece in each of the three periods (the first and third via the power play). He also earned an assist. The goal that completed the hat trick was scored on the power play in the final minute of regulation.
Meanwhile, Giroux racked up three assists in the victory. He set up Briere's first two goals and drawing the secondary helper (Briere got the primary assist) on a Frank Hördler goal that made the score 5-2 in the third period.
In two games played to date, Briere has seven points (3G, 4A) and Giroux has six points (1 G, 5A). Eisbären returns to action on Friday when they host the Augsburg Panthers.
UPDATE 9:30 AM EST
Valeri Vasiliev did not post a point today in MHC Spartak's 6-1 thrashing of Patriot Budapest in MHL action. Yesterday, Spartak destroyed Patriot, 8-1. For the season, Vasiliev has one assist, 20 PIM and a plus-one rating in 13 games played.
Spartak will travel tomorrow from Hungary to the Czech Republic, where they will take on the Karlovy Vary Energie J20 team on Tuesday.
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8:00 AM EDT
PHANTOMS WIN OPENER
The Adirondack Phantoms got the 2012-13 regular season off on the right foot with a 6-3 win over the Portland Pirates at the Glens Falls Civic Center last night. The Phantoms received two goals from Brayden Schenn (one shorthanded, the latter an empty net goal) and one apiece from Sean Couturier (power play goal), Tye McGinn, Garrett Roe and Harry Zolnierczyk. Veteran Scott Munroe got the start in goal, turning back 30 of 33 shots.
The Phantoms spent a significant portion of the game playing from behind, as they trailed 1-0 and (briefly) 2-1 in the first period, as well as 3-2 in the middle period. But every time Portland forged ahead, the Phantoms came back with a clutch goal.
Apart from the six goals that counted -- against what on paper appears to be a stacked Portland defense -- the Phantoms came out on the wrong end of a disallowed goal in which referee Chris Brown ruled that a shot by Zac Rinaldo hit the post and never crossed the goal line. There was a lengthy replay delay and it was ultimately decided there was not definitive evidence to overturn the initial call.
Couturier, who tied the game in the second period with a tally (also briefly reviewed) on a 5-on-3 1power play and later assisted on Schenn's nifty shorthanded goal in the third period, earned first star honors. He also had five shots on goal. Schenn had a three-point night with the two goals and an assist on Couturier's game-tying goal.
One negative from last night was that the Phantoms top defense pairing of Erik Gustafsson and Marc-Andre Bourdon had a rough opening night. They were on the ice for all three Portland goals and both players finished minus-two in the game. Bourdon was also guilty of a closing-the-hand-on-the-puck penalty. Neither player figured in any of the Adirondack scoring.
The Phantoms are right back in action today, playing a 3 p.m. eastern time game road against the Springfield Falcons (Columbus Blue Jackets farm team), who feature the likes of Ryan Johansen, Tomas Kubalik and Tim Erixon.
BROADCAST INFO: Today's game, like all Phantoms games. is available online for free via the streaming Phantoms radio broadcast or you can purchase a streaming video webcast via AHL Live. A single-game webcast costs $6.99, with a variety of multi-game purchase options.
VIDEO CLIP OF SCHENN'S SHORTHANDED GOAL
Courtesy Video.NHL.com
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TITANS WIN SEASON'S FIRST ROAD GAME
The Trenton Titans are off to a 2-0-0 start in the ECHL regular season. Last night, the club trekked into Pennsylvania and pummeled the Reading Royals, 6-2. Trenton opened the scoring just 31 seconds after the opening faceoff and led the rest of the way.
Among the Flyers/Phantoms affiliated players, rookie winger Marcel Noebels, defenseman Blake Kessel and winger Jason Akeson each earned one assist in the game. Ian Slater scored a goal for Trenton, who also got two goals from Jacob Drewiske and single tallies from Stephen Schultz, Drew Akins and first star of the game Andy Bohmbach (three-point game, plus-four).
Rookie goalie Niko Hovinen did not play last night, after earning the victory and yielding just one goal in the opener on Friday. New Jersey Devils prospect Scott Wedgewood (31 saves) started last night.
The Titans are now off until Wednesday. They will rematch against the Royals, with the venue shifting to Trenton. Game time will be 7 p.m.
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READ RED HOT IN ALLSVENSKAN
Flyers forward Matt Read has formed a dynamic combination for Södertälje SK with New York Rangers winger Carl Hagelin and French national team winger Damien Fleury. Read has racked up six points (1G, 5A) over his last two games and seven overall in his three Allsvenskan games.
Yesterday, the top SSK line was too much for the Malmö Red Hawks to handle. They accounted for three goals in Södertälje's 5-2 win, and came close to scoring on several other plays. Read, who is centering the line, earned assists on all three of the goals produced by the line. Fleury scored two of them, and Hagelin (1G, 1A) finished off the other.
Södertälje is now off until Wednesday, when they have a road game against Almtuna IS.
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BRYZ SCRATCHED
As expected, Rastislav Stana returned to the net for CSKA Moscow yesterday. Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who has only gotten into two games since signing with the KHL club during the NHL lockout, was a healthy scratch.
CSKA won the game in overtime, 5-4. Mikhail Grabovsky scored the game-winner with 25 seconds left in the extra frame before a potential shootout. The team returns to action tomorrow with a road game against Salavat Yulaev Ufa.
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PROSPECT UPDATES
* Nick Cousins tallied a goal and an assist for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in a 3-2 overtime win against the Plymouth Whalers last night. Cousins, who has 16 points (6 goals, 10 assists) in 9 games this season, is now tied with Oshawa's Boone Jenner for the overall scoring lead in the OHL. The Greyhounds return to action again today, with a 2:05 p.m. road tilt with the Sarnia Sting. Click here for the free streaming radio feed of the Soo broadcast. You can also purchase a live webcast for $6.99.
* The Flyers first-round pick in the 2012 Draft, Scott Laughton, recorded an assist and took two minor penalties for the Oshawa Generals in a 4-1 loss to the Belleville Bulls last night. Teammate Colin Suellentrop did not get on the scoresheet. For the season, Laughton has 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists) and 19 penalty minutes in 9 games. Suellentrop, a defenseman, has one goal, eight points and a plus-five rating. The Generals play again today, with a 6:05 p.m. home game against the London Knights. A free radio stream (London broadcasters) is available or you can purchase a live webcast for $6.99.
* Portland Winterhawks winger Taylor Leier recorded his first two-point game of the season, as his team wrapped up a six-game road trip last night with a 6-3 win against the Swift Current Broncos. Leier earned a pair of assists. Since returning from a torn abdominal muscle, he has four points (1 goal, three assists) and 10 penalty minutes in six games. The Hawks now have a week off until their next game.
* Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere scored two goals for Union College last night in a 4-1 win over Bowling Green last night. On the first goal, Max Novak won a faceoff back to Gostisbehere, who fired a wrist shot home through traffic. The second goal came on a 5-on-3 power play. On a quick passing sequence, Kyle Bodie fed cross ice to junior forward Mat Bodie, who made a touch-pass right back to Gostisbehere. The offensive-minded defenseman stepped into a slapshot, which he ripped high over Bowling Green goaltender Andrew Hammond. Union College (2-1-0) now has a lengthy break in the game schedule. Their next game will be on Friday, Oct. 26.
* Goaltender Anthony Stolarz made his regular season college hockey debut for the University of Nebraska- Omaha last night in the nationally televised Ice Breaker Tournament final against Notre Dame. The Flyers' 2012 second-round pick was visibly nervous and shaky early. He failed to track the puck and gave up a fluky goal on the first shot he saw, as the puck took a strange carom and was batted into the net. Later, he gave up a second somewhat questionable goal. However, as the game moved along, Stolarz began to settle in. The freshman goalie showed off his size and raw athleticism on several stops. UN-O hosts Northern Michigan University on Friday and Saturday.
* Defenseman Valeri Vasiliev was plus one and took a kneeing penalty for his Spartak team in an 8-1 road pummeling of badly overmatched Hungarian junior team Patriot Budapest yesterday. Valisiliev, who has one assist in 11 games this season, did not figure in the scoring.
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GIROUX, BRIERE AND SIMMONDS IN ACTION TODAY
After recording respective three-point games in their DEL debuts on Friday for two-time defending champion Eisbären Berlin, Claude Giroux (1G, 2A) and Danny Briere will play their first road game today. The Polar Bears take on Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg, with an 8 a.m. eastern U.S./Canada start time. Unfortunately, Laola1 TV is showing a different DEL game today (Hannover Scorpions vs. Adler Mannheim), so there is no webcast for the Wolfsburg-Berlin game. However, live box score updates can be found by clicking here.
Over in the minor-league Bundesliga, Wayne Simmonds and Eispiraten Crimmitschau have a home game today against ESV Kaufbeuren. Game results will be posted here shortly after its completion. Simmonds did not figure in the scoring in the Ice Pirates' 2-1 shootout win against the SERC Wild Wings on Friday.
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SESTITO SCORES IN SHEFFIELD DEBUT
Tough guy Tom Sestito scored a goal in a losing cause in his EIHL debut yesterday for the Sheffield Steelers. Sestito opened the scoring for Sheffield, who ultimately went down to a 4-2 road defeat at the hands of the Fife Flyers. He also drew the ire of the crowd in Fife with a boarding penalty.
Sheffield plays at home today against the Belfast Giants. The game starts at noon eastern U.S./Canada time and its progression can followed here.
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