GLENS FALLS -- About a half hour after the Adirondack Phantoms' 5-0 victory over Syracuse on Sunday, Jon Matsumoto was back on the Civic Center ice, dancing to rap music with some kids by the blue line and posing for pictures on the bench.
Matsumoto earned the right to have some fun during the postgame skate with fans. Matsumoto scored twice - including once on a penalty shot - in a fight-filled, nasty game with their cross-state neighbors.
It's hard to find beauty in a game with a 110 penalty minutes and four misconducts, but this was exactly the type of sustained effort the Phantoms needed after coming out flat and falling behind in the first period in back-to-back losses to Albany and Toronto. Whether they were motivated by that or Syracuse's 6-1 win earlier in the season, the Phantoms were a different team than the one that allowed the first goal in six of their first nine games.
"We came out and played a physical game and I don't think they liked it," Phantoms captain Jared Ross said. "I don't think they wanted to get hit like that. When we play physical like that, we're a hard team to play against. We need to bring that intensity each night."
A 20-second span late in the third contained two nasty incidents. Logan Stephenson of the Phantoms and Syracuse's Tom Sestito each received game misconducts for a prolonged fight that included several punches on the ground, restarted after being broken up initially and almost spilled into the penalty box.
On the next stoppage, Crunch tough guy Jon Mirasty threw several punches at the 5-foot-9, 165-pound Ross, prompting words between Phantoms coach Greg Gilbert and Syracuse's Ross Yates.
Later, Gilbert called it a cheap shot.
"I know how they play, I know what they do," Gilbert said. "I saw it for three years in Toronto - we played them eight times a year - nothing that happened tonight surprised me. It's the way they do things."
Rough stuff aside, perhaps this was the breakout game the offense has waited for. The Phantoms came in with a league-low 19 goals. The five goals, scored by four players, and 43 shots were both season highs.
"I'm hoping the guys are starting to see why we want them to put pucks on the net," Gilbert said.
Matsumoto became the fifth Adirondack player in the AHL to score on a penalty shot and the second this season. He created the chance by forcing a turnover shorthanded. He converted to make it 3-0 and swing the momentum back to the Phantoms for good.
The Phantoms killed off the rest of what became a two-man Syracuse advantage and the floodgates opened. Ryan Dingle and Jason Ward each scored in the third.
The third-line borne of necessity gave the Phantoms a lift. With Jon Kalinski out the second straight game with a flu-like illness, Dingle centered Rob Bellamy, playing just his second game of the season after missing the first eight with an ankle injury, and Josh Beaulieu.
Dingle scored his first goal of the season to make it 3-0, and Bellamy played like a man looking to make up for lost time, throwing the body everywhere and getting in a second-period fight.
"We're all energy guys, so we just like to keep it simple, chip the puck in and get to the puck," Bellamy said. "All three of us are on the same page, which is good for our line."
Whatever concerns the Phantoms had about slow starts went out the window in a hurry. The Phantoms, who had given up the first goal in seven of their first nine games, came out gangbusters. They dominated the opening period, taking a 1-0 lead and outshooting the Crunch 12-5.
The increased energy paid off just six minutes in when Garrett Klotz scored his second goal in his last three games. Before scoring in Albany last Saturday, Klotz hadn't scored in his first 43 professional games.
He earned this one the way Gilbert has been preaching: by getting to the net. Perched on the doorstop, he took a perfect feed from Matsumoto and put it high into the net for a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.
Goalie Johan Backlund, making his first start in eight days, made 20 saves to earn his first career shutout. Backlund missed four days of practice last week and didn't make the trip to Toronto on Friday.
Posted in Sports on Monday, November 2, 2009 1:55 am | Tags: Phantoms
© Copyright 2009, The Post-Star, Lawrence & Cooper Streets Glens Falls, NY | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
