10-08-10 Phantoms at Binghamtom: Senators 5, Phantoms 1

From the Phantoms Facebook page:

Phantoms fall at Binghamton 5-1 in season opener. Great game for Johan Backlund in goal. Patrick Maroon scores first Adirondack goal of the year on the power play easily slamming in the nice cross-ice feed from Dan Jancevski. Next up: At the Albany Devils Saturday night at 7. Just 7 days away until the Phantoms Home Opener!

I did get to watch the entire game online; however, the audio was glitched for both the Adirondack and Binghamton feeds. So all of the fans who were logged in to AHL Live watched the game sans play-by-play until a little while after the midpoint of the game.

I haven't yet seen the box score, nor the stars of the game. However, I can say that Johan Backlund should have had a star, five goals-against notwithstanding. The Phantoms' teamwide youth (average age 22.8 years) really showed itself tonight, as there were lengthy stretches when the only Phantom touching the puck was the goaltender. We were massively outshot, and there were some parts of the game when even though the teams were even strength, the appearance was that the Senators were on the power play.

Though we did give up three PP goals, I can say that I was pleased to see the Phantoms kill off a full two-minute 5-on-3 PK. So that, and Backlund's performance in the game, were bright spots.

I am still concerned that Backlund's hip is still not quite in top form yet. The Senators got a wraparound goal, going around behind the net after Backlund made an excellent save on one post, and firing it in the open side of the net. Backlund just couldn't make the lateral move quickly enough. Mind you, a lot of goalies might have had a challenge going post-to-post on that particular goal. But the way Backlund moved made me think that his hip was among the reasons he couldn't get over there as quickly as he'd have liked. One thing's for sure -- his hip, and everything else, got quite the workout during this game. He'll be able to make a long report to the trainer on how the hip felt when he put it through its paces.

CLICK HERE for the box score from tonight's game.
CLICK HERE for The Post-Star's Phantoms blog post for the game.
CLICK HERE for The Post-Star's postgame blog post.
CLICK HERE for the game article from The Post-Star.


The Phantoms play in Albany on Saturday at 7 PM.