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| Ice Hockey Spotlight: Third Period Implosion Propels Toronto to 4-2 Victory Saturday, October 18, 2003 By David W. Unkle The Toronto Road Runners erupted for four third period goals, including two by Nate DiCasmirro to drop the Philadelphia Phantoms 4-2 at the Wachovia Center. Phantoms goaltender Neil Little was peppered with nineteen shots in the final session as Toronto scratched back from a 2-0 deficit to score three goals in the final 5:25. If you want to write a script on things not to do with a two goal lead, we run the gamut on it, said Phantoms head coach John Stevens. We didn’t manage our game, we didn’t play the clock, we took bad penalties and we did everything we shouldn’t have done. After a scoreless first period, John Slaney and Patrick Sharp gave the Phantoms a two-goal cushion with tallies 3:50 apart. B.J. Abel hit defenseman John Slaney who blasted the puck past Toronto goalie Stephen Valiquette from between the circles. Sharp followed Slaney’s tally with his own on a rebound of a Freddy Meyer shot. Sharp’s second goal of the season looked like the game-winner until Dan Baum scored his first professional goal at 7:07 of the third period. The first year player last played with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL finishing with 32 goals and 73 points, totals good for second on the team Former Phantom Jamie Wright netted his third goal of the season to knot the score at 14:35. With the Phantoms B.J. Abel off for obstruction-hooking, DiCasmirro beat Little for the game-winner with just seven seconds left on the power play. After Toronto’s Matt Bishai missed an open net, DeCasmirro scored his second of the night with four seconds left. Following a promising start to the season with two wins in the opening week of the season, including taking three of four points on the road, the team dropped their second game in three home starts. With Peter White (3G, 2A) and Boyd Kane (1G, 1A) recalled to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Phantoms turned to hot-handed Kirby Law for offensive support. Law who came into the game with a five game point streak (1G, 5A) dating back to last season was scoreless, getting only one shot on net. Law was not alone; the Phantoms’ only other multi-goal scorer, Mark Murphy could only put one shot on net. In perhaps a prelude to the game’s outcome, midway through the scoreboard over center ice short-circuited, resulting in a five minute delay. While the board returned to function after five minutes, Philadelphia was a different team, never again threatening en route to coughing up the lead on nineteen shots. Any time you get a 2-0 lead going into the third period, you want to play the right way, said Phantoms Head Coach John Stevens. SCORE BY PERIODS FIRST PERIOD— Scoring: none. Penalties: TOR Luoma (interference) 5:30; PHL Mc Neil (high-sticking) 8:26; TOR Horacek (roughing) 13:32; PHL Stafford (roughing) 13:32; TOR Horacek (holding) 17:18; PHL Law (tripping) 19:22. SECOND PERIOD— Scoring: PHL Slaney 1 (Abel) 14:08; PHL Sharp 2 (McNeil, Meyer) (17:58). Penalties: TOR Horacek (roughing) 2:24; TOR Roche (roughing) 5:30; PHL Savage (holding the stick) 5:30; TOR Lynch (fighting) 9:23; PHL Murphy (fighting) 9:23; PHL Jones (roughing) 12:56; TOR Roche (spearing major; game misconduct) 13:43; PHL Savage (high-sticking) 19:44. THIRD PERIOD— Scoring: TOR Baum 1 (Luoma, Hinz) 7:07; TOR Wright 3 (DiCasmirro, Lynch) 14:35; TOR DiCasmirro 2 (Rita, Allen) 17:01; TOR DiCasmirro 3 (Wright, Allen) 19:56 (en). Penalties: PHL Bench Minor (too many men on ice) 2:08; PHL Abel (obstruction-hooking) 15:08. SHOTS ON GOAL
STARS OF THE GAME Selected by: David W. Unkle WNJC 1360-AM NOTES GAME OFFICIALS ATTENDANCE: 4,314 |
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