Phantoms drop opener as power play fails

Kyle Wilson and Andrew Gordon each contributed a goal and an assist and the Hershey Bears shut down the Philadelphia Phantoms on seven power play opportunities en route to a 4-2 win in Game 1 of the East Division Semifinals on Friday night at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the series with the victory, which was the first playoff game at the Spectrum in seven years.

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• The Phantoms had seven power play opportunites in the contest and failed to convert on a single one of them. It's possible that they miss the presence of Jared Ross, a major cog in their power play unit. During the regular season, Philadelphia has the eighth best power play in the AHL
  
• The Bears, the number one seed in the East Division, never trailed in the game. In addition to Wilson and Gordon, Jay Beagle and Oskar Osala scored for Hershey.
• For the Phantoms, Lasse Kukkonen and Jonathan Matsumoto scored. Matsumoto took nine shots on goal in the game.
• James van Riemsdyk put up a -1 rating and registed two shots on goal.
• The Phantoms played all home playoff games at the Wachovia Center in 2003/04, their Cup-winning season in 2004/05, and last season. They missed the playoffs in 2005/06 and 2006/07.

Game 2 is Saturday evening at the Spectrum. If Hershey wins the series in five games or less, Saturday will be the final game in the history of the building.