The Phantoms kicked off another busy weekend in Syracuse last night for the first leg of this upcoming three-in-three, looking to get the ball rolling for themselves again, and also settle in with their new lineup on the other side of the NHL and AHL trade deadlines. The Phantoms have been working some new faces into the lineup of late — Boris Katchouk and David Jiricek most notably last week — and another exciting new introduction was made last night, as winger Noah Powell skated in his AHL debut.
Powell, fresh off signing his Entry Level Contract for next season and tryout contract for the rest of this season, got into the lineup for his professional debut last night against the Crunch, and despite sliding into a difficult situation — the Phantoms trying to snap out of their floundering streak, and do it against one of the top teams in the conference — he availed himself well.
The beginning of the game might have been a bit of a rude awakening, as his first couple of shifts saw Powell getting knocked around by a physical Syracuse team, and losing a couple of one-on-one battles, but he was able to shrug all of that off relatively quickly. He settled in nicely as the game went on, his play getting a little more stable, and he was able to turn things around nicely, bearing down and winning a few key battles along the wall to even the scales again. This game was a decisively uptempo one, but Powell didn’t seem to be struggling with the pace of play, and indeed had shifts where he looked to be an active driver in it, stepping up and showing no fear in getting in on the forecheck.
His game wasn’t hugely flashy, and there wasn’t much offense to speak of sparking from him, but he still made a few nice plays in this one, even if they were on the more subtle side. One in particular stands out — the third period saw him step up to block a shot in the high slot, which sprung the beginning of a rush out of the defensive zone. This play might get lost in the mix a bit, especially because that rush was ultimately broken up in the neutral zone and didn’t amount to a big scoring chance, but all the same, this is exactly the type of hard play that head coach John Snowden was calling for his group to make just a few weeks ago. Powell is still clearly working on getting his timing down, and there were also certainly times when he looked every bit a player jumping in with a team he’s only practiced with once, but he looked pretty comfortable in that debut, on the whole, and that’s a promising enough place to start.
Powell’s first impression was a good one, showing that the jump to professional hockey might not be so tremendously steep for him, and that’s pretty major. He brought some of his best stuff, and he needed to, because he’s joining this team at a truly pivotal point in their season. The Phantoms have been working through a challenging portion of their season, fighting tooth and nail to maintain their place in the playoff race, and they did some excellent work last night to take down a tough opponent and get themselves in the win column again.
The Phantoms jumped out to an early two-goal lead, building themselves up a bit of insulation, which was insulation they would sorely need — the Crunch were relentless in their possession, pouring chances on from everywhere, hitting the first intermission with a whopping 22 shots on goal, though they were only able to get one by Aleksei Kolosov. There was the ever-looming potential for this game to go sideways in a big way, but between Kolosov having perhaps his best stuff of the season, to date, and the team in front of him doing well to lock things down for the remaining two periods (they allowed 12 shots in the second period, and just six in the third), they were able to keep this game under control. Two more goals scored in the third period put the comeback well out of reach for the Crunch, but the damage was done before that. The Phantoms, though they had their fair share of scary moments, delivered about as solid of a bending without breaking performance as could be, and Kolosov, with a career-high 39 save performance, drive them to a much needed win.
Last night was also a kind one to them as far as the broader context of the standings is concerned — the win allowed them to make it four points up on Springfield (who was off for the night) who are most directly chasing them for that final playoff spot, and with Hartford below them and Bridgeport above them both taking regulation losses, the Phantoms created a bit more insulation from the bottom dweller of the division while also pulling even in points with Bridgeport above them (who they also have a game in hand on), as they push not just to get into the playoffs, but to move up into that fifth position for a more favorable matchup.
There’s still a lot of season left, still just over a month and 15 games remaining, and a lot can change very quickly, but the Phantoms have gotten themselves into a better position by snapping back into form last night. This stretch is critical, and the stakes are going to just get even higher as they go. It’s a big moment for each member of that lineup, but particularly for players like Powell who are trying to prove that they can hang at this level, can be part of the team’s long term success. We’ll see soon how he’s able to build on that sound first showing.
