* Credit for the Phantoms’ goal was changed to Harry Zolnierczyk.
* Eric Wellwood is still fast. And shifty. Still not a finisher, though. Early in the period, he flew down the wing, right past the defender and cut in on goal, but his shot was easily stopped by Tokarski.
* Early in period, Brandon Manning showed he was very aggressive at the blue line. He and Cullen Eddy showed good gap control – at least temporarily.
* The Phantoms’ PK played a 1-1-2 while the Crunch skated through the neutral zone on the PK, with Brayden Schenn as the trailing forward. Schenn committed to the puck carrier at the red line, but was unable to prevent the pass into the open space created by his aggression. The resultant tic-tac-toe passing play required Cal Heeter to make a nice save at the doorstep.
* Not long after, the Phantoms had a 4-on-2, with Sean Couturier bringing the puck into the zone. He dropped to Schenn at the top of the slot, who proceeded to find an unsuspecting Sean Couturier below the dot. Wasted opportunity.
* Syracuse went up 2-1 on a Richard Panik goal. Panik came from behind the net, with no defender to pick him up – Harry Zolnierczyk showed a lack of effort to cover for the out of position defense of Manning and Eddy – and put the puck home on the third try.
* About that gap control from Manning and Eddy: Matt Taormina caught the pair sleeping with a stretch pass from his own blue line, springing Tyler Johnson in alone on net. Heeter’s angle was questionable, as he was beaten high stick side, but that play is still on the defense. 3-1 Syracuse.
* The Phantoms’ second PK unit has a propensity to dump the puck in. They do not have a propensity to win the ensuing puck battles.
* Late in the period, Oliver Lauridsen avoided an open ice hit, which sent Eric Nielson flying head first into the boards. As the Phantoms went up ice on a 2-on-2, Lauridsen requested and was given the right to punch Nielson in the face repeatedly. Probably because Lauridsen is so tall.
* Zac Rinaldo has now taken a boarding penalty and an elbowing penalty. So, same old Zac. If he’s getting under the opponent’s skin, it’s not leading to the Phantoms’ success.
* Cory Conacher is really good. He beat Marc-Andre Bourdon extremely easily in the first period, went around Erik Gustafsson with a nifty move in the second period and is generally keeping the puck on his stick as long as he wants to. Eventually, Terry Murray put Bourdon and Syvret on the ice to stop him, which still resulted in a scoring chance as the pair couldn’t get out of their own zone cleanly.
* The game was chippy in the first period, and it only got worse in the second. Late in the period, both Oliver Lauridsen and Tye McGinn gave two-handed cross checks to Crunch players while the referee looked on. The third period should be interesting.
