Admirals effort is stronger but result is same as Norfolk loses fourth straight

Admirals effort is stronger but result is same as Norfolk loses fourth straight
Written By:  Brad Johnson

Glen Falls, N.Y -   Peter Holland scored the lone goal, his team team-leading ninth goal of the season while Andersen stopped 29 of 31 shots in the losing effort.  Norfolk has now lost eight of their past ten; including a current four game winless skid.

While the effort tonight was much stronger the result after the final horn was the same as the Admirals (7-10-0-0) are now a disappointing three games below .500.  Norfolk plays Connecticut tomorrow in the final game of their short two-game road trip before heading back to Scope to faceoff against their division rival Hershey Bears on Wednesday night.

The Admirals and Phantoms skated through an even first period.  Norfolk outshot the Phantoms 9-7 with some quality scoring chances at both ends.  Mitchell and Schenn dropped the gloves at 16:59 with Schenn getting the decision in the bout. 

Adirondack dominated play in the second stanza and it took the Phantoms just 1:23 to score the games first goal.  While on the power play Sean Couturier accepted a cross ice feed from Erik Gustafsson as he blasted home a one-timer past Andersen to give the Phantoms a lead they would not surrender.  The Phantoms would quickly make it 2-0 just 49 seconds later on a goal by the former Anaheim Ducks prospect Rob Bordson.  Bordson make a beautiful shot fake in the right circle to catch the defenders out of position; he quickly dangled into the slot and fired a wrist shot top shelf for his first goal of the season.

The Phantoms would continue dominating play throughout the period but Andersen came up huge and gave the Admirals a fighting chance.  Norfolk would capitalize on a late Phantoms penalty and it was Peter Holland scoring his ninth of the season from the right circle off a feed from Devante Smith-Pelley with just 31 seconds remaining in the period.  The Phantoms closed out the period with a 19-5 advantage in shots and if it were not for the play of goaltender Frederik Andersen the Admirals would surely have been trailing by more than a single goal entering the final period of play.

Norfolk came out of the third firing on all cylinders and had the Phantoms on their heels much of the period.  The Admirals outshot the Phantoms by a 12-5 margin in the final 20:00 but the Phantoms defense blocked multiple shots throughout the period, Munroe was stellar in the third as he came up huge on several occasions which resulted in another disappointing loss for the Admirals.

Both teams went 1-4 with the man-advantage

Munroe:  Stopped 25 of 26 Shots earning the Victory

Andersen: Stopped 29 of 31 in the losing effort