END OF THE ROAD STREAK

PHILADELPHIA Missed power play opportunities and costly breakdowns in the defensive zone victimized the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phantoms Friday night at the Wachovia Spectrum.

Riley Cote got the Phantoms going with his first goal of the season on a hard shot between the circles at 2:58 of the first. The enemy salvo marked the first time in four road games the Griffins failed to score the opening goal.

Grand Rapids countered on its second power play of the night, as Darryl Bootland took a crisp pass from Jiri Hudler and shoveled a backhand past Jamie Storr to square the score at one. The assist was Hudlers 100th as a Griffin, good for fourth place on the clubs all-time list, and the marker ended a 0-for-13 team drought on the man-advantage.

After the Griffins came up empty on three consecutive power plays in the second period, Philadelphia weathered the storm and reclaimed a 2-1 lead. Stefan Ruzicka gathered the rebound off his own shot, wrapping the puck around the net and slinging it in front for a ready-and-waiting Matt Ellison at 14:07.
A frustrating turn for Grand Rapids transpired after killing off all 1:09 of a 5-on-3 opportunity for the Phantoms. Just as Bootland emerged from the sin bin, Tony Voce eluded the Griffins defense across the bottom of the right circle to push the Philly lead to 3-1 at the end of two. The power play goal was just the second allowed by Grand Rapids in its last 55 kills.

Nate DiCasmirro lifted an off-balance backhand from the right circle, capitalizing on a perfectly wicked pass across the slot from Donald MacLean to narrow the gap to 3-2 with 7:05 remaining. Grand Rapids would draw no closer after emptying the net with just under two minutes remaining, as Brent Kelly sealed the deal with a dart from center ice.

The Griffins finished the night 1-for-7 on the power play, and have scored just twice in their last 26 chances with the extra attacker. Joey MacDonald stopped 27-of-30 shots in defeat, falling to 15-8-2 on the season, as the team saw its season-best eight-game road point streak snapped.

Playing the third in a brutal road stretch of four games in five nights, Grand Rapids next travels to Syracuse for a Saturday night showdown with the second-place Crunch. Syracuse carried an eight-game winning streak into Fridays action, recovering well from a 7-1 shellacking against the Griffins at Van Andel Arena on February 4th. Game time is 7:30 p.m.