A Stupefying Loss
April 25, 2008
We may be moping around after the Flyers were cheated out of a win last night by the referees, but even our disappointment cannot compare to that of young goaltender Michael Leighton:
The Phantoms set franchise records for shots by beating host Albany, 3-2, in a staggering fifth overtime in the longest American Hockey League game ever played. The Phantoms took an even more staggering 101 shots to obliterate their previous playoff record of 64.
The shot that counted came from Ryan Potulny 2 minutes, 58 seconds into the fifth OT to give the Phantoms a three-games-to-two lead in the AHL East semifinal series.
River Rats goaltender Michael Leighton stopped a stupefying 98 shots. And lost!
The marathon was the first AHL game ever to reach a fifth overtime. The previous record was 114 minutes, 56 seconds (74:56 of overtime) on May 30, 2003, when Hamilton beat Houston, 2-1.
Game 6 is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. tomorrow at the Wachovia Center.
For the unitiated, the average goaltender sees about 30 shots a game, and still lets in about 3 of them. That’s a hard luck loss right there. After 100 shots, I imagine he was just damn tired.
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