PHANTOMS TAKE GAME ONE, 5-2

WILKES-BARRE, PA – Stefan Ruzicka notched two goals and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Phantoms to a 5-2 win against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Game One of the East Division Finals on Thursday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

The game was the first for the Penguins since finishing off the Hershey Bears back on April 25. The Phantoms, conversely, had less than a 48 hour break after defeating the Albany River Rats in seven games to advance.

"I think the layoff did have something to do with it. I think we looked sluggish, I think we looked a bit tired at the end," said head coach Todd Richards. 'When you get tired, your mind doesn't work like it needs to. It led to some turnovers, some bad decisions, and ultimately the puck ended up in our net. We gave them some power play opportunities and some penalties that probably weren't great penalties."

The Phantoms tallied twice on six power play opportunities, while the Pens were just one for eight with the man advantage. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton led the league with a 29.6 success rate (eight for 27) entering the game.

The Phantoms capitalized on their first power play try of the night, when Jonathan Matsumoto buried a cross-crease pass with 10 seconds remaining on Dennis Bonvie's goaltender interference infraction. That tally came at 14:03 of the first, and was the lone goal in the opening 20 mintues.

The Phantoms struck for two quick scores in the second period, as Jared Ross and Stefan Ruzicka lit the lamp just 13 seconds apart to give the Phantoms a commanding 3-0 lead.

The Penguins continued to press, and when Connor James floated a shot over Scott Munroe's blocker two minutes after the Ruzicka goal, the home team had life again.

"We scored the goal and I thought we were going to get ourselves back in it. We had a good power play in the second," said Richards.

But it was not to be. Ruzicka picked up a power play goal with 13.6 ticks left in the second period for what proved to be the game-winning goal, and Andreas Nodl notched an empty net tally five minutes after Tim Brent posted his league-high sixth goal of the postseason.

The Penguins will look to bounce back Saturday night when they host the Phantoms for Game Two.

"It was frustrating, but I thought we did play hard," said Richards. "We just didn't have a lot in the tank."