Mr. McPine, tear down this Wahl!

[HearnNation67 132]

The Prague Phantoms record books were rewritten the other week, when the team defeated the New York Americans 4-3 in game number 281 of season 75. The victory was goaltender Woody McPine's 61^st career regular season win with the franchise, passing former netminder Brick Wahl for 1^st place. It was McPine's 19^th victory of the season, giving him a record at the time of 19-14-3. The game was a tight one, with the aging Wolf Stansson Jr opening the scoring with his 5^th goal of the season just 2 minutes into the game. Assisting on the play were Riley Gee Knight (11) and Pengu (19). New York would answer back before the end of the first period, scoring 2 goals to take the lead. The first was a powerplay marker after John Leclair II took a slashing minor, and was Shawn Andrei Zyuzin's 3^rd of the season with assists going to Markus Schauer (31) and Brian Strong Jr (15). The second goal also came on the powerplay, when Stansson Jr received a major for charging, and was scored by the youthful Wolf Stansson, his 6^th of the season, with helpers from Jerry Wang (21) and Big Chungus (13). The Phantoms got back on track in the second period with a powerplay goal of their own. After Strong Jr took a hooking minor, Stansson Jr scored his 6^th of the season and 2^nd of the game, with the lone assist going to Thomas Landry II (19). Prague retook the lead near the end of yet another powerplay, this one a Zyuzin holding minor, as Landry II potted his 20^th of the season and Stansson Jr (28) and Dan Baillie Jr (17) had the helpers. The Americans would not go down without a fight, however, and after Gary Tarantino took a diving penalty they tied it up, Rhynex Entertainment scored his 15^th goal of the season with just 27 seconds left in the period. Markus Schauer added his 2^nd assist of the game, giving him 32 on the year, and Gary Rush (15) had one as well. The third period was once again filled with penalties, but shockingly enough, the winning goal came at even strength. Leclair II scored his 10^th goal of the year just under 4 minutes into the final frame. Baillie Jr (18) had his second assist of the night, and Stansson Jr (29) added one as well to give himself 3 points in the game. His efforts would earn him the 1^st star of the game. Landry II and Baillie Jr were named 2^nd and 3^rd stars, respectively. McPine, on his milestone night, finished with 29 saves of 32 shots and a 0.906 save percentage. At the other end of the rink, Bacon put up 36 saves on 40 shots and a 0.900 save percentage in a losing effort for New York.

 

Since this record setting night however, the Phantoms and McPine have been struggling. McPine has picked up just 3 wins in the 9 games he's played, leaving him with a 22-18-5 record and the Phantoms have dropped out of a playoff spot, sitting second last in the European Conference with a record of 26-22-5, with rookie goalie Nicolas Fomba recording 4 wins and 4 losses in his 9 games played.