On Saturday afternoon, the River Rats and Phantoms again needed overtime to settle their playoff game. On Thursday, they set a new AHL record for longest game at 142:58. Today, they needed "just" 70:38. Fortunately, the Rats were on the right end of this one, forcing a game seven on Monday night. Kirk MacDonald's game winning goal at 10:38 of the overtime period ended a ridiculously long shutout streak by Phantoms netminder Scott Munroe. Kiel McLeod gave the Rats a 2-1 lead way way back at 17:14 of the second period of game five. Counting the rest of that game (105:46) and this game (70:38), Munroe went 176:24 without allowing a goal. That's almost three games.
Michael Leighton, who stopped 98 of 101 shots on Thursday, stopped all 40 shots he faced on Saturday. He's faced a total of 284 shots during this playoff series. He has given up just eight goals and has two shutout wins. His GAA is 1.06 and his save percentage is an unbelievable .972.
It really is a shame that these games aren't televised and that nobody gives a crap about them. There's been some sensational goaltending on both sides.
After the winning goal was scored, Phantoms captain Boyd Kane was given a major penalty for cross-checking and a mandatory game misconduct penalty in accordance with rule 59.5. I assume that he will be unavailable for Monday's game seven.
Go Rats!
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