Friday Night Recap

First things first. Bryan Allen's knee is definitely hinky and he won't be back anytime soon. He's going to have surgery on Monday, so he'll be out indefinitely. McCabe's closer to returning, and they've been playing without him, so roster moves may or may not be made, but Cullimore could still be a possibility.

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Florida shocked the Sharks, thanks a lot to Tomas Vokoun. Turning aside 47 of 50 Sharks' shots, Vokoun and the Panthers skated to a 4-3 home win -- moving to 4-3 in the process. The Cats fired 35 shots on net themselves. But in a repeat of Wednesday night, the strong start was turned around as San Jose started to dominate, putting the Panthers on their heels. After a fast 3-1 lead, San Jose had erased the deficit thanks to a power play goal and a shorthanded goal, but not quite a minute later, Cory Stillman redirected a shot from Keith Ballard and the Panthers were back on top 4-3. This was easily the most exciting game they've played this season and at times, the pressure the Panthers applied was just tremendous.

Michael Frolik saw 12:01 tonight, but I'm still not sure what to think of him. He had some strong shifts and a few where he was completely ineffective. Regardless, he's holding his own right now, so I don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon. Meanwhile, Keith Ballard and Cory Stillman had three points apiece. Stillman now has nine points through the first seven games and Ballard, with his three assists, has eight. Nick Boynton has five, and just if you're curious, Olli Jokinen has seven (1 goal, 6 assists) through six games in Phoenix.

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The Rochester Americans won their first game of the season in exciting fashion, knocking off Quad City by a score of 5-4. There was a huge disparity between shots for and shots against (40-24), but the Amerks still got the goals they needed, and they got them when they needed them. For a team that has been struggling to score, a 5 goal night certainly helps morale.

So, who scored? Shawn Matthias got his first goal tonight and it came when the Amerks were trailing 1-0. Not more than twenty seconds later, Drew Larman made it 2-1. The scoring was back and forth, and Quad City managed to get one back after they pulled Irving, but it wasn't enough. Mike Duco, Kenndal McArdle and Karl Stewart added goals for the Amerks as well. Larman, Glass, Stewart and McArdle each had two points on the night.

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David Shantz had a 23-save shutout for Dayton tonight in his first game of the year.

Corey Syvret had a pair of assists for Guelph as they rolled over Owen Sound, 7-1. The 19-year old have five points now through fourteen games in what should be his final year of junior.

Brian Foster made 38 saves for New Hampshire tonight as the Wildcats skated to a 1-1 tie against UMass.