Back With The Phantoms, Morin Attempting To Knock Off The Rust
Sam Morin returned to game action for the first time in over nine months Friday night at the PPL Center.

Back With The Phantoms, Morin Attempting To Knock Off The Rust

Tony Androckitis

Tony Androckitis

— 2 min read

ALLENTOWN, PA -- For Sam Morin, it's been a long time coming in getting into game action. Friday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Morin made his season debut with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms - his first game action since May 9, 2018 in Game Three of the Atlantic Division Finals against the Charlotte Checkers.

"I was a bit nervous. I was exhausted out there - I was cramping so much at the end," Morin said after the Phantoms' OT win against Bridgeport. "It's not easy what I've done today. Obviously, I'm not where I was last year. You can see it."

Morin, playing alongside Mark Friedman, was most noticeable on the penalty kill Friday night at the PPL Center. Early on, he kept it simple with short passes and easy off-the-glass and out type clearouts when under pressure.

"Sammy was good," Phantoms' head coach Kerry Huffman said after the game. "I think he played a lot more minutes at the start than initially planned but he got out there. Especially early on, I thought he moved the puck pretty well. As the game went on in the second, I think he got caught out there long on a couple shifts. And that's hard to do. He hasn't played in almost a year."

As the game went on, you could tell the shifts were getting shorter for Morin. After all, you can't replicate "game shape." But, in terms of physical play and net-front presence, Morin was especially solid. And that's what you want to see from a big-bodied defender looking to get his feet wet again after a lengthy layoff.

"I thought he looked real good, was a physical presence," Huffman noted, adding, "When he was out there, they weren't wanting to go to the net so much."

It looks like the plan for Morin is to have Saturday night's game in Hershey off before getting back into the lineup for Sunday's rematch against the Bears on home ice.

"There's a lot of stuff I have to improve, and I'm going to try to get better Sunday," Morin said. "It was hard out there, I was battling. The first one is out the way. Obviously, it was not easy but I'm proud of me. I'm proud of me. Nine months out?"

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