Game 21 Recap - Devils Defense Too Much For High-Powered Phantoms' Offense
ALLENTOWN - Phil Varone said it best in describing how the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-7-2) played Wednesday night in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Binghamton Devils - just the second time they've been blanked in 21 games this season. Stubborn.
The Phantoms, who entered Wednesday night's game averaging 3.65 goals per game, had a difficult time manufacturing any kind of consistent offensive pressure against a Binghamton Devils team that plays almost a carbon copy to that of their NHL affiliate New Jersey. Through 40 minutes, they had managed just 14 total shots on net even with three power play chances.
Head coach Scott Gordon mirrored Varone's comments in his post-game press conference with the media, saying the Phantoms played "a slow game" and gave credit to Binghamton for the way they controlled the neutral zone for much of the game.
In the end, this game in late November can be used as a teaching tool for what can happen in a tight-checking, hard-fought game - something the Phantoms certainly have not been accustomed too. Lehigh Valley has scored four or more goals in 12 of their first 21 games.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms continue their homestand with a pair of games this weekend beginning Friday night with Atlantic Division rival Hershey. On Saturday, the Phantoms welcome Laval in their first-ever visit to the PPL Center.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Matt Read Tyrell Goulbourne - Corban Knight - Chris Conner (A)Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Oskar Lindblom Radel Fazleev - Mikhail Vorobyev - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
T.J. Brennan - James de Haas Sam Morin - Mark AltWill O'Neill - Mark Friedman
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (out indefinitely - knee surgery), Phil Myers (lower body), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Max Lamarche (injured), Matt Read (healthy/veteran) and Reece Willcox (injured)
Lineup Notes
Danick Martel was returned to Lehigh Valley Wednesday morning, and played his third game in three nights following a back-to-back set with Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday. Alex Krushelnyski was scratched to make room for Martel up front.
Team captain Colin McDonald was the Phantoms' veteran scratch Wednesday night. AHL rules allow only five skaters who began the year with over 320 pro games of experience to dress in the lineup. Chris Conner and Matt Read also have missed one game due to the league's veteran rule.
RECAP
After a largely uneventful first 39 and a half minutes where goaltenders Alex Lyon and Ken Appleby were the only notable performers, the Binghamton Devils broke a scoreless tie late in the middle frame.
The Phantoms were pressuring in the offensive zone and had a strong cycle going with their top line of Greg Carey, Phil Varone and Matt Read on the ice but a centering pass from Read intended for a Phantom was intercepted and quickly headed the other way.
Jacob MacDonald, trailing the 2-on-1 rush, joined the play as the trailer on what became a 3-on-2 for the Devils and Kevin Rooney - who created the turnover at the other end - dropped a pass for MacDonald atop the right-wing circle. MacDonald's shot eluded Lyon and went five-hole, certainly a goal Lyon would like to have back in a 0-0 game with 29.5 seconds left before the second intermission.
The back-breaking goal for Lehigh Valley came five and a half minutes into the third period, with the Phantoms on a power play.
Rooney was at it again, but this time he caught a bit of a break as he got to a loose puck behind the Phantoms' net and from the corner boards behind the goal line put a puck towards the net that Lyon accidentally put into his own net. The shorthanded tally gave the Devils a 2-0 lead that the defensively stingy team never looked back on.
A broken play in the neutral zone led to a mini-breakaway for Joe Blandisi that the Devils forward put past Lyon with 3:29 left in regulation to complete the 3-0 final score.
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
Agree with Varone's assessment of the team playing 'stubborn' tonight?
We just played a very slow game. Credit to Binghamton, but they do a really good job of impeding progress to get into the offensive zone. You can't skate to them, chip it in and think that you're going to get it because they do a really good job of making sure at the very least, that the guy who is chipping the puck in is not going to go in and get it. As a result, we spent our fair share in the offensive zone but we didn't come up with enough pucks. We didn't get to pucks - A lot of it ended up being scrums & battles. As a result, there wasn't a whole lot of offense like we are accustomed to getting.
When a team scores as much as you do, is it harder to get that message across?
Yeah.. II don't know, I think it was everybody tonight. We've been good at that as far as playing fast and getting through the neutral zone. For whatever reason, we just didn't do it tonight. When we've scored the five and the six goals we have done that. So, for whatever reason - credit to them - they were a little bit better through the neutral zone as far as what we've seen and their ability to keep their gaps tight. We created a lot of our difficulties just because we were stubborn.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
13:38: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Martel) 14:20: BNG - (PP) MacDonald, minor (interference) 19:13: LV - (PP) Conner, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
1:03: BNG - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Blandisi) 7:40: BNG - (PP) Thomson, minor (tripping) 19:30: BNG - MacDonald (7) - Rooney
3rd Period
4:49: BNG - (PP) Bastian, minor (tripping) 5:31: BNG - SHG Rooney (4) - unassisted 7:24: BNG - (PP) Kearns, minor (hooking) 10:47: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (interference) 16:31: BNG - Blandisi (3) - Dyblenko, MacDonald
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 0 - 0 = 0 Binghamton 0 - 1 - 2 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 7 - 7 - 11= 25 Binghamton 9 - 8 - 7 = 24
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (21 saves - 24 shots) BNG - Ken Appleby (25 saves - 25 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-5 BNG: 0-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-3 BST: 5-for-5
Attendance: 6,249
