Game 23 Recap - Unforced Errors By Lehigh Valley Lets Laval Leave With Two Points
ALLENTOWN - With five injured defensemen, and a sixth out of the lineup after being called up to Philadelphia the Lehigh Valley Phantoms rolled into Saturday night's game looking to piece together a performance on the back-end of a back-to-back set of games against a slumping Laval team that entered the game on a seven-game win-less streak.
They appeared in control, especially after Corban Knight's rebound goal with 4:39 left in regulation extended Lehigh Valley's lead to 3-1.
Credit to Laval for not packing it in, however.
Adam Cracknell scored on a tap-in at the side of Dustin Tokarski's net 51 seconds later, and Jeremy Gregoire tied the game with 9.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, a turnover in the offensive zone during the three-on-three overtime resulted in a two-on-one chance that the Rocket would finish off to complete the comeback in a 4-3 overtime win over the Phantoms to close out the weekend on a sour note for Lehigh Valley.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms don't play again until Wednesday night when they host Atlantic Division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The rivalry week continues with a home-and-home series with the Hershey Bears next weekend, beginning with a Friday night at home to close out the season high six-game homestand.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Matt Read Tyrell Goulbourne - Corban Knight - Colin McDonald (C)Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Radel Fazleev Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
T.J. Brennan - Nick Luukko James de Haas - Adam Comrie Will O'Neill - Mark Friedman
Dustin Tokarski - Alex Lyon
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (out indefinitely - knee surgery), Sam Morin (injured), Phil Myers (lower body), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Max Lamarche (injured), Chris Conner (healthy/veteran), Frank Hora (injured) and Reece Willcox (injured)
Lineup Notes
Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for Lehigh Valley. Alex Lyon, coming off back-to-back starts on Wednesday and Friday, got the night off.
Mark Alt was called up to Philadelphia as the Flyers needed an extra defenseman for their upcoming road trip to western Canada.
The Phantoms added defensemen Nick Luukko and Adam Comrie from their ECHL affiliate, the Reading Royals. Both Luukko and Comrie signed professional tryout (PTO) agreements, and both entered the Phantoms' lineup Saturday night.
Head coach Scott Gordon said two of the team's injured defensemen are close to returning, and two probably won't be back until after Christmas. Which is which, and who is the fifth injured defenseman not mentioned in this vauge update? Who knows.
RECAP
If you were late getting to your seat Saturday night at PPL Center for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' annual Teddy Bear Toss Night, you might have missed the opening goal scored by Matt Read just 1:35 into the contest.
Read got in on a forecheck and forced an errant play from Laval's defense behind the net. Greg Carey got to the puck along the half-wall and though the Laval defender swatted the puck away from him, Read got a stick on it and it went in past Rocket goaltender Michael McNiven.
Then, the teddy bears came raining down in what ended up being about a 15-minute delay to clean up.
The Phantoms carried the 1-0 lead into the middle frame, but Laval started to generate more consistent offensive pressure. They failed to convert on an early period penalty on Adam Comrie, but they were able to even the game at 1-1 seven minutes into the middle frame.
James de Haas tried to pinch in the offensive zone for a loose puck along the half-wall, but was beat to the puck and it turned into a 2-on-1 from the red line. Chris Terry sent a pass across to Daniel Audette for a quick shot past Dustin Tokarski that the Phantoms' goaltender had no chance to stop.
Play evened out in the middle part of the period, but a heads up play by Mike Vecchione using his speed created a great chance for Carey.
Vecchione won a race to a puck along the wall and nudged it toward the top of the left-wing circle for Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who dropped it back to Carey for a big wind up and slap shot that McNiven got only a piece of on its way in. The goal marked Carey's seventh tally in six games, and his 12th of the season, to put Lehigh Valley back in front.
The Phantoms were clinging the lead early in the third, but added what appeared at the time to be an insurance marker with 4:39 left in regulation.
Corban Knight won a face-off back to James de Haas and bee-lined for the net-front. De Haas got a shot through from the center point, and Knight was there to put in the rebound to make it a 3-1 game.
The game felt like it was over, and that the Phantoms would grind out a win with a depleted defense and finish the week on a high note.
Instead, Laval responded with a goal 51 seconds later on the next shift to bring it back to a one-goal game. Tokarski made two nice saves, but it was a third effort by Adam Cracknell at the side of the net that drew the Rocket within one.
Then, with McNiven pulled for an extra attacker and a face-off in the Phantoms' defensive zone with 18 seconds left Matt Taormina's point shot through traffic deflected off Jeremie Gregoire and tied the game at 3-3 with 9.4 seconds left to force overtime.
In the extra session, a turnover proved costly in the offensive zone for Lehigh Valley as it sprung Chris Terry and Cracknell 2-on-1 the other way with Terry feeding Cracknell for a tap in goal on the backdoor just 1:16 into the extra session.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
1:35: LV - Read (2) - Carey 3:52: LV - (PP) Comrie, minor (interference) 14:59: LV - (PP) Read, minor (tripping) 19:40: LAV - (PP) Parisi, minor (tripping)
2nd Period
3:03: LV - (PP) Comrie, minor (boarding) 7:01: LAV - Audette (6) - Terry 13:33: LV - Carey (12) - Aube-Kubel, Vecchione 16:52: LAV - (PP) Veilleux, minor (holding)
3rd Period
15:21: LV - Knight (4) - de Haas 16:07: LAV - Cracknell (3) - Gregoire 19:50: LAV - Gregoire (4) - Taormina, Audette
Overtime
1:16: LAV - Cracknell (4) - Terry
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 1 - 1 - 0 = 3 Laval 0 - 1 - 2 - 1 = 4
Shots
Lehigh Valley 7 - 11 - 8 - 0 = 26 Laval 9 - 12 - 13 - 1 = 35
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (31 saves - 35 shots) LAV - Michael McNiven (23 saves - 26 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-2 LAV: 0-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-3 LAV: 2-for-2
Attendance: 8,512
