Game 24 Recap: Phantoms Shutout Penguins 5-0
RECAP
ALLENTOWN - It doesn't seem to matter who the Lehigh Valley Phantoms throw into the game on defense lately. They're finding ways to get it done, and they did so in a big way Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to the tune of a 5-0 shutout win without starting goaltender Alex Lyon and defensemen Mark Alt, Sam Morin, Phil Myers, T.J. Brennan and Reece Willcox - five guys who, if in the AHL and healthy, would likely make up 5/6 of the team's defense core.
It wasn't the best start for Lehigh Valley - head coach Scott Gordon said after the game the team didn't look poised with the puck early on - but they broke the game open with three goals in the first period and never looked back.
Mikhail Vorobyev and Corban Knight tallied goals 53 seconds apart, Oskar Lindblom added a third tally in the opening frame and the Phantoms added to the lead in the final 40 minutes with insurance markers from Tyrell Goulbourne (shorthanded, 2nd period) and Matt Read (third period),
To top it all off, Dustin Tokarski pitched in with a 39-save shutout - an important 'confidence booster' for the Phantoms' goalie according to Scott Gordon as he will surely be relied upon heavily while Alex Lyon is in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms finish off the six-game homestand Friday night against Hershey before traveling to Hershey to complete a home-and-home series with the Bears to close out the week.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner Tyrell Goulbourne - Corban Knight - Colin McDonald (C)Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Matt Read Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Will O'Neill - Mark Friedman James de Haas - Max LamarcheAdam Comrie - Frank Hora
Dustin Tokarski - John Muse
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (out indefinitely - knee surgery), Sam Morin (injured), Phil Myers (lower body), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Radel Fazleev (healthy) and Reece Willcox (injured)
Lineup Notes
With Alex Lyon called up to Philadelphia, Dustin Tokarski got the start in net Wednesday night against the Penguins. John Muse, called up from Reading (ECHL) served as Tokarski's backup.
Flyers GM Ron Hextall stated Michal Neuvirth is expected to miss one to two weeks and was placed on injured reserve, meaning at the very least Lyon will miss Lehigh Valley's next three games - Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It's also unlikely Lyon will make the Phantoms' trip to Charlotte for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
T.J. Brennan was also called up to the Flyers with Brandon Manning placed on injured reserve and out longterm four to six weeks. It's likely one of Brennan or Mark Alt will return to Lehigh Valley after the Flyers' road trip through western Canada as Radko Gudas will have finished serving his 10-game suspension.
Luckily for Lehigh Valley, who released Nick Luukko from his PTO after last Saturday's game, both Max Lamarche and Frank Hora reuturned to the AHL blue line back from their injuries.
RECAP
The Penguins came ready to play, shooting early and often in the opening period - registering seven of the game's first nine shots in the early going.
Phantoms goaltender Dustin Tokarski had to be sharp early, and he was - making the necessary stops to weather the storm.
It wasn't until after a Lukas Bengtsson high-sticking minor 5:40 into play that Lehigh Valley got their game in gear and began firing on all cylinders. They didn't score on the man advantage, but gained momentum and carried it through the rest of the period in route to opening up a 3-0 lead.
First, the Phantoms scored a pair of goals 53 seconds apart.
Matt Read had some good work down low, and set up Mikhail Vorobyev in front of the net for a quick shot over Penguins goaltender Anthony Peters' right pad to give Lehigh Valley the 1-0 lead. Vorobyev's third of the season was also assisted on the play by Mark Friedman.
On the next shift, Corban Knight stole a puck coming around the boards on a Penguins' breakout and cut to the middle, firing a wrist shot that just trickled through Peters' five-hole and rolled into the cage to extend the Phantoms' lead to 2-0.
Knight was finished there, feeding Oskar Lindblom on a 2-on-1 rush with a perfect pass that allowed Lindblom to go top shelf with 3:58 left before the first intermission to extend Lehigh Valley's lead to 3-0 on Lindblom's 5th of the season.
The Phantoms took a penalty early in the middle frame, but Tyrell Goulbourne stole a puck and got around a Penguins defender at the Phantoms' defensive zone blue line before putting a high-rising shot to the top corner on Peters - beating the Pens' goalie to the glove side. Goulbourne's fourth of the season ended Peters' night as Sean Maguire came on in relief after Peters surrendered four goals on 19 shots in 23:28 of game action.
Lehigh Valley tacked on a third period goal courtesy Matt Read and held on to the shutout as Dustin Tokarski made 39 saves in his first game as the team's true number one goalie with Alex Lyon called up to Philadelphia.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
5:20: WBS - (PP) Bengtsson, minor (high-sticking) 12:17: LV - Vorobyev (3) - Read, Friedman 13:10: LV - Knight (5) - unassisted 13:42: LV - Goulbourne, major (fighting) 13:42: WBS - Wilson, major (fighting)
2nd Period
3:02: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (slashing) 3:28: LV - SHG Goulbourne (4) - Comrie 8:45: LV - (PP) O'Neill, minor (interference) 11:47: WBS - (PP) Aston-Reese, minor (interference) 13:30: WBS - (PP) Di Pauli, minor (delay of game) 13:30: LV - (PP) Varone, minor (face-off violation) 19:39: LV - (PP) Vecchione, minor (delay of game)
3rd Period
0:25: WBS - (PP) Simon, minor (hooking) 2:30: LV - (PP) Martel, minor (tripping) 7:22: WBS - (PP) Tinordi, minor (roughing) 11:22: LV - (PP) Varone, minor (tripping) 13:36: LV - Read (3) - Lamarche, Varone 16:12: WBS - (PP) Archibald, minor (goaltender interference)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 3 - 1 - 1 = 5 W-B/Scranton 0 - 0 - 0 = 0
Shots
Lehigh Valley 16 - 10 - 9 = 35 W-B/Scranton 15 - 10 - 14 = 39
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (39 saves - 39 shots) WBS - Anthony Peters (15 saves - 19 shots in 23:28) and Sean Maguire (15 saves - 16 shots in 36:24)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-5 WBS: 0-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-5 WBS: 5-for-5
Attendance: 8,592
