Game 27 Recap - Muse to the Rescue! Phantoms Rally For 6-3 Win in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE - The Eastern Conference's highest scoring teams met in Charlotte, North Carolina and they lived up to their accolades.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Charlotte Checkers combined for nine goals - including five in the first 8:46 of play - in a wild Tuesday night affair that saw the Phantoms double up the Checkers 6-3.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes of play, Phantoms' goaltender Dustin Tokarski surrendered three goals on seven shots in the next six minutes of game action to relinquish the lead to Charlotte - ending Tokarski's night early and allowing Checkers fans to see an old friend when Lehigh Valley's backup goaltender John Muse replaced Tokarski.
Muse not only stopped the bleeding, but shut things down the rest of the way - stopping all 25 shots he faced.
The Phantoms got goals from Nicolas Aube-Kubel (7th and 8th), Danick Martel (15th), Phil Varone (9th), Greg Carey (14th) and Oskar Lindblom (7th) in the win.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms and Checkers rematch tomorrow night in Charlotte. The Phantoms will then have another back-to-back situation this weekend when they host Syracuse Saturday, and then travel to Bridgeport for a Sunday afternoon matchup against the Sound Tigers.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Matt Read Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Corban Knight - Danick MartelTyrell Goulbourne - Radel Fazleev - Alex Krushelnyski
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxWill O'Neill - Max Lamarche Sam Morin - James de Haas
Dustin Tokarski - John Muse
Lineup Notes
Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Tuesday night. After surrendering three goals on seven shots, Tokarski was relieved by John Muse - making his Phantoms debut and stopping all 25 shots he faced in relief of Tokarski.
Sam Morin returned to the lineup on defense, his first game back from injury since November 29th.
Forwards Colin McDonald and Mike Vecchione, injured Saturday in Hershey, did not make the trip to Charlotte and were out of the lineup.
Radel Fazleev and Alex Krushelnyski, called up from Reading, were in Lehigh Valley's lineup up front.
RECAP
The Phantoms couldn't have asked for a better start Tuesday night in Charlotte.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel gave Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead on the opening shift.
His initial shot missed the mark, but the 2nd year pro followed his shot and got to the rebound behind the net - quickly swinging it to the side of the net and banking the puck in off Checkers goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic's right pad 21 seconds into the contest.
Corban Knight tallied the lone assist on Aube-Kubel's seventh of the season.
Lehigh Valley extended to their lead not long after too, as Knight fed Danick Martel in the slot for a knee-drop one-timer that beat Nedeljkovic to make it a 2-0 Phantoms' lead just 3:00 into the first frame.
From there, the momentum quickly shifted to Charlotte.
Sam Morin, in his first game back since November 29th, had his point shot blocked by Julien Gauthier - who skated up ice the other way and got the Checkers on the board when his backhand shot beat Phantoms' goaltender Dustin Tokarski 5:08 into the first frame.
Then, back-to-back Phantoms penalties resulted in a pair of power play goals by the Checkers that turned a 2-0 lead for Lehigh Valley into a 3-2 deficit just like that.
Tokarski's night ended after Charlotte's third goal. Tokarski surrendered three goals on just seven shots in 8:46 of game action. John Muse made his Phantoms debut, coming on in relief.
Charlotte dominated most of the first period after falling behind 2-0 early, but the Phantoms got back to their game in the middle frame - tallying a pair of goals and re-taking the lead.
First, on a power play - Muse made a sharp save on a shorthanded chance by Charlotte that led to an odd-man rush by the Phantoms the other way.
Chris Conner fed Phil Varone on a 2-on-1 chance for Varone's 9th of the season to tie the game at 3-3.
Just over two minutes later, Varone stole a puck on Charlotte's breakout and fed Oskar Lindblom down low for a quick one-timer from the right-wing circle that gave the Phantoms the lead back at 4-3.
The Phantoms continued to ride John Muse in the third period, but not before they added to their lead.
On their third power play of the night after Aube-Kubel drew a hooking minor on the first shift of the third period, T.J. Brennan fed Greg Carey with a cross-ice pass. Carey accepted the pass and in one fell swoop, lasered a wrist shot past Nedeljkovic to put the Phantoms ahead for good at 5-3.
Aube-Kubel added an empty net goal for his second of the night to cap the scoring at 6-3.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
0:21: LV - Aube-Kubel (7) - Knight 3:00: LV - Martel (15) - Knight, Brennan 5:08: CHA - Gauthier (6) - unassisted 6:57: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (hooking) 7:47: CHA - Carrick (2) - Miller, Poturalski 8:19: LV - (PP) Fazleev, minor (tripping) 8:46: CHA - Poturalski (8) - Carrick, Tolchinsky
2nd Period
7:50: CHA - (PP) Didier, minor (tripping) 9:39: LV - PPG Varone (9) - Conner 11:43: LV - Lindblom (7) - Varone, Lamarche 14:59: CHA - (PP) Gauthier, minor (slashing)
3rd Period
0:21: CHA - (PP) McKeown, minor (hooking) 1:27: LV - PPG Carey (14) - Brennan, Read 5:54: CHA - (PP) Zykov, minor (tripping) 10:52: LV - (PP) Morin, minor (slashing) 13:18: LV - Willcox, minor (interference) 13:18: CHA - Foegele, minor (diving/embellishment) 16:13: LV - ENG Aube-Kubel (8) - Morin 18:12: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (hooking)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 2 - 2 - 2 = 6 Charlotte 3 - 0 - 0 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 17 - 13 - 8 = 38 Charlotte 11 - 11 - 10 = 32
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (4 saves - 7 shots in 8:46) and John Muse (25 saves - 25 shots in 49:26) CHA - Alex Nedeljkovic (32 saves - 37 shots)
Power Play
LV: 2-for-4 CHA: 2-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 2-for-4 CHA: 2-for-4
Attendance: 4,109
