Game 29 Recap: Phantoms End Crunch's Win Streak
ALLENTOWN - The Syracuse Crunch (14-10-3) might've strolled into PPL Center riding a 10-game winning streak but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-9-3) took care of business on home ice Saturday night, handing the Crunch a 4-2 defeat - their first loss since a 3-1 loss on November 19th in Toronto.
Corban Knight, Chris Conner and Danick Martel tallied a goal and an assist each in the win for Lehigh Valley, while Nicolas Aube-Kubel added two assists and goaltender John Muse continued his strong play in net to pick up his 2nd win of the season in just his third appearance.
Matthew Peca and Kevin Lynch tallied for Syracuse and netminder Connor Ingram stopped 29 Phantoms' shots, but it wasn't enough for the Crunch to continue their ridiculous double digit win streak.
Looking Ahead: Quick turnaround for the Phantoms, who are taking an overnight bus ride to Bridgeport, Connecticut in advance of Sunday afternoon's tilt against the Sound Tigers to end their busy four-game week. Inside AHL Hockey is making the trip, and will be live with full coverage of tomorrow afternoon's game!
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Corban Knight - Danick MartelOskar Lindblom - Radel Fazleev - Matt Read Tyrell Goulbourne - Radel Fazleev - Alex Krushelnyski
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxWill O'Neill - Mark Friedman Adam Comrie - James de Haas
John Muse - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Sam Morin, Phil Myers, Cole Bardreau, Colin McDonald, Mikhail Vorobyev, Max Lamarche and Mike Vecchione
Lineup Notes
No lineup changes for Lehigh Valley Saturday from their last game Wednesday night.
Sam Morin, Phil Myers, Cole Bardreau, Colin McDonald, Mikhail Vorobyev, Max Lamarche and Mike Vecchione are on the team's injured list.
Vorobyev is the latest to join the ever-growing Phantoms' injured list. He left Tuesday night's game in Charlotte, did not return and missed Wednesday night's game.
McDonald and Vecchione were injured in last Saturday's loss in Hershey. Both left during the game, and missed their third game in a row Saturday.
Steven Swavely, called up from Reading between Tuesday and Wednesday's games, remained in the lineup up front.
RECAP
After the two teams opened the night flying end to end, things slowed down considerably and looked very much like two teams who were unfamiliar with their opponent.
The two teams went through that typical 'feeling out' proccess in the opening half of the period which saw just two total shots on goal, one apiece for the Phantoms and Crunch.
Lehigh Valley killed off an early penalty, and had some chances later in the period on a power play of their own but were unable to break the scoreless tie.
In fact, it looked like Lehigh Valley was on their way to taking the 1-0 lead late in the period with just over two minutes left before the first intermission.
T.J. Brennan dumped a puck into the offensive zone and headed for a change just after the Phantoms' power play expired, and Phil Varone and company got to the loose puck and won a board battle before Alex Krushelnyski fed an open Danick Martel in the high slot.
Martel's hard shot glanced off Crunch goaltender Connor Ingram's shoulder and led to an odd-man rush the other way.
Erik Cernak got a puck up to Mathieu Joseph, and Joseph crossed the blue line before hitting a trailing Matthew Peca for a quick shot to the top right corner of Phantoms goaltender John Muse's net with 2:07 left before the first intermission. Peca's fourth of the season broke the scoreless tie and gave the Crunch a 1-0 lead heading to the middle frame.
Lehigh Valley dominated the second period, out-shooting Syracuse 15-4 in the middle frame on their way to tallying three unanswered goals in a span of 4:48 to turn a 1-0 defict into a 3-1 lead heading to the third period.
First, Will O'Neill got a puck down low for Phil Varone and Varone set up Chris Conner on the doorstep for a tap-in past Ingram to tie the game at 1-1 with 8:16 left in the 2nd period.
Then, O'Neill was at it again - taking a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and firing a high hard shot from the left point. Corban Knight, parked square to the shooter, was able to re-direct O'Neill's shot past Ingram for his sixth of the season to give the Phantoms the 2-1 lead.
After Alex Gallant sat for a slashing minor, the Phantoms went to work on the power play to extend their lead to 3-1 before the second intermission.
Oskar Lindblom was looking to get the puck from behind the net and out in front to Conner, but his pass hit the skate of a Crunch defender and caromed over to Greg Carey who made no mistake and buried one for his 15th of the season to put himself in a three-way tie for the league lead in goals with teammate Danick Martel and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Daniel Sprong.
The Phantoms looked well on their way to an easy win, but Syracuse didn't quit - making it a one-goal game with 7:05 left to play on Kevin Lynch's seventh of the season on a stuff attempt at the side of Muse's net less than 20 seconds after the Phantoms' had killed off a Syracuse power play.
The one-goal game was short-lived however, as Corban Knight made a perfect shot-fake on a 2-on-1 before sliding a pass across for Martel to tap into what was basically an empty net for his league-leading 16th of the season with 5:43 left to go. Aube-Kubel picked up his 2nd assist of the night on the play, which capped the scoring in a 4-2 Phantoms win.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
4:31: LV - (PP) Lindblom, minor (tripping) 6:11: SYR - (PP) Volkov, minor (hooking) 15:21: SYR - (PP) McNeill, minor (slashing) 17:53: SYR - Peca (4) - Joseph, Cernak 19:46: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Martel)
2nd Period
5:30: SYR - (PP) Gallant, minor (interference) 8:45: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (tripping) 11:44: LV - Conner (5) - Varone, Martel 14:48: LV - Knight (6) - O'Neill, Aube-Kubel 15:57: SYR - (PP) Gallant, minor (slashing) 16:32: LV - PPG Carey (15) - Lindblom, Conner
3rd Period
5:01: SYR - (PP) Peca, minor (holding) 10:38: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (high-sticking) 12:55: SYR - Lynch (7) - Verhaeghe, Volkov 14:17: LV - Martel (16) - Knight, Aube-Kubel
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 3 - 1 = 4 Syracuse 1 - 0 - 1 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 10 - 15 - 8 = 33 Syracuse 8 - 4 - 12 = 24
Goalies
LV - John Muse (22 saves - 24 shots) SYR - Connor Ingram (29 saves - 33 shots)
Power Play
LV: 1-for-5 SYR: 0-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-4 SYR: 4-for-5
Attendance: 7,113
