Game 40 Recap: Phantoms Push Past Hershey (Again)
HERSHEY - For the second straight night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were able to grind out a 2-1 win over their Atlantic Division rival Hershey Bears. This time, it took 44 seconds longer than it did on Saturday night in Allentown.
Hershey's Aaron Ness was whistled for a holding penalty on the opening shift of overtime, grabbing Matt Read's jersey on a Phantoms' breakout, and T.J. Brennan converted on the ensuing man advantage after being robbed by Bears' goaltender Pheonix Copley in the final minute of regulation.
After a no-show Friday night in a 6-2 drubbing to Springfield, head coach Scott Gordon said he was pleased with the team's response to finish off the three-in-three weekend with a pair of hard-fought, low-scoring games against a team with fresher legs.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms have a mid-week game in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday before battling the Bears next Saturday in the 2018 AHL Outdoor Classic on January 20th at HersheyPark Stadium.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Cole Bardreau Oskar Lindblom - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Radel Fazleev - Matt Read - Colin McDonald Steven Swavely - Alex Krushelnyski
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxWill O'Neill - Mark Alt Mark Friedman - Phil Myers Max Lamarche
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Sam Morin (healthy), Corban Knight (injured), Mikhail Vorobyev (injured), Danick Martel (injured) and Chris Conner (healthy/veteran)
Lineup Notes
Alex Lyon was back in net Sunday in Hershey, having Saturday off between his two starts on the weekend. Dustin Tokarski served as the team's backup.
Sam Morin, who returned to the Lehigh Valley lineup Saturday night for his first game since December 12th, sat out Sunday's game with what head coach Scott Gordon termed "xxxx".
Danick Martel did not play Sunday in Hershey after being knocked out of Saturday's game by a high hit from Bears defender Colby Williams.
With Morin and Martel out, the Phantoms dressed a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen Sunday evening in Hershey.
Will O'Neill, Max Lamarche and Mark Friedman all entered the lineup on the blue line.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME RECAP
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms dominated the opening 12 minutes of play Sunday evening, holding the Hershey Bears to just one shot on goal - a harmless Zach Sill backhand flip to the net.
Unfortunately for the orange and black, they were unable to convert some of their early chances into goals despite controlling the play and spending a majority of the first half of the period in the offensive zone.
Hershey eventually got to their game, and took the 1-0 lead with 4:48 left in the first period.
From behind the Phantoms' net, Travis Boyd got a puck into the corner for Mathias Bau who quickly threw one in front to Chris Bourque for a tap in past Alex Lyon. Bourque's 12th goal of the season put him back atop the AHL's league lead in scoring while Boyd notched his 100th career AHL assist on the play.
The Phantoms pressed on in the middle frame, and found a game-tying goal off the rush to even the score at 1-1 with 11:01 left in the 2nd period.
After breaking up a rebound attempt in front of the net, T.J. Brennan swatted a puck up the middle to Nicolas Aube-Kubel to lead a 3-on-1 rush the other way. Aube-Kubel sent the puck to the left to Mike Vecchione before getting a return pass from Vecchione atop the crease for a backhand shot past Pheonix Copley for his 11th tally of the season.
The two teams battled it out until the very end, with both goaltenders stealing the show in the third period. Both Lyon and Copley stopped 12 shots each in the final frame to get the game to overtime.
In the end, it was Brennan playing the role of hero with a 4-on-3 goal in the opening minute of overtime to lift Lehigh Valley to a big win.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
1:24: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (tripping) 15:12: HER - Bourque (12) - Bau, Boyd 16:27: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (interference) 16:27: LV - Swavely, minor (roughing) 16:27: HER - M. Mitchell, minor (roughing) 19:16: HER - (PP) Johansen, minor (holding)
2nd Period
8:59: LV - Aube-Kubel (11) - Vecchione, Brennan 10:56: HER - (PP) M. Mitchell, minor (tripping) 17:02: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (hooking)
3rd Period
3:27: LV - (PP) Swavely, minor (holding the stick) 12:45: HER - (PP) Ness, minor (cross-checking) 14:55: LV - (PP) Krushelnyski, minor (slashing)
Overtime
0:24: HER - (PP) Ness, minor (holding) 0:44: LV - PPG Brennan (7) - Carey, Varone
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 1 - 0 - 1 = 2 Hershey 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 1
Shots
Lehigh Valley 9 - 10 - 12 - 1 = 32 Hershey 7 - 10 - 12 - 0 = 29
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (28 saves - 29 shots) HER - Pheonix Copley (30 saves - 32 shots)
Power Play
LV: 1-for-4 HER: 0-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-5 HER: 3-for-4
Attendance: 10,089
