Game 44 Recap: Lyon King - Phantoms Goalie Shuts Down Penguins
ALLENTOWN - After some unforced errors on Wednesday night had Lehigh Valley Phantoms' head coach Scott Gordon leaving the rink unhappy, a turnover on the opening shift of Friday night's game was, as the coach said in his post-game press conference, definitely frustrating.
In fact, after the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored their second goal on just their fourth shot - Gordon decided to make a goaltending change. It turned out to be the right call.
Alex Lyon, who just the day prior had a Phantoms practice in the afternoon and found out after he had been called up to Philadelphia, returned to the Phantoms and was backing up Dustin Tokarski until the 6:26 mark of the first period. After the game, Lyon said the best word to describe the last two days would be exhausting but it didn't prevent him from stopping all 26 shots he faced.
The Phantoms, down 2-1 early in the first period, stormed back with four unanswered goals to lift Lehigh Valley to a big 5-2 win over the first place Penguins Friday night - led by a three-point night from Nicolas Aube-Kubel (two goals, one assist) and a go-ahead 2nd period goal from T.J. Brennan.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms host Utica Saturday night in their final game before the AHL's All-Star break. Phantoms' All-Stars T.J. Brennan and Oskar Lindblom will take part in the Skills Competition Sunday night and the All-Star Challenge on Monday night in Utica, NY.
Phantoms Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Alex Krushelnyski - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonaldRadel Fazleev - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Matt Read
T.J. Brennan - Max LamarcheReece Willcox - Mark Friedman Travis Sanheim - Phil Myers
Dustin Tokarski - Alex Lyon
Scratches:Sam Morin (injured), Will O'Neill (healthy/veteran), Steven Swavely (healthy), Corban Knight (injured), Danick Martel (injured) and Chris McCarthy (healthy)
Lineup Notes
Dustin Tokarski got the start in net, but was pulled 6:36 into the contest after allowing two goals on four shots. Alex Lyon came on in relief.
A few lineup changes for Lehigh Valley, as Matt Read returned and it was Will O'Neill's turn to sit out as the team's veteran scratch.
Reece Willcox and Mikhail Vorobyev returned from the injured list. For Vorobyev, it was his first game since December 12th. Willcox left in the 1st period of last Saturday's outdoor game in Hershey, and missed Wednesday's game against Providence.
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
A bad Phantoms turnover in the offensive zone in the opening minute of the contest ended up in the back of their net.
Mikhail Vorobyev, in his first game back since December 12th, telegraphed a pass across the offensive zone blue line and it was intercepted by Penguins' forward Daniel Sprong. Sprong raced down the right wing and buried his 19th of the season past Dustin Tokarski 54 seconds into the 1st period to put the Pens on top 1-0.
The Phantoms answered to tie things up a 1-1 about five minutes in, when a spinning Nicolas Aube-Kubel shot from the top of the right-wing circle was re-directed in past Penguins goaltender Anthony Peters by Greg Carey. Carey's 19th of the season was also assisted by Max Lamarche.
The Penguins took the lead right back on the next shift, as Andrey Pedan's point shot was tipped past Tokarski by Zach Aston-Reese - marking the end of Tokarski's night 6:26 into the game after allowing two goals on just four Penguins' shots. Alex Lyon came on in relief.
Lehigh Valley tied it back up at 2-2 late in the period, as Chris Conner won a puck battle along the wall by the offensive zone blue line and chipped a puck to the middle for Aube-Kubel. Aube-Kubel made a nice set of moves on both the defender and the goalie with his 12th tally of the season coming on the backhand.
Things settled down in the middle frame, from a offensive slugfest standpoint at least.
T.J. Brennan tallied a go-ahead goal with just over eight minutes left before the second intermission, but it was his battle with Pedan each shift that was most noticeable in the middle frame.
Every time the two were on the ice together there were plenty of cross-checks, shoves, slashes exchanged between the two. With 2:35 left in the middle frame, it appeared the two were ready to drop the gloves but only Pedan tossed his mits to the ice after a the whistle.
Chippy play aside, the Phantoms took the 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
Some big saves by Lyon on the penalty kill with his team clinging to a 3-2 lead turned out to be the difference tonight.
After making a save and stopping a few rebound attempts from his stomach, the momentum from Lyon's stops carried over at the other end where Colin McDonald fed Alex Krushelnyski for a hard shot that squeaked through Peters and was slammed home by Mike Vecchione to make it 4-2 just seconds after Lyon's heroics in the defensive zone.
Aube-Kubel sniped one past Peters 1:22 after Vecchione's goal, and the Phantoms finished off the Penguins with a 5-2 win.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
0:54: WBS - Sprong (19) - unassisted 5:06: LV - Carey (19) - Aube-Kubel, Lamarche 6:26: WBS - Aston-Reese (8) - Pedan, Haggerty 11:47: WBS - Smith, minor (diving/embellishment) 11:47: LV - Lindblom, minor (tripping) 13:52: WBS - (PP) Thomas, minor (holding) 17:01: LV - Aube-Kubel (12) - Conner, Bardreau 17:25: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (interference)
2nd Period
4:44: LV - (PP) Read, minor (holding) 11:48: LV - Brennan (9) - Read, Vorobyev 13:58: WBS - (PP) Pedan, minor (tripping) 15:03: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (cross-checking) 17:25: LV - Brennan, minor (roughing) 17:25: WBS - Pedan, minor (roughing)
3rd Period
8:25: LV - Willcox, minor (roughing) 8:25: WBS - Tinordi, minor (roughing) 8:25: WBS - (PP) Burton, minor (interference) 10:16: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (roughing) 13:19: LV - Vecchione (9) - Krushelnyski, McDonald 14:31: LV - Aube-Kubel (13) - Varone, Myers 15:40: LV - (PP) Conner, minor (slashing)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 2 - 1 - 2 = 5 W-B/Scranton 2 - 0 - 0 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 8 - 11 - 11 = 30 W-B/Scranton 7 - 10 - 13 = 30
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (2 saves - 4 shots in 6:26) and Alex Lyon (26 saves - 26 shots in 53:24) WBS - Anthony Peters (25 saves - 30 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-3 WBS: 0-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-5 WBS: 3-for-3
Attendance: 8,462
