Game 46 Recap: The Moose is Loose! Phantoms Defeat Checkers In First Game Back From All-Star Break
ALLENTOWN - It was apparent that both the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (27-13-6) and Charlotte Checkers (24-19-2) were playing their first game in nearly a week coming off the AHL's All-Star break.
Passes weren't tape to tape, pucks were turned over with regularity and both teams were shaking off some rust.
Luckily for Lehigh Valley, goaltender John Muse - called up from Reading Friday - was on top of his game. His 38 saves led the Phantoms to a 3-2 regulation win over their Atlantic Division counterpart.
T.J. Brennan and Chris Conner tallied second period goals to erase a 1-0 1st period deficit, but it was Cole Bardreau's third tally of the season with three minutes left in regulation that lifted the Phantoms past the Checkers Friday night.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms finish the weekend in Wilkes-Barre with a Saturday showdown against the Penguins.
Phantoms Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Cole Bardreau - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Tyrell Goulbourne - Steven Swavely - Colin McDonaldRadel Fazleev - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Matt Read
T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox Will O'Neill - Max LamarcheTravis Sanheim - Phil Myers
John Muse - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Sam Morin (injured), Corban Knight (injured), Danick Martel (injured), Phil Varone (veteran), Alex Krushelnyski (healthy) and Mark Friedman (healthy)
Lineup Notes
With Alex Lyon called up to Philadelphia, the Phantoms recalled from loan John Muse from ECHL Reading. In fact, Muse hopped right into the lineup. It's expected that Dustin Tokarski will get the start Saturday in Wilkes-Barre against the Penguins.
Only three guys left on the injured list for Lehigh Valley, and two of the three are skating. Corban Knight has been skating and is nearing a return to the lineup, but it was a surprise to see that Danick Martel was back skating with team in practice wearing a full face shield to protect his recently repaired broken jaw.
Tyrell Goulbourne was reassigned to Lehigh Valley from Philadelphia, and in a subsequent move Chris McCarthy was returned to Reading.
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
It was a bit of a sluggish first 20 minutes for both teams Friday night as the Phantoms and Checkers got back to playing after Lehigh Valley's longest layoff of the season.
A bench minor for too many men on Charlotte in the opening minutes, and a total of three minor penalties on the Checkers in the opening frame, gave the Phantoms a chance to get off to a flying start but instead their man advantage units floundered.
Instead, it was Charlotte taking a 1-0 lead near the midway mark of the period on a power play of their own.
John Muse made an initial save on Trevor Carrick's blast from the center point, and with the rebound darting out to Muse's left the Phantoms' goaltender threw himself to the left post to cover what appeared to be a quick put-back by Lucas Wallmark at the right-wing circle. Instead, Wallmark corralled the rebound into a pass back across to a wide open Valentin Zykov for what was essentially an empty net tap in from the left-wing circle.
Other than the Checkers' goal, it was a lot of sloppy play, turnovers, etc. sending the two teams to the middle frame in a 1-0 game.
Through the midway mark of the second period, the Phantoms had managed just 10 shots on goal and had nary a moment or two of real extended offensive pressure. They looked very much like a team playing their first game in nearly a week.
It wasn't until Nicolas Aube-Kubel set up T.J. Brennan with a one-timer from the right-wing circle that the Phantoms were able to tie the game up at 1-1.
With just over seven minutes left in the middle frame, Aube-Kubel got a puck from Greg Carey behind Charlotte's net and wheeled his way around the perimeter before cutting to the middle at the top of the face-off circle and sending a cross-ice pass for Brennan. Brennan made no mistake about it, quickly firing a one-timer that beat Checkers' goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the spot with 7:11 left before the second intermission.
Still, the Phantoms weren't firing on all cylinders and found themselves in a 1-1 game late in the second period. In fact, they cashed in on a fortunate bounce in the final minute of the period to head to the third period ahead 2-1.
Travis Sanheim started an odd-man rush in transition in the final 45 seconds of the period, getting a puck to Cole Bardreau who continued it up to Chris Conner. Conner flew down the right wing and attempted to center for Bardreau cutting to the net but the centering pass bounced in off a Checkers' defender atop the crease and went past Nedeljkovic for what was credited as Conner's 10th of the season.
Charlotte tied the game back up at 2-2 on a great individual effort from Warren Foegele, who took a pass from Roland McKeown and despite being tripped on his partial breakaway was able to get one past Muse 7:35 into the third period.
It looked as though the game was destined for overtime, but that's when Bardreau deflected Radel Fazleev's shot from the center point past Nedeljkovic to put the Phantoms ahead for good, 3-2, with exactly three minutes left in regulation.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
1:09: CHA - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Poturalski) 7:58: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (slashing) 9:46: CHA - PPG Zykov (23) - Wallmark, Carrick 10:57: CHA - (PP) Bishop, minor (hooking) 15:42: CHA - (PP) McKeown, minor (roughing) 20:00: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (high-sticking)
2nd Period
2:46: CHA - (PP) Zykov, minor (slashing) 12:49: LV - Brennan (10) - Aube-Kubel, Carey 19:22: LV - Bardreau (3) - Conner
3rd Period
7:35: CHA - Foegele (21) -McKeown 11:30: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (hooking) 17:00: LV - Bardreau (3) - Fazleev, Willcox
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 2 - 1 = 3 Charlotte 1 - 0 - 1 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 6 - 11 - 9 = 26 Charlotte 12 - 13 - 15 = 40
Goalies
LV - John Muse (38 saves - 40 shots) CHA - Alex Nedeljkovic (23 saves - 26 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-4 CHA: 1-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 2-for-3 CHA: 4-for-4
Attendance: 7,444
