Game 53 Recap: Penalties Plague Phantoms In Shootout Loss to Hartford
ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (32-14-7) have been playing some pretty good hockey of late, entering Saturday's contest against the Hartford WolfPack winners of five straight games and up to first place in the Atlantic Division Standings.
Through 40 minutes of play, they looked well on their way to making it six in a row. First period goals 1:58 apart from Phil Varone and Oskar Lindblom had the Phantoms ahead 2-0 entering the third period.
But, a parade to the penalty box - four straight minor penalties in a span of about eight and a half minutes - helped allow Hartford to force overtime before the WolfPack won the game in the shootout, leaving fans and the players alike pretty frustrated with what Dustin Tokarski made blatantly clear after the loss.
"If you give a team that many chances, take some selfish penalties and put yourself before the team, that will happen and they’ll get you,” Tokarski said after the game, with Phil Myers (three straight penalties) sitting in his locker stall two spots away.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms conclude their three games in three nights weekend Sunday evening on home ice against rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Phantoms Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Tyrell Goulbourne Cole Bardreau - Corban Knight - Colin McDonaldMatt Read - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Aube-Kubel
Will O'Neill (A) - Max Lamarche James de Haas - Mark Friedman Travis Sanheim - Phil Myers
Dustin Tokarski - John Muse
Scratches: Sam Morin (injured), Danick Martel (healthy), Radel Fazleev (healthy), Reece Willcox (injured) and T.J. Brennan (healthy)
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
Saturday night's game began with some back and forth chances for both teams, but once the Phantoms settled in and started getting to their game near the midway mark of the first period - the goals weren't far behind.
For the sixth straight game, the Phantoms opened the scoring and took the 1-0 lead.
Phil Varone won a puck battle in the corner and wheeled around the right-wing face-off circle before releasing a quick wrist shot that deflected in past WolfPack goaltender Chris Nell off the stick of a Hartford defender in front. The unassisted goal was Varone's 13th tally of the season and also his 50th point on the campaign - becoming the second player in the AHL this season to reach the 50-point plateau.
Less than two minutes later, Lehigh Valley extended their lead to 2-0 with a trio of promising prospects combining to light the lamp. Nicolas Aube-Kubel worked a puck to Travis Sanheim at the center point, and Sanheim blasted a one-timer on net that Oskar Lindblom was able to re-direct in for his 15th goal of the season with 6:13 left before the first intermission.
From there the play evened out in the middle frame, and it wasn't until the 4:10 mark of the third that Hartord was able to break Dustin Tokarski's shutout. Lias Andersson one-timed a puck past Dustin Tokarski on a feed from Adam Tambellini to draw Hartford within one.
Then, the penalty parade.
Four straight penalties, and four straight power plays for Hartford in near back-to-back fashion spelled trouble for the Phantoms early in the third period. It wasn't until the last of those four power plays that Hartford tied the game on Adam Tambellini's 11th of the season, but the damage was done - a 2-0 third period lead evaporated due to a lack of discipline.
Hartford later scored in the opening round of the shootout for the lone tally to earn the extra point in the standings. Tambellini was the lone scorer in what Phil Varone referred to after the game as "a skills competition".
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
11:49: LV - Varone (13) - unassisted 13:47: LV - Lindblom (15) - Sanheim, Aube-Kubel 15:20: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
0:14: LV - (PP) Bardreau, minor (high-sticking) 2:32: HFD - (PP) Catenacci, minor (tripping) 11:07: HFD - (PP) Kosmachuk, minor (cross-checking) 16:43: HFD - (PP) Pedrie, minor (interference) 19:40: HFD - Kosmachuk, minor (cross-checking) 19:40: LV - Myers, minor (interference)
3rd Period
4:10: HFD - Andersson (3) - Tambellini 5:15: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (hooking) 8:32: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (slashing) 11:07: LV - (PP) Vorobyev, minor (slashing) 13:41: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (delay of game) 15:10: HFD - PPG Tambellini (11) - Nieves, Kosmachuk 17:08: LV - Lamarche, minor (roughing) 17:08: HFD - Schneider, minor (roughing)
Overtime
No scoring
Shootout
LV
Aube-Kubel = no goal Lindblom = no goal Varone = no goal
HFD
Tambellini = GOAL Chytil = no goal
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 2 Hartford 0 - 0 - 2 - 0 - 1 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 8 - 7 - 8 - 2 = 25 Hartford 13 - 8 - 11 - 2 = 35
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (32 saves - 34 shots) HFD - Chris Nell (23 saves - 25 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-3 HFD: 1-for-6
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-6 HFD: 3-for-3
Attendance: 8,177
