Game 57 Recap: Penalty Kill Powers Phantoms Past Devils
BINGHAMTON - It's becoming more and more clear for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms () that their days of scoring five goals a night are coming to an end following a 2-1 decision over the Binghamton Devils Saturday night to conclude their three game road trip with four out of a possible six points.
In fact, the Phantoms and their opposition have combined for six total goals in the last two games. Things get tighter as the final third of the season presses on.
Tonight, it was the penalty kill that helped the Phantoms turn the tides on a 1-0 deficit. Down a goal and on an extended five-on-three penalty kill, the Phantoms needed a strong effort from their special teams to keep them in a tight game.
Corban Knight, Phil Myers and Travis Sanheim were the three guys head coach Scott Gordon elected to send over the boards for the 48 seconds of two-man advantage time, and all three came up big - thwarting the Devils' attack with some key blocks on what appeared to be dangerous opportunities.
After the successful penalty kill in the midway mark of regulation, it wasn't long before Lehigh Valley tied the game at 1-1. Then, an early third period goal gave them all they needed to hold on for the 2-1 win thanks to 26 saves from John Muse, who now improves to 7-1-0 on the season and a perfect 5-0-0 since being called back up at the beginning of the month.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms return home before gearing up for three straight three-in-three weekends that will go a long way in determining Lehigh Valley's fate toward the post-season.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Matt Read Cole Bardreau - Corban Knight - Colin McDonaldRadel Fazleev - Mikhail Vorobyev - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Tyrell Goulbourne
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman James de Haas - Max LamarcheTravis Sanheim - Phil Myers
John Muse - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz, Sam Morin (injured), Will O'Neill (veteran), Radel Fazleev (healthy), Alex Krushelnyski (healthy) and Reece Willcox (injured)
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
On the penalty kill tonight:
Travis and Phil especially killed a lot of the time on that.The centers did a great job winning face-offs, didn't give them a whole lot of looks inside the zone. That's a team that came off of a 3-for-9 performance last night, so it was good to see our guys really step up. We have been zoned in on our penalty kill probably the last two months. A lot of good things are being done, and that's critical down the stretch. As you can see the last two games, there aren't a lot of goals to be scored.
On being able to close out the win 6-on-4
Unfortunately we gave up a breakaway at the end, which was probably more by surprise than anything else. Other than that, I felt that we didn't really give them any good looks. They had a jam at the net, but nothing that gave them an opportunity to have some space and shoot.
On trade deadline Monday
This is my, I don't know, 30th year in pro hockey and I haven't been dealt yet so that's all I have to worry about.
You can't control that. Things happen, then things happen. When it's all said and done, we're here for the Flyers. Whatever we do down here, whether it's a player getting a promoted or a player that gets provided to the parent team because of the performance of a player down here - that's what it's about.
I haven't really thought about it. We're fortunate we have a lot of depth here and we've got some pretty good players that are sitting out that are injured. Whatever happens on Monday, we should be in pretty good shape.
*Any discussions on getting a guy like Lindblom, Lyon back
Too early for that I think.
POST-GAME RECAP
The Phantoms had the early jump in their step Saturday night in Binghamton, but it was the Devils taking an early 1-0 lead 4:29 into the opening frame.
Blake Pietila stole a puck along the boards in the Phantoms' defensive zone, and quickly sent one to the middle for Nick Lappin. Lappin wristed one past John Muse for his 18th of the season to cash in on the Phantoms' turnover in their own end.
From there, the Phantoms started to get to their game - pressuring the Devils on the forecheck and getting several shifts of extended offensive zone time. The trios of Bardreau-Knight-McDonald and Carey-Varone-Read, in particular, had strong showing in the first frame.
Despite plenty of time in the offensive zone, the Phantoms managed just six shots on net. Credit to the Devils for not allowing much to get through to their netminder in the opening 20 minutes.
Things opened up a bit more in the middle frame, as both teams had their chance on the power play.
Tonight's turning point came after the Phantoms failed on an early power play and saw themselves shorthanded three-on-five for 48 seconds. Trailing 1-0, they needed a strong effort on the penalty kill to avoid a multi-goal deficit. And they did just that, with guys like Corban Knight, Tyrell Goulbourne and Travis Sanheim getting key blocks to keep the deficit at one.
It wasn't long after the penalties were successfully killed off that the Phantoms tied the game up.
Greg Carey found the puck in his skates in the right-wing circle, and quickly spun and fired a shot past Appleby for his 23rd of the season. Phil Varone and T.J. Brennan collected assists on Carey's game-tying marker with 6:35 left before the second intermission.
The Phantoms were off and running to start the third, getting a go-ahead goal just 1:55 into the final frame.
Tyrell Goulbourne skated in on the left wing and appeared to be taking it down low behind the net before throwing a quick pass in the slot for Chris Conner who, with a defender on his back, muscled a shot past Appleby to put the Phantoms in front 2-1 with 18:05 left in regulation.
The Phantoms held on thanks in large part to their penalty kill and team defense, two things that will need to continue to be strong as teams head down the stretch.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
4:29: BNG - Lappin (18) - Pietila
2nd Period
4:07: BNG - (PP) Walman, minor (delay of game) 9:30: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (closing hand on puck) 10:42: LV - (PP) Bardreau, minor (tripping) 13:25: LV - Carey (23) - Varone, Brennan 13:44: BNG - (PP) Speers, minor (hooking)
3rd Period
1:55: LV - Conner (13) - Goulbourne 12:56: LV - (PP) Goulbourne, minor (tripping) 18:15: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (slashing)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 1 - 1 = 2 Binghamton 1 - 0 - 0 = 1
Shots
Lehigh Valley 6 - 14 - 4 = 24 Binghamton 10 - 6 - 11 = 27
Goalies
LV - John Muse (26 saves - 27 shots) BNG - Ken Appleby (22 saves - 24 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-2 BNG: 0-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-4 BNG: 2-for-2
Attendance: 4,012
