Game 59 Recap: Special Teams Propel Phantoms Past Devils
ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (37-15-7) are on a roll heading down the stretch, disposing of Binghamton 4-0 on Saturday night with a chance for a clean sweep of the three-game weekend Sunday in Hershey. Now 10-1-1 in their last 12 games, the Phantoms have overtaken the Toronto Marlies for the top team in the AHL with 81 points.
Special teams helped the Phantoms push past the Devils, as Lehigh Valley went 2-for-4 on the man advantage to open up a 2-0 lead heading to the third period while also killing off all four Binghamton power play chances - extending their successful penalty kill up to 23 straight.
Phil Varone and Chris Conner tallied power play goals for Lehigh Valley in the win, while Corban Knight and Mikhail Vorobyev added insurance markers in the third period to preserve the two points. Dustin Tokarski picked up his third shutout of the season, stopping all 29 shots he faced including all 14 he saw in the first period in a scoreless game.
Playoff Update: New for the stretch run! With the win tonight combined with a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins regulation loss, the Phantoms have increased their lead in the Atlantic Division to 10 points over the Penguins heading into Sunday's games. The Penguins have four fewer games played than Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms' magic number to clinch a 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs berth is down to 20.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms finish their three-game weekend with their final visit to Giant Center Sunday, which also concludes their 12-game regular season series with the Hershey Bears.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Tyrell Goulbourne Cole Bardreau - Corban Knight - Colin McDonaldDanick Martel- Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Radel Fazleev - Mikhail Vorobyev - Chris Conner
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman Will O'Neill - Max LamarcheTravis Sanheim - Phil Myers
Dustin Tokarski - John Muse
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz, Sam Morin, Alex Krushelnyski, James de Haas and Reece Willcox
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
After last night's game featured a combined 13 goals, the first period Saturday versus Binghamton went just about as expected. Scoreless.
Despite the lack of goal-scoring, there were plenty of grade-A chances for both teams.
Cole Bardreau nearly gave the Phantoms a 1-0 lead on the opening shift of the hockey game after Corban Knight stole a puck behind the Devils' net on a forecheck and threw the puck in front.
The trio of Bardreau, Knight and McDonald put their chemistry on the ice together on full display later in the period, when the latter received a pass in front and nearly put one home.
The Devils, meanwhile, started to get to their game as the period wore on. In fact, Binghamton registered the final nine shots of the period while almost taking the 1-0 lead themselves.
Brandon Baddock got a pass all alone in front of Dustin Tokarski, but the Phantoms netminder made the save - stopping all 14 shots he faced in the first frame to send the two teams to the second period in a scoreless tie.
The penalties began to ruin the flow of the game in the middle frame, but the Phantoms didn't mind too much as they tallied a pair of power play goals to take open up a 2-0 lead heading to the third period.
First, it was Phil Varone tapping in his 18th of the season for his league-leading 57th point on the year.
Mikhail Vorobyev took a pass on the left-wing wall from T.J. Brennan and his great on-ice vision allowed him to spot Varone circling back to the top of the crease before sending a hard, crisp pass right on Varone's tape for the re-direct in past Mackenzie Blackwood to give the Phantoms the game's opening goal 5:52 into the middle frame.
The Phantoms had to kill off a pair of penalties, but extended their successful PK streak to 21 straight before a poor decision by Binghamton's Nick Lappin gave the Phantoms a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play with 2:18 left before the second intermission.
Colin McDonald was cross-checked atop the crease, and after the lengthy delayed call Lappin got himself an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty to go along with Michael Kapla's cross-check minor.
The Phantoms cashed in on the two-man advantage with 1:32 left in the period, as Mike Vecchione fed Greg Carey for a one-timer at the center point and Chris Conner got a piece of the shot on its way in past Blackwood.
Corban Knight extended the Phantoms' lead to 3-0 early in the third period. Bardreau forced Blackwood into making a quick pass from behind his net right to McDonald, who fired a quick shot that Blackwood was just able to stop. Bardreau got to the rebound and wrapped around the other side of the net to Knight for the tap in.
Mikhail Vorobyev added an insurance marker with 4:04 left to make it 4-0 after a series of nice moves from Radel Fazleev.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
9:05: BNG - (PP) Rooney, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
4:01: BNG - (PP) Dyblenko, minor (holding) 5:52: LV - PPG Varone (18) - Vorobyev, Brennan 6:33: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (tripping) 11:16: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (roughing) 17:42: BNG - (PP) Kapla, minor (cross-checking) 17:42: BNG - (PP) Lappin, minor (unsportsmanlike) 18:28: LV - PPG Conner (15) - Carey, Vecchione 20:00: LV - Goulbourne, minor (slashing) 20:00: LV - Goulbourne, major (fighting) 20:00: BNG - Latta, minor (slashing) 20:00: BNG - Latta, major (fighting)
3rd Period
3:54: LV - Knight (12) - Bardreau, McDonald 5:42: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (holding) 7:33: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (hooking) 15:56: LV - Vorobyev (6) - Fazleev
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 2 - 2 = 4 Binghamton 0 - 0 - 0 = 0
Shots
Lehigh Valley 7 - 8 - 12 = 27 Binghamton 14 - 5 - 10 = 29
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (29 saves - 29 shots) BNG - Mackenzie Blackwood (23 saves - 27 shots)
Power Play
LV: 2-for-4 BNG: 0-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-4 BNG: 2-for-4
Attendance: 8,757
