Game 63 Recap: Phantoms Prevail In Hard-Fought Sunday Tilt Against Binghamton
ALLENTOWN - In a back-and-forth Sunday tilt between two teams playing their third game in three days, it was the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (40-16-7) dealing the final blow in a 5-3 decision over the Binghamton Devils (20-31-10) behind a game-winning goal with 58.9 seconds left in the third period from Mike Vecchione.
With the game tied at 3-3 and appearing destined for overtime, Colin McDonald got a pass from Cole Bardreau and from a bad angle fired a hard shot on Devils goaltender Eddie Lack. The rebound bounced off of Vecchione's left skate and then off his right skate before going in to give the Phantoms all they would need to snag two more points on the weekend.
The Phantoms also got goals from Cole Bardreau (one goal, one assist), Will O'Neill, Mikhail Vorobyev and an empty net tally from Phil Varone in the win. Colin McDonald and Reece Willcox recorded two assists each while Dustin Tokarski stopped 23 of 26 to improve his record on the season to 16-7-5.
Playoff Update: Bridgeport rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the opening 5:18 of their game Sunday and went on to win 5-4, so the Phantoms' win over Binghamton Sunday only lowers the magic number by two points down to 12 with 13 games remaining on their regular season schedule.
Looking Ahead: Another week of practice, and another three-game weekend coming up for the Phantoms who begin the weekend in Hartford Friday before hosting Providence and Springfield on Saturday and Sunday. Interestingly enough, the Sunday game is at 3:05 p.m. ET instead of the normal 5:05 ET Sunday games previously scheduled at the PPL Center.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Alex Krushelnyski Cole Bardreau - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Danick Martel - Mikhail Vorobyev - Tyrell Goulbourne Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Radel Fazleev - Colin McDonald
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxJames de Haas - Phil Myers Will O'Neill - Max Lamarche
Dustin Tokarski - John Muse
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz, Sam Morin, Corban Knight and Mark Friedman
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
Nick Lappin carried a puck into the offensive zone for the Devils, but he was separated from the puck by a big hit from Colin McDonald just inside the blue line. Radel Fazleev hopped on the loose puck and started an odd-man rush in transition - sending it to the left wing for defenseman James de Haas, who joined the rush. The Phantoms' defender took the puck down the wing to the net before centering one for Cole Bardreau for a tap in atop the crease 3:19 into the contest.
Bardreau's eighth of the season marked points in five of his last six games and gave the Phantoms the early 1-0 lead.
Binghamton tied the game up at 1-1 less than six minutes later on what initially looked like a harmless point shot from Steven Santini at the right point. After getting a pass from Kevin Rooney, Santini gave himself a shooting lane with an inside-out move near the blue line. His seemingly harmless point shot actually turned into a double deflection - re-directing first of Nick Lappin's stick before grazing the top of Bardreau's skate in the right-wing circle and going into the top corner of Dustin Tokarski's net.
Lappin's game-tying goal 6:08 into the first frame for the Devils was his team-leading 24th of the season.
Things settled down the final 14 minutes of the opening period, sending the teams to their locker rooms even at 1-1. Play began to open up more in the middle frame, as both teams gave their special teams units plenty of work.
The Devils took their first lead of the night near the midway mark, as John Queneville's shot from the circle through traffic eluded Tokarski. The goal came with one second left on Phil Myers' tripping minor.
Lehigh Valley evened the game at 2-2 moments later on a similar play in a similar situation.
The Devils were tagged for a pair of minor penalties three seconds apart, providing 1:57 of two-man advantage time for the Phantoms to work with. After some missed chances in the first 90 seconds of the 5-on-3, a won offensive zone face-off by Mikhail Vorobyev led to the game-tying goal.
Vorobyev won the draw to the left wing wall for Danick Martel, who shuffled one back to the point to Myers. Myers waited and fed Will O'Neill a pass to the top of the right-wing circle before O'Neill blasted one through a screen in front by McDonald to knot the game up at 2-2 with 8:04 left before the second intermission.
The back-and-forth play continued in the third, as the Phantoms took the one-goal lead back at 3-2 with 11:58 to play in regulation on a rebound goal from Vorobyev. Nicolas Aube-Kubel got a puck ahead to Reece Willcox off the rush and although Willcox's bid at the net was denied by Devils goalie Eddie Lack the rebound came out to Vorobyev in the slot who was able to put it in for his eighth goal of the season.
Points have been coming for Vorobyev as of late, as his latest goal marks seven points (three goals, four assists) in his last six games.
Binghamton responded to tie the game back up at 3-3 and looked to force overtime. After the Phantoms failed to add an insurance marker on the man advantage, the Devils cashed in on a power play of their own moments later.
It was Lappin again getting a deflection goal for his second of the night and 25th of the year, getting a piece of Jacob MacDonald's shot from the point with 6:08 left in regulation.
It appeared the game was destined for overtime before Mike Vecchione somehow got a piece of the rebound of a Colin McDonald shot with 58.9 seconds left to give the Phantoms the go-ahead goal.
Phil Varone added an empty netter to complete the 5-3 final score, setting a new career-high in goals scored in a season with 19.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
3:19: LV - Bardreau (8) - de Haas, Fazleev 6:08: BNG - Lappin (24) - Santini, Rooney
2nd Period
6:09: BNG - (PP) Walman, minor (high-sticking) 7:42: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (tripping) 9:41: BNG - PPG Quenneville (11) - MacDonald, Bertschy 10:10: BNG - (PP) Mandat, minor (tripping) 10:13: BNG - (PP) Jacobs, minor (high-sticking) 11:56: LV - PPG O'Neill (6) - Myers, Martel
3rd Period
8:02: LV - Vorobyev (8) - Willcox, Aube-Kubel 10:42: BNG - (PP) Wallman, minor (tripping) 13:07: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (boarding) 13:52: BNG - PPG Lappin (25) - MacDonald 19:01: LV - Vecchione (15) - McDonald, Willcox 19:53: LV - ENG Varone (19) - McDonald, Bardreau
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 1 - 3 = 5 Binghamton 1 - 1 - 1 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 11 - 6 - 11 = 28 Binghamton 10 - 6 - 10 = 26
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (23 saves - 26 shots) BNG - Eddie Lack (23 saves - 27 shots)
Power Play
LV: 1-for-4 BNG: 2-for-2
Penalty Kill
LV: 0-for-2 BNG: 3-for-4
Attendance: 7,395
