GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Charlotte at Lehigh Valley 11/22/19

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-5-5) look for the clean sweep of defending Calder Cup champion Charlotte (6-7-2)  when they finish the second of two games this week against the Checkers tonight at 7:15 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - Andy Andreoff - David Kase Pascal Laberge - Mikhail Vorobyev - Maksim Sushko Matthew Strome - Gerry Fitzgerald - Kurtis Gabriel

Mark Friedman - Andy Welinski Tyler Wotherspoon - Nate Prosser James de Haas - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Scratches: German Rubtsov, Isaac Ratcliffe, Connor Bunnaman, Chris Bigras, TJ Brennan (veteran) and Kyle Criscuolo

GAME STORY

1st Period

Like they have on many occasions so far this season, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms found themselves trailing early on in a game after coming out flat for a huge chunk of the first period.

The Checkers, who dropped Wednesday’s matchup against the Phantoms, took a 1-0 lead as their leading goal-scorer, Julien Gauthier, scored his sixth of the season on the power play. Checker forward Brian Gibbons took a shot from the right circle on a zone entry. As Alex Lyon made the save, Gauthier was able to get to the net and tuck in the rebound.

The Phantoms, who registered just two shots through the first 10 minutes of action, got on the board thanks to a brilliant give-and-go between the trio of Mikhail Vorobyev, Mark Friedman and David Kase.

Friedman took control of the puck in his own zone and streaked up the ice and to the left circle, where he found Vorobyev was the trailer. Vorobyev passed it back to Friedman who was rolling to the net and the defenseman made a no-look pass to Kase, who was all alone in front for his second of the season.

Just 1:29 later, the Checkers got one back on a Jake Bean point shot. While the shot didn’t look like the toughest shot to stop, Lyon, who was heavily screened in front by two of his own defenders and one Checkers forward, never saw it.

2nd Period

Although Lehigh Valley trails 3-2 heading into the second intermission, they played much better than they did in the first frame.

David Kase, who scored in the first period, added his second of the game and third of the season midway through the period.

After Mikhail Vorobyev won a puck battle in the corner, the 22-year-old fired a pass to defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon who was streaking to the slot. After he fired the initial shot, Kase, who was planted by the side of the net, got ahold of the rebound and put it into the wide-open cage.

Charlotte took the lead for the third time in the tilt on a bad deflection in front of Alex Lyon’s cage. Jake Bean, who scored the Checkers’ first of the night, put a shot on net from the point that looked like it deflected off of Wotherspoon’s stick, forward Brian Gibbons’ skate and possibly Reece Wilcox’s leg and past Lyon.

Overall, the Phantoms outshot the Checkers 15-9 in the frame and, at the moment, trail the Checkers in shots 23-22 for the game.

3rd Period

A goal off of a face-off in the opening minute of the period put Lehigh Valley down 4-2, and you started to get the feeling that it wasn't going to be the Phantoms' night.

That feeling quickly vanished moments later after the Phantoms tallied back-to-back goals just 2:11 apart to tie the game back up at 4-4 with 13:44 left in regulation.

After Nicolas Aube-Kubel split the defense and fired a shot on Checkers' goalie Anton Forsberg, the Phantoms continued to pressure and it was Greg Carey who ended up spinning and shooting from the slot for his team-leading sixth of the season.

Later, with the Phantoms shorthanded, a delayed penalty call allowed Lehigh Valley to switch from killing a penalty to getting on the attack. Initially, Vorobyev appeared to be trying to keep possession of the puck to kill off the remaining penalty time. After holding onto the puck in his own end for awhile, Vorobyev eventually ended up getting the puck down low in the offensive zone before spotting Cal O'Reilly entering the offensive zone. The pass was tape to tape, and O'Reilly skated in from the right point and released a rocket of a shot past Forsberg to tie the game.

Kase had several chances for the hat trick in the third period, at one point having his stick held by the Checkers' goalie amid a scramble for a loose puck with five minutes left to play.

Unsurprisingly, 60 minutes wasn't enough tonight and the two teams headed to OT.

Overtime

The Checkers had the better of 3-on-3 on the opening shift, getting two shots on Alex Lyon, but in the end it was Kase's night - his shot from a setup from Cal O'Reilly beat Forsberg and Mark Friedman made sure the puck crossed the goal line by slamming the biscuit into the net and sealing the deal for the Phantoms with another two points in the standings.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:46: CHA - (PP) Gauthier, minor (slashing) 6:55: LV - (PP) Strome, minor (tripping) 7:19: CHA - PPG Gauthier (6) - Gibbons, Kuokkanen 15:05: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (hooking) 17:19: LV - Kase (2) - Friedman, Vorobyev 18:48: CHA - Bean (2) - McKeown, Lorentz

2nd Period

8:47: LV - Kase (3) - Wotherspoon, Vorobyev 8:47: CHA - (PP) Kuokkanen, minor (hooking) 10:30: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (interference) 11:29: CHA - PPG Bean (3) - Kuokkanen, Gibbons 15:47: CHA - (PP) McKeown, minor (holding)

3rd Period

0:41: CHA - McCormick (3) - Geekie 4:06: LV - Carey (6) - Wotherspoon, O'Reilly 5:32: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Twarynski) 6:17: LV - O'Reilly (2) - Vorobyev, Wotherspoon 7:44: CHA - (PP) Forsling, minor (slashing) 8:04: LV - (PP) Andreoff, minor (high-sticking) 9:31: CHA - (PP) McCormick, minor (elbowing) 12:06: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Twarynski)

Overtime

1:23: LV - Friedman (1) - Kase, O'Reilly

BOXSCORE

Charlotte  2 - 1 - 1 - 0 = 4 Lehigh Valley  1 - 1 - 2 - 1 = 5

Shots

Charlotte  14 - 9 - 11 - 2 = 36 Lehigh Valley 7 - 15 - 12 - 1 = 35

Goalies

CHA: Anton Forsberg (30 saves - 35 shots) LV: Alex Lyon (32 saves - 36 shots)

Power Play

CHA: 2-for-6 LV: 0-for-4

Penalty Kill

CHA: 4-for-4 LV: 4-for-6