GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Hartford at Lehigh Valley 11/30/19

ALLENTOWN, PA --  The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-5) look to finish the weekend with back-to-back wins when they face Atlantic Division foe Hartford WolfPack (11-4-5) for the first time this season. Puck drop is anticipated for around 7:15 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - Gerry Fitzgerald - David Kase Matthew Strome - Mikhail Vorobyev - Isaac Ratcliffe Connor Bunnaman - Steven Swavely - Kurtis Gabriel

T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox Tyler Wotherspoon - Andy Welinski Nate Prosser - Mark Friedman

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Scratches: James de Haas, Andy Andreoff, Maksim Sushko, German Rubtsov, Chris Bigras, Pascal Laberge Kyle Criscuolo

GAME STORY

1st Period

Coming off of a 6-5 win against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms looked like they were a step behind against the Hartford Wolf Pack for most of the first period.

Except for a brief window in the middle of the period, the Wolf Pack controlled the puck during the frame. Phantoms goaltender Alex Lyon came up huge on multiple occasions, stone-walling 13 of 14 shot attempts from a Wolf Pack team that fired pucks from all angles. Forward Ville Meskanen recorded a team-high four shots in the period.

The Wolf Pack were able to score late in the period after a Jeff Taylor shot from the blue line deflected off forwards Steven Fogarty and Matt Beleskey in front. It was Beleskey who was credited with his fourth goal of the season.

The Phantoms had a few great chances in the middle of the period including a Mark Friedman shot off a cross-ice feed from Taylor Gabriel and a Carsen Twarynski scorcher off the feed from Steven Swavely. Both chances were stopped by goalie sensation Igor Shesterkin who has been taking the league by storm so far in his rookie year.

2nd Period

The second period was more of the same for the Phantoms.

While the shot disparity wasn’t as drastic as it was in the first period, the Phantoms weren’t able to generate quality shots in the second, as the Wolf Pack did not allow them to get any chance in-tight on Shesterkin.

The Wolf Pack, however, continued to get shots from wherever they desired, just like they did in the first period. Alex Lyon has stood on his head through two periods, as without his efforts, the Phantoms could be down three or four goals going into the third.

Each team registered a power play opportunity in the period. The Phantoms, who went on the power play after Greg Carey was tripped by the goaltender Shesterkin, did not record a shot on net with the man advantage. T.J. Brennan took the only Phantoms penalty in the period.

3rd Period

It would not have been a Saturday night in Allentown if the Phantoms did not find a way to go to overtime.

The Phantoms came out of the locker room ready to play after the second intermission. They had four of the first five shots of the period but even more importantly, they only yielded just one shot on net in the first 9:50 of the frame.

After Hartford forward Phil Di Giuseppe was called for interference, it was Greg Carey who knotted the game up at one for Lehigh Valley with a rifle from the right circle.

The Wolf Pack would gain momentum after Isaac Ratcliffe took a slashing penalty midway through the period. Over the next eight and a half minutes, the Phantoms were outshot 7-0 as Alex Lyon kept them in it.

Overtime

When it got to overtime, though, it was all Phantoms.

Lehigh Valley outshot Hartford 5-1 in the extra frame as they buzzed around Shesterkin for nearly two minutes.

Defenseman Andy Welinski was able to clinch the victory for the Phantoms with his wrist shot from the point off of Cal O'Reilly's team-leading 13th assist on the season.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

15:08: HFD - Beleskey (4) - Fogarty, Taylor

2nd Period

14:28: HFD - (PP) Shesterkin, minor (tripping - served by Beleskey) 17:59: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (cross-checking)

3rd Period

7:17: HFD - (PP) Di Giuseppe, minor (interference) 7:21: LV - PPG Carey (8) - Welinski, O'Reilly 9:57: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (slashing) 18:07: HFD - (PP) Andersson, minor (holding)

Overtime

2:43: LV - Welinski (2) - O'Reilly

BOXSCORE

Hartford  1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 1 Lehigh Valley  0 - 0 - 1 - 1 = 2

Shots

Hartford  14 - 11 - 9 - 1 = 35 Lehigh Valley  6 - 8 - 8 - 5 = 27

Goalies

HFD: Igor Shesterkin (25 saves - 27 shots) LV: Alex Lyon (34 saves - 35 shots)

Power Play

HFD: 0-for-2 LV: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

HFD: 1-for-1 LV: 1-for-1