GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley (2-1-2) at Charlotte (3-3-0) 10/25/19

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-1-2) took to the road for the first time this season, facing Atlantic Division foe Charlotte Checkers (3-3-0) in the first of a pair of games at the Bojangles Coliseum this weekend.

Despite being out shot and out-chanced by the Checkers for a majority of the contest, goaltender Alex Lyon (35 saves) and the Phantoms' penalty kill (6-for-6) enabled the team to scratch and claw their way to a point Friday night - falling after the seventh round of a shootout decided the winner.

Morgan Frost had a great shot from the inside of the right-wing circle for his second goal of the season, while Nicolas Aube-Kubel also managed a game-tying third period goal for Lehigh Valley to get it to overtime.

Checkers' goaltender Anton Forsberg was solid in his own right, stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced, while Charlotte got a shorthanded goal from Chase Priskie in the first period and a seeing-eye point shot from Kyle Wood in the middle frame before Wood later ended the shootout in the bottom half of the seventh round.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Morgan Frost - David Kase Andy Andreoff - Cal O'Reilly - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - German Rubtsov - Maksim Sushko Isaac Ratcliffe - Connor Bunnaman - Kurtis Gabriel

T.J. Brennan - Phil Myers Nate Prosser - Mark Friedman Chris Bigras - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Scratches: Andy Welinski, Tyler Wotherspoon (veteran) and Kyle Criscuolo

GAME STORY

1st Period

The Phantoms got some early chances Anton Forsberg's way -- most notably an Isaac Ratcliffe mini-breakaway in the opening four minutes -- and later drew themselves the first power play of the contest at the 5:08 mark when Jake Bean was whistled for a slashing minor.

Instead, it was the Checkers taking the 1-0 lead just over a minute later. After they pounced on a loose puck that came out of a battle in the corner, Checkers forward Colin Markison led a 2-on-1 the other way before defenseman Chase Priskie joined the rush as the trailer. Markison avoided a sliding T.J. Brennan and hit the trailing Priskie who fired a quick shot past Alex Lyon to put the Checkers on the board with a shorthanded tally 6:13 into the period.

Lehigh Valley later tied the game after a heads up passing play by Reece Willcox allowed Morgan Frost to enter the offensive zone with speed. Frost took the pass from Willcox in the neutral zone at the center ice faceoff dot, chipped a puck over a defender's stick and skated it to the top of the right-wing circle before sniping Forsberg to the top shelf for his second goal on the season.

Frost later took a hooking minor with 2:01 left to play before the intermission, and the Phantoms penalty killers led by Lyon were able to make the necessary stops to get to the second period in a 1-1 game.

On a strange sequence late in the period, with the Checkers pressuring on the power play, Lyon made a stop atop the crease and drew himself out of the net - having to turn and throw his goalie stick to prevent Janne Kuokkanen from tapping one into the empty net. A smart play from Lyon resulted in a penalty shot, and Lyon was able to get a piece of Kuokkanen's shootout attempt to keep the Checkers from taking the 2-1 lead into the middle frame.

2nd Period

Charlotte started to take control of the game in the middle frame, out shooting the Phantoms 16-6 in the stanza, but were unable to blow the game open thanks in large part to Lyon and the Phantoms' penalty killers who made it a perfect 5-for-5 on the PK through 40 minutes.

The two teams traded power plays in the opening half of the period before the Phantoms whiffed on their second opportunity of the period just past the midway mark of regulation. Not long after the Checkers killed off a Colin Markison goalie interference minor, they re-gained their lead from the first frame.

After an extended shift in the offensive zone, the Checkers cycled a puck to the right point where a Kyle Wood shot through traffic eluded Lyon with 6:11 left before the second intermission to restore the Checkers' lead at 2-1.

Again, the Phantoms were forced to kill off a late-period penalty - this time a brief 5-on-3 Checkers' power play - but were able to lean on Lyon and the PK units to get to the third period in a one-goal hockey game.

3rd Period

The Phantoms forced the issue in the third, and had some shifts with extended offensive zone time early in the period but were unable to tie things up until there was just under eight minutes left in regulation.

T.J. Brennan pounced on a loose puck just inside the Phantoms' defensive zone and led a 3-on-2 rush up the middle before sending a pass to the right wing for Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who did the rest - skating with speed down the wing before firing a quick shot that eluded Forsberg with 7:55 left to tie the game at 2-2 and later force overtime.

Overtime/Shootout

The goalies stole the show in the shootout, as it wasn't until the seventh round that a shooter finally scored when Kyle Wood beat Alex Lyon with a quick shot from the slot to lift Charlotte to the shootout win and two points in the ever-challenging Atlantic Division standings.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:08: CHA - (PP) Bean, minor (slashing) 6:13: CHA - SHG Priskie (2) - Markison, Fitzgerald 10:44: LV - Frost (2) - Willcox, Bigras 13:48: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (interference) 16:07: LV - Myers, minor (cross-checking) 16:07: CHA - Horvat, minor (roughing) 17:59: LV - (PP) Frost, minor (hooking)

2nd Period

3:10: CHA - (PP) Lorentz, minor (hooking) 5:47: CHA - Markison, minor (hooking) 5:47: LV - Friedman, minor (diving/embellishment) 7:32: LV - (PP) Rubtsov, minor (interference) 11:15: CHA - (PP) Markison, minor (goalie interference) 13:49: CHA - Wood (1) - Luostarinen, Bean 16:27: LV - (PP) O'Reilly, minor (hooking) 18:05: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (tripping)

3rd Period

12:05: LV - Aube-Kubel (2) - Brennan 13:13: CHA - (PP) Bean, minor (hooking) 14:26: LV - Brennan, minor (holding) 14:26: CHA - Bishop, minor (holding the stick) 15:36: CHA - Lorentz, minor (tripping) 15:36: LV - Friedman, minor (diving/embellishment)

Overtime

4:59: LV - (PP) Kase, minor (tripping)

Shootout

Lehigh Valley

Frost - no goal Aube-Kubel - no goal O'Reilly - no goal Carey - no goal Andreoff - no goal Bigras - no goal Brennan - no goal

Charlotte

Geekie - no goal Priskie - no goal Gauthier - no goal Luostarinen - no goal Bean - no goal McGinn - no goal Wood - GOAL

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  1 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 2 Charlotte  1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 1 = 3

Shots

Lehigh Valley  9 - 7 - 8 - 2 = 26 Charlotte  12 - 16 - 8 - 1 = 38

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (35 saves - 37 shots) CHA: Anton Forsberg (24 saves - 26 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

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