GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley (3-1-4) at Bridgeport (1-6-3) 11/2/19

BRIDGEPORT, CT -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-1-4) continue their three-in-three weekend with the first of two games at the Webster Bank Arena against Atlantic Division foe Bridgeport Sound Tigers (1-6-3). Saturday night's puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Andy Andreoff - Morgan Frost - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Isaac Ratcliffe - Cal O'Reilly - David Kase Kyle Criscuolo - Mikhail Vorobyev - Maksim Sushko Matthew Strome - Gerry Fitzgerald - Kurtis Gabriel

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

J-F Berube - Alex Lyon

Scratches: Greg Carey (veteran), Connor Bunnaman (lower body), Chris Bigras (undisclosed) and Sam Morin (healthy)

GAME STORY

1st Period

After the two teams settled in to tonight's game -- the opening minutes were kind of sloppy for both teams -- Lehigh Valley went out and played a near perfect period of road hockey.

Gerry Fitzgerald, appearing in just his second game of the season due to the forward depth on the roster, had a pair of dangerous scoring chances early in the period - tipping a Mark Friedman point shot just wide and collecting a feed from Nicolas Aube-Kubel in the left-wing circle and getting stoned by Sound Tigers' goalie Chris Gibson.

The Phantoms spent most of the second half of the period in the offensive zone after drawing a boarding minor on former Phantoms forward Colin McDonald. Lehigh Valley didn't score on the ensuing man advantage at 11:19, but the power play unit was buzzing on the attack for nearly the full two-minutes.

It wasn't until there was under five minutes left in the period that the game's first goal was scored. It came on a penalty shot by Kyle Criscuolo after he was tripped by Parker Wotherspoon with 4:30 remaining before the first intermission.

Criscuolo didn't do anything fancy on his attempt, baring down and going five-hole on Gibson for his first tally on the season - sending the Phantoms to the middle frame with a 1-0 lead.

2nd Period

For as good as Lehigh Valley was in the first period, they were equally as bad in the middle frame.

The self-inflicted wounds that head coach Scott Gordon referenced after Friday night's shootout loss at home to the Penguins reappeared Saturday in Bridgeport.

A sloppy attempted drop pass in the defensive zone from Mikhail Vorobyev to T.J. Brennan was mishandled, and Sound Tigers' forward Matt Lorito jumped on the loose puck and fired a quick shot past J-F Berube to even the game at 1-1.

Towards the midway mark of regulation, David Kase got stood up on a big hit at the offensive zone blue line by Kyle Burroughs. Kase got up, and level Sebastian Aho across the way on the same blue line seconds later and was whistled for a checking to the head minor.

Bridgeport capitalized and took their first lead of the contest on the ensuing power play as 18-year-old Simon Holmstrom converted for his first career pro goal. Lorito and Aho assisted on the play with 9:28 remaining in the period.

Things were looking pretty grim for the Phantoms after a strong first period was followed by a largely lackluster middle frame.

That was until Andy Andreoff muscled a puck out from behind the net and got it to Mark Friedman at the center point. Friedman fired a hard shot toward the net and Morgan Frost swooped in from the inside of the right-wing circle to deflect the puck past Gibson to tie the game back up at 2-2 with 3:26 left before the second intermission.

Frost's third of the season extended his personal points scoring streak to six games (three goals, five assists).

Third Period

The pace slowed a bit in the third period to start, but as the frame neared its midway point the Phantoms re-gained their lead.

Tyler Wotherspoon fired a shot from the left-wing wall that Nicolas Aube-Kubel was able to re-direct past Gibson to put Lehigh Valley ahead 3-2 with 10:44 left to play.

The Sound Tigers pressured in the final minutes of the period, with Parker Wotherspoon just missing on a rebound attempt with just under five minutes left on a chance that the entire building thought was scored upon. Somehow, Berube was able to keep it out of his net.

Bridgeport pulled their goalie in the final 1:30 but were unable to find an equalizer, dropping their eighth straight game.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

11:19: BST - (PP) McDonald, minor (boarding) 15:30: LV - Criscuolo (1) - Penalty shot

2nd Period

5:06: BST - Lorito (4) - unassisted 9:04: LV - (PP) Kase, minor (check to the head) 10:32: BST - PPG Holmstrom (1) - Lorito, Aho 16:24: LV - Frost (3) - Friedman, Andreoff

3rd Period

9:16: LV - Aube-Kubel (3) - Wotherspoon 11:30: LV - (PP) Criscuolo, minor (tripping)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley  13 - 4 - 5 = 22 Bridgeport  6 - 11 - 11 = 28

Goalies

LV: J-F Berube (26 saves - 28 shots) BST: Christopher Gibson (19 saves - 22 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-1 BST: 1-for-2

Penalty Kill

LV: 1-for-2 BST: 1-for-1