GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley at Syracuse 2/22/20

SYRACUSE, NY - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (23-24-8)

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Isaac Ratcliffe Andy Andreoff - Morgan Frost - David Kase German Rubtsov - Mikhail Vorobyev - Maksim Sushko Carsen Twarynski - Kyle Criscuolo - Kurtis Gabriel

Chris Bigras - Andy Welinski Mark Friedman - Nate Prosser Shayne Gostisbehere - Reece Willcox

Kirill Ustimenko - Alex Lyon

Phantoms scratches: James de Haas, Tyler Wotherspoon, Max Willman, Gerry Fitzgerald, T.J. Brennan and Chris Stewart

GAME STORY

1st Period

The Phantoms didn't get off to a bad start Saturday night against the Syracuse Crunch.

They generated a few chances in the opening minutes, then got the game's first power play 5:17 into the contest. Lehigh Valley even had a good start to their man advantage, getting zone time and two early chances before failing to do much of anything with the remaining power play time.

The game was still scoreless as the game approached the midway mark of the first period, and the Phantoms appeared to be pretty even with Syracuse - Lehigh Valley held a 6-4 edge in shots.

Things took a turn shortly after the Crunch killed off the Phantoms' power play chance. Syracuse turned it up a gear, and Lehigh Valley was on their heels most of the rest of the first period. The Crunch peppered goalie Kirill Ustimenko with 20 shots in the opening period, with 16 of them coming in the final 12 minutes of the first frame.

Syracuse took the 1-0 lead on a nice feed from behind the net by Mathieu Joseph out in front to Alex Barre-Boulet for a quick shot that just squeaked by Ustimenko with 9:10 left in the period. Ross Colton added a secondary assist on the play.

From there the Phantoms took back-to-back penalties and weren't able to generate much of an attack like they were able to in the beginning of the period. Ustimenko's 19 first period saves were the difference in keeping it a one-goal game heading to the middle frame.

2nd Period

The Phantoms took a parade to the penalty box in the middle frame, making it six straight minor penalties after Maksim Sushko was whistled for holding the stick and Mikhail Vorobyev was assessed a delay of game minor for a face-off violation on the ensuing draw.

Lehigh Valley was able to kill off the full two-minute five-on-three, but with having to kill penalties almost exclusively in the first 11 and a half minutes of the period they were unable to generate much of an attack.

Syracuse was assessed a slashing minor with 6:15 left before the second intermission, but the Phantoms were unable to tie things up on the ensuing power play. Morgan Frost and Shayne Gostisbehere teamed up for some thread-the-needle passing in the offensive zone on the Phantoms' lone power play of the period, but couldn't find an equalizer.

Ustimenko continued making timely stops, making it 26 stops on 27 shots to keep Lehigh Valley in a one-goal game heading to the third period.

3rd Period

The Phantoms came out and played with purpose to begin the third period.

Shayne Gostisbehere was robbed by Crunch goaltender Spencer Martin in the opening minute of the period, as Ghost got open down low and was given a pass from Cal O'Reilly. Martin flashed the glove on Ghost to make the save and get the whistle for a face-off.

Lehigh Valley couldn't find an equalizer, and despite Ustimenko's solid performance in net the Crunch extended their lead to 2-0 with 9:27 left to play. Ustimenko made the initial stop on Ross Colton, who came charging into the crease with speed from the right wing, but the Crunch forward made contact with the Phantoms' goalie causing him to lose his footing. As he was getting back into position, Dominik Masin slapped home the rebound from the slot for his second goal of the season.

Scott Gordon elected to pull Ustimenko in favor of the extra attacker with just over three minutes left, and after a long series of extended pressure in the offensive zone the Phantoms were able to break up Martin's shutout bid with 57.3 seconds left in the contest.

Chris Bigras got a puck to Gostisbehere at the point, and his give to the net was blocked down amid heavy traffic before Carsen Twarynski was first to find the loose puck and shovel it into the net to bring the Phantoms within a goal in the final minute.

Unfortunately, that's as close as Lehigh Valley would get in the 2-1 regulation loss.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:17: SYR - (PP) Witkowski, minor (interference) 10:50: SYR - Barre-Boulet (23) - Joseph, Colton 12:52: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (slashing) 14:44: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (cross-checking)

2nd Period

3:25: LV - (PP) Gabriel, minor (roughing) 6:02: LV - (PP) Andreoff, minor (roughing) 9:21: LV - (PP) Sushko, minor (holding) 9:21: LV - (PP) Vorobyev, minor (delay of game - face-off violation) 13:45: SYR - (PP) Witkowski, minor (slashing)

3rd

10:33: SYR - Masin (2) - Colton, Witkowski 13:51: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (tripping) 19:02: LV - Twarynski (5) - Bigras, Gostisbehere

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  0 - 0 - 1 = 1 Syracuse  1 - 0 - 1 = 2

Shots

Lehigh Valley  9 - 6 - 9 = 24 Syracuse  20 - 8 - 10 = 38

Goalies

LV: Kirill Ustimenko (36 saves - 38 shots) SYR: Spencer Martin (23 saves - 24 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-2 SYR: 0-for-7

Penalty Kill

LV: 7-for-7 SYR: 2-for-2