GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley at Utica 1/10/20

UTICA, NY -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-19-5) began another three-game weekend on the road Friday night in Utica, where former Phantoms forward Justin Bailey haunted his old team in a big night for the Comets forward in a 5-2 win over the Phantoms.

Bailey tallied two goals in the opening 3:05 of play, chasing starter Alex Lyon, and later completed the hat trick with 2:33 left before the second intermission to lead Utica in the win.

Connor Bunnaman and Mikhail Vorobyev tallied goals for Lehigh Valley in the loss.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Lines/Pairings:

Andy Andreoff - Morgan Frost - Pascal Laberge Isaac Ratcliffe - Connor Bunnaman - Mikhail Vorobyev Kyle Criscuolo - Cal O'Reilly - Maksim Sushko Max Willman - Gerry Fitzgerald - Kurtis Gabriel

Tyler Wotherspoon - Nate Prosser Chris Bigras - James de Haas T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Phantoms Scratches: Andy Welinski (injured), Greg Carey (veteran), German Rubtsov, Carsen Twarynski (injured),

GAME STORY

Former Phantoms forward Justin Bailey made his presence known in the opening three minutes of play. After a Reece Willcox goalie interference minor 1:07 into the contest, Bailey fired a shot that trickled just past Alex Lyon to give Utica an early 1-0 lead on the first shot of the hockey game.

Moments later, a turnover behind the Phantoms' net quickly ended up in the back of Lyon's net and it was Bailey at the side of the net tapping one in to extend the Comets' lead to 2-0 just 3;05 into the first frame.

Head coach Scott Gordon elected to make a goalie change, pulling Lyon (one save on three shots) in favor of J-F Berube.

Lehigh Valley was able to get one back just over a minute later, after Connor Bunnaman won a face-off in the offensive zone. Isaac Ratcliffe got the puck back to Chris Bigras, whose big shot from the point trickled past Comets goalie Michael DiPietro and lay in the crease where Bunnaman tapped the puck home.

Still, Utica was largely in control in the opening half of the period, racking up an 8-3 edge in shots before later taking a 3-1 lead with 6:12 left before the first intermission. Berube was equal to the task on a one-timer from Sven Baertschi  -- as Utica caught Lehigh Valley for an odd-man rush -- but Reid Boucher was able to lift the rebound over Berube's right pad for the Comets All-Star's 22nd tally on the season.

The Phantoms took a penalty on the next shift after Boucher's goal, but Mikhail Vorobyev stole a puck in the neutral zone and tucked the breakaway five-hole on DiPietro to get Lehigh Valley back within a goal heading to the middle frame.

Utica wasted no time in the middle frame, tallying a goal on the opening shift of the period to extend their lead over Lehigh Valley to 4-2.

Ashton Sautner wheeled into the Phantoms' defensive zone on the left wing, going down low behind the net before firing a pass in front where T.J. Brennan and Jonah Gadjovitch were fighting for position atop of Berube's crease. Sautner's pass banked in off of Gadjovitch's skate just 25 seconds into the period.

Bailey completed the hat trick with 2:33 left in the middle frame to give Utica a 5-2 lead heading to the third, capping the scoring before a scorless final frame paved the way for Utica to complete the 5-2 win on home ice.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:07: LV - (PP) Willcox, minor (goaltender interference) 1:41: UTI - PPG Bailey (14) - Rafferty 3:05: UTI - Bailey (15) - Goldobin, Lind 4:21: LV - Bunnaman (4) - Bigras, Ratcliffe 13:48: UTI - Boucher (22) - Baertschi, Juolevi 14:00: LV - (PP) Gabriel, minor (interference) 15:01: LV - SHG - Vorobyev (6) - unassisted 15:20: UTI - (PP) MacEwen, minor (interference) 17:06: UTI - (PP) Chatfield, minor (high-sticking)

2nd Period

0:25: UTI: Gadjovitch (8) - Sautner 4:39: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (tripping) 5:46: UTI - MacEwen, minor (roughing) 5:46: LV - Wotherspoon, minor (slashing) 10:51: UTI - (PP) Sautner, minor (cross-checking) 17:27: UTI - Bailey (16) - Goldobin, Lind

3rd Period

5:42: UTI - (PP) Rafferty, minor (slashing) 6:34: LV - (PP) Andreoff, minor (interference) 15:49: LV - (PP) Andreoff, minor (cross-checking)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  2 - 0 - 0 = 2 Utica Comets  3 - 2 - 0 = 5

Shots

Lehigh Valley  7 - 7 - 14 = 28 Utica Comets  14 - 7 - 8 = 29

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (1 save - 3 shots in 3:05) and J-F Berube (23 saves - 26 shots in 56:39) UTI: Michael DiPietro (26 saves - 28 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-4 UTI: 1-for-5

Penalty Kill

LV: 4-for-5 UTI: 4-for-4