GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Rochester at Lehigh Valley 1/18/20

ALLENTOWN, PA --  The Lehigh Valley Phantoms entered Saturday night's contest against Rochester a perfect 4-for-4 in their current five-game homestand, looking to continue their dominance on home ice against an Americans team that came into PPL Center on a five-game winless streak.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes:

German Rubtsov - Morgan Frost - Andy Andreoff Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - David Kase Isaac Ratcliffe - Mikhail Vorobyev - Maksim Sushko Max Willman - Kyle Criscuolo - Chris Stewart

Tyler Wotherspoon - Mark Friedman James de Haas - Reece Willcox Eric Knodel - Chris Bigras

J-F Berube - Felix Sandstrom

Phantoms' Scratches: Andy Welinski (undisclosed injury), Carsen Twarynski (lower body), Kurtis Gabriel (healthy), Nate Prosser (healthy/veteran), T.J. Brennan (veteran) and Pascal Laberge (upper body)

GAME STORY

1st Period

The Phantoms look like a team oozing with confidence on this current five-game homestand and the only real complaint you could have is that they've started games slow and haven't been able to generate much in the opening period.

That changed tonight as David Kase drew a hooking minor 5:27 into the contest on an early dangerous chance for Lehigh Valley, and the ensuing power play was a thing of beauty if you like awesome puck movement, high-danger scoring chances and power play goals.

It only took 21 seconds - after Andy Andreoff nearly tapped one in past Amerks' goalie Andrew Hammond to begin the man advantage - before an array of passes picked apart the opposition's penalty killing scheme and led to the game's opening goal by Greg Carey.

Morgan Frost's vision and play-making ability was on full display, as he sent a cross-ice pass to Carey that Cal O'Reilly made sure got to its final destination. Carey made no hesitation, quickly firing a shot from the right-wing circle past Hammond to put Lehigh Valley ahead 1-0.

Later in the period, the Phantoms caught Rochester in the midst of a line change and made them pay dearly for it.

Kyle Criscuolo head-manned a puck to the far blue line that Max Willman caught in stride. Willman did the rest, skating to the right-wing dot before sniping a laser of a shot past Hammond to extend the Phantoms' lead to 2-0 with 6:28 left before the first intermission. Chris Bigras made a nice play in the defensive zone to create the play, and was credited with the secondary assist for his effort.

2nd Period

It wasn't the best start to the middle frame for Lehigh Valley - they took a minor penalty in the opening minute and a second just under five minutes later - but J-F Berube continued to make timely saves and the Phantoms' PK unit stymied Rochester's attack in the first half of the period until a great hustle play from David Kase allowed the lead to grow to 3-0.

Tyler Wotherspoon attempted to send Kase on a mini-breakaway but the stretch pass was tipped by a Rochester defender and sent behind the net. Amerks' goalie Andrew Hammond tried to swipe the puck into the corner, but was unsuccessful  - allowing Kase to gain control and fire a quick pass in front to Carey for an easy tap in.

The goal marked Carey's 100th goal as a member of the Phantoms, giving him three goals in as many games and really cementing the momentum in Lehigh Valley's favor.

Shortly thereafter, Dalton Smith gave an extra shove on Maksim Sushko at the benches - attempting to put the Phantoms' rookie over the half-boards and into the Americans' bench. Isaac Ratcliffe came in to defend Sushko and Smith gave the bigger in stature Phantoms' rookie a glove-on punch to the chops, drawing the ire of Chris Stewart, who marched from the far end of the bench to the other side of the bench to get closer to the center ice scrum.

After things cooled down, Smith went right up to Stewart at the Phantoms' bench and the two did plenty of talking, setting the stage for the third period.

3rd Period

The anticipated heavyweight bout between Stewart and Smith never came to fruition despite the two taking a few shifts together in the final 20 minutes, but the Phantoms took care of business and preserved Berube's shutout - his second perfect game in his last four starts.

Mikhail Vorobyev added a third period power play goal to complete the 4-0 final score in what ended a perfect five-game home stand for the Phantoms.

The real test begins next week with road contests in Providence Wednesday and Friday, and a Saturday night match up.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:27: ROC - (PP) Borgen, minor (hooking) 5:48: LV - PPG Carey (11) - O'Reilly, Frost 13:32: LV - Willman (2) - Criscuolo, Bigras

2nd Period

0:49: LV - (PP) Vorobyev, minor (tripping) 6:28: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (hooking) 10:28: LV - Carey (12) - Kase, Wotherspoon 12:52: ROC - (PP) Smith, minor (roughing) 12:52: ROC - Randell, minor (roughing) 12:52: LV - Ratcliffe, minor (roughing, served by Willman)

3rd Period

8:02: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (roughing) 13:37: ROC - (PP) Malone, minor (tripping) 14:46: LV - PPG Vorobyev (7) - Ratcliffe, Rubtsov 19:46: ROC - (PP) Burton, minor (high-sticking)

BOXSCORE

Rochester  0 - 0 - 0 = 0 Lehigh Valley 2 - 1 - 1 = 4

Shots

Rochester  5 - 7 - 8 = 20 Lehigh Valley 8 - 8 - 7 = 23

Goalies

ROC: Andrew Hammond (19 saves - 23 shots) LV: J-F Berube (20 saves - 20 shots)

Power Play

ROC: 0-for-3 LV: 2-for-4

Penalty Kill

ROC: 1-for-2 LV: 3-for-3