GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Springfield at Lehigh Valley 2/7/20

ALLENTOWN, PA --  The Lehigh Valley Phantoms begin a three-in-three weekend with their final scheduled matchup against the Springfield Thunderbirds Friday night at PPL Center. With losses to Springfield in their previous three meetings, Lehigh Valley is hoping to avoid the season sweep and make a last ditch effort to get towards the post-season picture in the Atlantic Division.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes:

David Kase - Mikhail Vorobyev - German Rubtsov Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Max Willman Maksim Sushko - Kyle Criscuolo - Chris Stewart Isaac Ratcliffe - Gerry Fitzgerald - Kurtis Gabriel

Tyler Wotherspoon - Andy Welinski Mark Friedman - Nate Prosser James de Haas - Reece Willcox

J-F Berube - Kirill Ustimenko

Phantoms' Scratches: Andy Andreoff (recently reassigned/veteran), Carsen Twarynski (lower body), Chris Bigras (unknown), T.J. Brennan (veteran) and Pascal Laberge (upper body)

Springfield Thunderbirds Roster Notes

Line rushes:

Dryden Hunt - Aleksi Saarela - Henrik Borgstrom Jack Rodewald - Daniel Audette - Paul Thompson Aleksi Heponiemi - Adam Rockwood - Liam Pecararo Joel Lowry - Rodrigo Abols - Jonathan Ang

Tommy Cross - Brady Keeper Thomas Schemitsch - Ethan Prow Jake Massie - Matt Mangene

Philippe Desrosiers - Ryan Bednard

Thunderbirds' Scracthes: Will Lochead, Rob O'Gara, Anthony Greco, Ryan Haggerty, Owen Tippett and Cliff Pu

GAME STORY

1st Period

The trio of Greg Carey, Cal O'Reilly and Max Willman had a great shift in the opening minute of play, but were forced to an early penalty kill after an Isaac Ratcliffe interference minor in the offensive zone.

Luckily for Lehigh Valley, Springfield wasn't able to generate a shot on goal on the ensuing power play.

While the Phantoms had the edge in play both territorially - they spent large portions of the period in the offensive zone - and in shots on goal, neither team was generating much in terms of quality scoring chances in the opening half of the period in what was becoming a defensive battle.

Springfield started to get a transition game going late in the period, with Joel Lowry drawing the Thunderbirds a second man advantage attempt in the final three minutes of the period.

The Phantoms had what looked to be a great 2-on-1 shorthanded chance developing late in the ensuing penalty kill, but German Rubtsov mishandled a pass coming across the offensive zone blue line that threw the timing off the odd-man chance with Maksim Sushko. Rubtsov did eventually get the puck to the middle for Sushko, but Thunderbirds goalie Philippe Desrosiers was equal to the task - thwarting two chances in tight from Sushko at the top of the crease.

Credit to Mark Friedman for making the play possible, after some great PK work in his own end to help Nate Prosser below the goal and push his man off the puck before springing Rubtsov ahead and also joining the rush as a trailer. Friedman has looked like a very confident hockey player since his return from a brief NHL stint with the Flyers.

2nd Period

The Phantoms had another strong shift in the opening minute of the middle frame, with the top line of David Kase, Mikhail Vorobyev and German Rubtsov getting some dangerous looks at the Thunderbirds' net.  Kase rang a shot of the post, which was later reviewed and quickly confirmed a no-goal as it was called during play.

Still, the game remained scoreless through the opening half of the middle frame.

It wasn't until the Phantoms were on their fourth penalty kill of the contest with under nine minutes left in the period that the game's first goal was scored. And it came from an unlikely source.

On a shorthanded rush, Reece Willcox's centering feed for Kyle Criscuolo bounced over the Phantoms forwards' stick and past Springfeield goalie Philippe Desrosiers to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead on Willcox's first tally on the season. Criscuolo and Tyler Wotherspoon were credited with the assists.

3rd Period

After taking a bad-luck bounce on a delayed of game penalty in the second period, James he Haas made up for it in a big way in the third period - following up a bid from Chris Stewart that was blocked up the middle and beating Desrosiers to extend the Phantoms' lead to 2-0 with 12:53 left in regulation. It also marked de Haas' first tally on the season, and Cal O'Reilly added a secondary assist on the play.

Later in the period, the Phantoms got another fortuitous bounce on the power play and took a 3-0 lead with 10:46 left when Kyle Criscuolo's centering pass from the right wing banked in past Desrosiers off of a defender in front. Mark Friedman and Tyler Wotherspoon were credited with assists on the play.

Rodrigo Abols ended Berube's bid for his fourth shutout in his last nine outings with 1:20 to go, but the Phantoms held on for a big two points in a last ditch effort to climb back into the Atlantic Division playoff picture.

Friedman finished off a strong game with an empty net tally after a gentleman's play from Kyle Criscuolo as the forward glided slightly behind the puck and shielded into the empty net to allow Friedman to go down as the goal scorer on the unassisted tally to complete the 4-1 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

2:19: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (interference) 17:10: LV - (PP) Kase, minor (slashing)

2nd Period

5:25: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (holding) 11:01: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (delay of game) 11:16: LV - SHG Willcox (1) - Criscuolo, Wotherspoon 14:03: SPR - (PP) Prow, minor (holding the stick)

3rd Period

3:19: SPR - (PP) Rockwood, minor (slashing) 7:07: LV - de Haas (1) - Stewart, O'Reilly 7:58: SPR - (PP) Pecararo, minor (slashing) 9:14: LV - PPG Criscuolo (7) - Friedman, Wotherspoon 10:40: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (hooking) 12:05: SPR - (PP) Thompson, minor (roughing) 14:58: LV - (PP) Fitzgerald, minor (holding) 18:40: SPR - Abols (4) - Hunt, Prow 19:09: LV - ENG Friedman (3) - unassisted

BOXSCORE

Springfield  0 - 0 - 1 = 0 Lehigh Valley 0 - 1 - 3 = 4

Shots

Springfield  5 - 7 - 13 = 25 Lehigh Valley 10 - 14 - 9 = 33

Goalies

SPR: Philippe Desrosiers (29 saves - 32 shots) LV: J-F Berube (24 saves - 25 shots)

Power Play

SPR: 0-for-6 LV: 1-for-4

Penalty Kill

SPR: 3-for-4 LV: 6-for-6