GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - W-B/Scranton at Lehigh Valley 10/11/19

ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-1-0) host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (1-0-0) to kick off a pair of games against Atlantic Division rivals, beginning with a Friday night showdown with the Penguins in the first of 12 regular season meetings scheduled between the two teams this season.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Joel Farabee Andy Andreoff - Morgan Frost - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Kyle Criscuolo - German Rubtsov - Maksim Sushko Isaac Ratcliffe - Mikhail Vorobyev - Kurtis Gabriel

T.J. Brennan - Phil Myers Chris Bigras - Mark Friedman Tyler Wotherspoon - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Scratches: James de Haas, Nate Prosser (veteran), Matthew Strome, Gerry Fitzgerald and David Kase

GAME STORY

1st Period

141 minutes and 43 seconds.

That’s how long it had been since the Phantoms scored their last goal; a third period tally in their second-to-last preseason game against these same Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on September 29.

With all the hype around prospects like Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee entering the game, it was fourth line grinder Kurtis Gabriel who broke the scoreless streak at the 15:53 mark of the first period. It was the right wing’s first goal as a member of the Phantoms’ organization.

You had the feeling that the Phantoms just needed one goal to break things open for their offense, which dominated the first period, out-shooting the Penguins 16-2 in the frame. This would come to fruition later in the third when Mikhail Vorobyev scored a power play goal at the side of the net off a beautiful feed from Phantoms Captain (for tonight’s game) Cal O’Reilly.

The start of the period was a sloppy one for both teams but especially the Penguins. Between players falling around all over the ice, bad plays with the puck in their own end and a lack of shots to the Phantoms’ net, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that they find themselves trailing heading into intermission.

2nd Period

It was Joel Farabee who stole the show in the second period.

The former Boston University standout scored from a player in their professional hockey debut. In a play that brought the Lehigh Valley faithful to their feet, Farabee stickhandled left past Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph and completely fooled Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith with a shot-fake that forced him to lose his positioning. The 19-year-old then fired the puck into the vacated net.

The Phantoms added on to their lead just a minute and nine seconds later as Chris Bigras scored his first goal of the season on a heavy shot from the point. Lehigh Valley was outshot in the period 11-8, but they were clearly the better team in the frame.

After allowing a goal on the Penguins’ first shot of the period -- a shot off the stick of Stefan Noesen -- Alex Lyon settled in nicely for the Phantoms. The Penguins weren’t able to generate many quality scoring chances but he came up big when they needed him to.

3rd Period

The third period was not nearly as exciting as the first two frames were. After the first nine minutes of action in the period, each team had only registered one shot on net. The Penguins ended up out-shooting the Phantoms 6-5 in the third but they also had the benefit of two power play opportunities.

Lehigh Valley was not nearly as aggressive in period, possibly because of their three-goal lead. The Penguins defense did a much better job in the frame, forcing the Phantoms to fire shots from the perimeter.

The Black and Orange did manage to get a few chances, though, including a Phil Myers shot from between the circles that Casey DeSmith blocked away.

The Phantoms will look to take the momentum they built tonight into their tilt with the Hershey Bears on Saturday.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

3:31: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (slashing) 15:35: LV - Gabriel (1) - Ratcliffe 17:22: WBS - (PP) Pierre-Olivier Joseph, minor (slashing) 19:24: LV - Vorobyev (1) - O'Reilly, Rubtsov 19:28: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (holding)

2nd Period

0:38: WBS - PPG Noesen (3) - Palve, Warsofsky 0:55: WBS - (PP) Di Pauli, minor (hooking) 4:39: LV - Farabee (1) - Myers, Carey 5:48: LV - Bigras (1) - Friedman, Rubtsov 18:09: WBS - (PP) Noesen, minor (holding)

3rd Period

3:03: LV - (PP) Frost, minor (tripping) 11:12: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (tripping)

BOXSCORE

W-B/Scranton  0 - 1 - 0 = 1 Lehigh Valley  2 - 2 - 0 = 4

Shots

W-B/Scranton  2 - 11 - 6 = 19 Lehigh Valley  16 - 8 - 5 = 29

Goalies

WBS: Casey DeSmith (20 saves - 24 shots) LV: Alex Lyon (13 saves - 13 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 1-for-4 LV: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

WBS: 3-for-3 LV: 3-for-4