GAME STORY: AHL Preseason - Lehigh Valley at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

WILKES-BARRE, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms kick off their three-game preseason schedule with a Wednesday night road tilt against Atlantic Division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

While not in the lineup tonight, the Phantoms received some good news earlier this afternoon when all four of the latest cuts from Flyers' training camp that required waivers for AHL assignment made it through unclaimed. Defenseman Chris Bigras and forwards Andy Andreoff, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Kurtis Gabriel will only add to the depth the AHL affiliate has been adding via NHL camp.

With a lot of the regulars out -- and last year's team captain Colin McDonald no longer on the roster -- Tyler Wotherspoon, Reece Willcox and Kyle Criscuolo wore alternate captain A's tonight in Wilkes-Barre.

During tonight's Behind The Glass episode of Flyers training camp, it was mentioned that Kurtis Gabriel will miss at least a month with a knee sprain he suffered while in NHL camp. Gabriel cleared waivers and was assigned to Lehigh Valley, but will begin the season on the injured list.

Line rushes in warmup (Starters in Bold/Italics):

Greg Carey - Kyle Criscuolo - Maksim SushkoMatthew Strome - Gerry Fitzgerald - David Kase Isaac Ratcliffe - Steven Swavely - Pascal Laberge Trevor Yates - Nick Master - Brett Supinski

Tyler Wotherspoon- Reece WillcoxEric Knodel - Rob Michel David Drake - Jeremy Beaudry

Alex Lyon - Kirill Ustimenko

Scratches: Felix Sandstrom, J-F Berube, Andy Andreoff, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Kurtis Gabriel, Chris Bigras, James de Haas, Cal O'Reilly, Mark Friedman, German Rubtsov, Trevor Gooch, Mikhail Vorobyev, Nate Prosser, T.J. Brennan and Josh Couturier

GAME STORY

1st Period

Early on, the Phantoms certainly carried a majority of play - spending lots of time on the attack and dominating on the shot clock in the opening half of the period. They were unable to cash in on their first power play chance of the evening, but did eventually take a 1-0 lead with 5:36 left before the first intermission.

Pascal Laberge chased down a puck on the forecheck, and his presence in the corner caused an errant spinning clearout that Issac Ratcliffe negated. Ratcliffe fluttered a loose puck to the net where it bounced out to Steven Swavely for a quick put back past Penguins' goalie Alex D'Orio to get Lehigh Valley on the board first.

In the final minutes of the period, David Kase drew a power play when he was cross-checked up high by Aaron Titcomb after a minor scuffle at the Phantoms' defensive zone blue line. The Penguins took a total of three minors in the period.

Phantoms PP1: Matthew Strome centering  Greg Carey on left and Pascal Laberge on the right with Eric Knodel and  David Kase on the points. A four-forward, one-defenseman look.

PP2 = Kyle Criscuolo centering Maksim Sushko and Isaac Ratcliffe with Jeremy Beaudry and Rob Michel on defense.

2nd Period

The Penguins' trips to the penalty box continued early in the middle frame. Already beginning the period shorthanded, Pens' defenseman Michael Kim cleared a puck out of play from the defensive zone - giving the Phantoms a two-man advantage in the opening minute of the period.

Lehigh Valley quickly cashed in, with Eric Knodel setting up Greg Carey for a big one-time blast from the right-wing circle. D'Orio made the initial stop, but the rebound darted across to a wide open Pascal Laberge for an easy tap-in to extend the Phantoms' lead to 2-0.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton seemingly got to their game as the middle frame continued, more than doubling the three shots they had in the first period in the opening half of the second.

A fifth Penguins' penalty at the 10:01 mark gave Lehigh Valley another man advantage to work with, and they again made quick work of the ensuing power play. In similar fashion to Laberge's goal, Knodel got a puck to the circle for Carey who this time opted for a centering feed atop the crease for Matthew Strome. Strome was able to get the loose puck past D'Orio to make it a 3-0 Phantoms' lead.

The Penguins got their fair share of power play chances later in the period, including a 5-on-3 of their own. They broke Alex Lyon's shutout bid with 2:01 left before the second intermission when Jordy Bellerive put one past the Phantoms' goaltender at the tail end of the two-man advantage.

Third Period

Things settled down in the third period in what was a largely uneventful final frame.

The Phantoms held the Penguins to just three third period shots before Greg Carey hit the empty net to complete the 4-1 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

9:41: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Hirano) 14:24: LV - Swavely (1) - Ratcliffe 17:00: WBS - (PP) Titcomb, minor (cross-checking) 19:24: WBS - (PP) Erkamps, minor (cross-checking)

2nd Period

0:41: WBS - (PP) Kim, minor (delay of game - puck over glass) 0:57: LV - PPG Laberge (1) - Carey, Knodel 10:01: WBS - (PP) Bjorkqvist, minor (high-sticking) 10:30: LV - PPG Strome (1) - Carey, Knodel 11:21: LV - (PP) Drake, minor (hooking) 16:04: LV - (PP) Michel, minor (delay of game) 17:00: LV - (PP) Kase, minor (tripping) 17:59: WBS - PPG Bellerive (1) - Lucchini, Hawkins

3rd Period

6:10: WBS - (PP) Hawkins, minor (slashing) 9:37: LV - (PP) Swavely, minor (slashing) 16:53: LV - Carey (1) - Sushko

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley  8 - 7 - 6 = 21 W-B/Scranton  3 - 11 - 3 = 17

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (16 saves - 17 shots) WBS: Alex D'Orio (17 saves - 20 shots)

Power Play

LV: 2-for-6 WBS: 1-for-4

Penalty Kill

LV: 3-for-4 WBS: 4-for-6