GAMEDAY: Game 1 - Bridgeport (0-0-0) at Lehigh Valley (0-0-0) 7:05 PM ET
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ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms begin their fifth season in the Lehigh Valley Saturday night when they host a new-look Bridgeport Sound Tigers team that is equally loaded with high-end prospects and proven AHL veteran studs. Puck drop at the PPL Center in downtown Allentown, Pa. is set for 7:05 p.m. ET
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms will begin the season with three goaltenders, eight defensemen and 14 forwards on the opening night roster. There is no 23-man limit in the AHL like there is at the NHL level.
GOALIES
The three goalies, most recently Anthony Stolarz assigned to Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers Saturday, seems to be a temporary situation as AHL-contracted goaltender Branden Komm was reassigned to ECHL Reading and Phantoms' PTO goalie Jason Kasdorf remains on the AHL roster to back up Carter Hart until Stolarz is in town.
Carter Hart will get the start in net Saturday against Bridgeport in the Phantoms' season opener, making his pro debut for real after playing an NHL preseason game at the PPL Center in the annual Flyers in the Valley game on September 21st.
"For sure, it's been a long month of camp and stuff," Hart told Inside AHL Hockey when asked about the anticipation of making his pro debut on Saturday night. "I know we are all excited to get the regular season rolling and get into games here. I know we've done a lot of prep this week and we're ready for [Saturday] night."
DEFENSEMEN
The Phantoms signed veteran defenseman Philip Samuelsson to a standard AHL contract earlier this week to bolster the back end with a proven veteran that can stabilize what is a young blue line core outside of T.J. Brennan and newcomer Zach Palmquist.
Reece Willcox, who was injured in the 1st period of last Friday's preseason contest against Charlotte, did not practice Friday and was ruled out by head coach Scott Gordon, who told Inside AHL Hockey they weren't going to rush Willcox or the incoming Samuelsson into the opening night lineup prematurely.
Lehigh Valley loaned defensemen Nick Luukko to ECHL Reading prior to Saturday night's game.
That leaves the following defenseman getting into the lineup tonight:
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman Zach Palmquist - Phil Myers James de Haas - David Drake
FORWARDS
As for up front, Taylor Leier was reassigned to the Phantoms this week and joined the team at practice Friday as one of two extra forwards (Connor Bunnaman being the other). With Leier out west with the Flyers for their team building event in Colorado prior to their season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights, it's not expected that Leier will be in the Phantoms' opening night lineup.
Expected forward lines for Saturday's game against Bridgeport:
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner David Kase - German Rubtsov - Colin McDonald Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Radel Fazleev
WILKES-BARRE - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened their preseason schedule in Wilkes-Barre Thursday night, and despite the result - a 3-2 loss to the Penguins - head coach Scott Gordon said there were plenty of positives to be taken from the contest.
"It was good. A lot of positives. I thought our guys did a lot of stuff we worked on in practice, which was good to see. The areas that we were off on we weren't off by much. A lot of opportunities - three posts. It was a good effort. Overall, first time out, some real good signs."
Lehigh Valley's Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner (A) David Kase - German Rubtsov - Colin McDonald (C) Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Radel Fazleev
T.J. Brennan (A) - Mark Friedman James de Haas - Phil MyersZach Palmquist - David Drake
Carter Hart - Jason Kasdorf
Phantoms Scratches: Anthony Stolarz, Philip Samuelsson, Taylor Leier, Connor Bunnaman & Reece Willcox (undisclosed injury)
Bridgeport's Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Chris Bourque - Travis St. Denis - Mike Sislo Keifer Bellows - Ryan Hitchcock - Steve Bernier (A) Michael Dal Colle - Connor Jones - Joshua Ho-Sang Ryan Bourque - Scott Eansor - Otto Koivula
Devin Toews - Kyle Burroughs (C) Parker Wotherspoon - Sebastian Aho Seth Helgeson (A) - Mitch Vande Sompel
Christopher Gibson - Jeremy Smith
Sound Tigers' Scratches:
POST-GAME REACTION
*Stay tuned after tonight's game for Phantoms Post-Game Extra!
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
It was a bit of a sluggish start for Lehigh Valley to start the season, but after a Devon Toews boarding minor gave the Phantoms their first power play of the season it wasn't long before the home team gave the fans at PPL Center a reason to make some noise.
The man advantage itself was pretty ineffective, but just 12 seconds after the power play expired the Phantoms got the game's first goal.
Phil Myers took a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and his shot from the right point was rebounded in past Sound Tigers' goalie Christopher Gibson by Phantoms' forward Greg Carey at the 5:52 mark of the first frame.
Some solid PK work by David Kase on Lehigh Valley's first penalty kill of the season allowed the Phantoms to maintain their momentum from earlier in the period.
Carsen Twarynski turned on the jets and had his breakaway stopped by Gibson, who came up with a big stop. Equally as impressive was the stop Gibson's left post made on Mike Vecchione's rebound attempt.
The Phantoms took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Carter Hart looked sharp in the opening frame, stopping all 10 shots he faced.
SECOND PERIOD
Bridgeport appeared to have the early jump to start the middle frame, and nearly tied things up when Kieffer Bellows sprung himself on a breakaway.
Instead, Carter Hart came up with a big stop in the opening minute to preserve the Phantoms' 1-0 lead. Then, on the next shift, Nicolas Aube-Kubel created some offense for himself and extended the Phantoms' lead to 2-0 at the 2:00 mark of the middle frame.
Aube-Kubel's speed was evident as he stole a puck in the D-zone and took it the length of the ice - pulling up atop the right-wing face-off circle and sniping one past Gibson.
The Phantoms - and Aube-Kubel - weren't done there, either.
Just as a Phantoms' power play was expiring, Greg Carey led a rush through the neutral zone - spotting Varone on the left-wing entering the offensive zone with speed. Carey wisely slid the puck to the left for Varone, who took it to the net hard before using great vision to spot Aube-Kubel heading to the backdoor. The pass was on the money, and Aube-Kubel roofed in an easy one for his second of the period to extend Phantoms' lead to 3-0 with 13:09 left in the 2nd period.
Hart continued to impress in net, making some sharp saves to preserve the 3-0 lead until a late period penalty on Cole Bardreau for holding gave Bridgeport a power play chance they wouldn't waste.
Chris Bourque took a pass from Sebastian Aho, and from the right-wing circle fired one toward the net that bounced off of Kieffer Bellows' skate atop the crease and slid in behind Hart to put Bridgeport on the board with 3:06 left before the second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
The Phantoms opened things up in the opening half of the third period.
First, a nice play between a pair of rookies resulted in a Phantoms' goal to extend the lead to 4-1. German Rubtsov picked up a loose puck in the D-zone and started a transition play with David Kase. The give-and-go worked to perfect as Kase came through the neutral zone and fed it to Rubtsov cutting to the net in the offensive zone for a backhander and Rubtsov's first career goal.
Carey had his second of the night on the next shift to extend the Phantoms' lead to 5-1, picking up a puck in the offensive zone and from the right-wing circle spun and fired one past Gibson.
Bridgeport climbed their way back into the game, tallying a pair of goals on a 5-on-3 power play in the second half of the third period to cut the Phantoms' lead to 5-3, but that's as close as they would get.
Phil Varone added an empty net tally to seal the deal on the Phantoms' season-opening win.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
3:40: BST - (PP) Toews, minor (boarding) 5:52: LV - Carey (1) - Myers, Aube-Kubel 12:34: LV - (PP) Bardreau, minor (boarding)
2nd Period
2:00: LV - Aube-Kubel (1) - unassisted 4:45: BST - (PP) Ho-Sang, minor (elbowing) 6:51: LV - Aube-Kubel (2) - Varone, Carey 8:56: BST - (PP) Wotherspoon, minor (hooking) 10:30: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Vecchione) 16:19: LV - (PP) Bardreau, minor (holding) 16:54: BST - PPG Bellows (1) - C. Bourque, Aho 19:47: BST - Jones, minor (roughing) 19:47: LV - Friedman, minor (slashing)
3rd Period
4:34: BST - (PP) Jones, minor (roughing) 7:50: LV - Rubtsov (1) - Kase, Friedman 8:41: LV - Carey (2) - unassisted 8:55: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (hooking) 9:25: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (cross-checking) 11:01: BST - PPG Vande Sompel (1) - Ho-Sang 11:18: BST - PPG Dal Colle (1) - Ho-Sang, Vande Sompel 19:18: LV - ENG Varone (1) - McDonald, Goulbourne
BOXSCORE
Bridgeport 0 - 1 - 2 = 3 Lehigh Valley 1 - 2 - 3 = 6
Shots
Bridgeport 10 - 11 - 13 = 34 Lehigh Valley 10 - 10 - 9 = 29
Goalies
LV - Carter Hart (31 saves - 34 shots) BST - Chris Gibson (23 saves - 28 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-4 BST: 2-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-5 BST: 4-for-4
