GAMEDAY: Game 22 - Cleveland (11-8-3) at Lehigh Valley (13-6-2)

ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-6-2) welcome the Cleveland Monsters (11-8-3) to the PPL Center in downtown Allentown, PA for the first time in franchise history, with plenty of buzz for a mid-week AHL contest with Philadelphia Flyers' new GM Chuck Fletcher in the building taking his first first-hand look at the minor league roster.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Carter Hart is expected to get the start in net for Lehigh Valley.

With the Phantoms back from their Canadian road trip, forward Alex Krushelnyski was reassigned to Lehigh Valley's ECHL affiliate Reading Royals.

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Greg Carey - Phil Varone - David Kase Chris Conner - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Carsen Twarynski - Mikhail Vorobyev - Taylor Leier Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonald

Philip Samuelsson - Mark Friedman James de Haas - Phil MyersZach Palmquist - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - Carter Hart

Scratches: German Rubtsov (injury), Radel Fazleev, Connor Bunnaman and T.J. Brennan

GAME STORY

FIRST PERIOD

The Phantoms and Monsters appeared to be feeling each other out in the opening minutes of the contest, but Lehigh Valley was able to get the first (and second) power play of the night - getting a brief two-man advantage 7:36 into the first frame but unable to generate much of anything. In fact, the Phantoms had just one registered shot on goal as the period reach its midway mark.

Cleveland seemed to have momentum on their side after the sucessful penalty kills, spending several shifts almost exclusively in the Phantoms' defensive zone. Lehigh Valley - without top puck-moving defenseman T.J. Brennan for Wednesday night's game - was having trouble early getting pucks out and getting on the attack with speed through the neutral zone.

The Monsters continued to carry an edge in play, but thanks to Alex Lyon (14 first period saves) the two teams headed to the first intermission in a scoreless tie.

SECOND PERIOD

The Monsters' strong edge in play continued in the middle frame, with Lyon needing to continuously come up with big time saves to keep the game scoreless - most notably during a penalty kill with Phil Myers in the box for cross-checking early in the period. Lyon faced (and stopped) all six shots he faced during that two-minute sequence, and was on pace to see 50 shots as the period approached the midway mark.

Lehigh Valley appeared to gain some momentum from a power play chance of their own shortly after their successful kill of Myers' minor, with Chris Conner nearly giving the Phantoms a 1-0 lead shortly after the Phantoms' power play expired. Conner stole a puck in the offensive zone, and took a sneaky shot toward Monsters' goalie J-F Berube on the ensuing 2-on-1 chance - nearly beating the goalie and lighting the lamp.

Instead, Cleveland opened the scoring on a transition play - with former 1st rounder Sonny Milano picking up a puck and skating it into the offensive zone before pulling back and spotting Ryan MacInnis in the slot. MacInnis no made mistake, sniping one from the slot past Lyon to give the Monsters the 1-0 lead at the 10:18 mark of the period.

Still, despite the large swing in Cleveland's favor throughout the contest, the Phantoms found themselves in a one-goal game heading to the third period.

THIRD PERIOD

Lehigh Valley came out firing in the final frame, getting a power play on the opening shift and getting seven shots on net during the two-minute man advantage. They didn't score, but the jump in energy was noticeable and something that the home team was lacking in the first 40 minutes.

After a strong opening two minutes, the Phantoms took a penalty - Nicolas Aube-Kubel for holding - and it cost them dearly as Cleveland converted on the man advantage to take a 2-0 lead with 15:41 left in regulation. Dean Kukan's shot from the point changed directions and trickled through Lyon's pad for Kukan's first of the season.

Aube-Kubel returned to the ice after his penalty cost his team a goal and canceled that out when he tipped a Phil Myers shot from the right point past Berube to get the Phantoms on the board and back within a goal with 14:04: left to play.

The Phantoms' momentum was short-lived however, as a defensive zone turnover ended up in the back of the home team's net. A relentless two-man forecheck gave Myers and James de Haas issues, and the Monsters' pounced on the puck with Kevin Stenlund winding up a big slap shot from the slot that rose over Lyon and into the top shelf to give the Monsters a 3-1 lead.

Cleveland finished things off with two more tallies late in the third - Justin Scott's fourth of the season and an empty net tally from Milano to complete the 5-1 final.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

6:08: CLE - (PP) Letestu, minor (tripping) 7:36: CLE - (PP) Cross, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

4:20: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (cross-checking) 6:31: CLE - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Abramov) 10:18: CLE - MacInnis (2) - Milano 15:09: CLE - (PP) MacInnis, minor (slashing) 16:20: LV - (PP) McDonald, minor (interference)

3rd Period

0:18: CLE - (PP) Clendening, minor (tripping) 2:27: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (holding) 4:19: CLE - PPG Kukan (1) - Milano, Stenlund 5:56: LV - Aube-Kubel (7) - Myers, Conner 9:42: CLE - Stenlund (8) - unassisted 13:59: CLE - Scott (4) - Abramov, Kukan 16:30: CLE - ENG Milano (6) - unassisted

BOXSCORE

Cleveland  0 - 1 - 4 = 5 Lehigh Valley  0 - 0 - 1 = 1

Shots

Cleveland  14 - 13 - 9 = 36 Lehigh Valley  4 - 12 - 19 = 35

Goalies

CLE: J-F Berube (34 saves - 35 shots) LV: Alex Lyon (31 saves - 35 shots)

Power Play

CLE: 1-for-3 LV: 0-for-5

Penalty Kill

CLE: 5-for-5 LV: 2-for-3

Attendance 6,192