GAMEDAY: Game 34 - Lehigh Valley (19-11-3) at Hartford (16-15-4) 7:00 p.m. ET
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HARTFORD, CT -- The new-look Phantoms made several lineup changes in advance of their Saturday game against Hartford.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes
Expected Phantoms' Lines/Pairings
Greg Carey - Mikhail Vorobyev - Taylor Leier Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Carsen Twarynski - Connor Bunnaman - Mike Huntebrinker Tyrell Goulbourne - Steven Swavely - Colin McDonald
T.J. Brennan - James de Haas Philip Samuelsson - Phil Myers Mark Friedman - Reece Willcox
Alex Lyon (Backup: Branden Komm)
Phantoms' Scratches: Zach Palmquist (healthy), Cole Bardreau (injured), German Rubtsov (out for season), Alex Krushelnyski (healthy) and David Kase (injured)
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
Branden Komm made his AHL debut tonight in Hartford, and he had to wait 3:45 into the first period to face his first shot. Unfortunately, he was given much of a chance on the second shot he faced.
Peter Holland skated down the left-wing on a 3-on-2 chance and centered it to Matt Beleskey, whose center drive got him behind the Phantoms' defense of Phil Myers and Phil Samuelsson. Belesky tipped the centering feed into the top shelf over Komm's glove to give Hartford the 1-0 lead 5:07 into the contest.
The Phantoms got the game's first power play at 11:09, and fired several pucks on net but WolfPack goalie Dustin Tokarski - a former Phantoms goalie - stood tall to keep his team ahead by the 1-0 score.
Lehigh Valley played much better as the first period wore on, firing at will on Tokarski and finally getting one past him with 2:08 left before the first intermission. Phil Myers centered one to the net from the corner. Mike Vecchione's shot was stopped by Tokarski, but Nicolas Aube-Kubel picked up the rebound in the scramble and fired it past the former Phantom goalie to tie the game at 1-1.
A much better effort than the opening minutes of play for Lehigh Valley, who held a 16-5 shots edge heading into the middle frame with a 1-1 score.
SECOND PERIOD
Similar to the first frame, the WolfPack scored early in the middle frame to re-gain the one-goal lead when Peter Holland took a pass from Beleskey and sniped one bar-down on Komm from the top of the left-wing circle exactly six minutes into the period.
Not without their chances in the middle frame, notably two chances on the left wing - one each from Taylor Leier and Greg Carey several minutes apart - but the Phantoms couldn't find an equalizer heading to the third down 2-1.
The big edge in shots the Phantoms had in the first, 16-5, was nearly inversed in the middle frame as Hartford started to generate more consistent pressure. If not for some timely saves from Komm, it wouldn't have made it to the third period as a one-goal game.
THIRD PERIOD
Hartford made it three periods in a row with an early goal when Cole Schneider made it 3-1 WolfPack 2:39 into the third. Komm made the initial save on a shot from the center point, and got Schneider's first rebound attempt, but the fluttering puck was batted in by Schneider on the third attempt to extend Hartford's lead and really put the pressure on Lehigh Valley to respond with 17:21 left in regulation.
The Phantoms pressed in the final five minutes, pulling Komm for the extra attacker for the final three minutes, but it wasn't enough.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
5:07: HFD - Beleskey (4) - Holland, Meskanen 11:09: HFD - (PP) Hajek, minor (tripping) 17:52: LV - Aube-Kubel (10) - Vecchione, Myers
2nd Period
6:00: HFD - Holland (12) - Beleskey, O'Gara 18:17: LV - (PP) Samuelsson, minor (high-sticking)
3rd Period
2:39: HFD - Schneider (12) - Fogarty, Bigras
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 0 - 0 = 1 Hartford 1 - 1 - 1 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 16 - 5 - 10 = 31 Hartford 5 - 14 - 9 = 28
Goalies
LV: Branden Komm (25 saves - 28 shots) HFD: Dustin Tokarski (30 saves - 31 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-1 HFD: 0-for-1
Penalty Kill
LV: 1-for-1 HFD: 1-for-1
Attendance: 4,021
