GAMEDAY: Game 45 - Lehigh Valley (23-15-4) at Bridgeport (23-16-6) 7:00 p.m. ET
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BRIDGEPORT - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (24-15-5) have turned a losing skid into a six-game unbeaten streak (4-0-2) rather quickly with their packed schedule easing up after their seventh game in 11 days tonight - a road tilt against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (23-16-6) at the Webster Bank Arena at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes
Alex Lyon was injured at the team's morning skate Friday, necessitating a quick call up of Branden Komm. With the plan all along to get Carter Hart in net Saturday in Bridgeport, Komm drove to Allentown and got the start Friday - turning in a strong effort to pick up his first career AHL victory last night against Laval.
Other than the change in net, not expecting any other changes to the Phantoms lineup Saturday in Bridgeport - barring a last-minute decision from head coach Kerry Huffman.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Steven Swavely - Chris Conner (A) Carsen Twarynski - Mike Vecchione - Tyrell Goulbourne Justin Bailey - Mikhail Vorobyev - Colin McDonald (C)Josh MacDonald - Mike Huntebrinker - Alex Krushelnyski
Philip Samuelsson (A) - Phil MyersZach Palmquist - Reece Willcox James de Haas - Mark Friedman
Carter Hart - Branden Komm
Scratches: Alex Lyon (injured), Frank Hora (healthy), Cole Bardreau (injured), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (injured), German Rubtsov (injured), Connor Bunnaman (injured), David Kase (injured) and T.J. Brennan (illness)
Bridgeport Sound Tigers Lineup Notes
Sound Tigers Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Chris Bourque - Otto Koivula - Steve Bernier (A)Michael Dal Colle – Connor Jones - Josh Ho-Sang Kieffer Bellows - Travis St. Denis - Tanner Fritz Ryan Bourque - Jeff Kubiak - Ben Holmstrom (C)
Sebastian Aho - Kyle Burroughs Seth Helgeson (A) - Mitch Vande SompelParker Wotherspoon - Chris Casto
Jeremy Smith - Chris Gibson
Scratches: Stephen Gionta, Matt Lorito, Mike Sislo, John Stevens, Scott Eansor, Devon Toews and Matt Gaudreau
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
Bridgeport came out flying to start this one, firing the first nine shots on goal in the contest and really taking it to the Phantoms in the opening eight minutes.
Loaned to Lehigh Valley prior to this weekend, Carter Hart made his first AHL start since December 15th and had to be dialed in from puck drop - coming up big on several occasions to keep the game scoreless, and the Phantoms afloat.
None of Hart's saves were bigger than his stop at the right post on Travis St. Denis about 2 and a half minutes into the opening period. A deflected point shot came right to St. Denis, but his quick shot was snared by the glove of the Phantoms' goalie - a sure-fire candidate for ESPN's top ten plays of the night kind of stop.
It was much of the same as the period wore on, with Bridgeport firing pucks at will at Hart. Luckily for Lehigh Valley, a majority of the shots were kept to the outside and Hart was able to control his rebounds efficiently.
The Phantoms took a pair of penalties in the second half of the period, but the league's top penalty killing unit was able to get the job done on both occasions to keep the game scoreless heading to the middle frame.
SECOND PERIOD
An errant Phantoms' pass was picked off in the neutral zone by Kieffer Bellows, and the speedy Islanders prospect made the most of the turnover - skating into the zone to the left-wing circle before snapping a quick shot past Hart to the short side to give Bridgeport the game's opening goal 2:02 into the middle frame.
Lehigh Valley was able to start getting in on the attack more consistently in the middle period, and were rewarded for it with 7:52 left before the second intermission.
Mikhail Vorobyev got a puck ahead for Justin Bailey, who sneaked behind the Bridgeport defense and beat Jeremy Smith on a mini break-in to even the game at 1-1. Unfortunatey for Lehigh Valley, the tied score was short-lived.
Bridgeport regained the 2-1 lead less than two minutes later when annual AHL sniper Chris Bourque got open in the slot and took a feed from Otto Koivula before beating Hart bar-down with 6:13 left before the second intermission.
Still, the Phantoms continued to pressure. Tyrell Goulbourne was buzzing around the net all night, searching for a goal on his birthday as the forward turned 24 years old today. He had a chance late in the period but was stopped atop the crease by Smith before an errant clearout into the stands gave the Phantoms a power play to end the period.
Lehigh Valley pressured but was unable to find the equalizer, heading to the third trailing the Sound Tigers 2-1.
THIRD PERIOD
The final period before the All-Star break for both teams brought on an empty-the-tank type mentality from both teams, and they battled it out in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Despite playing in their seventh game in 11 days and trailing a goal, Lehigh Valley went to work - both offensively by trying to create scoring chances and defensively by getting into shooting lanes and blocking shots. One sequence saw both Zach Palmquist and Carsen Twarynski block shots and come up hurting, only to see both battle through until they were able off for a change.
Jeremy Smith, who only faced five shots in the opening period, was put to the test more in the final 40 - and had to come up big on several occassions in the third period tonight in a one goal game. One shift saw him stop a seemingly harmless Mike Huntebrinker shot from the corner, and then come up big time on the rebound in front to Alex Krushelnyski - getting a pad save and keeping his team in front 2-1.
Later in the period, Bridgeport extended their lead to 3-1 when Otto Koivula redirected a Kyle Burroughs shot from the point past Hart with 7:05 left in regulation.
The Sound Tigers added an empty net tally with 1:24 left to complete the 4-1 final score.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
9:50: LV - (PP) Palmquist, minor (hooking) 15:46: LV - (PP) Palmquist, minor (high-sticking)
2nd Period
2:02: BST - Bellows (11) - unassisted 4:35: BST - (PP) Helgeson, minor (slashing) 12:08: LV - Bailey (11) - Vorobyev 13:47: BST - Bourque (8) - Koivula, Aho 14:28: BST - (PP) Bellows, minor (holding) 17:44: BST - (PP) Dal Colle, minor (delay of game)
3rd Period
5:21: BST - (PP) Jones, minor (tripping) 12:55: BST - Koivula (14) - Burroughs, Bernier 13:45: LV - (PP) Goulbourne, minor (roughing) 18:36: BST - ENG C. Bourque (9) - Bernier 19:12: BST - (PP) R. Bourque, minor (slashing)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 1 - 0 = 1 Bridgeport 0 - 2 - 2 = 4
Shots
Lehigh Valley 5 - 16 - 8 = 29 Bridgeport 20 - 7 - 9 = 36
Goalies
LV: Carter Hart (32 saves - 35 shots) BST: Jeremy Smith (28 saves - 29 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-5 BST: 0-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-3 BST: 5-for-5
Attendance: 3,936
