GAMEDAY: Game 46 - Lehigh Valley (23-16-4) at Bridgeport (24-16-6) 7:00 p.m. ET
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BRIDGEPORT - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (24-16-5) are back from the All-Star break in the same building where their break began. The Phantoms kick off a pair of road contests this weekend with a Friday night faceoff against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (24-16-6) at 7:00 p.m. ET in a battle between second and third in the Atlantic Division.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes
Mike McKenna joined the Phantoms on a conditioning loan from Philadelphia, on the basis that he hasn't played since January 8th. With Alex Lyon still injured, Branden Komm serves as McKenna's backup.
Dale Weise was also assigned to Lehigh Valley by the Flyers after clearing waivers and remaining with the NHL club up until last week, playing right wing and making his Lehigh Valley Phantoms' debut.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Steven Swavely - Chris Conner Carsen Twarynski - Mike Vecchione - Dale Weise Tyrell Goulbourne - Colin McDonald - Justin BaileyAlex Krushelnyski - Mike Huntebrinker - Josh MacDonald
Philip Samuelsson (A) - Phil MyersT.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox James de Haas - Mark Friedman
*Mike McKenna - Branden Komm
Scratches: Alex Lyon (injured), Zach Palmquist (healthy), Cole Bardreau (injured), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (injured), German Rubtsov (injured), Connor Bunnaman (injured) and David Kase (injured)
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
A fight on the opening shift, resulting from Seth Helgeson challenging Tyrell Goulbourne after a Goulbourne hit in the corner on Mitch Vande Sompel, resulted in a power play for Lehigh Valley 20 seconds into the contest.
The Phantoms weren't able to capitalize, or get a shot on goal, during the ensuing two minutes but a tripping minor on Kyle Burroughs at 3:35 of the period gave the Phantoms a second chance at grabbing early momentum.
The power play was able to get set up, and although they didn't take a 1-0 lead with the man advantage they tallied the game's opening goal a mere seconds after it expired.
James de Haas missed the mark on a shot from the right-wing circle, but the puck bounced off the end boards and came out to the bottom of the left-wing circle where Justin Bailey was able to bank one in off Jeremy Smith's right pad and into the top shelf to give the Phantoms the 1-0 lead. Bailey's 12th of the season was also his third straight game with a goal.
Just 75 seconds later, Chris Conner set up Greg Carey for Carey's 21st of the season to extend the Phantoms' lead to 2-0.
The momentum continued to carry the Phantoms in the opening frame. They had taken a 3-0 lead before the Sound Tigers managed their first shot on net in the contest.
A great deke by Mike Vecchione at the defensive zone blue line opened things up in the neutral zone, and Vecchione got it to the left wing for Dale Weise who, from the center red line, floated a pass across to James de Haas on a 2-on-1 chance. The Phantoms' defender chose to shoot and tallied his first of the season to extend the Phantoms' lead to three.
At that point, Sound Tigers' head coach Brent Thompson opted to make a change in net. Not much fault to Smith (7 saves - 10 shots in 9:54), but the home team came out flat and needed a spark -- or sign of life.
It wasn't until there was 6:10 left before the first intermission that the Sound Tigers mustered their first shot of the game. Sebastian Aho made a nice move at the right point, before a toe-drag to the slot opened up a shooting lane. Phantoms goalie Mike McKenna, making his Lehigh Valley debut, made the stick save.
Bridgeport got seven shots through in the final six minutes of the period, but McKenna and the Phantoms headed to the first intermission with a big 3-0 lead.
SECOND PERIOD
For how dominant the Phantoms were in the first period, the Sound Tigers responded well after a flat first frame.
Bridgeport was the dominant team early in the middle frame, turning a 3-0 soon-to-be blowout into a one-goal hockey game with a pair of tallies on back-to-back shots 28 seconds apart.
First, a bit of a broken play as Seth Helgeson got a puck across to Mitch Vande Sompel and the ensuing shot was either fanned on or partially blocked. It dribbled past an unsuspecting McKenna at the 3:47 mark. On the next shift, Kyle Burroughs teed one up from the top of the right-wing circle past a screened McKenna to make it a 3-2 game.
The Sound Tigers carried play for large stretches of the middle frame. They went on to tie it up at 3-3 on a delayed penalty call in the waning seconds of the period.
After Justin Bailey was tagged for slashing Kyle Burroughs, Chris Bourque got a puck ahead to Otto Koivula and started a rush with Steve Bernier. Koivula fed Bernier on the left wing with speed, and the veteran forward had the edge on Phil Myers - drawing a holding minor on Myers before scoring on McKenna with 18.1 seconds left before the end of the period.
Since two penalties were assessed on the play and a goal was scored, the Phantoms were still assessed a penalty that left them on the penalty kill heading to the third period. The shots that were once 11-0 in favor of Lehigh Valley had nearly evened out at a 20-19 Phantoms' advantage as the two teams headed to the second intermission in a 3-3 tie.
THIRD PERIOD
After taking the slashing minor late in the second period, Bailey exited the box after the Phantoms' successful penalty kill and was the beneficiary of a fumbled puck on the Bridgeport blue line.
Bailey picked up a fluttering puck with a full head of steam and looked across as if he was setting up to pass on the 2-on-1 but instead threw a no-look shot through Gibson's five-hole to give the Phantoms the lead back at 4-3 in the opening 2:12 of the period. Bailey's 13th of the season made it six points (four goals, two assists) in seven games since joining the Phantoms following the trade from Buffalo.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Chris Bourque got open in the slot and took the feed from Koivula before sniping one past McKenna's glove to even the game right back up at 4-4.
The back-and-forth start to the period continued as Dale Weise tallied his first AHL goal since he last played in the AHL (April 23, 2011) to give the Phantoms the lead back at 5-4 with 14:39 left in regulation.
Goals kept coming as Chris Conner's seemingly harmless backhander eluded Gibson during a 4-on-4 sequence to extend Lehigh Valley's lead to 6-4.
Still, the Sound Tigers didn't quit - making it a one-goal game again with 3:36 left in regulation on Bernier's second of the night.
But that's as close as Bridgeport would get as Mike Vecchione picked the pocket of Josh Ho-Sang and floated one into the empty net to complete the 7-5 final score.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
0:20: LV - Goulbourne, major (fighting) 0:20: BST - (PP) Helgeson, minor (instigating) 0:20: BST - Helgeson, major (fighting) 0:20: BST - Helgeson, ten-minute misconduct 3:35: BST - (PP) Burroughs, minor (tripping) 5:39: LV - Bailey (12) - Vecchione, de Haas 6:54: LV - Carey (21) - Conner, Swavely 9:54: LV - de Haas (1) - Weise, Vecchione
2nd Period
3:47: BST - Vande Sompel (7) - Helgeson 4:15: BST - Burroughs (4) - Aho, Stevens 14:01: LV - (PP) Krushelnyski, minor (tripping) 19:42: BST - Bernier (13) - Koivula, C. Bourque 19:42: LV - (PP) Bailey, minor (slashing)
3rd Period
2:12: LV - Bailey (13) - Willcox, Brennan 3:40: BST - C. Bourque (10) - Koivula, Aho 5:21: LV - Weise (1) - Twarynski 11:31: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (kneeing) 12:32: BST - (PP) Aho, minor (high-sticking) 12:40: LV - Conner (12) - Willcox, Vecchione 16:24: BST - Bernier (14) - Helgeson, Koivula 18:52: LV - ENG Vecchione (11) - unassisted
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 3 - 0 - 4 = 7 Bridgeport 0 - 3 - 2 = 5
Shots
Lehigh Valley 14 - 6 - 12 = 32 Bridgeport 7 - 12 - 19 = 38
Goalies
LV: Mike McKenna (33 saves - 38 shots) BST: Jeremy Smith (7 saves - 10 shots in 9:54) and Chris Gibson (18 saves - 21 shots in 50:06)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-3 BST: 0-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-3 BST: 3-for-3
Attendance: 3,890
