GAMEDAY: Game 50 - Hartford (20-24-6) at Lehigh Valley (25-19-5) 7:15 p.m. ET
ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (25-19-5) finish their 3-in-3 Sunday afternoon looking for their win on the weekend in a rematch against the Hartford WolfPack (20-24-6).
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes
Mike McKenna is back in net Sunday after Alex Lyon played Saturday night.
New guys acquired in the trade with Montreal, David Schlemko and Byron Froese, remained out of the Phantoms' lineup. It's possible since they're coming from a Canadian AHL team that something like visa issues could be stalling their arrival.
Corban Knight cleared waivers and was assigned to the Phantoms prior to Sunday's game. Making his season debut with Lehigh Valley after playing three games to start the year with Philadelphia prior to his lengthy injury absence.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Corban Knight - Chris Conner Carsen Twarynski - Connor Bunnaman - Mike Vecchione Tyrell Goulbourne - Jori Lehtera - Colin McDonaldMike Huntebrinker - Steven Swavely - Josh MacDonald
Phil Samuelsson - Mark FriedmanZach Palmquist - Reece Willcox T.J. Brennan - James de Haas
Mike McKenna - Alex Lyon
Phantoms' scratches: David Schlemko (healthy), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (lower body), German Rubtsov (shoulder surgery - out for season), Byron Froese (healthy), Alex Krushelnyski (healthy) and David Kase (undisclosed)
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
The Phantoms didn't seem to let the fact that they were entering the third game on the weekend without any points in their previous two outings effect them. They didn't show signs of frustration. Instead, they went to work and dominated the opening half of the period.
Maintaining the edge in play, Lehigh Valley made the most of their strong start - tallying goals 59 seconds apart to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
First, Zach Palmquist got a puck ahead for Greg Carey to start a rush into the offensive zone. Carey pulled up and fired a hard shot from the top of the right-wing circle, and a smart heads-up decision by defenseman Reece Willcox - joining the rush - allowed the typically stay-at-home blue liner to crash the net and pot a rebound goal past Brandon Halverson to get the Phantoms' attack started.
On the next shift on a similar play up the ice, but to the left wing instead of the right side, Mark Friedman got a puck up to Colin McDonald and the Phantoms' captain skated to the left-wing face-off dot before sniping the far-side top corner on Halverson to put the Phantoms ahead 2-0.
Lehigh Valley continued to dominate play as the period continued, racking up 13 of the game's first 16 shots toward Halverson's net - spending large portions of the period on the attack in the offensive zone.
Unfortunately for the home team, an untimely penalty with 2:23 left before the first intermission gave Hartford a chance to steal momentum heading into the middle frame. And that's exactly what they did.
Mike McKenna faced just three shots in the opening 17:37 of the contest, but Hartford's power play fired six shots his way before the period concluded - getting a rebound goal from Peter Holland with 1:34 left in the period to cut the Phantoms' lead in half.
In fact, Holland has regularly victimized the Phantoms this year with Hartford. In four previous meetings and through the first period of today's game, Holland now has nine points (five goals, four assists) against Lehigh Valley this season.
SECOND PERIOD
Hartford seemed to carry momentum into the middle frame, as they came out firing pucks from all over in the offensive zone toward McKenna's net. After matching penalties to Connor Bunnaman and Lias Andersson for a scrum away from the play, the WolfPack seized momentum and tied up the game at 2-2.
Hartford's representative at last month's 2019 AHL All-Star Classic in Springfield, John Gilmour, displayed smooth skating and his offensive acumen - gliding up the middle of the ice, entering the offensive zone and firing a quick shot past McKenna for the defenseman's 16th goal on the season.
Still, the Phantoms didn't let frustration sink in after letting a 2-0 lead slip away. They went back to work, and Connor Bunnaman and Corban Knight led the charge - with Knight setting up Bunnaman for a pair of goals to break the 2-2 tie into a 4-2 Phantoms' advantage.
First, Knight took a puck from Phil Samuelsson down the right wing and centered it atop the crease for Bunnaman to tap in past Halverson. Just over four and a half minutes later - on a power play - Knight again found Bunnaman in the middle from the right wing. This time, a little further out for a quick one-touch shot from Bunnaman in the slot for his 14th goal of the season.
After last night's loss to Hartford, head coach Kerry Huffman noted the recent struggles the team has been having on the man advantage.
"We had won some games earlier in the year with our power play scoring some goals," Huffman said. "Right now, the [power play] is dried up & we're struggling a little bit."
A power play tally from Bunnaman on his second goal of the period, and a beautiful feed across on a 2-on-1 between Mike Vecchione and Colin McDonald saw the captain tally his second of the contest - extending the Phantoms' lead to 5-2 heading to the third period and perhaps putting the power play concerns on the back burner for now.
THIRD PERIOD
The Phantoms didn't let off the gas in the final frame, maintaining their significant edge in play from the middle frame and finishing off the weekend on a positive note.
Hartford really started firing shots toward McKenna in the waning moments of the game, but the Phantoms' goalie made the necessary stops to preserve the 5-2 win.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
5:08: LV - Willcox (2) - Carey, Palmquist 6:07: LV - McDonald (5) - Friedman, Lehtera 7:00: LV - (PP) Twarynski, minor (roughing) 8:55: HFD - (PP) Gropp, minor (tripping) 17:37: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (cross-checking) 18:26: HFD - PPG Holland (19) - Brickley, Butler
2nd Period
2:01: HFD - Andersson, minor (roughing) 2:01: LV - Bunnaman, minor (roughing) 2:46: HFD - Gilmour (16) - Lindgren, Meskanen 4:09: LV - Bunnaman (13) - Knight, Samuelsson 8:25: HFD - (PP) Fogarty, minor (tripping) 8:49: LV - PPG Bunnaman (14) - Knight, Carey 10:46: HFD - (PP) Bigras, minor (holding) 12:32: LV - PPG McDonald (6) - Vecchione, Twarynski 19:02: HFD - (PP) Tolkinen, minor (hooking)
3rd Period
5:26: LV - (PP) Huntebrinker, minor (hooking)
BOXSCORE
Hartford 1 - 1 - 0 = 2 Lehigh Valley 2 - 3 - 0 = 5
Shots
Hartford 9 - 9 - 17 = 35 Lehigh Valley 15 - 13 - 6 = 34
Goalies
HFD: Brandon Halverson (29 saves - 34 shots) LV: Mike McKenna (24 saves - 26 shots)
Power Play
HFD: 1-for-3 LV: 2-for-4
Penalty Kill
HFD: 2-for-4 LV: 2-for-3
Attendance: 7,647
