GAMEDAY: Game 65 - Lehigh Valley (31-27-6) at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (30-24-10) 7:05 p.m. ET
WILKES-BARRE, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (31-27-6) are at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza battling Atlantic Division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (30-24-10) in the first of a home-and-home series this weekend. With both teams chasing down Providence for the final playoff spot in the division, it is sure to feature two desperate hockey teams.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Chris Conner - Mike Vecchione - Pascal Laberge Greg Carey - Connor Bunnaman - David Kase Tyrell Goulbourne - Byron Froese - Nicolas Aube-KubelCarsen Twarynski - Steven Swavely - Cole Bardreau
James de Haas - T.J. Brennan Philip Samulesson - Mark FriedmanZach Palmquist - Reece Willcox
Alex Lyon - Mike McKenna
Phantoms' Scraches: David Schlemko, Colin McDonald, Mikhail Vorobyev, German Rubtsov, Jori Lehtera and Rob Michel
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
An early power play by the wayside for Lehigh Valley gave the Penguins some momentum, and not long after the penalty to Joseph Blandisi expired it was the Penguins opening the scoring 7:06 into the contest.
An errant pass on a breakout was intercepted in the neutral zone by Ryan Haggerty, and the Phantom-killer did the rest himself - easily skating down the right wing in the offensive zone and straight to the face-off dot for an uncontested shot that beat Lyon to the top shelf on the short side. It marked Haggerty's 17th of the season, and his fifth goal against the Phantoms this season in six games.
The teams traded unsucessful power plays late in the period, heading to the middle frame with the Penguins ahead 1-0.
SECOND PERIOD
The Phantoms came out for the middle frame with more jump in their step, and it ultimately paid off for them.
After Carsen Twarynski was slashed on a breakaway, the power play unit came through - though officially the game-tying goal came just seconds after the penalty had expired.
An alert play from David Kase saw the Czech-born forward use great vision to spot an open Philip Samuelsson, sending a perfect cross ice pass through the penalty killers' box. Samuelsson wound up and fired a "slap-pass" to the net-front where Nicolas Aube-Kubel was able to re-direct one past Tristan Jarry to tie the game at 1-1 with 11:24 left in the middle frame.
Lehigh Valley took their first lead of the hockey game just over four minutes later on a great individual effort from Chris Conner after he took a cross-ice pass through the neutral zone in stride from Cole Bardreau. Conner blazed down the right-wing, using a quick stutter-step fake to get the defender moving the wrong way before driving to the net and slipping a backhander past Jarry to make it 2-1 Phantoms with 7:14 left before the second intermission.
The Phantoms' lead was short-lived, however, after an unfortunate bounce capped off a less than stellar decision from Alex Lyon.
Lyon attempted to come way out of his crease to break up a loose puck coming his way and his clearing attempt was kept in the zone by Sam Miletic, who drove to the net and was slashed. Before the Phantoms' could touch the puck and get the whistle, the Pens tied the game on the delayed call with Haggerty shuffling one through the five-hole on Lyon with 3:21 left in the period.
A late, blindsided hit from Joseph Cramarossa on an unsuspecting Mark Friedman gave the Phantoms a late period power play, but they weren't successful in re-taking the lead. Instead, the two teams headed to the third period knotted at 2-2, and even in shots 18-18.
THIRD PERIOD
The Phantoms wasted no time in the third period, getting a big goal on the opening shift to re-gain their one-goal lead.
Just 28 seconds into the period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel fired a shot from the right-wing wall and Jarry had trouble handling it - allowing Aube-Kubel to follow up his own shot for a rebound put-back and his second of the contest to give Lehigh Valley a 3-2 lead.
From there, the Phantoms took back-to-back penalties - allowing the Penguins to get in on the attack. Luckily for Lehigh Valley, the Phantoms responded with two solid penalty kills - one of which saw fans booing the home team as the penalty expired.
At times, it was a Penguins' shooting gallery. But, Lyon stood tall in net - stopping everything thrown his way and more than making up for his earlier puck handling misfortunes.
The win provides another big two points in the standings, moving Lehigh Valley ahead of the Penguins and back into 5th place in the Atlantic Divisio .
With 4th place Providence defeating Belleville in regulation, the gap to the final playoff spot remains seven points for Lehigh Valley with 11 games left on their regular season schedule. The Phantoms also have one game in-hand on the PBruins.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
3:37: WBS - (PP) Blandisi, minor (tripping) 7:06: WBS - Haggerty (17) - unassisted 7:56: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (elbowing) 14:02: WBS - (PP) Angello, minor (slashing) 16:22: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (cross-checking)
2nd Period
6:31: WBS - (PP) Prow, minor (slashing) 8:36: LV - Aube-Kubel (13) - Samuelsson, Kase 12:46: LV - Conner (14) - Bardreau, de Haas 16:39: WBS - Haggerty (18) - Miletic, Lafferty 17:49: WBS - (PP) Cramarossa, minor (interference) 17:49: WBS - Cramarossa, minor (roughing) 17:49: LV - Twarynski, minor (roughing)
3rd Period
0:28: LV - Aube-Kubel (14) - Froese, Goulbourne 1:29: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (slashing) 5:13: LV - (PP) Brennan, minor (elbowing) 17:44: LV - Friedman, double-minor (roughing) 17:44: WBS - Lafferty, double-minor (roughing) 17:44: WBS - (PP) Haggerty, minor (boarding) 19:52: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (hooking)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 2 - 1 = 3 W-B/Scranton 1 - 1 - 0 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 6 - 12 - 14 = 32 W-B/Scranton 8 - 10 - 10 = 28
Goalies
LV: Alex Lyon (26 saves - 28 shots) WBS: Tristan Jarry (29 saves - 32 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-5 WBS: 0-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-5 WBS: 5-for-5
Attendance: 6,135
