GAMEDAY: Game 70 - Lehigh Valley (34-28-7) at Charlotte (46-16-8) 7:00 p.m. ET

INSIDE AHL HOCKEY HQ - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (34-29-7) came into Charlotte still needing to rack up the wins in their final seven games. A meeting with the AHL's top team, the Charlotte Checkers (47-16-8) proved to be too much.

The Checkers opened up a 4-0 lead, thanks in large part to a 19-3 shots advantage in the first period, and never looked back - handing the Phantoms a 5-1 regulation loss in what could be one of the final blows to their mathematical playoff chances.

With six games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Phantoms trail the final playoff spot - currently held by the Providence Bruins (35-24-11) - by six points.

The Phantoms and Checkers will re-match in Charlotte again Wednesday night before Lehigh Valley returns home to host rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a pair of games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Chris Conner - Byron Froese - Pascal LabergeGreg Carey - Connor Bunnaman - David Kase Carsen Twarynski - Cole Bardreau - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Matthew Strome - Steven Swavely - Colin McDonald

David Schlemko - Mark FriedmanPhilip Samuelsson - James de Haas Zach Palmquist - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - Mike McKenna

Phantoms' Scratches: Tyrell Goulbourne (injured), Mikhail Vorobyev (injured), German Rubtsov (injured), Jori Lehtera (veteran), Mike Vecchione (injured), Rob Michel (healthy) and T.J. Brennan (veteran)

GAME STORY

FIRST PERIOD

An early hooking penalty 74 seconds into the contest proved absolutely disastrous for Lehigh Valley.

Not only did Charlotte open the scoring on the ensuing power play - a Tomas Jurco blind backhander on a rebound of a Julien Gauthier shot that Alex Lyon initially stopped - but they went on to dominate play to the tune of a 19-3 edge in shots before the opening period was said and done.

Aleksi Saarela turned on the jets with under five minutes left to play in the period and converted his mini-breakaway for his 26th of the season to extend the Checkers' lead to two. If not for Lyon, who was under near constant siege in the opening 15 minutes, the Phantoms wouldn't have made it to the intermission still in a manageable situation down 2-0 as the middle frame got underway.

SECOND PERIOD

Things didn't get much better in the middle frame for Lehigh Valley.

Charlotte added two more to extend their lead to 4-0 heading to the third, with Saarela getting his second of the evening 12:18 into the middle frame and Stelio Mattheos potting a rebound marker with 2:47 left before the intermission.

EDITOR'S NOTE The AHLTV stream for the 2nd period didn't exist due to technical difficulties. Even after it was fixed, there was no way to re-watch from roughly 17:30 left in the period all the way until there was about three and a half minutes left to play.

THIRD PERIOD

Nicolas Aube-Kubel broke Alex Nedeljkovic's shutout bid 4:04 into the final frame, tagging up at the blue line to avoid being whistled offside and taking a pass from Byron Froese before splitting the defense in the high slot and sniping one over Nedeljkkovic's shoulder for his 15th of the season.

That goal cut the deficit to 4-1, but was all the offense the Phantoms could muster.

Mike McKenna was summoned to play the third period in net, allowing a Gauthier rebound goal midway through the period to cap the scoring in a 5-1 loss for Lehigh Valley.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:14: LV - (PP) Palmquist, minor (hooking) 2:33: CHA - PPG Jurco (9) - Gauthier, Bean 14:46: CHA - Saarela (26) - Poturalski, Geekie

2nd Period

10:02: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (holding) 12:18: CHA - Saarela (27) - Schilkey, Poturalski 17:13: CHA - Mattheos (2) - Carrick, Poturalski

3rd Period

4:04: LV - Aube-Kubel (15) - Froese 9:08: CHA - Gauthier (23) - Renouf, Roy 9:15: LV - Aube-Kubel, double-minor (roughing) 9:15: LV - Froese, minor (roughing) 9:15: LV - (PP) Samuelsson, minor (roughing) 9:15: CHA - Renouf, minor (roughing) 9:15: CHA - Carrick, minor (roughing) 9:15: CHA - Jurco, minor (roughing) 19:07: LV - Bardreau, minor (slashing) 19:07: CHA - Lorentz, minor (unsportsmanlike)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   0 - 0 - 1 = 1 Charlotte  2 - 2 - 1 = 5

Shots

Lehigh Valley   3 - 6 - 8 = 17 Charlotte  19 - 10 - 9 = 38

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (24 saves - 28 shots in 40:00) and Mike McKenna (9 saves - 10 shots in 20:00) CHA: Alex Nedeljkovic (16 saves - 17 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-0 CHA: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

LV: 2-for-3 CHA: 0-for-0

Attendance: 6,422