GAMEDAY: Game 76 - Hartford (29-35-10) at Lehigh Valley (38-30-7) 7:15 p.m. ET
ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (38-30-7) look to finish the regular season on a five-game winning streak when they host the Hartford WolfPack (29-35-10) at 7:15 p.m. ET in their 2018-19 season finale.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Corban Knight - Chris Conner Tyrell Goulbourne - Byron Froese - Nicolas Aube-KubelCarsen Twarynski - Connor Bunnaman - David Kase Matthew Strome - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonald
T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox Phil Samuelsson - Phil MyersMark Friedman - Rob Michel
Mike McKenna - Alex Lyon
Phantoms' Scratches: James de Haas (healthy), David Schlemko (injured/veteran), Zach Palmquist (healthy), Steven Swavely (healthy), Mikhail Vorobyev (injured), German Rubtsov (injured), Jori Lehtera (veteran), Mike Vecchione (injured) and Pascal Laberge (healthy)
GAME STORY
FIRST PERIOD
Despite missing the playoffs, an almost foregone conclusion entering the weekend, there was a bit of extra energy in the building at the PPL Center for the Phantoms' season finale Saturday night.
As the opening frame wore on, Lehigh Valley started to generate consistent offensive pressure - drawing the game's first power play just after the midway mark of the period with a 5-2 edge in shots.
They weren't able to convert on the ensuing man advantage, but continued to control large portions of play in the period until a late period penalty by Phil Myers gave Hartford a chance of their own on the power play.
The WolfPack didn't cash in on their opening power play chance, but they were able to shift momentum into their favor and take a 1-0 lead before the first period came to a close.
After a bit of a broken play on a face-off in the defensive zone, Hartford's Ryan Dmowski slipped behind the defense and got a puck from Steven Fogarty - switching to his backhand while being hooked by Tyrell Goulbourne and scoring his first career AHL goal on the delayed penalty call with 31.7 seconds left before the first intermission.
SECOND PERIOD
The middle frame started with a glorious chance for Nicolas Aube-Kubel, as the Phantoms stole a puck in the neutral zone after the opening draw and broke in 2-on-0. Unfortunately for the Phantoms, Aube-Kubel was unable to get enough of his backhand on a centering feed from Byron Froese or else the game would have been evened up at 1-1.
Instead, seconds after a fight between Phil Myers and Shawn St. Amant, Hartford stretched their lead to 2-0. Gabriel Fontaine muscled his way to the net with the puck and Lewis Zerter-Gossage was able to get the rebound in past Mike McKenna 2:42 into the middle frame.
Still, the Phantoms pressed on - going on to out-shoot Hartford 13-5 in the period before eventually breaking through for a goal with 3:56 left before the intermission.
Not long after Aube-Kubel was hooked on a breakaway attempt that went uncalled, the Phantoms' captain led by example with a hard-working rebound goal atop the crease to put the Phantoms in a one-goal game heading to the third period. T.J. Brennan and Rob Michel (1st career pro point) added assists on McDonald's 13th of the season.
THIRD PERIOD
The chippy play in the second period really took center stage early in the third period. After Chris Conner was hit up high by Brandon Crawley, it was Greg Carey stepping in and dropping the gloves with Hartford's team leader in penalty minutes - and the Phantoms' forward was throwing punches like it wasn't his first fighting major since February 18th, 2017.
On the next shift, Matthew Strome and Josh Wesley got into a wrestling match away from the play and from there it seemed like everyone was finishing their checks until the final seconds ticked off the clock.
The Phantoms were officially mathematically eliminated from the postseason during a media timeout with 5:52 left in regulation. Providence had defeated Springfield 5-3 to clinch the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
The players on the ice knew their season was ending tonight anyway -- Strome mentioned having to score 24 goals in his post-game interview -- but it didn't stop them from finishing the season on a positive note.
David Kase got around a defender at the blue line on the right wing, and used a sneaky shot to elude WolfPack goaltender Adam Huska to tie the game with 3:29 left, forcing overtime.
OVERTIME
The extra session started slowly, with a lot of backpedaling and drop passes, but became rather entertaining in the waning seconds before the game had to be resolved with a shootout.
In the shootout, Matthew Strome scored the lone goal in the bottom half of the first round and Mike McKenna stopped all three shooters he faced to pick up the win in what appears to be his final professional game.
McKenna was later announced as the first star of the game and a very emotional McKenna gave one last wave to the fans before heading off - with captain Colin McDonald waiting in the tunnel both before and after he went out onto the ice.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
10:21: HFD - (PP) St. Amant, minor (hooking) 14:53: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (holding) 19:28: HFD - Dmowski (1) - Fogarty, Lettieri
2nd Period
2:35: LV - Myers, major (fighting) 2:35: HFD - St. Amant, major (fighting) 2:42: HFD - Zerter-Gossage (2) - Fontaine, Meskanen 6:44: LV - (PP) Froese, minor (hooking) 6:55: HFD - (PP) Newell, minor (cross-checking) 16:04: LV - McDonald (13) - Brennan, Michel 16:50: HFD - (PP) Elmer, minor (hooking)
3rd Period
1:19: HFD - Crawley, minor (checking to the head) 1:19: HFD - Crawley, major (fighting) 1:19: LV - Carey, minor (instigating) 1:19: LV - Carey, major (fighting) 1:19: LV - Carey, ten-minute misconduct (instigating) 2:32: HFD - Wesley, minor (roughing) 2:32: LV - Strome, minor (roughing) 8:34: HFD - (PP) Wesley, minor (hooking)
Overtime
No Scoring/Penalties
Shootout
Hartford
Lettieri - no goal Newall - no goal Gilmour - no goal
Lehigh Valley
Strome - GOAL Knight - no goal
BOXSCORE
Hartford 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 2 Lehigh Valley 0 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 1= 3
Shots
Hartford 8 - 5 - 14 - 4 = 31 Lehigh Valley 9 - 13 - 11 - 4 -1 = 38
Goalies
HFD: Adam Huska (35 saves - 37 shots) LV: Mike McKenna (29 saves - 31 shots)
Power Play
HFD: 0-for-2 LV: 0-for-4
Penalty Kill
HFD: 4-for-4 LV: 2-for-2
Attendance: 8,696
