Penalty Parade: Phantoms Past Penguins in Special Teams Affair
ALLENTOWN - Less than 24 hours after being shutout 5-0 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the road, the Phantoms (2-1-0-1) rematched the Penguins (1-2-0-0) on home ice with much more success Saturday night - jumping out to a 3-0 lead and holding on for a 3-2 win.
The Phantoms' ability to pick up two points in the standings was due in large part to their special teams play, which included their first power play tally of the season and successful penalty kills on both a 5-on-3 in the first period and a 5-minute power play in the middle frame. The two teams combined for 12 power plays in a penalty-filled affair at the PPL Center.
Lehigh Valley got goals from Matt Read (power play, 1st period), Mike Vecchione (1st pro goal, 2nd period) and Greg Carey (third period) to open up a 3-0 lead before Daniel Sprong and Garrett Wilson got the Penguins within one, with Wilson's goal coming with 3:07 left in regulation.
Both goaltenders made some grade-A stops tonight, but it was Alex Lyon (27 saves - 29 shots) bouncing back after being pulled in last night's game and Tristan Jarry (32 saves -35 shots) taking the loss and dropping his personal record on the season to 0-2.
Some concerns moving forward into Sunday's game in Hershey with the status of rookie defenseman Phil Myers, who blocked a shot off his right leg in the third period and needed to be helped off the ice. Myers wasn't putting any weight on his right leg exiting the ice, and he didn't return to the game. He was also seen exiting PPL Center limping afterwards, a sign he's likely not going to finish the third game of the Phantoms' three-in-three weekend.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Matt Read Oskar Lindblom - Corban Knight (A) - Chris Conner (A)Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Tyrell Goulbourne - Mikhail Vorobyev - Radel Fazleev
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxWill O'Neill - Mark Alt Sam Morin - Phil Myers
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Steven Swavely (healthy), Colin McDonald (lower body), Max Lamarche (healthy) and Mark Friedman (healthy)
RECAP
One night after being shutout 5-0 to these same Penguins, the Phantoms looked for revenge on home ice Saturday night.
Simiarly to last night's game in Wilkes-Barre, the Phantoms got off to a strong start and had a decided edge in puck possession, chances, shots, etc. The difference tonight was they were able to cash in on the power play in the 1st period to grab a 1-0 lead.
After failing on an early power play, the Phantoms were forced to kill off 1:15 of a 5-on-3 just past the halfway point of the period.
The special teams battle continued, and Lehigh Valley continued to win the battle - tallying a power play goal with 3:30 left before the first intermission to get the game's first goal.
On the power play, Chris Conner was hooked by Andrey Pedan and drew a delayed call but he also was able to get back into the play and collect a puck behind the net - Conner's wheelhouse. He spotted Matt Read in front and got the pass to him for Read's first of the season and first as a member of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley extended the lead to 2-0 near the midway point of regulation after Danick Martel pounced on a puck in the neutral zone. Martel fed it to Mike Vecchione on the right wing and with a clear path to the net on a 3-on-2, fired one past Jarry for his first career AHL goal.
Things got heated with 8:48 left in the 2nd period.
Jarrett Burton and the Pens' fourth line crashed Lyon's crease searching for a loose puck, and T.J. Brennan took offense to Burton's incessant whacking at the Phantoms goaltender. Brennan got a cross-check on Burton that caught him up high, causing the two teams to come together on the ice.
Eventually, noted enforcer Tom Sestito punched Brennan in the back of the head several times and dropped his gloves with an unwilling Brennan.
The end result, however, was a five-minute power play for the Penguins as Brennan was ejected and assessed not only a major for cross-checking but also a major for fighting to go along with a game-misconduct.
What happened on the ensuing Penguins power play was a key turning point in deciding how the rest of the game would go.
The Phantoms' penalty killers were stuck on the ice for a full three minutes straight without a whistle, hemmed in their own zone and unable to clear a puck out for a change. It wasn't until Pens' forward Adam Johnson rang one off the post that Tyrell Goulbourne was able to corral the rebound and fling the puck the length of the ice to get fresh legs out on the PK for Lehigh Valley. They went on to kill off the five-minute major and maintain their 2-0 lead heading into the third period.
Lehigh Valley began the final frame with some carryover power play time and although they were unable to cash in on the man advantage, they extended their lead to 3-0 not long after the penalty had expired.
Mark Alt's bid to the net was stopped by Jarry, and the Penguins' goaltender even slid across to rob Phil Varone's rebound attempt inside the left-wing circle. It was the third chance opportunity by Greg Carey that turned the red light on for Lehigh Valley - Carey's 2nd of the season.
The Penguins made things interesting, getting a power play goal from Daniel Sprong on a one-timer from the circle almost identical to his goal from Friday night with 14:55 left to end Lyon's shutout bid. The Pens made it a one-goal game with 3:07 left in regulation after Garrett Wilson located a loose puck atop Lyon's crease and was able to stuff one in, but that's as close as the Penguins would get.
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
Q: On power play clicking for some goals tonight:
A: There were some really good power plays. we got some great chances. A lot of it wasn't perimeter - it was alot of stuff in the hashmarks and in the slot area. That's not easy to do - they have a good penalty killing unit. I thought our guys were a lot better winning battles and also not playing on the perimeter and keeping the puck off the boards. That was something we got ourselves into a lot of trouble with last night, just we were always battling and scrumming along the walls instead of looking up eyes forward and making plays from there.
Q: On Lyon bouncing back tonight:
A: I don't think we gave up one 5-on-5 chance in the first period, so we were playing well - I knew that. They got their chances off the power play - I think they had three on the five-on-three, one on the penalty kill (their PK) and one 4-on-4. Within that, he had to make some big saves on special teams mostly. That being said, as good as Alex played I thought Jarry was phenomenal. We had a lot of opportunities below the hashmarks, not just the first ones but the second ones where he just came from nowhere to make saves. It was a good goaltending game by both goaltenders.
Q: On challenge of getting guys ice time in a special teams-filled game:
A: It's not an ideal situation when playing 3-in-3 that there are some guys that don't play a lot on special teams, so that makes it tougher. We found a way, and when you consider they had three power plays in the third period and the 6-on-5 for a minute and a half we didn't play even strength for probably half the period and we only gave up 8 shots. That's hard work, some good blocks, timely saves, rebound control. THere were a lot of things that factored into that third period where really there wasn't a lot of opportunity for us to generate offense and yet we outshot them 15-8 in the third.
ROSTER NOTES
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Despite being pulled late in the 2nd period last night, Alex Lyon was back in net for the Phantoms Saturday night against the Penguins. Dustin Tokarski, who was pressed into action for the final 24:41 Friday night, served again as Lyon's backup.
Only one lineup change for Lehigh Valley in terms of guys in and out of the lineup - that being Will O'Neill back in after sitting out last night as a healthy scratch. It was Mark Friedman's turn to sit Saturday night. With the team in the midst of three games in three nights, I'd imagine someone else on defense will come out of the lineup Sunday in Hershey.
There was plenty of line juggling Saturday coming off a 5-0 loss Friday night. Only the trio of Martel-Vecchione-AubeKubel stuck together, with Matt Read jumping up from 4RW to top line right wing with Greg Carey and Phil Varone. Mikhail Vorobyev went from 2C to 4C on a line with fellow Russian-speaking forward Radel Fazleev. Perhaps the move is designed to give Vorobyev some better communication on the ice.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
4:05: WBS - (PP) Czuczman, minor (cross-checking) 9:09: WBS - Burton, minor (slashing) 9:09: LV - Varone, minor (goaltender interference) 11:57: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (interference) 12:42: LV - (PP) Morin, minor (elbowing) 15:09: WBS - (PP) Kostopoulos, minor (slashing) 16:30: LV - PPG Read (1) - Conner 16:30: WBS - (PP) Pedan, minor (hooking)
2nd Period
9:18: LV - Vecchione (1) - Martel 11:12: WBS - Sestito, major (fighting) 11:12: LV - (PP) Brennan, major (cross-checking) 11:12: LV - Brennan, major (fighting) 11:12: LV - Brennan, game misconduct - cross-checking 10 min 18:22: WBS - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping)
3rd Period
1:40: LV - Carey (2) - Varone, Alt 1:54: WBS - (PP) Aston-Reese, minor (high-sticking) 3:16: LV - (PP) Conner, minor (slashing) 5:00: LV - (PP) Goulbourne, minor (slashing) 5:05: WBS - PPG Sprong (3) - Bengtsson, Thomas 9:37: WBS - (PP) Zink, minor (closing hand on puck) 14:43: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (slashing) 16:53: WBS - Wilson (1) - Simon, Czuczman
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 1 - 1 = 3 W-B/Scranton 0 - 0 - 2 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 15 - 5 - 15 = 35 W-B/Scranton 9 - 12 - 8 = 29
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (27 saves - 29 shots) WBS - Tristan Jarry (32 saves - 35 shots)
Power Play
LV: 1-for-6 WBS: 1-for-6
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-6 WBS: 5-for-6
Attendance: 7,606
