Penguins Power Past Phantoms
WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (12-2-1) continued to roll through their early-season schedule Wednesday night against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-6-2), extending their unbeaten in regulation streak to 12 games (11-0-0-1) in a 4-2 win over their Atlantic Division rival on Thanksgiving Eve.
Ryan Haggerty opened the scoring on the first shift of the night in the opening minute, and also tallied an empty net goal as time expired in the Penguins' win. In fact, the trio of Haggerty (two goals, one assist), Jean-Sebastien Dea (one goal, two assists) and Zach Aston-Reese (three assists) did most of the damage for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton offensively behind another strong performance in net by Casey DeSmith (31 saves).
Despite allowing a goal on the opening shift, the first period was dominated by the Phantoms. The orange and black got goals from Corban Knight and Greg Carey 1:26 apart to take a 2-1 lead into the middle frame, but got into penalty trouble that allowed the Penguins to re-gain the momentum in the second period and hold onto it for good to close out the third.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms are off Thursday for Thanksgiving, but are back at it Friday night in Springfield to close out their season-high six game road trip. Lehigh Valley finishes the week with a Saturday night home matchup with Bridgeport.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Colin McDonald - Mike Vecchione - Chris ConnerGreg Carey - Phil Varone - Nicholas Aube-Kubel Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Corban Knight (A) Alex Krushelynski - Radel Fazleev - Tyrell Goulbourne
T.J. Brennan - Mark AltWill O'Neill - Mark Friedman Reece Willcox - Phil Myers
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Cole Bardreau (injured), Max Lamarche (injured), Matt Read (healthy) and James De Haas (healthy)
ROSTER NOTES
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Alex Lyon got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Wednesday night. Dustin Tokarski served as Lyon's backup.
Defenseman Sam Morin and forward Danick Martel were called up to Philadelphia Wednesday morning in advance of the Flyers' game in Brooklyn against the Islanders. Martel made his NHL debut, while Morin appeared in his first NHL game this season.
With Morin and Martel called up, the Flyers loaned defenseman Mark Alt and forward Matt Read, who cleared waivers Tuesday, to Lehigh Valley. Alt was in the Phantoms' lineup tonight while Read was not with the team and a healthy scratch.
Alex Krushelynski was called up from Reading to fill in up front with Martel up and Read not with the AHL club.
RECAP
In what was a dreadful start for Lehigh Valley Wednesday night, the Phantoms surrendered the game's opening goal on the game's opening shift.
A defensive zone turnover led to a quick chance for the Penguins, and also caught the Phantoms flat-footed in their own zone. Jean-Sebastien Dea got a puck from Zach Aston-Reese and dropped one behind him in the slot for Ryan Haggerty, who went forehand to back and and beat Alex Lyon 31 seconds into the contest to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
From there, the Phantoms responded well and took it to the Penguins the rest of the first period.
Chris Conner drew a power play for Lehigh Valley, and although the Phantoms didn't cash in on the ensuing man advantage they tied things up at 1-1 moments later.
Alex Krushelynski, called up from Reading earlier in the day and making his Phantoms' debut, came streaking down the left-wing and with a defender on his back sent a perfect cross-ice pass to Corban Knight cutting to the net on the right wing. Knight lifted one just over the out-stretched Casey DeSmith for his second goal of the season.
Just 1:26 after Knight's goal, the Phantoms took the lead.
Mark Friedman's shot from the right point was stopped by DeSmith but Nicolas Aube-Kubel was first to the rebound in the slot. Aube-Kubel's rebound attempt was stopped, but Greg Carey finished the play off in the crease - slamming one past the Penguins' goaltender for his sixth tally of the season and a 2-1 lead for Lehigh Valley.
The Phantoms got into penalty trouble in the middle frame - taking three minor penalties in the opening eight minutes and handing their first period momentum right back to the Penguins.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton didn't score on any of the three power plays, but was able to tie the game at 2-2 just under seven minutes into the period when Haggerty connected with Dea on a 2-on-1 rush that ended up being a 2-on-0 breakaway against Lyon.
The Pens continued to pressure the Phantoms for the duration of the middle frame, out shooting Lehigh Valley 18-7 in the period and taking a 3-2 lead with 4:06 left before the second intermission on Colin Smith's 2nd of the year. If not for some top notch saves by Lyon, the Phantoms would have been staring at a much steeper hill to climb in the final frame.
Lehigh Valley had a pair of power plays in the third period - 1:17 in and at the 8:47 mark of the period - but were unable to find a tying goal.
The Pens added an empty net goal as time expired to complete the 4-2 final score.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
0:31: WBS - Haggerty (8) - Dea, Aston-Reese 2:51: WBS - (PP) Blueger, minor (tripping) 5:29: LV - Knight (2) - Krushelynski, Brennan 6:55: LV - Carey - AubeKubel, Friedman 13:37: WBS - Smith, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
0:18: LV - (PP) McDonald, minor (slashing) 3:48: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (hooking) 6:57: WBS - Dea (5) - Haggerty, Aston-Reese 8:32: LV - (PP) Lindblom, minor (boarding) 15:54: WBS - Smith (2) - Simon, Czuczman
3rd Period
1:17: WBS - (PP) Johnson, minor (tripping) 6:26: LV - (PP) Fazleev, minor (tripping) 8:47: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Simon) 19:59: WBS - ENG Haggerty (9) - Dea, Aston-Reese
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 2 - 0 - 0 = 2 W-B/Scranton 1 - 2 - 1 = 4
Shots
Lehigh Valley 16 - 7 - 10 = 33 W-B/Scranton 5 - 18 - 15 = 38
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (34 saves - 37 shots) WBS - Casey DeSmith (31 saves - 33 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-4 WBS: 0-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-4 WBS: 4-for-4
Attendance: 4,017
