Penguins Shutout Phantoms
WILKES-BARRE - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-1) had a tough night to kick off a three-game weekend against their Atlantic Division rivals, dropping a 5-0 game at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
It was indeed Casey's Plaza as Penguins' goaltender Casey DeSmith recorded a 33-save shutout to help the Penguins (1-1-0) earn their first victory of the 2017-18 season after dropping their home opener to Charlotte last weekend.
The Pens got goals from five different players - Tom Sestito, Daniel Sprong, Frank Corrado, Jean-Sebastien Dea and Dominik Simon - in the win, while the Phantoms' offense generated chances and shots on net but were unable to break DeSmith's shutout bid.
These two teams rematch Saturday night in Allentown, as the Phantoms and Penguins will meet 12 times in the regular season in 2017-18
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Oskar Lindblom - Phil Varone - Chris ConnerGreg Carey - Mikhail Vorobyev - Corban Knight Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Tyrell Goulbourne - Radel Fazleev - Matt Read
T.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxMark Friedman - Mark Alt Sam Morin - Phil Myers
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Will O'Neill (healthy), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Steven Swavely (healthy), Colin McDonald (lower body) and Max Lamarche (healthy)
RECAP
The Phantoms again brought energy and effort from the opening face-off Friday night in Wilkes-Barre like they had in each of their regular season games last weekend. Dominating in possession, in the face-off dot and in chances, Lehigh Valley opened a 5-0 edge in shots in the opening six minutes & had the Penguins on their heels.
Then, a strong Penguins forecheck disrupted the Phantoms defense behind the net and a missed man in front led to not only the Pens' first shot of the game but their first goal at the 6:21 mark. Thomas Di Pauli crashed into a defender behind the net and won a puck battle before taking it around the other side and floating a pass up the slot that found its way onto Tom Sestito's stick at the backdoor for an easy tap in past Alex Lyon.
Phantoms head coach Scott Gordon was dumbfounded by what he termed "a horrible call" or lack thereof on what he stated was "a no-brainer" icing call that was missed that led to the Penguins' 1st goal. Gordon explained that Sam Morin beat his man Thomas Di Pauli to the hash marks of the face-off circle for the puck that made its way behind the net, and that the play should have been blown dead for icing. It wasn't, and Di Pauli eventually wheeled the puck around the net before passing it out in front to Sestito for the goal.
The Phantoms got a power play chance on the next shift and began establishing offensive zone time again, but a goalie interference penalty cut their power play short.
From there, the momentum shifted in the Penguins' favor. Dylan Zink, making his AHL debut, kept a play alive and got a puck to Lukas Bengtsson who fed a pass across to Daniel Sprong for a wicked one-timer blast that beat Lyon to the spot to extend the Pens' lead to 2-0 near the midway mark of the opening period.
The penalty-filled affair continued into the middle frame, where the Penguins took a 3-0 lead on a seemingly harmless shot from the outside by Frank Corrado. Whether the puck hit something on its way past Lyon or not, it found its way through the Phantoms' goalie on what Gordon deemed was a shot that probably should have been stopped.
Still, the Phantoms generated some chances on a pair of back-to-back power plays towards the middle of the period. Credit to Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith for making some bigtime saves to keep Lehigh Valley from ever getting back into the game on the scoreboard.
It wasn't until the Pens killed off the Phantoms' pair of power plays that Jean-Sebastien Dea ultimately sealed the deal, tallying at the end of a 3-on-2 rush on another bouncing puck that somehow sneaked in through/past Lyon - ending Lyon's night after four goals on 15 shots with 4:41 left before the second intermission. Dustin Tokarski - acquired by the Flyers in a trade earlier in the week - was pressed into action, stopping eight of the nine shots he faced the rest of the way in the Phantoms' 5-0 loss to start their three-in-three weekend.
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
Q: Had a good opening five minutes or so, but then momentum switched completely?
A: Yeah, it was a horrible call. It's a clear-cut icing and it ends up in the back of our net. It's a no-brainer call. Our defenseman is ahead of their guy by the hashmark and the linesman made a decision. That was a game changing moment. Not that you can't recover from it, but when you're all over a team like that for them to be able to get a goal like that it's just way to easy for it to happen for the wrong reason.
Q: After their 1st goal you got the power play next shift, but it just seemed like whenever the team started to get pressure that it... it just wasn't your night tonight?
A: No, I thought our power play was slow the first two power plays we had. We generated a lot of forechecks, cycles and opportunities but we didn't get a lot of second opportunities. But we did have some time in the offensive zone and created some turnovers. Their goalie made some pretty good saves.
Q: What would like to change heading into tomorrow? What would you like to go differently?
A: Not have that call made.
Q: On the power play and what he would like to correct:
A: I'd like us to move the puck a little bit quicker. I'd like us to do a little more up top when we have the opportunity when it's all crowded down by the net. Just be sharper on our breakouts. Those first few power plays we weren't very sharp on our power play breakout. Along the way you have to win some battles and we didn't do a lot of that on those first two.
ROSTER NOTES
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Alex Lyon had a rough night, and was pulled after allowing his fourth goal on 15 shots in the second period. After not having skated in weeks and just recently acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers earlier this week, Dustin Tokarski finished the night in net for Lehigh Valley.
With Sam Morin back in the Phantoms lineup, it was Will O'Neill as the odd man out on defense.
Injured forwards Cole Bardreau (upper body) and Colin McDonald (lower body) still aren't ready to return to game action and didn't travel with the team to Wilkes-Barre Friday night. Both would need to be officially reassigned to Lehigh Valley by the Flyers in order to be activated into the Phantoms' lineup in the AHL.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Casey DeSmith earned a 33-save shutout to help the Penguins earn their first win of the season.
Scratches: Jeff Taylor, Kevin Spinozzi, Troy Josephs, Patrick McGrath, Gage Quinney, Jarred Tinordi, Ethan Prow, Colin Smith, Ryan Haggerty and Freddie Tiffels.
Lines
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Daniel Sprong Dominik Simon - Adam Johnson - Christian Thomas Garrett Wilson - Jean-Sebastien Dea - Tom Kostopoulos Tom Sestito - Jarrett Burton - Thomas Di Pauli
Andrey Pedan - Lukas Bengtsson Zach Trotman - Kevin Czuczman Dylan Zink - Frank Corrado
Casey DeSmith - Tristan Jarry
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
6:21: WBS - Sestito (1) - Di Pauli, Czuczman 6:46: WBS - (PP) Wilson, minor (elbowing) 8:20: LV - (PP) Conner, minor (goaltender interference) 9:56: WBS - PPG Sprong (2) - Zink, Bengtsson 12:16: LV -(PP) riedman, minor (holding the stick) 13:52: WBS - (PP) Aston-Reese, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
2:41: LV - (PP) Vorobyev, minor (hooking) 4:13: WBS - (PP) Simon, minor (interfrence) 7:53: WBS - Corrado (1) - Simon, Johnson 8:23: WBS - (PP) Dea, minor (slashing) 12:48: WBS - (PP) Johnson, minor (tripping) 15:19: WBS - Dea (1) - Kostopoulos, Johnson 19:06: WBS - (PP) Simon, minor (tripping)
3rd Period
1:48: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (holding) 3:23: WBS - (PP) Kostopoulos, minor (hooking) 15:24: LV - (PP) Conner, double-minor (high-sticking) 17:19: WBS - PPG Simon (1) - Trotman, Czuczman
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 0 - 0 = 0 W-B/Scranton 2 - 2 - 1 = 5
Shots
Lehigh Valley 10 - 15 - 8 = 33 W-B/Scranton 9 - 6 - 9 = 24
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (11 saves - 15 shots in 35:19) and Dustin Tokarski (8 saves - 9 shots in 24:39) WBS - Casey DeSmith (33 saves - 33 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-7 WBS: 2-for-6
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-6 WBS: 7-for-7
Attendance: 4,117
