Phantoms Open Season With Blowout Win
ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened the season with one of their best full 60-minute efforts the PPL Center in downtown Allentown has ever seen Saturday night. It resulted in a big 7-2 win over rival Hershey, and provides a standard to which the Phantoms will want to play this season.
"It was a pretty good 60 minutes," head coach Scott Gordon said after the win. "Obviously, there's a few things we gotta get better at. But overall it was a pretty good performance."
The line of Danick Martel, Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Mike Vecchione stood out in a big way. Martel opened the scoring 2:19 into the contest and completed a hat trick late in the third period to cap the scoring, Aube-Kubel added a goal and an assist and Vecchione tallied a primary assist on Martel's first goal. The trio's speed was simply too much for Hershey to contain.
Reece Willcox tallied a goal and two assists, T.J. Brennan added three assists and Alex Lyon chipped in with 29 saves in the win for the Phantoms, who have a quick turnaround and have an overnight bus ride to Hartford ahead of Sunday evening's game in Connecticut against the Hartford WolfPack.
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
.J. Brennan - Reece WillcoxWill O'Neill - Mark Alt Mark Friedman - Phil Myers
Alex Lyon - Leland Irving
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Cole Bardreau (upper body), Steven Swavely (healthy), Colin McDonald (lower body) and Max Lamarche (healthy)
RECAP
Slow starts at home were a problem for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season, but they got off on the right foot in the season opener tonight. They came out flying.
A few shifts into the contest, Mike Vecchione and Danick Martel used their speed to create a 2-on-1 rush. Parker Milner stopped Martel's initial shot from the slot, but Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Vecchione were first to the loose rebound in Milner's crease - hacking and whacking away at the puck before Vecchione nudged the puck from behind the net out in front to Martel atop the crease for the put back to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead 2:19 into the season.
Hershey responded with some pressure of their own on an early power play, but were unable to generate anything consistently through the first half of the period.
The Phantoms, meanwhile, were playing with purpose. On several occasions, a Phantoms player was winning a race to a loose puck or just flat out burning past a defender. Lehigh Valley brought their skating legs in the first frame.
All in all, a solid first 20 minutes for Lehigh Valley - taking the 1-0 lead and a 14-5 edge in shots into the middle frame.
The Phantoms got right back to it in the first eight minutes of the second period, dominating puck possession and forcing Hershey to chase the play for much of the first half of the period.
Things were going smoothly for Lehigh Valley until a bad decision by a rookie defenseman proved costly.
Hershey was dead in the water, but got some offensive pressure near the midway mark of the hockey game. A loose puck behind the net was retrieved by Phil Myers, but a blind backhand pass was intercepted by Colby Williams atop the right-wing circle. Williams quickly fed a pass across to the top of the left-wing circle for a one-timer by Chandler Stephenson that Alex Lyon had little to no chance to stop.
Just like that it was a tie game. The Bears had some life after being hemmed in their own zone for much of the period to that point.
Luckily for Lehigh Valley, the game didn't remain tied for long. In fact, it took just 80 seconds for the Phantoms to go back in front by a goal.
T.J. Brennan kept a puck in at the left point and slid a pass across to Reece Willcox, who fired a shot toward the net. Danick Martel was in the right place at the right time, getting a piece of Willcox's bid at the net and deflecting the puck past Milner for his second goal of the night.
The back-and-forth game continued after Corban Knight was sent off for cross-checking with 4:04 left before the second intermission.
On the ensuing power play, Williams got a puck to the right-wing circle for Wayne Simpson whose shot was stopped by Lyon. Lyon stopped John Albert's first rebound attempt, but the puck came right back to the Hershey forward and he was able to make the second attempt count to tie the game at 2-2 with 2:36 left to play in the middle frame.
Then, the Phantoms caught a break of their own. T.J. Brennan's point shot hit off the inside of Nicolas Aube-Kubel's skate and in past Milner with 1:09 left in the 2nd period to put the Phantoms back on top 3-2 heading into the third period.
A great play by Phil Varone on the first shift of the third period extended the Phantoms' lead to 4-2.
Varone took a pass from Brennan and split the defense before firing a shot on net from the right-wing. Varone's shot caught a piece of a Bears' defender in front and changed direction on Milner.
From there, the Phantoms took it to Hershey - adding three more goals to put the game away.
Greg Carey took a pass from Mikhail Vorobyev and skated down the right-wing before picking a corner on Milner from the face-off dot to make it 5-2 with 2:24 left.
Reece Willcox took a puck from his own blue line and floated one into an empty net to make it 6-2 before Martel out-hustled a Bears' defender to earn a partial breakaway to complete his hat trick and complete the game's scoring at 7-2.
All in all, a strong 60-minute game from Lehigh Valley to give them an opening night win.
POST-GAME REACTION
ROSTER NOTES
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Alex Lyon (29 shots - 31 saves) got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday night. Leland Irving served as the team's backup goalie.
Cole Bardreau (upper body) missed tonight's season opener after suffering a broken hand in the Flyers' preseason split-squad game in Brooklyn. There's no official timetable for his return from head coach Scott Gordon, but it appears Bardreau isn't far off from a return and is expected back in the lineup before the end of the month.
Colin McDonald (lower body) is nearing a return to the lineup, but sat out tonight. He was also named the team's captain for the third straight season.
Defenseman T.J. Brennan and forwards Chris Conner and Corban Knight wore alternate captain A's tonight for Lehigh Valley. When McDonald returns to the lineup, these three will likely rotate the two A's amongst themselves throughout the season.
Hershey Bears
Parker Milner (24 shots - 30 saves) got the start in net for the Hershey Bears Saturday night. Adam Carlson served as the team's backup.
Injuries to the Bears' top two netminders Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek prevented both from making their season debut tonight, forcing Milner into action Saturday night.
Lines/Pairings
Chris Bourque - Travis Boyd - Wayne Simpson John Albert - Chandler Stephenson - Riley Barber Mathias Bau - Jeremy Langlois - Dustin Gazley Liam O'Brien - Zach Sill - Garrett Mitchell
Lucas Johansen - Tyler Lewington Jonas Sigenthaler - Colby Williams Hubert Labrie - Madison Bowey
Parker Milner - Adam Carlson
Scratches: Vitek Vanecek (injured), Pheonix Copley (injured), Connor Hobbs, Anthony Peluso, Hampus Gustafsson, Kris Bindulis and Mason Mitchell
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
2:19: LV - Martel (1) - Vecchione, Aube-Kubel 5:44: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (charging) 7:21: HER - (PP) Albert, minor (slashing) 13:01: HER - (PP) Bowey, minor (high-sticking)
2nd Period
2:49: LV - (PP) Fazleev, minor (slashing) 9:54: HER - Stephenson (1) - Williams 11:14: LV - Martel (2) - Willcox, Brennan 15:56: LV - (PP) Knight, minor (cross-checking) 17:34: HER - PPG Albert (1) - Simpson, Williams 18:51: LV - Brennan (1) - unassisted
3rd Period
0:33: LV - Varone (1) - Brennan, Willcox 1:51: LV - Martel, major (fighting) 1:51: HER - Lewington, major (fighting) 6:50: LV - (PP) Knight, minor (slashing) 12:47: HER - (PP) Mitchell, minor (boarding) 17:36: LV - Carey (1) - Vorobyev 18:03: LV - ENG Willcox (1) - unassisted 18:31: LV - Martel (3) - Myers
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 2 - 4 = 7 Hershey 0 - 2 - 0 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 14 - 6 - 11 = 31 Hershey 5 - 10 - 16 = 31
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (29 saves - 31 shots) HER - Parker Milner (24 saves - 30 shots)
Power Play
LV: 0-for-3 HER: 1-for-4
Penalty Kill
LV: 3-for-4 HER: 3-for-3
Attendance: 8,648
