Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! 2019-20 Season: Hershey - 4 at Lehigh Valley - 3 (OT)

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-1) fell to the Hershey Bears (1-1-1) after allowing a heartbreaking goal to center Travis Boyd with just a second remaining in overtime.

Lehigh Valley, who led three times over the course of the game, were doomed by poor turnovers at inopportune times. With that said, even though the team wasn’t able to pick up the extra point on Saturday night, there were plenty of positives to take away from the contest.

Tonight's Game Story -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-2019-20-season-hershey-at-lehigh-valley-101219

Three Things

1. Joel Farabee goals for the Phantoms: Get them while supplies last

Enjoy watching Joel Farabee in a Lehigh Valley Phantoms uniform because he may not be here for long.

If the Boston University product’s absolutely filthy first career goal on Friday night wasn’t enough to plead his NHL case, his performance Saturday night certainly did.

The rookie notched his second goal in as many games late in the first period on Saturday night. While streaking towards the net, he received a crisp pass from Kyle Criscuolo, who was driving to the side of the net, and fired a wrister past goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

As nice as that play was, that wasn’t even the most impressive sequence for the 19-year-old in the tilt.

There was one play midway through the second period where, instead of dumping the puck into the zone, Farabee took the puck into the zone by himself while three Bears defenders centered their attention on him. Farabee deked around them to get to the middle of the ice where he fired a pretty wrister on net. Even though Vanecek got the glove on it, it was still incredibly impressive.

Farabee has elite skill and uses his body really well to protect the puck. As he continues to grow into his body, he is going to be able to get to any area of the ice he wants at any time. We may have a special player on our hands.

2. Don’t sleep on Rubtsov

For all the attention that has being paid to players like Farabee, Phil Myers and Morgan Frost -- they all certainly do deserve it -- not enough people are talking about center German Rubtsov.

The former first round pick has picked up three assists through as many games this season, including one on Maksim Sushko’s first period tally in Saturday night’s contest.

The 21-year-old proved to be an offensive weapon for the Phantoms last season as he recorded six goals and four assists in 14 games before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

Head coach Scott Gordon has praised Rubstov’s skill on multiple occasions and certainly believes in his talent. It is conceivable that he’ll get a chance at the NHL level at some point this season if he continues to produce offensively.

3. Kurtis Gabriel is making an impact

After scoring a goal on Friday and recording an assist and a fight on Saturday, I guess, technically, Gabriel had a Gordie Howe hat trick over the course of the weekend.

A guy who was competing for a spot on the Flyers’ bottom line before getting hurt in the preseason, Gabriel has done a good job of making the most of this opportunity with the Phantoms.

He’s not a guy who’s gonna put many points on the board over the course of a season, but he’s noticeable on every shift. He is certainly providing a good example for the Phantoms’ plethora of youngsters on how to be a pro and why doing all of the little things matters at this level.

"He's played so well. We had a couple of guys that weren't going tonight and he's out there the last minute of the game because he's creating room for his linemates. His puck management has been really good, he's shooting the puck and as a result we're in a situation where a guy has come in here and earned his ice time. And he's getting it."

Post-Game Reaction

Head coach Scott Gordon

On the back-and-forth game

Bad penalties. 5-on-5, overall, I can't be too critical. We gave up six power plays, so it's less opportunities to play 5-on-5. We didn't get the power plays, and I'm not sure we even wanted them anyway.

On Kurtis Gabriel, 4th line scoring:

We've got a lot of talented players. I don't really consider us having a fourth line. Maybe Gabriel's production offensively in his career hasn't said that he's an offensive guy, but he's playing with offensive guys. I don't think you can mark our lines as bottom-six that we don't expect to get offensive production from.

On if it's too early to be concerned about the power play:

Well we're not giving ourselves enough possession. We keep on going to the same two people. We have to find ways to get the puck to the other side of the ice and we've got to find a way to do a better job on our entries with our speed. And also making better reads when we do enter, where we are going with the puck. The power play isn't just about what you do inside the zone but it's what you do from your zone, how you enter the [offensive] zone, how you retrieve pucks.