Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! 2019-20 Season: Providence - 3 at Lehigh Valley - 0

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened their 2019-20 season with a 3-0 loss on home ice Saturday night to Atlantic Division foe Providence Bruins.

J-F Berube got the start in net and put in a solid performance in a game that was 1-0 well into the third period, stopping 21 of the 24 shots he faced.

PBruins goaltender Max Lagace opened the season with a 28-save shutout, while Anders Bjork led the way offensively with the game's opening goal while also adding an assist on their second goal of the contest.

"There's really not a lot of excuses you can make about not getting a puck deep, not making a hard play or not doing what it takes," co-captain Nate Prosser said after the game. I'm not saying that's what we did. There's a lot of good things we can take from [tonight's game]. There's obviously some areas we have to clean up too."

Tonight's Game Story -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-2019-20-season-providence-at-lehigh-valley-10519

Three Things

1. Chemistry?

How many players in tonight's opening lineup were also in last year's opening lineup?

Six, out of 18 skaters AND two goalies.

Why is that even relevant?

As evidenced in tonight's game, there are a lot of moving parts. New guys to the organization and new guys to the pro game itself. It made for a lot of missed passes, timing plays were off a bit, etc.

"The chemistry will come, and I think we have a really talented group," Morgan Frost said after the loss. "I think it will all come together. It's only game one. We did a lot of good things, but we just didn't get the job done."

Just how quickly the Phantoms can get chemistry with their new linemates and gel together as a team will likely determine their early-season fate.

2. Frost's Pro Debut

After sitting out all three preseason games, Morgan Frost made his highly anticipated pro debut Saturday night. While he didn't record his first pro point tonight and only was credited with one shot on goal, his lone shot was off of a fancy stick between his legs move to the net that he was able to get on net. He also hit a post in the second period.

"I think that will be the biggest learning curve for me this year," Frost said of his initial adjustment to playing against pro players this season. "You can get away with a lot more in junior and take a lot more risks and that kind of thing. That's kind of my game, so I have to pick and choose my spots and be smart about it."

3. Rubtsov 'Quietly' Playing A Strong Game

One player who stood out to these eyes tonight was German Rubtsov. He had a game-high six shots, made several strong plays to the net and looked strong in all three zones.

Rubtsov is certainly a guy that has put himself in a good position to be in line for a call up to Philadelphia when injuries arise, and his name will be closer to the top of the list if he continues playing like he did in the season opener Saturday.

Post-Game Reaction

Head coach Scott Gordon

On the start:

Yeah, the first two periods were excellent. We hardly gave up anything in the second period, so I don't think the first goal had any impact in the game. It was a good start, they were ready to play. First and second period [we had] a lot of offensive zone time.

On getting shut out, how they were around the net

I think any time you get shutout you're always going to look at how hard you made it on the goaltender. I thought we did it in spurts, but not enough obviously.

On  all the moving parts early on in a new season:

Well we do -  probably more this year than any other year - have a lot of different players. I don't know how long it will take. The lightbulb will go on and we'll move forward. Like I said, there was a lot more positive in the first two periods. We hit three posts too, four actually. They didn't go in, but other games maybe we are up 4-1 before they even get their second goal. We didn't have the puck luck tonight. We certainly did things well enough in the first two periods.

Video interviews below with Morgan Frost and Nate Prosser