Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! 2019-20 Season: W-B/Scranton - 5 at Lehigh Valley - 6 (OT)

ALLENTOWN, PA -- In a wild Black Friday night affair, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-5) recovered in overtime after allowing a 5-0 lead slip away to a determined third period Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (12-6-3) squad that nearly completed the unthinkable comeback 1:11 into the extra session when Adam Johnson split the defense and broke in alone on J-F Berube.

Berube made the stop after being victimized for four goals in a span of 8:38 in the final half of the third period, allowing the Phantoms to get a game-winning overtime goal from T.J. Brennan to get the win, and two points in the standings. For Brennan, it was his first goal in 288 days (February 15th, 2018) and his fifth career game-winning OT goal.

Phantoms' head coach Scott Gordon didn't give the Penguins much credit for getting back into the game. He was more focused on how easy his team made it for the Pens to waltz back into contention.

"I don't think it was anything great on their part. I think we shot ourselves in the foot with some of the decisions we made. We got what we deserved, having to win the game in overtime versus having an easier night," a less-than-pleased Gordon said of the Penguins' third period comeback. "Maybe we just thought it was going to be easy."

Tonight's Game Story -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-2019-20-season-w-bscranton-at-lehigh-valley-112919

Three Things

1. Breakthrough For Twarynski?

Entering his sixth game of the season with the Phantoms, Twarynski had been held off the scoresheet prior to Friday night's game against the Penguins. On Friday, he played - by far - his strongest AHL game of the season and was rewarded for it with a three-point performance (two goals, one assist) and perhaps a shove in the right direction to where his game needs to be at if he hopes to be the next forward called up to Philadelphia.

"We need to see what we saw tonight," head coach Scott Gordon said of Twarynski after the game. "Skating, [having that] shot-first mentality. He's got a great shot. Using his skating and finishing his checks. We haven't gotten enough of that up until tonight. It was good to see him get rewarded."

2. Strome Scores First Pro Goal

Often sitting out as a healthy extra in the beginning of the season, injuries and call ups at the forward position have allowed Strome to get more playing time. As a result, he's starting to get more comfortable at the AHL level and on Friday night - in his 11th game of the season - he tallied his first career pro goal to get the Phantoms power play and the rest of the team going offensively on their way to six goals on the evening.

"Stromer has done a lot of good things offensively and hasn't been rewarded so it was nice to see him be able to get that one," Gordon said of Strome after the game.

More from Strome below in our post-game video interview with the rookie forward.

3. Power Restored to Power Play

While the power play is converting at a paltry 12.8% through 21 games, it has looked much better in the past two games according to Gordon.

"The power play was really good in Wilkes-Barre (Wednesday)," Gordon first responded when asked about the power play scoring two goals Friday night. "I think we've.... I don't want to say we can turn the page on our struggles, but there's a different mindset that we've tried to instill in the players and the last few games have been excellent as far as giving ourselves the opportunity to get those chances."

On Friday night, Strome's game-opening goal and Twarynski's second tally of the first period got the Phantoms off and running. Both were power play tallies, which bodes well for actually turning the corner on their power play woes to start the season.