Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! 2019 Preseason: Lehigh Valley - 4 at W-B/Scranton - 1
WILKES-BARRE, PA -- Much like the Flyers, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have the luxury of having most of their expected roster together early in their preseason. With their NHL affiliate already down to 27 players, the Phantoms had plenty of depth on their AHL camp roster heading into Wednesday night's preseason opener in Wilkes-Barre.
Did Lehigh Valley sit out a lot of their big names? Yes.
Guys like Andy Andreoff, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Mark Friedman, German Rubtsov, Mikhail Vorobyev etc fresh off of NHL camp were given the night off. So, too, were veterans Cal O'Reilly, T.J. Brennan and Nate Prosser.
Still, the Phantoms fielded a much stronger AHL lineup than their opponent Wednesday night. No disrespect to the Penguins, who have a lot of good players that either didn't suit up tonight - Andrew Agozzino and David Warsofsky come to mind - or players they'll receive as Pittsburgh trims down their NHL roster. You just have to grade with a little bit of a curve.
Typically preseason openers are where you see a lot of your depth players and camp tryouts play, sprinkled in with some top-tier prospects and experienced veterans.
Lehigh Valley played with pace, were relentless on the forecheck and came ready to play - taking a first period lead and never really looking back in their 4-1 win over the Penguins.
"I thought there was real good compete and effort on pucks. The energy was good," head coach Scott Gordon said after the game. "I liked the fact that we were shooting the puck. We missed a ton of shots of net, but there was a mindset to shoot the puck. Overall I was happy with the way we played."
Gordon himself mentioned the fact that the Phantoms probably had a stronger lineup personnel-wise tonight but still was pleased with a lot of things he saw.
"For an exhibition game, a lot of these guys first time playing together it was a good effort."
Tonight's Game Story -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/live-blog-ahl-preseason-lehigh-valley-at-wilkes-barrescranton
Three Things
1. Strome Stands Out
When Scott Gordon was asked who he thought stood out tonight, the first player he talked about was Matthew Strome, and deservedly so.
"I thought Strome had a strong game," he started off.
Everyone talks about his skating as being something he needs to work at, but for a preseason opener it certainly looked like he was a lot more mobile out there than a few months ago when he joined the Phantoms at the tail end of the 2018-19 season. Encouraging and something to keep an eye on.
Strome tallied a power play goal tonight at the net front, which is obviously an area where he will need to continue to excel in. Greg Carey got a centering feed to Strome on a power play in the second period, and although Penguins goaltending prospect Alex D'Orio made the initial stop, a good second-effort by Strome was enough to get light the lamp and extend the Phantoms' lead.
2. Lyon Being Lyon
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Alex Lyon stood out and played well in what is likely his only AHL preseason action before he will eventually join the Philadelphia Flyers for the trip to Europe.
The only goal he allowed in tonight's game was on a Penguins' 5-on-3 power play after he had made some post-to-post type scramble stops on a flurry of chances.
Otherwise, Lyon was more than solid and definitely a capable #3 goalie for the Flyers as insurance on their European open to the NHL regular season.
3. Bonus Tidbits
A couple newsworthy items all packed into number three!
Plenty of Flyers' brass at the Phantoms' AHL preseason opener with the road contest being a quick two-hour drive from Philadelphia up the northeast extension to Wilkes-Barre. Assistant GM Brent Flahr was among those taking in tonight's game.
During the game, the NHL Network's 'Behind The Glass' primiere epsiode aired and made mention that Kurtis Gabriel will be at least a month with a knee sprain. I didn't bother to ask about his status post-game, or about when that 'at least a month' timeline began.
It's worth mentioning Gabriel's expected absence because while he's one of the seven veterans on the Phantoms roster, he was the only veteran that fit into the 'veteran-exempt' slot where teams are allowed to dress five veterans who begin the regular season with more than 320 pro games of experience and an additional veteran who has accrued between 260 and 320 games. Lehigh Valley will still need to healthy scratch one of their six veteran players each night: Defensemen T.J. Brennan, Nate Prosser and Tyler Wotherspoon and forwards Andy Andreoff, Greg Carey and Cal O'Reilly are the team's six veterans currently on the AHL roster.
