Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! Game 15: Lehigh Valley - 5 at Providence - 4
PROVIDENCE, RI - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms came out flat in the first period against Providence Friday night, finding themselves down 3-0 in the opening 13:01 of play.
Head coach Scott Gordon didn't take his timeout, opting instead to make a goalie switch in hopes of waking his team up - pulling Carter Hart and inserting Anthony Stolarz, who hadn't played in a game since October 13th despite being fully healthy all season long.
Slowly but surely, the Phantoms clawed their way back into the game in the middle frame. But not before a big stand by the Phantoms' penalty kill and some timely saves from Stolarz.
Gordon agreed after the game, that if they had given up a goal early in the second period on a four-minute penalty kill and gone down 5-1 that that would've killed any hopes of a comeback.
It's just the same old Phantoms from last season, right? Down early, but seemingly never out of it despite how out of the game they look early on. Through 15 games, the Phantoms have scored first and taken a 1-0 lead just three times.
Tonight's Gameday 'Live Blog' with full recap (restricted to our subscribers) --> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/gameday-game-15-lehigh-valley-8-4-2-at-providence-5-7-2-705-pm-et
THREE THINGS
1. Stolarz Standing In
With the Phantoms playing that flat uninspiring kind of hockey in the opening period of play the heat was on for Carter Hart, who was victimized for three goals against on seven shots in 13:01 of the contest before being pulled in favor of Anthony Stolarz.
Seeing his first game action since October 13th in Springfield, Stolarz allowed a goal shortly after he came on in relief of Hart - sending the two teams to the first intermission with the Phantoms in a 4-1 hole.
After that, though? Stolarz stood in and allowed his teammates to claw away at the three-goal deficit - stopping everything else thrown his way in the final 40 minutes and finishing with 24 saves on 25 shots.
He made some huge saves, timely saves and that's the type of situation where that's what you need to do. That was obviously huge for us.
2. Perfect Penalty Kill?
Hard to believe that after the Phantoms allowed FIVE power play goals against in a single game back in their second game of the season against the Springfield Thunderbirds, that we would be talking about how the penalty kill has become almost automatic.
Including the Phantoms' perfect showing on the penalty kill Friday night in Providence, Lehigh Valley has now killed off 28 straight penalties - not allowing a single power play goal against in the last SEVEN games.
What a difference a month can make.
Tonight in Providence, the penalty kill was strong - killing a timely 4-minute high-sticking minor on Carsen Twarynski in the second period to prevent Providence from blowing open the game (it was a 4-1 Phantoms' deficit at the time). Instead, they killed it all off and made it a one-goal game in the second period heading to the third.
3. Comeback Kids
Was it just another comeback tonight? While it's not a recipe for success, it has to have that 'similar situation' feel again this year with the slow starts and late game comebacks from last year continuing at least early on in the first quarter of the season.
The Phantoms have only scored the first goal three times in their first 15 games but are 9-4-2 on the season. It's a confident group, and one that shown plenty of resiliency last year.
For now, it looks like the trend continues.
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
On the bad start, ensuing comeback:
I didn't like the whole first period. We've talked about what we need to do coming out of our zone and we seem fall back into the same traps. We cleaned it up in the second and third, and as a result we were able to come away with the win.
On Twarynski's strange game-tying goal:
I think the puck had gone in before the contact. As a result, the expectation is that you have to avoid the goaltender and I don't think the ref thought [Twarynski] did. I thought that they were both going together and got pushed more, but it worked out for us. I think we'd take the goal and a penalty kill any day.
On the penalty kill:
Other than the first two games of the year, I think the last 13 games we are killing at 93 percent. Not going to do too much better than that. Our guys have really done a good job of limiting chances. The first few games, we were just giving up way too much O-zone time and too many shots.
Phil Myers
On the tough start, mentality by the guys to overcome the 4-1 1st period deficit:
Obviously not the start that we wanted. After the goalie switch, I think we realized we can't leave our goalie hanging like that. We let up another one and then we had to just regroup and settle down after the first period. Gordo talked to us and told us we can come back against this team, we have a great team - a better team. In those situations we just have to settle down, focus on the hard work and I think that's what we did. We came back, stuck together as a team. Little by little, shift by shift we came back and won the game. So, we'll take it.
On his game-winning goal in the third:
We made some adjustments after the 2nd period on the power play. One of the things is we wanted to drive the net hard back door when [Vecchione] has the puck on the half wall so I just listened to the coaches. Veccs made a perfect shot, we had a fortunate bounce - it went right on my stick - and I made sure not to miss that one and put that it in the net.
