Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! Game 27: Hershey - 0 at Lehigh Valley - 5
ALLENTOWN, PA -- Just like their NHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms kicked off their new coach's debut with a big win - a 5-0 blowout of Atlantic Division rival Hershey.
Kerry Huffman said he wasn't as nervous himself as he was for his players in his "official" AHL head coaching debut (he filled in as the head coach for one game in Charlotte last season when Scott Gordon was away on a personal matter). After all, he told media after the team's win, he's been behind the Phantoms' bench for three years now. He was just at the other end of the bench Wednesday night.
One thing is for sure. The players in that locker room will go to war for their new head coach. It's been pretty easy to notice over the years that Huffman is not only respected, but well-liked by his players. That can go a long way, versus a group of guys who either don't know or don't trust an 'outsider' that is thrown into the mix and expected to instruct his new team.
"We knew before the game we wanted to show something to our new coach, and I think the guys responded," forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel said after the game.
It was easy to see the players really wanted to get that first win for Huffman Wednesday night.
"Can't say enough about that. I'm sure you guys get the impression, but everyone in here really loves him," goaltender Alex Lyon said of Huffman, adding, "Just excited for him and for his opportunity. For him to get in here and have this opportunity, we all want to do everything we can to make sure it's successful for him."
Tonight's Gameday 'Live Blog' with a full recap of the action -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/gameday-game-27-hershey-11-15-2-at-lehigh-valley-15-9-2-715-pm-et
THREE THINGS
1. Handling The Change
This is probably something we'll have to monitor as we move along - especially considering there's no guarantee that there won't be more changes to the Phantoms' coaching staff in the very near future. The way the team has been referring to Huffman in their press releases, not calling him the interim head coach but instead the "acting head coach", makes it sound like this isn't going to be a long-term thing.
But for now, the players responded well and after a sloppy start - simplified their game and out-played their opponent outside of the opening 10-15 minutes of the contest.
Huffman told Inside AHL Hockey in his first interview as the team's head coach he wasn't planning on changing much. I didn't notice much of a change on the ice. The lineup was basically the same except for forced changes like Radel Fazleev's mutual termination of contract, Steven Swavely's subsequent addition on a professional tryout contract and Mikhail Vorobyev's return from injury.
2. Bunnaman Believes
Opportunity and confidence has allowed forward Connor Bunnaman to see an elevation in his play in recent weeks.
Bunnaman went from being an often healthy scratch in the opening two months of the season - the 13th forward - to centering the team's top line despite playing limited games on the wing in his time in the lineup prior to the rash of injuries to the team's centermen and Phil Varone's call up (he was reassigned to Lehigh Valley Wednesday prior to the NHL's roster freeze, but did not play for the Phantoms against Hershey).
He scored a third period power play goal Wednesday night, and four of his six goals on the season have come in the last 12 days.
3. Twarynski Turning The Corner?
After a strong training camp in September saw Twarynski surprise everyone and almost make the NHL roster out of camp, he seemed to regress a bit upon beginning the year in the AHL with the Phantoms. He was scratched in two of the team's three games in Canada to begin the month of November, but after just one goal in his first 20 games this year his second period tally Wednesday gave him three goals in his last three games - and perhaps most importantly eight shots on goal in those last three games. You'd have to add up his shot totals from his previous 11 games (nine shots) to match that output.
He's certainly oozing with confidence in the last week or so, and will hope to continue to build off his recent personal successes before 2018 comes to a close.
POST-GAME REACTION
KERRY HUFFMAN
As he walked in for his first post-game press conference as head coach:
"Usually I'm watching video by now."
On if he had any butterflies before the game:
"It was a little bit anxious for the guys, really. They've been through a lot. With the change, and it's never easy with everything that's gone on in the last few weeks. I was nervous a little bit for them more than for me. It's really - The game hasn't really changed all that much in terms of whether I'm coaching down at one end of the bench or the other. It's still pretty much the same team. Sometimes with young guys, young players you don't know how they're going to react to a different voice back there. But, I'm pretty proud of them."
Other observations:
"I thought there were things throughout the game that we did exceptionally well, and there were a few moments where we didn't make the intelligent play and that's one of the things we have tried to emphasize for the last two days. Guys, just make the smart play. Let's not overthink things here, let's not try to do too much. Just do the simple smart things and when the guys did that we got good results. Good on them for listening, buying into it and getting it done here tonight."
"One of the things we've really stressed was our back-checking, our back pressure. That made it a lot easier for our defenseman to stand up and I think they started to turn pucks over that didn't come down into our zone, so we weren't playing as much in our own zone. That's something we're going to have to continue to work on. It's not going to get fixed in one night. It's something Scott and I had been working for a few weeks now so I think we're just starting to see some results from it. Hopefully now we can start to see more consistency with it."
