Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! Game 34: Lehigh Valley - 1 at Hartford - 3
HARTFORD, CT -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms displayed a much better effort Saturday in Hartford than they did Friday in Providence, but it still wasn't enough to prevent them from dropping their third straight game in regulation. Tonight against the WolfPack - another Atlantic Division team below Lehigh Valley in the standings - they were bested by a former teammate as goaltender Dustin Tokarski stopped all but one of the 31 shots he faced in route to Hartford's 3-1 win over the Phantoms.
Tonight's Gameday 'Live Blog' has a full recap of the action -> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/gameday-game-34-lehigh-valley-19-11-3-at-hartford-16-15-4-700-pm-et
THREE THINGS
1. Better effort, same result
The Phantoms definitely played better Saturday in Hartford than they did less than 24 hours prior in Providence on Friday night. There were still some sloppy plays and turnovers, but they didn't prevent them from getting in on the attack and getting their fair share of Grade-A scoring chances. They just met a hot goaltender in former Phantoms netminder Dustin Tokarski, who came off a 26-save on 27-shot night Friday with an even more impressive 30-save on 31-shot effort tonight against his former team. This after Lehigh Valley chased Tokarski from action 4:36 into the first period of the last meeting between the two teams at the XL Center.
But, I digress. The Phantoms allowed an early first period goal, but fired 15 shots on Tokarski in the opening period and likely would have had a lead heading into the middle frame if not for some big time stops from the Hartford goalie. Nicolas Aube-Kubel's goal at least tied up the game - at that point - after relentless pressure late in the period was rewarded with a goal. In the second period, there were several Grade-A chances that missed the net. Connor Bunnaman had a breakaway miss the mark. Greg Carey whistled a shot from the left circle just wide. There were some tipped pucks that opted to deflect away from the net instead of toward it. It was just a frustrating night offensively, given the amount of looks they were getting at the net.
2. Komm's AHL debut
Branden Komm led the Phantoms onto the ice for warmups Saturday night in Hartford for the 27-year-old goaltender's first career AHL start, perhaps a lesson of perseverance after bouncing around to four different ECHL teams last season before ending up with the Phantoms' affiliate Reading Royals late last season.
As for the game, Komm played well enough to win.
The first goal he allowed came after Matt Beleskey got behind the defense on an odd-man rush, with a center drive to the net front. The Hartford forward got his stick on the centering feed and deflected it into the top shelf over Komm's glove with the Phantoms' goalie sliding from right to left on the pass across. The goal in the second period was just a great shot from the top of the left-wing circle that went post and in. His third period goal against came after Komm stopped a shot from the point and the initial rebound atop the crease before the fluttering puck was batted in by Cole Schneider at the side of the net.
3. No rest for the wicked
There's no time to sulk about back-to-back losses in consecutive nights, and the team's first three-game losing streak with all three being regulation losses since mid-February of the 2016-17 season. Oddly enough, the third game of that three-game 0-3-0 streak was a regulation loss to Hartford. The Phantoms are back in action for a third time in three days tomorrow in Springfield, which will mark Game #3 in a stretch of 13 games in 23 days.
POST-GAME REACTION
KERRY HUFFMAN
On all the chances in 1st period, couldn't get enough to go in:
Yeah, even in the 2nd we had a looks. We missed the net a lot - didn't have a lot of shots - but we had some Grade-A's. [Tokarski] played really well for them. Made some real good saves. I think there were some times we could have maybe gotten a little more traffic and got into his eyes a bit more, but he played a good game for them.
*On Branden Komm getting AHL debut, giving the team a chance:
Absolutely. He's not the reason we lost the game. We're not going to win too many games scoring one goal, so good for him. He jumped in and played the game he had to play."
On switching lines tonight:
We're trying to get some new looks. We weren't generating a whole lot, and I thought we needed to kind of spark things a little bit.
On the end result not necessarily reflecting an improvement in how the team played:
It's not easy losing 3-1 on the road to a team below you in the standings, but in terms of how we played and the compete level was way better - way better - than it was last night. I said to the guys if we're going to have that level of compete and that level of generating scoring chances we're going to win a lot of games. Just one of those nights.
BRANDEN KOMM
On what it meant to get the start:
It felt great. Getting injured and then being able come back and it's been awhile since I've played a game so just being out there felt awesome. Obviously would have liked to get the win, but I thought the guys played hard in front of me. We were just a couple of bounces away.
On any jitters before the game:
A little nervous, but I was expecting to be. I'm always a little nervous before games. But I was mentally ready.
NICOLAS AUBE-KUBEL
A lot of chances in the first period, probably would have liked to see more than just the one go in:
Yeah, Tokarski played well. He was seeing every puck. We should have put more traffic in front of him to make his work a little harder.
On if he thought team played better tonight than Friday despite the team only scoring one goal:
Yeah, exactly, we played better today. More scoring chances, more shots. I could see the effort was better tonight.
On needing to win Sunday in Springfield:
For sure, we don't want to summarize the weekend with three loses and no points. We want to play for the next game to have a good road trip. I think the effort was there today.
