ALLENTOWN - A tough result for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-2-0) after a back-and-forth battle with rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton saw the Penguins deliver the final blow in a 5-4 decision, with the Phantoms' bitter Atlantic Division rival taking the two points in the first of 12 scheduled meetings between the two teams during the regular season.

T.J. Brennan tallied a goal and an assist, while forwards Phil Varone and Nicolas Aube-Kubel tallied two assists each to pace the Phantoms' attack in the loss. Carter Hart stopped 28 of 33 shots in defeat and falls to 1-2 on the season.

Tonight's Gameday 'Live Blog' with full recap --> http://insideahlhockey.com/article/gameday-game-4-w-bscranton-3-1-0-at-lehigh-valley-2-1-0-715-pm-et

Five Takeaways

1. Growing Pains For Hart?

After being pulled last Friday against Springfield after allowing four goals on 16 shots in just over 27 minutes of work, Carter Hart had to wait a week to get back in the Phantoms' net to face the Penguins tonight. Obviously, he was looking to put last Friday's outing in the past as well as in the 'a rare off-night' category.

Hart was sharp early, and he needed to be. He was quick with his glove and did a good job of tracking loose pucks in traffic, something he had a tougher time doing as the night went on.

The five goals he allowed? Let's mark it down as three goals he ended up not having a chance on, though one was a result of his own puck-handling gaffe behind his own net, and a bad rebound to allow on the fourth and five goals against.

1 - An unintentional screen set by a referee in the right-wing circle prevented Mike Vecchione from getting to a loose puck that turned into a turnover and goal against when the puck darted into the slot for a quick shot by Linus Olund.

2 - A Phil Myers turnover early in the second period after a failed Phantoms' power play chance gave the Penguins an extended offensive zone look and Hart left his net to play a puck behind his own net and misplayed it, with the resulting turnover quickly ending up in the back of his net.

3 - A Chris Summers shot from the left point missed the mark, but the puck bounced off the endboards and went out the other side right to Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese for an easy tap-in on Hart who had reacted to Summers' shot from the point and was heading to his right as the puck went the other way and caught his momentum taking him out of the play.

4 - A Teddy Blueger rebound goal in front on a power play in the third period. Hart made the initial stop on Sam Lafferty, but the rebound into the middle was certainly not something Hart wanted on that play.

5 - A 2-on-1 rush against with just over a minute left in regulation. Hart got the stop on the initial shot from Jimmy Hayes, but the Penguins forward jarred the puck loose in the crease and Garrett Wilson muscled the rebound into the net for the game-winning tally.

"The game is eventually going to get easier for him," Gordon said on Hart after the game. "If there's one thing about our team, we are going to score. It's just a question of making timely saves. Some nights it's a timely save, some nights it's a lot of saves. Some nights you sit in a rocking chair. We're thrilled that he's here, and things are going better for him."

2. Phantoms' Quick Response

Lehigh Valley found themselves behind the proverbial eight-ball early and often Friday night, but were able to bounce back quickly - especially early in the contest.

After Mike Vecchione was interrupted by a referee going for a loose puck in the D-zone that ended up in the back of the net, he was able to even the game up at 1-1 with a goal of his own. A reverse of fortunes in a short amount of time.

"I was calling for a bump to the middle on the breakout and the referee just got in the way and it went on their stick," Vecchione recalled after the game. "It was nice to get that one back, I know our line really wanted to get that one back."

Early in the second period, it was much of the same. The Penguins went ahead and the Phantoms responded less than a minute later to even things back up.

"I liked the way we played. There wasn't much we were off on," Gordon said in his post-game presser. "Overall, I was happy with our penalty kill. First period we were a little deliberate on breakouts, didn't push the play like we could have, and like we did the rest of the game. I don't have a whole lot of complaints about the game."

3. It's Only Game #4

T.J. Brennan didn't like the pessimistic questions from media during post-game, actually pointing out a 'positive outlook' question from a reporter toward the end of his post-game presser. While I think his response has some merit - it's just the fourth game of the season - it's never too early to look back on missed opportunities in October games and correct the issues so they don't re-surface in the spring.

**4. Phantoms Power Play - A tale of two stories **

The power play simply looked lost at times tonight, and an 0-for-6 showing through two periods showed exactly that. Luckily for Lehigh Valley, the power play clicked twice in the third period to turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead.

"We had one earlier, but it got called back. Wrongfully too. We generated some great chances. I think anytime you get two power play goals in a game that's a pretty good night. Not going to complain about the power play tonight."

Gordon on the explanation from the referee:

"The ref said their guy pushed our guy into the goalie, but we prevented him from being able to make the save. That thing that's wrong about that is the goaltender couldn't make the save because he chose to take our stick and hold onto it. Our guy tried to get his stick - our guy didn't do anything wrong. The goalie chose to hold onto the player's stick and that's why he couldn;t make the save. It had nothing to do with anything else. The goalie shouldn't have two sticks in his hands.

5. Getting to the net

If there's one thing the Phantoms did well for a majority of the 60 minutes tonight, it was going hard to the net. There were countless times the Phantoms were crashing Tristan Jarry's net, and you could tell it was getting to him with the way he responded to it - grabbing German Rubtsov's stick intentionally after he was bumped into the Penguins' goalie, preventing Vecchione - who slid into the Penguins' net - from getting out and back into the play, etc.

"We talk about it all the time. Goals are scored around the net, there's not mystery to it," Gordon said when asked about it after the game. "If you get there, you're going to get your opportunities, second opportunities, you make it hard on the goalie to handle rebounds so I thought we were excellent."

POST-GAME REACTION