Phantoms Preseason - Game 2 vs. Charlotte

Three-goal third period punishes Phantoms

In a slightly less sloppy preseason game Saturday night at the PPL Center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms appeared to have cleaned things up and turned the proverbial corner as they were much better in all three zones than the previous contest against Charlotte some 24 hours ago. Still, after a three-goal third period against saw a 2-2 game slip away into a 5-2 defeat there's plenty of work needed to be done during the week in order for the Phantoms to consider themselves ready for the 2017-18 season when they host the Hershey Bears next Saturday night.

Luckily for the Phantoms, they'll have a full week - five days - of practice beginning Monday to prepare for their regular season opener.

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Danick Martel - Phil Varone - Chris Conner Greg Carey - Mikhail Vorobyev - Corban Knight Tyrell Goulbourne - Radel Fazleev - Corban KnightAlex Krushelynski - Steven Swavely - Carsen Twarynski

T.J. Brennan - Mark FriedmanWill O'Neill - Max Lamarche Reece Willcox - Phil Myers

Alex Lyon - Mark Dekanich

Scratches: John Muse, Mark Alt, Derek Whitmore, Mike Vecchione, Frank Hora, Chris McCarthy, Matt Willows, Leland Irving, Nolan Zajac, Mike Huntebrinker, James de Haas, Mark Naclerio and Ryan Segalla

RECAP

It was another ugly start for the Phantoms in the first frame, as they were outshot 15-5 and trailing 2-0 to the Checkers through the first 20 minutes of play.

Nick Schilkey, who scored a hat trick and added an assist last night, opened the scoring tonight 4:28 into the contest. After the Phantoms killed off an early penalty, Clark Bishop led the Checkers into the Phantoms' defensive zone on a 3-on-2 rush down the right wing. Bishop held up and got the puck to Keegan Kanzig atop the right-wing circle for a quick shot that Alex Lyon was able to stop. Unfortunately for the Phantoms, the rebound bounced out to the left where Schilkey was driving to net. The former Ohio State University standout made no mistake about it and buried one bar-down on Lyon.

Three minutes later, Schilkey again created offense by winning a loose puck battle in the Checkers' offensive zone. He sent a puck down low to Warren Foegele who collected it behind the net and walked right out in front of Lyon's net to stuff one past the Phantoms' goalie to extend Charlotte's lead to 2-0.

A similar first period for Lehigh Valley compared to last night's game, but the Phantoms got to their game in the middle frame tonight - responding with a much better effort in the second period on their way to tying the game up at 2-2 with a pair of goals of their own.

First, on a power play early in the middle frame, Will O'Neill took a pass from Corban Knight at the center point and blasted a puck toward the net. O'Neill's shot missed the mark, but the puck bounced off the end boards right to Chris Conner for an easy tap in past Checkers' goalie Callum Booth.

Later in the period, Greg Carey took a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and let loose an absolute cannon of a shot that rimmed around the top shelf - tying the game at 2-2 with 7:55 left before the second intermission.

It just seemed that the Phantoms bought into their system and style of play in the middle frame, and because of it enjoyed a fair amount of mistakes. There were still a fair amount of mistakes and miscues, but the effort and intensity that wasn't present Friday night was there tonight.

Things got away from Lehigh Valley in the third period to the tune of three unanswered Checkers goals to complete the 5-2 final score. Nick Schilkey and Warren Foegele caused the most damage this weekend, and are two players I'm sure head coach Scott Gordon will remember when these two teams meet eight times in the regular season.

POST-GAME REACTION

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

2:07: LV - (PP) Varone, minor (slashing) 4:28: CHA - Schilkey (4) - Kanzig, Bishop 7:28: CHA - Foegele (2) - Schilkey 9:46: LV - (PP) Krushelnyski, minor (hooking) 10:59: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (holding) 13:59: CHA - (PP) Kanzig, minor (slashing) 16:03: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (tripping) 18:50: CHA - (PP) Kanzig, minor (holding)

2nd Period

2:01: CHA - (PP) Tolchinsky, minor (interference) 3:09: LV - PPG Conner (1) - O'Neill, Knight 6:59: LV - (PP) Varone, minor (tripping) 9:01: LV - (PP) Martel, minor (cross-checking) 12:05: LV - Carey (1) - Aube-Kubel

3rd Period

1:50: CHA - (PP) Heard, minor (slashing) 5:28: CHA - Robertson (1) - McKeown, Ferrantino 7:31: CHA - Foegele (3) - Schilkey 11:33: CHA - Gauthier (1) - Foegele 13:21: LV - (PP) Twarynski, minor (tripping) 15:02: LV - Myers, major (fighting) 15:02: CHA - (PP) Lorentz, minor (instigation) 15:02: CHA - Lorentz, major (fighting) 15:02: CHA - Lorentz, ten-minute misconduct

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley 0 - 2 - 0 = 2 Charlotte 2 - 0 - 3 = 5

Shots

Lehigh Valley  5 - 9 - 8 = 22 Charlotte  15 - 4 - 11 = 30

Goalies

LV - Alex Lyon (25 saves - 30 shots) CHA - Callum Booth (20 saves - 22 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-5 CHA: 0-for-7

Penalty Kill

LV: 7-for-7 CHA: 4-for-5