Preseason Game 1: Phantoms Come Up Short In Wilkes-Barre
WILKES-BARRE - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened their preseason schedule in Wilkes-Barre Thursday night, and despite the result - a 3-2 loss to the Penguins - head coach Scott Gordon said there were plenty of positives to be taken from the contest.
"It was good. A lot of positives. I thought our guys did a lot of stuff we worked on in practice, which was good to see. The areas that we were off on we weren't off by much. A lot of opportunities - three posts. It was a good effort. Overall, first time out, some real good signs."
Lehigh Valley's Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Cole Bardreau David Kase - German Rubtsov - Chris Conner Alex Krushelnyski - Radel Fazleev - Connor BunnamanShane Walsh - Michael Huntebrinker - Adam Schmidt
Zach Palmquist - Phil MyersDavid Drake - Reece Willcox Steven Johnson - Nick Luukko
Branden Komm - Jason Kasdorf
Scratches: James de Haas, Frank Hora, Colin McDonald, Nic Aube-Kubel, Mike Vecchione, Adam Larkin and TJ Brennan.
POST-GAME REACTION
GAME RECAP
The opening ten minutes of the preseason opener? It looked very much like the first organized game for both teams. Lots of passes missed the mark.
As the first period wore on, the Penguins began to generate some consistent pressure and after Phil Myers inadvertently collided with referee Dan Kelly behind the net the ensuing turnover was sent out to the left point for a quick shot from Matt Abt that beat Phantoms' goalie Branden Komm through traffic.
Just 39 seconds later, some sloppy work in the neutral zone by Lehigh Valley gave the Penguins a second tally when Sam Miletic's shot bounced right to Linus Olund for a tap in to extend their lead over the Phantoms to 2-0.
Lehigh Valley was more assertive in the second period, and it showed - especially on the power play.
With Phil Varone, Phil Myers and Greg Carey all in the lineup the man advantage unit capitalized on both of their power play chances in the middle frame.
Phil Myers took a pass from David Kase and from the right point unleashed a blast that beat ex-Phantoms goalie John Muse to get the Phantoms on the board 1:31 into the period.
Later, on their 2nd power play of the night, Cole Bardreau went to the net and banged in a rebound to tie the game up at 2-2 with 3:45 left before the second intermission.
Unfortunately for the Phantoms, a Connor Bunnaman slashing penalty and - during the delayed call - a subsequent Alex Krushelnyski trip gave the Penguins a full two-minute five-on-three advantage that they wasted no time converting on to take the 3-2 lead into the third.
The Phantoms had some chances in the third - including two more power plays - but were unable to get an equalizer past Muse who looked sharp in his Penguins debut and finished with 27 saves on 29 shots.
Phantoms goalie Branden Komm settled into the game nicely after surrendering two goals during the sloppily played first period. His two goals against came just 39 seconds apart, though the first was an awkward collision behind the net between the referee and one of his defensemen and the second was a 2-on-4 rush that somehow turned into a 2-on-1 rush against that he was able to stop the initial shot but had no chance on the rebound.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
13:38: WBS - Abt (1) - Lynch 14:17: WBS - Olund (1) - Miletic
2nd Period
1:27: WBS - (PP) - Hirano, minor (hooking) 1:31: LV - PPG Myers (1) - Kase, Varone 15:09: WBS - (PP) Olund, minor (tripping) 16:15: LV - PPG Bardreau (1) - Carey, Varone 18:34: LV - (PP) Bunnaman - minor (slashing) 18:34: LV - (PP) Krushelnyski - minor (tripping) 18:44: WBS - PPG Miletic (1) - Taylor, Olund
3rd Period
9:20: WBS - (PP) Brown, minor (slashing) 12:14: LV - (PP) Walsh, minor (tripping) 17:39: WBS - (PP) McGrath, minor (roughing)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 0 - 2 - 0 = 2 W-B/Scranton 2 - 1 - 0 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 10 - 11 - 8 = 29 W-B/Scranton 10 - 14 - 4 = 29
Goalies
LV - Branden Komm (8 saves - 10 shots) WBS - John Muse (8 saves - 10 shots)
Power Play
LV: 2-for-4 WBS: 1-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 2-for-3 WBS: 2-for-4
