Six is Sweet - Phantoms Stun Springfield

SPRINGFIELD - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-1-1) continue to find ways to win hockey games, and tonight against the Springfield Thunderbirds (1-8-0) it was a little bit of everything in a 5-2 win at the Mass Mutual Center in downtown Springfield, MA.

Lehigh Valley's dominance at 5-on-5 continued as Will O'Neill, Oskar Lindblom and Danick Martel scored at even strength. Martel also tallied a power play goal for his league-leading ninth tally of the season to give the Phantoms two power play tallies in as many games after starting the season 1-for-33 with the man advantage.

And arguably the biggest momentum-changing goal came late in the first period on Cole Bardreau's shorthanded tally that sent the two teams to the first intermission with a 3-1 lead and momentum instead of in a one-goal game or possibly even a tied game if Springfield had cashed in on that power play instead of seceding a shorthanded goal.

Dustin Tokarski got the nod in net and played admirably, making some key saves early to allow the Phantoms' lead to grow to as large as 5-1. He finished with 26 stops and 28 shots to improve his own personal record on the season to 2-0.

Looking Ahead: The Phantoms have an overnight bus ride home tonight before finishing the weekend with a home matchup against Hartford Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Cole Bardreau Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Oskar Lindblom - Corban Knight (A) - Chris Conner (A)Radel Fazleev - Mikhail Vorobyev - Colin McDonald (C)

Will O'Neill - Mark Alt Mark Friedman - Reece Willcox Sam Morin - Phil Myers

Dustin Tokarski - Alex Lyon

Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Tyrell Goulbourne (healthy), Max Lamarche (healthy) and T.J. Brennan (out 2-3 weeks as of 10/23)

RECAP

While the two teams played a pretty even first seven minutes or so, the Phantoms started to get to their game - dominating five-on-five play and using their speed/work ethic to generate chances and draw penalties. The difference in the first period was Lehigh Valley capitalized on their opportunities.

First, Danick Martel finished the Phantoms' opening power play off with a nifty backhander goal 9:08 into the opening period to give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead. Oskar Lindblom, from behind the net, found Chris Conner out in front but Conner's shot from point blank range was stopped by Thunderbirds goaltender Samuel Montembeault. A heads up play by Lindblom saw him get control of the rebound and skate around the back of the net to the opposite side to slip a pass out to Martel. Martel thought he'd shoot on his forehand but switched to the backhand and handcuffed Montembeault for the game's opening goal.

Less than a minute later, the fourth line of Radel Fazleev, Mikhail Vorobyev and Colin McDonald teamed up along the boards to win a puck battle. Vorobyev got a puck back to Will O'Neill at the left point and the Phantoms' defender stepped into a blast that beat Montembeault to put Lehigh Valley up 2-0.

The Thunderbirds would strike back with 6:32 left before the first intermission on a one-timer from the top of the right-wing circle by Maxim Mamin to make it a one-goal game, and appeared ready to tie things up late in the first period on a late power play with just over two minutes left in the opening period.

Instead, the Phantoms took a stranglehold on the momentum heading into the intermission and in a big way.

Reece Willcox chipped a puck off the boards and out of the zone, and credit Cole Bardreau for hustling from end to end to get to a loose puck just inside the offensive zone blue line for a shorthanded breakaway goal for Bardreau's 1st of the season to make it a 3-1 lead.

The Phantoms took the 3-1 lead into the middle frame despite being out shot 12-7 in the first period, but Bardreau's goal ended Samuel Montembeault's night as the Thunderbirds' goaltender was relieved to start the 2nd period by Harri Sateri.

The goalie change didn't prevent the Phantoms from scoring on the opening shift of the 2nd period, as Corban Knight won the opening face-off back to the defense before getting the puck back on the wing and spotting Oskar Lindblom cutting to the net. Knight sent one in front and Lindblom tapped it in past Sateri just 15 seconds into the middle frame to give the Phantoms a 4-1 lead.

Danick Martel continued his torrid scoring pace near the midway point of the period, starting a play by chipping a puck out of the defensive zone up to Mike Vecchione at center ice. Vecchione dished it to Aube-Kubel and Martel used his speed to join the rush with Aube-Kubel, getting a pass from #16 and scoring on Sateri for his league-leading ninth goal of the year to put the Phantoms in control up 5-1 with 11:18 left to play in the middle frame.

The Phantoms got a bit sluggish and perhaps a little too conservative after taking the 5-1 lead, as Springfield surged and starting creating a consistent attack. Dustin Tokarski needed to make some tough stops to keep the Thunderbirds at bay, but Springfield did get one back to make it a 5-2 game heading to the third period.

Lehigh Valley came out and played to win in the third period instead of dropping back and coasting to the finish. They didn't add to the lead, but were all over Springfield in a majority of the final frame - limiting the Thunderbirds to just five shots on goal while putting 12 shots of their own on Sateri's net - to preserve the 5-2 win to make it six in a row.

ROSTER NOTES

Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Dustin Tokarski made his second start of the season for Lehigh Valley, and quietly had a strong night in net to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Phil Myers returned to the Phantoms' lineup on defense after missing the previous two games with a lower body injury that the team was holding him out as a precaution. Max Lamarche was the healthy scratch on defense.

Radel Fazleev, who sat out Wednesday's game as a healthy scratch, returned to the lineup up front on the fourth line. Tyrell Goulbourne was a healthy scratch to make room for Fazleev in the lineup.

T.J. Brennan remains out and is expected to miss another 2-3 weeks with his undisclosed injury suffered October 14th at home against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

8:36: SPR - (PP) Farnham, minor (tripping) 9:08: LV - PPG Martel (8) - Lindblom, Conner 10:03: LV - O'Neill (1) - Vorobyev, Fazleev 13:28: SPR - Mamin (1) - Grenier, Brodeur 16:43: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Carey) 16:53: SPR - (PP) Hunt, minor (slashing) 18:31: LV - SHG Bardreau (1) - Willcox

2nd Period

0:15: LV - Lindblom (1) - Knight, Conner 8:42: LV - Martel (9) - Aube-Kubel, Vecchione 8:55: LV - (PP) Willcox, minor (interference) 11:59: LV - (PP) Fazleev, minor (slashing) 13:39: SPR - PPG Lammikko (2) - Grenier, Haapala 17:47: SPR - (PP) Brodeur, minor (hooking)

3rd Period

5:18: LV - (PP) Carey, minor (tripping) 11:31: SPR - (PP) Aagaard, minor (slashing)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley 3 - 2 - 0 = 5 Springfield 1 - 1 - 0 = 2

Shots

Lehigh Valley 7 - 8 - 12 = 27 Springfield 12 - 11 - 5 = 28

Goalies

LV - Dustin Tokarski (26 saves - 28 shots) SPR - Samuel Montembeault (4 saves - 7 shots in 20:00 played) and Harri Sateri (18 saves - 20 shots in 40:00 played)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-4 SPR: 1-for-5

Penalty Kill

LV: 4-for-5 SPR: 3-for-4

Attendance: 5,614