Streak Busters - WolfPack End Phantoms Six-Game Win Streak
ALLENTOWN - Entering Saturday night's game, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms had won six games in a row and were rolling along in their early-season schedule. The Hartford WolfPack, however, were in the midst of a four-game winless streak (0-3-1).
You could say that both teams were due. That's exactly what happened at the PPL Center in front of 7,726 fans in attendance.
In a back-and-forth contest that featured a six-goal third period, the WolfPack tallied first and last on their way to a 5-4 win to snap both their winless streak and the Phantoms' winning streak.
Cole Schneider and 18-year-old rookie Filip Chytil tallied a goal and two assists each to pace the WolfPack's attack, while Adam Tambellini, Vinni Lettieri and Alexei Bereglazov all added goals in the win. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 27 of 31 shots on the night to pick up his first career AHL win.
First year players Phil Myers and Oskar Lindblom tallied a goal and an assist each for Lehigh Valley in the loss, while Mark Alt and Danick Martel also recorded goals in the loss. For Martel, he became the first AHL player to reach 10 goals this season, and in just the team's 10th game. Alex Lyon stopped 26 of 31 in the loss.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms will have a full week of practice leading up to their second three-in-three weekend of the season, with home games Friday (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) and Sunday (Toronto) and a trip to Binghamton sandwiched between them on Saturday.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner (A) Tyrell Goulbourne - Corban Knight (A) - Cole Bardreau Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Colin McDonald (C) Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Will O'Neill - Mark Alt Mark Friedman - Reece Willcox Sam Morin - Phil Myers
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (knee surgery - out indefinitely), Radel Fazleev (healthy), Max Lamarche (healthy) and T.J. Brennan (out 2-3 weeks as of 10/23)
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.
Tyrell Goulbourne, who sat out Saturday's game as a healthy scratch, returned to the lineup up front on the fourth line. Radel Fazleev was a healthy scratch to make room for Goulbourne 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.
POST-GAME REACTION
Head coach Scott Gordon
Q: The theme among the players was sloppy play in your zone, is that what you saw too?
A: Yeah, I mean we did what we wanted to do offensively. I thought some of the stuff that we did in the offensive zone was great - some of the best we did in the whole game was in the third period. What we did in the defensive zone is threw the puck around, which we don't do. I don't know if there was a little bit of panic, or fatigue or what the deal was. One thing we don't do is throw the puck around the boards to nobody, and that happened on several occasions. They were able to get a goal on a won face-off.
Q: On the points coming for Lindblom this week:
A: Yeah, that's kind of how it played out the first time he was here two years ago. Slow start point production-wise, but he was playing the right way. We're seeing him get some offense which is great.
Q: On Phil Myers looking more comfortable:
A: It's a big adjustment for those first year players, especially to come in and play a big role - play on power play, penalty kill - so there's going to be some adjustments and it will come with time. Like I said, for where our young players are during the exhibition season to where they are now has been some huge strides.
Q: On getting offense from the defense:
We want our D to join the attack, and obviously we give them opportunities to shoot the puck. We use them as part of our offensive attack in the zone. It's just a question of them finding the back of the net. Everyone has the green light to be a part of the offense, and just by default you're going to get your opportunities. Some years they go in, some years they don't.
Q: Easier to lose this way, easier fix?
A: Yeah, I thought our second period was horrific - probably one of the worst periods we played all year. Not that we gave up a ton of chances. I don't think they had anything that said we were getting dominated, but we just didn't generate anything. In the third period we came out and played more like we have been playing all year but we just had some horrific mistakes in our zone that just haven't happened.
Q: Do you chalk up the mistakes tonight as mental fatigue, overnight travel before game, etc?
A: Some of it is, maybe a little bit. That's just an excuse. Some plays that were made that maybe just from inexperience that in another month we probably aren't even having this conversation.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
4:29: LV - (PP) Lindblom, minor (tripping) 9:51: HFD - Bereglazov (1) - Schneider, Chytil 10:09: HFD - (PP) Fontaine, minor (slashing) 12:37: HFD - (PP) Fogarty, minor (high-sticking) 13:11: LV - PPG Myers (2) - O'Neill, Carey 19:35: HFD - (PP) Graves, minor (cross-checking)
2nd Period
13:41: LV - (PP) Bardreau, minor (holding) 13:47: HFD - PPG Lettieri - Chitytil, Schneider
3rd Period
0:17: LV - Lindblom (2) - Myers 0:52: HFD - (PP) Lettieri, minor (slashing) 1:40: LV - PPG Martel (10) - Lindblom, Vecchione 2:39: LV - bench minor, thrown stick from bench (served by Martel) 4:26: HFD - PPG Tambellini (5) - Catenacci, Kosmachuk 5:19: LV - Alt (2) - O'Neill, Varone 10:15: HFD - Chytil (3) - Pionk 13:00: HFD - (PP) Crawley, minor (high-sticking) 18:17: HFD - Schneider (4) - Bereglazov
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 1 - 0 - 3 = 4 Hartford 1 - 1 - 3 = 5
Shots
Lehigh Valley 14 - 8 - 9 = 31 Hartford 9 - 7 - 15 = 31
Goalies
LV - Alex Lyon (26 saves - 31 shots) HFD - Alexandar Georgiev (27 saves - 31 shots)
Power Play
LV: 1-for-5 HFD: 2-for-3
Penalty Kill
LV: 1-for-3 HFD: 4-for-5
Attendance: 7,726
