"The Three V's" Lead Lehigh Valley Past Laval
LAVAL - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-5-2) rebounded nicely from their first bout of back-to-back regulation losses on the season with a 5-2 win in Laval Friday night against a high-flying Rocket team that entered the night with the same exact record as the Phantoms through 16 games.
If your last name began with a 'V' then you probably had a good night. Mike Vecchione and Phil Varone tallied two goals and an assist each while Mikhail Vorobyev lead off Lehigh Valley's scoring attack to help lead the Phantoms to two points.
Looking Ahead: The Phantoms have an overnight ride back to Pennsylvania tonight before getting some time off the rest of the weekend to regroup before a Thanksgiving Eve game in Wilkes-Barre against the red-hot Penguins (10-0-1 in last 11 games) on Wednesday night.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner (A) Oskar Lindblom - Mikhail Vorobyev - Colin McDonald (C) Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-KubelTyrell Goulbourne - Corban Knight (A) - Radel Fazleev
T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox Will O'Neill - Mark Friedman Sam Morin - Phil Myers
Dustin Tokarski - Alex Lyon
Scratches: Anthony Stolarz (out indefinitely - knee surgery), Cole Bardreau (hand), Max Lamarche (injured) and James De Haas (healthy)
RECAP
It seemed the Phantoms were headed for another slow start and another early hole Friday night in Laval.
Just 2:29 into the contest, a shot from the outside by Eric Gelinas deflected off a body in the slot and blooped high up into the air.
Unfortunately for Will O'Neill, Dustin Tokarski and the Phantoms the puck came down from its voyage toward the rink's ceiling and landed in the back of the net after hitting off of O'Neill and behind Tokarski.
The goal gave Laval an early 1-0 lead, and you had the feeling it was going to be a long night for Lehigh Valley.
Not so fast.
After the Phantoms killed off an early 1st period penalty, they were awarded a power play of their own just after the midway mark of the opening period.
On their first power play of the night, Phil Varone sent a puck down to low Colin McDonald at right side of Zach Fucale's net. McDonald then got a puck across to Mikhail Vorobyev, who from the bottom of the left-wing circle, sent a quick shot from a sharp angle that banked in off the Laval goaltender to tie the game at 1-1 with 8:37 left before the first intermission.
Just 1:47 later, Mike Vecchione picked up where he left off Wednesday night in Belleville.
Phil Myers took a cross-ice pass in transition entering the offensive zone, and although he couldn't handle the bouncing puck initially he settled things down and circled back to the point before finding Sam Morin at the half-wall.
Morin's hard shot was stopped by Fucale, but Vecchione was in perfect position to put the rebound past the Laval goalie to give the Phantoms a 2-1 lead.
The Phantoms took a lead into the second period for the first time in their last seven games, and had arguably their best period of the road trip in the middle frame in route to extending their lead to 3-1 on Vecchione's second goal of the night 3:34 into the period.
On a power play, T.J. Brennan fed it to Chris Conner entering the offensive zone. Conner found Vecchione in the slot and the shot eluded Fucale for Vecchione's second of the night and fourth in two games this week in Canada.
The Phantoms out shot Laval 17-9 in the second period, and didn't let them generate much of anything offensively. Tokarski was able to make all the necessary stops to get the Phantoms to the third up by two goals.
Phil Varone tallied his first of two goals in the third period 5:24 into the final frame, putting the game all but out of reach at 4-1.
Jeremy Gregoire would get Laval back to within two goals at a 4-2 deficit midway through the period, but that's as close as they would get as Varone tallied his second of the night with 1:03 left to seal the deal.
Things got ugly in the final 1:15 of play. Laval forward Daniel Carr drove to the net and bumped into Tokarski, creating a scrum that spilled over into the net and behind the Phantoms' net. Tokarski was in the middle of it until he was hog-tied from behind the linesman who grabbed the Phantoms' goalie up high around the neck and threw him down to the ice.
Things didn't calm down there either as Sam Morin and Michael McCarron dropped the gloves with 30 seconds left - possibly setting the tone for when these two teams meet again in Lehigh Valley in two weeks.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
2:29: LAV - Gelinas (3) - Boucher, Baun 5:56: LV - (PP) O'Neill, minor (interference) 10:41: LAV - (PP) Terry, minor (slashing) 11:23: LV - PPG Vorobyev (2) - McDonald, Varone 13:10: LV - Vecchione (5) - Morin, Myers 18:56: LV - (PP) Martel, minor (hooking)
2nd Period
1:38: LAV - (PP) Lernout, minor (hooking) 3:34: LV - PPG Vecchione (6) - Conner, Brennan 6:56: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (covering puck in crease/intentionally dislodging net) 8:17: LAV - (PP) McCarron, minor (goaltender interference) 10:48: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (tripping)
3rd Period
1:28: LV - (PP) Myers, minor (tripping) 5:24: LV - Varone (4) - Friedman 10:27: LAV - Gregoire (3) - Veilleux, McCarron 13:59: LAV - (PP) Gelinas, minor (holding) 17:46: LAV - (PP) Gregoire, minor (hooking) 18:48: LV - Brennan, minor (roughing) 18:48: LAV - Carr, minor (slashing) 18:57: LV - PPG Varone (5) - Vecchione 19:30: LV - Morin, major (fighting) 19:30: LAV - McCarron, major (fighting)
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 2 - 1 - 2 = 5 Laval 1 - 0 - 1 = 2
Shots
Lehigh Valley 8 - 17 - 11 = 36 Laval 11 - 9 - 10 = 30
Goalies
LV - Dustin Tokarski (28 saves - 30 shots) LAV - Zach Fucale (31 saves - 36 shots)
Power Play
LV: 3-for-5 LAV: 0-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 5-for-5 LAV: 2-for-5
Attendance:6,665
