Lehigh Valley, PA – Cause this is thriller, thriller night.
That was the case Saturday evening on 80’s Night at PPL Center as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms orchestrated an impressive third period comeback as part of a 6-4 triumph over the Springfield Thunderbirds. The victory capped a monster week for the Phantoms in which they won all three games, including road wins at Hartford and Providence before Saturday’s victory, and tallied a combined 14 goals in the process. Lehigh Valley has now netted an impressive 35 goals through just nine games this season.
Greg Carey (5th, 6th) scored twice while Chris Conner (2nd) and Taylor Leier (1st) each chipped in a goal and an assist as part of the win. Travis Sanheim and Will O’Neill also registered a pair of assists while Danick Martel (4th) and Colin McDonald (5th) rounded out the goal scoring for the Phantoms.
The power play also accounted for a huge part of the team’s success with three conversions in seven opportunities. With Saturday’s effort, the Phantoms now have tallied 12 man-advantage markers this season and have already recorded four multi-power play goal outings, including now a pair of three power play goal games.
But it wasn’t just the offense that sparkled on Saturday.
Defensively, reigning All-Star netminder Anthony Stolarz was sensational between the pipes with 40 total saves, including 21 denials in a first period that featured 22 total Thunderbirds shots. Starting all three games for Lehigh Valley this week, Stolarz went 3-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and 0.943 save percentage.
With the win, the Phantoms improved to 5-3-1 overall this season.
Springfield opened the scoring late in the first period when a left point shot by Mike Downing was expertly redirected by Logan Shaw into the back of the Lehigh Valley cage. Downing garnered the only assist on Shaw’s third conversion of the year.
Springfield doubled its advantage just over four minutes into the second period when, despite a two-man disadvantage, Juho Lammikko was able to find a streaking Jakub Kindl at center ice who cruised in alone before using a nifty backhand to solve Stolarz. Lammikko earned the only assist on the shorthanded marker scored 4:26 into the middle stanza.
The Phantoms bounced right back though and sliced Springfield’s lead in half just 17 seconds later when Carey uncorked a sizzling slap shot from the right wing that zipped past Berra. The man-advantage marker came 4:43 into the second period with assists from Will O’Neill and Travis Sanheim.
Lehigh Valley then leveled the tilt just past the midway point of the contest when intense forechecking pressure by Nic Aube-Kubel forced a Thunderbirds giveaway by Mackenzie Weegar to Martel atop the goal crease who made no mistake in chipping home his fourth goal of the season. The unassisted even-strength strike came 10:04 into the second period.
Springfield rallied though and re-established its two-goal edge with a pair of conversions just over two minutes apart before the close of the second period. First, Paul Thompson deflected home his third goal of the season 15:23 into the middle frame before Tim Bozon snapped in his first of the year with a power play tally 17:27 into the second period.
The Phantoms may have been down but they were far from out as Lehigh Valley orchestrated a remarkable third period comeback that featured four unanswered tallies en route to the thrilling victory.
The comeback started just past the midway point of the third period when Carey blasted home his second goal of the night and sixth of the season. The tally was Lehigh Valley’s second power play goal of the night and came as a result of brilliant assists from Conner and Andy Miele.
The Phantoms then tied the contest 4-4 with just over five minutes left in regulation when a right point drive by O’Neill ricocheted off Leier and into the back of the Springfield net. Sanheim garnered the secondary assist on Leier’s first goal of the year, which came 14:37 into the final period.
Lehigh Valley then captured the lead for good just 32 seconds later when a left wing slap shot by Scott Laughton produced a rebound off a broken stick that was promptly harnessed by the captain, McDonald, and slid into the back of the Thunderbirds cage.
The Phantoms added a little insurance late with an empty-net goal from Conner to seal the banner victory.
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