LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – Another standing room only sellout crowd of 8,740 at PPL Center saw their Phantoms pull off an amazing come from behind 4-3 OT win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night. In a game that looked like the many the two teams have played in Allentown this year, with WBS controlling much of the
game(the first 40 minutes to be exact), it would not end with the usual outcome.
The first two periods were highlighted by, among other things, complete dominance off all aspects of the game by the Pens. Their zone pressure and face off percentage showed so, and they would capitalize late in the first. Sam Morin would get called for boarding after a questionable hit in the corner of the Phantoms zone. Former Phantom and Flyer Tom Sestito would take exception and drop the gloves, and a way the two would go. After the heavyweight bout, Wilkes-Barre would come away with a power play and draw first blood. A point shot from Will O’Neill would find its way through to Jason LaBarbera, who would try to melt down the puck. Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, Pens captain Tom Kostopoulos saw what few did, that the puck was still loose, and he would smack it between the wickets of LaBarbera to open the scoring.
Despite Lehigh Valley having four power play opportunities in the second, it would again be Wilkes-Barre coming away with the lone goal in the period. On a play that, at least the most of us in the press box speculated, may have been offside, Sestito would spring Josh Archibald down the far side, and he would pick a corner and snipe one past LaBarbera at the 8:34 mark to give the Pens a 2-0 lead. Three of the Phantoms four power play chances would come after that point, but again with Wilkes-Barre controlling the face off dot, there would be nothing doing for the man advantage for now. The only sign of the tide starting to shift in the game was that, while being outshot by the Pens 14 to 6 in the first, the Phantoms balanced it out to only being outshot 8 to 6 in the second. A small sign, but no one saw what was coming.
The Phantoms had lost three straight at home to Wilkes-Barre going into Fridays tilt, including being shut-out twice and having a comeback effort fall short. Davis Drewiske would take the first step in making sure that wouldn’t happen for a fourth straight time, with a goal at the 5:15 mark of the third to cut the Pens lead in half. Maxim Lamarche would walk the blue line to the top of the near side circle and flip a pass cross ice to Drewiske, that he would settle down and fire past Tristan Jarry to give the Phantoms life. The ice was just starting to tilt at that time, and five minutes later, Cole Bardreau would tie the game off that momentum. A shot from the point would be deflected wide by Danick Martel, but would hit the boards and go right to Chris Conner. Conner would center a back handed pass from below the goal line out in front to Bardreau for an easy tap in tying goal. Head Coach Scott Gordon had been quoted as saying a few weeks ago that the “puck luck” and bounces had not been going the Phantoms way. If this one didn’t show that it was starting to, the next one definitely would. Four minutes after the tying goal, the momentum would keep shifting as the Phantoms would go to their fifth Power Play of the night. Kostopoulos, who opened the scoring on the night, would go off for a slash at 14:55. It would take nearly the entire man advantage, but the Phantoms would find a way to take the lead. Taylor Leier would slide a pass down to Conner at the far side of the net below the goal line, and he would try to hit Colin McDonald with a cross crease feed. Which of the two sprawling defenders it went off of is uncertain, but the puck managed to deflect off of one of them and end up behind Jarry at 16:16.
As amazing as the comeback had been, and the manner in which the goals were scored, that momentum, and the rush, seemed to shift directly back only 30 seconds later. Another point shot from O’Neill would give LaBarbera fits, as he had a hard time controlling the rebound off his pad. As he lunged forward to try to cover the puck, Kael Mouillierat would step through the crease and lift it over him into the net to tie the game back up. A crazy game that mirrored most of the Phantoms games with the Hershey
Bears this season would end up in the same place as those games, overtime. Three on three overtime is supposed to create more scoring chances and chaos. Chaos would reign supreme for most of the frame, with end to end rushes but few chances. At about the two minute mark of the OT, Conner would end up having his stick break, giving the Pens a perfect opportunity to finish off what they started. Great communication from the three Phantoms on the ice kept them from doing so, and would create a huge chance for Lehigh Valley. Bardreau would start the break out, taking the puck and spinning back to give Conner enough time to get off the ice. He would find Nick Cousins up ahead of the play and skate up as if he was going for a change. It’s a good thing he didn’t. Cousins would slide the puck back to Bardreau, who skated to the near side and dropped the puck back off. As Cousins snapped a shot off, Bardreau would go to the net looking for a rebound. Jarry would be unable to control the shot that hit his glove and went into the air, so he tried to blocker it to the corner. The puck would go straight into the air and, as it was coming back down, Bardreau would bat it into the net to send those 8,000 plus into a frenzy.
The Phantoms would come away from a game that Scott Gordon said they only really played a good 20 minutes in with a huge two points against a division rival that’s running away with first place. Wilkes-Barre had been a huge problem for not only the Phantoms, but the rest of the league for the first half of the 2015-16 season. With a record of 29-12-0-1 to this point, including a 4-2 record against the Phantoms, the Pens have dominated the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. If Lehigh Valley wants to keep climbing back into the playoff picture, they need to beat the Penguins, starting Saturday in Wilkes-Barre in the last game before the All-Star break. Heading into the break with two points would be huge, but being able to say you beat the best team in the league, your biggest rival, two nights in a row? That may just be the spark the Phantoms need to make a second half run.
Images by Steve.Rusyn@prohockeynews.com
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