TORONTO, ON – Nick Cousins sealed his second hat trick of the year in dramatic fashion via a penalty shot late in the third period and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms prevailed at the Toronto Marlies 4-3 on Wednesday night in the opener of a five-game road trip.
With 2:22 remaining in the third and the Phantoms leading 3-2, Cousins was whacked on the arm on a breakaway try. On the first penalty shot in Lehigh Valley history, Cousins raced forward from the get-go but then put on the brakes and slowed to a crawl once he closed in. Then moving to his right, Cousins elevated a backhand beauty over the glove of Chris Gibson for the hat-trick clincher. 
Cousins scored his opening two tallies in the first period, both from the right circle beating Gibson on the glove-side. Jason Akeson also lit the lamp for the Phantoms with a power-play strike in the second period and Rob Zepp turned aside 28 Marlies drives to preserve the win. Andrew Gordon recorded three assists in the game while Adam Comrie registered a pair of helpers.
The penalty-shot goal by Cousins was the first for the Phantoms’ franchise since October 26, 2012 when Zac Rinaldo was successful in his attempt at the Albany Devils against Jeff Frazee.
Cousins has scored both hat tricks by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms having also accomplished the feat on January 17 at PPL Center against the Binghamton Senators. He is just the third player in the AHL to notch multiple hat tricks this season joining Teemu Pulkkinen of Grand Rapids and Garret Ross of Rockford.
The 21-year-old center also becomes the first player for the Phantoms franchise since 2010-11 to score multiple hat tricks in the same year. In that season, both Denis Hamel and Michael Ryan both had a pair of three-goal games for the Adirondack Phantoms.
Byron Froese had staked the Marlies to an early 1-0 lead following an earlier attempt by former Phantom Kevin Marshall from the left wing. But Cousins goals later in the period would push Lehigh Valley to a 2-1 advantage at the first break.
Matt Frattin had blasted home a power-play strike late in the second period to even the score at 2-2. But Jason Akeson responded with a center-point drive early in the third on a Phantoms’ power-play that glanced off the left pad of Gibson on the other side of a Zack Stortini screen.
Teenage prospect William Nylander scored in the closing seconds of the third period for Toronto a couple minutes after Cousins’ hat-trick tally. But the Marlies last-ditch efforts for the equalizer fell just short when the buzzer sounded ending a frenetic scramble in the slot.
Lehigh Valley swept the two-game season series against Toronto and also finished with a 3-0 record north of the border including a pair of wins at St. John’s in January.
The Marlies outshot the Phantoms 31-30. Lehigh Valley was 2-for-4 on the power-play while holding Toronto to 1-for-5.
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