LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – The first period had a little bit of everything: a goal, a fight, and a linesman getting injured. Both teams traded chances early, with both Anthony Stolarz and Peter Mannino being razor sharp. Carter Camper hit the underside of the crossbar behind Stolarz with 12:21 left and it turned into a case of the Phantoms getting lucky. After a lengthy review, Referee Geno Binda ruled no goal as they didn’t have a suitable angle to overturn it, as it was ruled no-goal on the ice. 
Just 2:09 later, the Phantoms struck. Brandon Manning got the puck at point, put it through the slot and Zack Stortini made a slick one-touch pass to Kevin Goumas un the right circle, who wired a wrist shot to the top half of the net on Mannino’s glove.
The crazy part of the period came with 14 seconds left during a fight between Lehigh Valley’s Nick Cousins and Binghamton’s Ryan Dzingel. Dzingel, in the process of trying to punch Cousins, elbowed Linesman Matt McNulty in the back of the head. McNulty dropped to the ice and Phantoms’ trainer Joseph Mele tended to him. He left the ice but returned for the second period. Shots in the period favored Binghamton 11-9.
Things really picked up in the third, when the Senators’ Ryan Dzingel struck at 2:50 to tie the game. Anthony Stolarz coughed up a huge rebound of a Patrick Mullen shot, and Dzingel one-timed it past the Lehigh Valley netminder. Dzingel wasn’t finished, and it didn’t take long, as he struck again less than three minutes later. Phantoms’ defenseman Adam Comrie tried to make a blind back-pass and it Backfired. Dzingel intercepted the puck and put it past Stolarz.
Lehigh Valley would tie the game 2:58 later with the man-advantage. With Binghamton’s Matt Tassone in the box for cross-checking, Brett Hextall would muscle a Jesper Pettersson shot through a crowd and past the Senators’ Mannino. It was Hextall’s fourth tally of the season.
The game would go into overtime and both teams would trade excellent chances, but it was Brandon Manning who would finally get the giant gorilla off the back of the Phantoms. Anthony Stolarz slid the puck to Petr Straka in the neutral zone. Straka sped to the near side circle and got the puck to Manning. With a huge screen in front of Mannino, Manning took a slapper from the top of the zone and it snuck through about five bodies and past the Binghamton goaltender. It was the defenseman’s 10th of the year.
Notes: Stolarz got an assist on Manning’s game winner, earning him his first professional point. Defenseman Mark Alt was scratched with an illness. Brett Hextall on breaking the streak: We’re struggling at home, for whatever reason. It’s nice when you see us get down a goal there and come back and find a way to win the game….it took everybody and we found a way to get it done, it felt good.” Kevin Goumas on the mindset with 22 games left: “We have to keep doing what we did tonight you know? Be good on the forecheck, have the third guy high and elmnate their chances. If we can forecheck, we’re a pretty tough team to play against.” Head Coach Terry Murray on how play tonight translates going forward: We’ve got to play that way as far as our attitude and pop in the legs…man oh man, we passed up good chances to shoot in the second period. To be a goal scorer, you have to shoot the puck, so we’ll try to get the point across. 3 Stars: 3) LV-Brett Hextall (Goal) 2) BNG-Ryan Dzingel (2 Goals 1) LV-Brandon Manning (Game-winning overtime goal, assist)
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