LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms played huge in the third period against a sellout crowd of 8,959 at PPL Center Saturday night, but came up short in overtime to the Albany Devils. The Phantoms scored 14 goals in three games during this past week going into Saturday (including seven Friday night alone), and that could be to blame for the shortage of offense against Albany. However, the Devils style that Petr Straka called “boring hockey” post-game could have lulled them to sleep for the first two periods.
The first period would see Lehigh get out shot 14-3, and their penalty kill would be their down fall late in the frame. Kevin Sundher would go off for a hook at the 17:32 mark of the first, and Albanys third ranked power play would take advantage. Matt Lorito would snap a shot from between the circles that goalie Anthony Stolarz would blocker aside, but the puck happened to bounce right to Mike Sislo. He would snap it in top shelf over the glove Stolarz at the 19:25 mark, and send Albany to the room with the lead. That lead would hold up until about half way through the third.
The second period would be highlighted by a Sam Morin and Joseph Blandisi fight that saw Morin continue the Phantoms dominance of the fisticuffs to this point of the season. Both teams would get a chance on the man advantage during the period as well, but to no avail. Doug Carr and Stolarz went perfect between the pipes for the frame, with Lehigh still being outshot 21 to 8 by the time the period ended. No one knows what was said by Scott Gordon, if anything, between the second and third periods, but the Phantoms came out of the room with purpose heading to the final frame.
Lehigh would post their own 14 shot period in the third, and one of those would be huge. A little over half way through the period, the phantoms wound up with a power play, and they would capitalize just as it expired. Right as Blake Coleman came out of the box, Petr Straka would find a lose puck in traffic and snap it over a sprawling Carr to tie the game at one. The traffic in front of the net made it practically impossible to see the puck, looking like the last drill in warmups where everyone stands in front of the goalie until someone puts the puck in. Straka was that guy, and the Phantoms had life. They would see more chances as regulation time was coming to a close, including a five on three man advantage that, despite peppering Carr with shots, they could not take the lead. The two goalies performances saw the game head to overtime, where only one could get the loss. Unfortunately, neither goalie would be beaten for the game winning goal.
Overtime was as exciting as all three on three OTs have been so far in hockey, fast paced end to end chaos that saw scoring chances at both ends. The game would end as Blandisi would cut down the far side and look for a pass across to Corey Tropp. Stolarz jumped the gun on the pass and tried to break it up himself, which saw him well out of the net with Tropp cutting to the net on the near side. Due to a great defensive play by Danick Martel, all Tropp could do was spin and back hand a pass cross crease to Blandisi. Morin made the attempt to cover the far post for his fallen goalie, but Blandisi went five hole on the young defensemen to win the game for the Devils.
With the next six days off, the Phantoms have some time to keep building up their teams strengths, and focus on their weaknesses. The loss of defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and forward Taylor Leier will affect them greatly, but as tonight showed, they have guys willing to step up. “I was happy with the way Andrew(MacDonald) stepped up in Shaynes role on the power play tonight” Head Coach Scott Gordon said post game. Gordon said he considered Leier the teams “best two way player” and that his loss will also hurt the team, but as stated before guys were stepping up tonight ad helped keep the game close. The Phantoms will hit the road next Friday thorough Sunday, on a three in three that will see them sandwich a game that Saturday against Hartford with two against the Providence Bruins. It is unknown if Leier could be back with the team by then due to RJ Umberger being placed on injured reserve, but Coach Gordon said Aaron Palushaj and team captain Colin McDonald could be back as early as Friday from injury. This past week showed the rest of the AHL what the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are all about, and if that play keeps up, they could be a force in this league.
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