LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – A standing room only sellout crowd of 8,425 saw the Lehigh Valley Phantoms lose their season (and home) opener by a final of 4-3 in Allentown Saturday night.
Image courtesy of Steve Rusyn
Despite the roaring fans and the atmosphere of starting their season in their home barn, the Phantoms looked sloppy in key situations and missed opportunities cost them greatly.
A majority of passes attempted by the Phantoms were off the mark all night, and when your opponents, in this case the Syracuse Crunch, are firing on all cylinders, even the slightest miscue will put you in a bad situation.
It did not help that Crunch goalie Kristers Gudlevskis, who you may remember made 55 saves for Team Latvia in the 2014 Winter Olympics against Canada, was there to stop virtually everything the Phantoms threw his way. He ended the night with 26 saves on 29 shots, including a big one on Phantom forward Taylor Leier with 6.9 seconds left in regulation to put the final halt on Lehigh’s comeback effort.
The rally was much to the surprise of everyone in attendance, as Syracuse dominated the first 30 minutes of play and did not look like they were going to give up any ground.
The dominance started early in the first, as Crunch forward Mike Bluden potted the first of three opening frame tallies for Syracuse just six minutes into the game. What seemed to be a wave of white jerseys crashed the crease in front of Lehigh goalie Jason LaBarbera, who did the best he could to turn all the chances a way.
Bluden finally had the puck bounce his way, and he wasted no time putting it in the twine for the early one to nothing lead. It seemed though that the Crunch would be the team to be shooting themselves in the foot on the night, giving the Phantoms a power play chance on a high sticking call on Matthew Peca just over five minutes later.
Image courtesy of Steve Rusyn
Aaron Palushaj would capitalize on said man advantage, after a point shot from the cannon of Shayne Gostisbehere was stopped by Gudlevskis. The rebound found Leier in the slot, who slid a beautiful pass to Palushaj, who snapped a shot off the near side post while falling down. The sold out PPL Center went into a frenzy, and the Phantoms seemed to be carrying the momentum. That would last all of roughly under three minutes later, after establishing a strong attack in the Phantoms zone.
While cycling the puck in the offensive zone, Crunch forward Joel Vermin would find Jonathan Marchessault in the slot, who potted his first of two on the night. Another goal another four minutes later, again from the slot, and again off a cycle, this time from Philippe Paradis, made the score 3-1 Syracuse. In total the Crunch got 16 shots off on LaBarbera, compared to just 9 for the Phantoms in the first.
Tampa Bay’s top affiliate were starting to look like the NHL level club, fast on the break out and hectic for opposing defenses in the attacking end, and they didn’t hold back starting the second period.
The second frame of regulation started the same as the first, with Syracuse scoring six minutes.
This time, it was Marchessault for his second of the evening, on what seemed to be the first highlight reel goal of the year at PPL Center. Marchessault entered the Phantoms’ end, and took a snap shot that LaBarbera turned back, literally right back to where in came from. He then proceeded to go top shelf with a wicked wrist shot that silenced what life was left in the PPL Center crowd.
It was as if 8,400 people just went mute all at once, and it was so quiet you could hear a puck drop.
The game seemed all but out of reach for the orange and black, but Chris Conner gave the Phantoms, and their fans, life just three minutes later on a rebound in front to cut the lead in half. The Phantoms had plenty of opportunities in the second, two of which came on the man advantage. Lehigh looked out of sorts on the first chance, unable to control simple outlet passes and barely getting shots through to the net. On the second chance, nothing really became of it as well thanks to a Tim Brent high sticking penalty just nine seconds into the advantage.
Image courtesy of Steve Rusyn
These are the types of chances that Playoff teams capitalize at will on, and even though its only one game into the season, the Phantoms need to work on doing just that if they don’t want to go home early again this year.
Only one goal would be scored in a third period that saw end to end action a majority of the frame and yet another missed chance for Lehigh on the Power Play.
Danick Martel would get rewarded for his stellar play on the night with a goal of a scramble in front to cut Syracuse’s lead to just one with a little over three minutes left in the contest. The building was rocking yet again, with hopes that the home time could at least tie the game. The Phantoms turned it on out of nowhere for the last two minutes trying desperately to just get a point out of their opening contest.
As the clock dwindled down to the last seconds, Taylor Leier found himself all alone on Gudlevskis left side. He snapped a wrist shot toward the glove side corner that was snatched out of midair by the glove of Gudlevskis. This save, with just 6.9 seconds left, was the closing on the door of what was a very strong performance by Syracuse, and a very shaky start to the 2015-16 season by Lehigh Valley.
Losing their first game at home is tough to swallow, but pair that with the fact that they don’t play at PPL Center again till October 24th, and it could be a young team’s worst nightmare.
When asked about the effect the upcoming road trip may have on the team after this opening night loss, it seemed the general consensus was it would have little, “You have to be a good road team to be a playoff team…” Chris Conner said after the game, “we just need to make sure we bear down and get some points here on the road.
Image courtesy of Steve Rusyn
“No it’s not a big deal…” LaBarbera said, “It’s good to get out on the road with a young group of guys and get to know each other. We’ve really only been together (most of us) for five days.”
Perfectly said by the veteran goalie. While this road trip may be a huge challenge in just their first month of the season, LaBarbera is right. A young group of guys like this, on the bus, rooming together for two weeks will really bring them closer together and help them grow together as a group. Hockey, like most sports, will not be dominated by individual efforts. It takes strong teams with veteran leaders to get far in this league, and this road trip is exactly what the Phantoms need to establish how this team works.
There is a very good chance that after the next night the Phantoms play this same Crunch team at home (April 17th), that we could be talking about a team preparing to try to make a deep playoff run. There’s also a very good chance that these next two weeks could be the turning point that we all look back on and say “that trip in October really made this team.”
Images by Steve.Rusyn@prohockeynews.com
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