LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms fell short of reaching the .500 mark on Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies. Sunday’s game was the last of a three-in-three weekend series of games, which saw the Phantoms drop two of them, one Friday in Providence and Sunday’s at home. Despite a perfect effort from the penalty kill, Lehigh fell short in just about every other category.
The saying “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” can be the Phantoms slogan for 
not only Sundays game, but the young season as a whole. Lehigh came out flat to start the opening frame, giving up the first tally of the afternoon just 4:51 in. Frederik Gauthier would capitalize in the slot on a centering pass from behind the net to pot his first of the year, and get the fire started for the Marlies. Toronto would score again just over four minutes later. Nikita Soshnikov would throw a puck toward Phantoms goalie Anthony Stolarz, and it appeared Stolie had the puck in his equipment. However, the puck actually found a slot between his pads and creeped across the line for Soshnikovs second of the season and first of the evening.
After another failed attempt on the power play for Lehigh (which has not looked good all year), Toronto would get a man advantage of their own.
A miscommunication at center ice would give Taylor Leier a break away chance on Torontos Antoine Bibeau that he would capitalize on to pull the Phantoms within one. The goal would mark the first short-handed tally for Lehigh this year, and the ninth time the Phantoms had scored on the penalty kill during their tenure in the Valley.
Whatever momentum may have been carried over from the goal would be silenced before it started as Soshnikov would score his second of the night and third of the year just over a minute later. It would be the last goal scored on the afternoon, but not the end of the action.
The rest of the game would see the Phantoms dig themselves out of the hole they dug in the first period.
Toronto dominated the shots on goal 14-5 in the first, but Lehigh would take the advantage in the category the rest of the way, leading the last two periods 17-11. Unfortunately none of those shots would get past Bibeau, who was not giving up any rebounds the entire afternoon. Stolarz matched him the rest of the way, but the two goal deficit was just too much to overcome with the hot goalie they were facing. A bright spot on the afternoon however was that Phantoms penalty kill, that shut down the Marlies on all four attempts they had. Progress is progress for the special teams, and Leiers short-handed goal in the first helped lead the way to keep the penalty kill focused.
The bad start can be attributed to the three games in three nights scenario, and Head Coach Scott Gordon recognized that. “Three games in three nights, the legs aren’t going to go, the brains are going to react a little slower” he said, “instead of playing a simpler game (in this scenario) we made it difficult with turnovers and that put us on our heels”.
The three goals in the first showed that, and it’s good for the team that they get a few days off this week.
The Phantoms, while staying at home, don’t have it any easier this week. They resume their 2015-16 campaign with games against the North Division leading St. Johns Ice Caps on Wednesday and Friday, both starting at 7:05. They then hit the road to start the month of November Sunday against the division rival Hershey Bears in Chocolate Town at 5. Big tests coming their way the rest of the week, and the rest in between games should help this young team flourish.
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