The Lehigh Valley Phantoms just keep on rolling. They have won the last six of seven games, earned points in seven-straight, and have now pushed their way to first in the Atlantic Division. Talk about consistency.
Speaking of consistency, Travis Sanheim has now scored points in seven-straight games and has 13 points in 12 games with the Phantoms. Greg Carey led the Phantoms in points this past week with six and is second on the team with 39 points.
Tuesday, Feb. 13th at Bridgeport Sound Tigers (5-0 win)
The Phantoms played in Bridgeport against the Sound Tigers in a rare Tuesday game, and the Phantoms didn’t go easy on ’em. They blew them out 5-0, which was their fifth win against Bridgeport in five tries this season.
Tyrell Goulbourne opened the scoring just a minute into the first period with a quick wrist shot from the slot to beat Kristers Gudlevskis. The game stayed at 1-0 until midway through the second, when the Phantoms exploded for three goals in the final ten minutes. Mark Friedman scored his first goal of the season on the power play, Mike Vecchione received a slick saucer pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and scored on a mini-breakaway, and Radel Fazleev scored his second goal of the season on a play that started with a big hit on Vecchione and ended with a pass from Aube-Kubel to Fazleev. Colin McDonald scored early in the third on a weak backhander that Guslevskis should’ve stopped, and the game ended with the Phantoms winning 5-0.
Just because the Phantoms won on the scoreboard doesn’t mean that they dominated in possession. The Sound Tigers had 40 shots, and all of them were stopped by Dustin Tokarski in the shutout win. The Phantoms only managed 21 shots but scored on 5 of them. Aube-Kubel ended the game with three assists.
Friday, Feb. 16th at Springfield Thunderbirds (8-2 win)
Three days later, the Phantoms traveled to Springfield to play the Thunderbirds, and somehow, this was an even more lopsided victory than Tuesday’s game against Bridgeport.
In his first game back since getting jaw surgery for a hit from Hershey’s Colby Williams, Danick Martel scored the first two goals of the game within two minutes of each other. His first goal was an odd one. Thunderbirds goaltender Samuel Montembeault played the puck to Juho Lammikko, and when Lammikko tried to play it off the boards behind the net to Maxime Fortunus, the puck hit an abnormality in the boards and bounced to Martel’s stick. In one motion, Martel slid the puck on goal, and it went off Montembeault’s pad and in the net.
His second came in a more traditional manner. Slotting himself in the slot, Corban Knight sent a pass his way and the uncovered Martel swept the puck behind Montembeault for the goal.
What a way to come back from injury.
Corban Knight scored the third goal of the period for the Phantoms, as the puck somehow squeezed under Montembeault’s pads and past the goal line. That was the last straw for Thunderbirds coach Geordie Kinnear, who took Montembeault out of the game in favor of Evan Cowley.
In the second, Phil Varone scored to make it 4-0 for the Phantoms on a bang-bang play in the crease. The Thunderbirds finally go on the board to make it 4-1 after John Museplayed the puck right to Ryan Horvat and Chase Balisy banked it off Muse’s sliding pad from behind the net. Quelling any chance of a comeback, Oskar Lindblom scored off a smart slap-pass from Phil Varone to make it 5-1.
The Phantoms scored three goals in the first six minutes of the third period courtesy of Knight’s deflection, Aube-Kubel’s finish to a beautiful bit of passing, and Maxim Lamarche’s empty-net – Springfield pulled Cowley with over 14 minutes left – goal to make it 8-1. Dryden Hunt scored for the Thunderbirds on the power play just a minute later, and the game ended with the score 8-2. Holy cow, the Phantoms can score.
John Muse saved 36 of 38 shots he faced. The Phantoms were outshot for the second straight game, managing 25 shots on goal to Springfield’s 38. Knight, Greg Carey, and Cole Bardreau finished with three points each in the win.
Saturday, Feb. 17th vs. Hartford Wolf Pack (3-2 SO loss)
The Phantoms can lose, apparently. They did just that against the Hartford Wolf Pack at home on Saturday but gained a point in the shootout.
The Phantoms actually scored the first two goals of the game, with both coming in the first period. Phil Varone opened the scoring. Walking out from the trapezoid, he made his way into the right-circle and wristed a shot through traffic and past Chris Nell. Oskar Lindblom scored two minutes later on a sneakily deflected shot from Travis Sanheim. As Ryan Gilbert wrote, future.
Hartford didn’t start their comeback until the third period. In the third, Adam Tambellini sent a pass in the high slot that Lias Andersson one-timed past Dustin Tokarski to make it 2-1, and then Tambellini would get a goal of his own on the power play with five minutes left to tie the game at two. Tambellini’s goal was the result of a great movement on the power play, as he and Cristoval Nieves exchanged passes to get Tokarski moving to his right, and Tokarski was unable to save the puck.
The Phantoms had a pristine opportunity late in the game to take the lead, but the referee seemed to blow the whistle with the puck still loose and mayhem taking place in front of the net.
After exchanging great chances in overtime, the game went to a shootout, and Tambellini’s lone goal turned out to be the winner.
Muse saved 32 of 34 shots he faced. Sanheim grabbed an assist and had three shots to lead the team alongside Philippe Myers.
Sunday, Feb. 18th vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (4-1 win)
The Phantoms’ final game of the week came at home against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and they went back to their winning ways with a 4-1 victory.
Oskar Lindblom scored the lone goal of the first period on the power play after Greg Carey’s one-timer caused havoc in front of the net. Lindblom stood to the left of Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith, and the puck bounced to him for the easy goal. DeSmith didn’t even know where the puck was.
The Phantoms scored twice in the second period to take a 3-0 lead into the third. Carey fought for the puck in the restricted area before finding Varone breaking into the slot, and Varone made it 2-0. Mike Vecchione scored to make it 3-0 on the power play after Sanheim’s point-blast caught DeSmith’s shoulder and popped high into the air before landing on Vecchione’s stick in the right-circle.
Jean-Sebastien Dea deflected Jarred Tinordi’s shot while shorthanded midway through the third period to make it a 3-1 game, and the Phantoms started to get into penalty trouble. John Muse made a great desperation save just a short time before a Penguins shot hit the post, and all of a sudden, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was buzzing. But, when the Penguins pulled DeSmith and the Phantoms were shorthanded due to T.J. Brennan’s slashing penalty, Matt Read iced the game with an empty-net goal with just under two minutes left, and the game ended with a score of 4-1.
Muse saved 22 of 23 shots and was named the First Star. Read, Carey, and Travis Sanheim ended the game with two points each.
Stars of the Week
Travis Sanheim was once again instrumental in helping the Phantoms win the week with five assists, including two against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to earn him second star honors. As I touched on last week, Sanheim is basically auditioning again for a role with the Flyers come next season or later this season if needed. With his performances of late, there’s no doubt that he looks ready for the NHL level.
Greg Carey also had some stellar performances this week, tallying up six assists. It’s a bit odd seeing Carey record six points without any goals, as he leads the Phantoms in goals with 21, but it shows that the Phantoms have scoring up and down their lineup. Carey recorded three assists in the Phantoms’ 8-2 win against Springfield, and has now recorded points in six of the past seven games. Carey was awarded the Third Star against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Sunday.
Rinkside Notes
Alex Lyon was called up to the Philadelphia Flyers last weekend, and John Muse was called up to the Phantoms. With Michael Neuvirth going down with a lower-body injury, the Flyers need a goalie. So far, there has been no update on Neuvirth’s injury, and the length that he will be out of the Flyers’ lineup will impact what Ron Hextall does in the trade market. In the short-term, this could affect the Phantoms. The Flyers need a backup to Alex Lyon for tomorrow night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, and they have no healthy goalies. Could Dustin Tokarski be called up? Possibly, but if he doesn’t come up, the next choice would have to be Carter Hart on an emergency recall. Ah, goalie problems. A Philadelphia normality.
In a set of smaller transactions, Alex Krushelnyski and Steven Swavely were sent back down to Reading earlier in the week.
Upcoming Games
- Wednesday, 2/21 at Utica Comets
- Friday, 2/23 at Syracuse Crunch
- Saturday, 2/24 at Binghamton Devils
Originally published on SonsOfPenn.com