Lehigh Valley loses 2nd home game in 2019
Despite some nice defense, home team unable to match Bears’ scoring.
Turn back the clock.
The new year has been anything but kind to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who played their first home games of 2019 at Allentown's PPL Center this weekend.
The Phantoms lost at home for the second straight night to kick off the 2019 portion of the home season.
After the 3-0 loss to the Hershey Bears on Saturday night in front of 8,811 the Phantoms (20-14-1-2) wrap up their three-game weekend 5 p.m. Sunday in Chocolatetown hoping to salvage at least one win.
Riley Barber scored a pair of second period goals to pace the Bears, and goalie Ilya Samsonov, who gave up six goals to the Phantoms on Dec. 22, made 18 saves for the shutout win.
Chocolate drops
The Bears (16-21-0-2) scored on their 18th shot of the game (against six for the Phantoms) 2:58 into the middle period when Juuso Ikonen carried the puck down low and dropped a pass into the slot for a one-timer by defenseman Ryan Sproul that put Hershey on top 1-0.
Riley Barber made it 2-0 Hershey on a wraparound left-to-right, stuffing it in off the left of Phantoms defenseman Reece Wilcox at 11:27 during four-onfour action following coincidental minor penalties.
Barber made it 3-0 by tip-toeing in unopposed into the lower right circle to beat goalie Alex Lyon over the glove with 3:45 left in the second period.
Lyon’s share
Lyon was on task during a first penalty kill, blocking a right point blast by Barber through a doorstep screen, then another right point slapper by Connor Hobbs, who went to the penalty box for holding with one second left in the Bears' advantage.
He needed to be on point because the defense was not. The Phantoms were outshot 15-5 in the opening period.
“Probably our worst period in a long time,” Phantoms coach Kerry Huffman said. “We'll make some adjustments and we're going to have a little chat here … It's more about our effort and pace of play. We came out a little flat for whatever reason.”
The Phantoms were coming off a Friday night where they outshot 31-19 Binghamton 31-19 in the first game of the three-in-three, and with a new lineup due to injuries and illness, there looked to be some team defense miscommunication.
Unsung play
Philippe Myers made a beautiful pokecheck about 12 minutes into the game to both thwart a Hershey breakaway opportunity and then start a Lehigh Valley offensive thrust that resulted in a good shot on net. Myers then ended the shift by breaking up a 2-on-1 break for Hershey, forcing a pass by the first player before skating across ice to knock the puck away from the other forward.
Lyon then made two great saves about a minute later to keep the Bears off the scoreboard.
Midseason attrition
The scratches for the Phantoms continue to grow on the injury and illness side. Taylor Leier declined to be interviewed following Friday's loss to Binghamton because he was receiving treatment.
Also scratched was rookie center Connor Bunnaman, who is day-to-day with an unspecified injury.
Cole Bardreau and David Kase are both still injured, and rookie German Rubtsov has had season-ending shoulder surgery.
New lines
With Leier and Bunnaman both out, Huffman had to tweak his offensive lines and defensive pairs.
Defenseman T.J. Brennan, who pretty much commits to a forward role most games while still playing defense, got shifted to an offensive line as a left wing with Mikhail Vorobyev at center and Nic Aube-Kubel at right wing.
Mike Huntebrinker got put into the lineup to play along Reading Royals mate Alex Krushelnyski at center and Tyrell Goulbourne at left wing.
On defense, James de Haas got inserted with Mark Friedman to replace Brennan.
Really?
Sometimes they say referees are blind, but that's usually too harsh. Saturday night, however, referee Brandon Schrader let Bears defenseman Aaron Ness get away with a doozy in front of his goal just five minutes into the game.
Ness, in plain view of Schrader, hooked Aube-Kubel's stick around with his arm and pulled into his hip, blatantly keeping the Phantom player from pursuing the puck.
Schrader had another questionable call 13:05 into the second period with the Bears leading 2-0, calling Zach Palmquist for a hold off play along the back wall.
Gary Blockus is a freelance writer.