Rookie goalie shuts down Lehigh Valley
Binghamton’s Evan Cormier stops 30 shots in win; Phantoms host Hershey tonight.
There’s running into a hot goalie, there’s running into an unknown goalie, and then there’s running into a goalie who is one and the same.
Evan Cormier, a college callup who signed an AHL deal this week, looked like the second coming of Martin Brodeur as the Binghamton Devils surprised the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2-1 at the PPL Center on Friday night.
Cormier frustrated the Phantoms on almost every shot, and picked up plenty of help in the second period on goals from Ryan Schmelzer and Nick Lappin to put the Phantoms in a two-goal hole entering the final period.
The rookie ended the night with 30 saves as the Phantoms outshot Binghamton 31-19.
Phantoms defenseman Zach Palmquist tallied his third goal of the season to finally end the rookie’s shutout streak at more than five periods on a bad angle shot with 7:05 left in the game. Rookie Connor Bunnaman and Carsen Twarynski picked up the assists.
After being held without a shot for the first 11 minutes of the game, the Devils took a 1-0 lead 9:16 into the second period on a quick give-and-go between Schmelzer and Lappin with Lappin then taking a shot from the lower left circle. Lyon made the save, but the rebound went to Schmelzer on the open right side of the net for the score on Binghamton’s ninth shot of the game, seventh of the period.
Lappin scored at the end of a power play with 3:55 left in the second for a 2-0 lead. Brandon Gignac took a bad-angle shot from just above the goal line below the left circle. Lyon made the initial save, but Lappin was parked there and stuffed it between the goalie and the near pipe.
A questionable slashing call on Phantoms defenseman Phil Meyers in the final 2 minutes of the game prevented head coach Kerry Huffman from pulling Lyon for an extra attacker.
To D With The Devils
The Phantoms defense started out hot against Binghamton. The first shot for the Devils
came 11:25 into the game by Brian Ward and was easily swallowed up by Lyon to force a faceoff to the right of him. Lyon came out of the crease to freeze a puck earlier in the period to thwart a Binghamton attack.
The Phantoms outshot the Devils 9-2 in that opening period as the Devils tied their season lowest for first period shots with two recorded against Syracuse on Dec. 7.
The Devils rallied with a pair
of shots a few seconds apart 3:42 into the second period, but Lyon made a diving save on a shot off a cross-crease pass, and then froze the puck on the second attempt.
The Phantoms (20-13-1-2) got shots but not much else. Nic Aube-Kubel got robbed by Cormier on a blue line breakaway five minutes into the second period. Phantoms captain Colin McDonald missed another opportunity on the open side of Cormier, a 6-2, 210-pounder, wide right from the right circle.
Cormier, called up from the University of Guelph last month because of a goalie shortage,
received an AHL contract after making 35 saves in a shutout win over Syracuse on Wednesday night. He came into the game with a 2-1-0 record with a 1.97 GAA and a .938 save percentage.
Cormier made three saves on a penalty kill at the end of the second period and lost his stick for the final 8 seconds of the period and the Phantoms still couldn’t get a shot into the net.
Not So Happy New Year
The Phantoms were 11 days into 2019 before they got the opportunity to play in front of the PPL Center crowd. They hadn’t played at home since
Saturday, Dec. 29. The team’s last game was Jan. 6 and Friday night they started on a grueling stretch of 10 games in 15 days that kicked off with this weekend’s three-in-three that includes hosting Hershey Saturday night and playing at the Bears on Sunday.
Fans welcomed the Phantoms back to the PPL Center with a standing room only sellout crowd of 8,455. Of course, the vast majority were hoping for a better outcome.
Oh No-leans!
Seriously, we went to the Phantoms-Devils game on Friday
night and chants of E-A-GL-E-S broke out even before pre-game warmups. When the big scoreboard screen showed a baby in a Nick Foles jersey, the crowd roared.
Standing Tall
The Devils entered the night trailing the Phantoms in the Eastern Conference standings by six points, and that’s with the Phantoms owning five gamesin-hand. Lehigh Valley plays in the Atlantic Division while Binghamton is in the North Division.
Front Office At Center
A host of Flyers management was on hand, including club president Paul Holmgren, G.M. Chuck Fletcher, and assistant G.M. Brent Flahr and Barry Hanrahan.
Gary R. Blockus is a freelance writer.