ALLENTOWN— Rookie Anthony Stolarz chose a good night to invite his family to Allentown to watch the Phantoms.
The Jackson, NJ native stole the show Friday in front of a standing-room only sellout crowd as he locked in his first pro win by shutting out the Worcester Sharks 4-0 in his home debut.
Stolarz (1-3) stopped 36 shots in his first 60 minutes on home ice, and played on a “another level” from his previous three starts on the road.
With a comfortable four-goal lead, the team worked late in the third period to protect the shutout, but with a scuffle late in the third, the Phantoms took two penalties, putting the team in a 5-on-3 situation with just under two minutes remaining.
With Robert Hagg, Blair Jones and Austin Fyten working to block shots, Stolarz made three increasingly difficult saves, moving post-to-post and literally playing on his head.
Jones cleared the puck with four seconds remaining as the crowd of 8,451 rose to their feet to congratulate the rookie on his first win.
- The Phantoms advance to 1-1 versus the Sharks this season with two more matchups scheduled for later this season.
- Sharks dropped to fourth place in the Atlantic after its third consecutive loss tonight. The team has been outscored 10-1 in the last three games.
- Taylor Leier started it off for the Phantoms just under two minutes after puck drop, sending a shot passed Anderson’s glove hand from a beautiful backhand pass from Phantoms newbie Blair Jones.
- With Brett Hextall in the box, Robert Hagg found the puck directly off the faceoff in Worcester’s zone, sending it to the back of the net to add the second goal of the night, and his second this season.
- Phantoms third goal of the game was a bizarre one. Just 1:30 into the second period, a deflection off a shot from Steve Delisle found Brandon Manning’s stick at center blue line. Manning took the shot which was deflected off of two green sweaters and arched towards Anderson. The goaltender raised his glove to catch it, and the puck fell right behind his glove and into the net.
- Alternate captain Andrew Gordon netted the fourth and final goal of the night 59 seconds into the third period. The Phantoms had a goal in less than two minutes to start off each period tonight, and scored in the first three minutes of play in the first and third period on Wednesday.
- After allowing three goals off of 11 shots in 21 minutes, Worcester pulled their starting goalie J.P. Anderson and replaced him with Aaron Dell for his first in-game appearance this season. Dell saved eight of nine.
- Lehigh Valley was outshot 36-20, sending just four shots to the net in the third period.
- Phantoms and Sharks were both 0-5 on the power play Friday. In the month of November, the Phantoms have struggled with a man advantage, capitalizing on just four of 41 (!) power play opportunities for a 9.75 power play percentage in November. Overall the team has a 16.0 PP%.
