ALLENTOWN– The Phantoms sure don’t like to disappoint their new fans.
Last week the team gave the sold-out crowd at the PPL Center an overtime win, and this week, an explosion in the third period with three goals scored in one minute and 53 seconds to beat Hershey 4-2.
It was like rapid fire. It all started with Taylor Leier netting his first professional goal off a center pass from Mark Alt. Tied a two, the Bears didn’t have time to catch their breath as Powe sends in his second goal of the game, assisted by Gordon and Laughton, just 57 seconds after Leier.
Petr Straka would finish it off 56 seconds later from a feed from Cousins to lock in the final score, 4-2.
- Lehigh Valley advances to 3-1. Hershey falls to 3-2.
- Phantoms have had at least one two-goal scorer in each game this season (VandeVelde, Laughton, Laughton, Powe). Scott Laughton leading the pack with two, two-goal games.
- With the win, Phantoms pass the Bears as the divisional leaders, and are third in the conference with a 0.750 win percentage.
- Lehigh Valley was outshot 12-4 in the third, scoring on three of their four attempts.
- Bears goaltender Phillipp Grubauer ended the night with 20 saves.
- Robb Zepp started in goal for the Phantoms, recording 29 saves and advancing to 3-0 this season. Terry Murray confirmed that Zepp will remain the starting goaltender tomorrow vs. the Binghamton Senators, with Anthony Stolarz taking the goal Sunday vs. the Bears in Hershey.
- Prior to Friday’s game it leaked that Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch in Allentown, leading fans and media to believe that the Ghost was on his way to Philadelphia. Flyers later announced Gostisbehere will join the team against the Red Wings on Saturday.
- Gostisbehere was a starting defenseman for the Phantoms paired with Brandon Manning, another good defensive option for the Flyers. In his absence, Steven Delisle replaced Gostisbehere on the first line.
- With the absence of Gostisbehere, the Phantoms defense didn’t miss a beat. Robert Hagg nearly made us forget that Ghost was out of the lineup. The 19 year old showed great promise defensively. He also recorded an assist.
- Steven Delsile and Garrett Mitchell exchanged some words and dropped their gloves in open ice, sending the team and crowd into an uproar. After some beating, Delsile congratulated Mitchell on the fight, saying “good job” to the right winger as the two were separated. Leier and Powe credited Delsile’s fight in the third as the spark they needed to get the game back on their side.
- Thirty-two of the game’s 50 penalty minutes were either fighting or roughing. It was a very physical game on both ends of the ice. Murry did not attribute the physicality to the Phantoms/Bears “rivalry” but to the extreme effort put on the ice by both teams.
- Phantoms alternate captain (one of three) Andrew Gordon spent his first four pro seasons in Hershey, recording 102 goals and 224 points. He was a point-per-game player in 2010-2011, and had a career-high season-long performance in 2009-2010 with 71 points in 79 games.Gordon recorded an assist tonight. /
