Philadelphia Flyers: Phantoms Weekend Update
By Marc Naples
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The Lehigh Valley Phantoms, AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, took their first round trip this weekend. The Phantoms lost their home opener last weekend, although this weekend they traveled to Springfield and Wilkes-Barre looking for their first win of the season, and the first win for rookie coach Scott Gordon.
Lineup Notes
The Phantoms entered the weekend without off-season addition and team captain Colin McDonald with an undisclosed injury. Without him, they rolled out the following lines;
23 Leier – 37 Brent (A) – 16 Palushaj
18 Martel – 25 Cousins – 22 Conner
24 Straka – 9 Bardreau – 12 Goulbourne
38 Rosehill – 27 Padakin – 15 Parks
47 MacDonald (A) – 14 Gostisbehere
3 Morin – 2 Hagg
5 Drewiske (A) – 2 Alt
Extra: Jesper Pettersson
Friday versus Springfield Falcons (Coyotes)
Goalie Anthony Stolarz made his season debut in this one, although he didn’t have much work to do in the first period. Martel had the best early chance for either team on this set up from Nick Cousins.
Conner eventually got the Phantoms on the board with his second goal of the season, cashing in this rebound with assists from Alt and Cousins.
The first period ended with the Phantoms up 1-0, outshooting Springfield 11-5. Early in the 2nd, the Phantoms had a 5-on-3 PP for 1:49. They were a bit ragged on it, but they eventually scored right as the second of the two penalties expired, taking a 2-0 lead. Martel’s 2nd of the season from Straka and Conner, technically at even strength.
From there, Springfield would get some momentum from successful penalty kills, and eventually sneak a shot from the boards by Stolarz to make the game 2-1. The Phantoms got back on the front foot, beginning the 3rd period on the power play. Again, they technically failed to convert on the PP, but scored 4 seconds after the penalty expired. This time it was Straka from Conner and MacDonald.
Lastly, Goulbourne capped off the scoring with this individual effort.
Overall, it was a good win for the Phantoms, led by Conner up front and a solid performance in net from Stolarz (mostly in the second period). The 0-10 on the scoresheet for the Phantoms PP looks pretty ugly, but they did have two virtual PP goals seconds after power plays ended.
Saturday versus Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Penguins)
Any momentum the Phantoms might have built from their win the previous night was largely dashed by injuries. Colin McDonald remained out, but joining him on the sidelines was Martel (shot block injury) and MacDonald (check from behind injury). As a result, the Phantoms began the game with only 11 forwards. It was even worse than that, as Hagg dressed for this game, but didn’t actually play. Despite this skeleton crew, the Phantoms put on an early offensive blitz. The Phantoms would score 3 times in the opening 5:06. First it was Straka finishing off this play, with assists from Conner and Alt.
Two minutes later, Rosehill picked off a pass and scored a solo effort.
Third, Brent scored this goal on a PP rush with assists from Cousins and Bardreau.
Unfortunately, the game then got away from the Phantoms. The Phantoms couldn’t stay out of the penalty box, and the Penguins scored 5 consecutive goals. Four of those came on power plays. To make matters even worse, the Phantoms saw even more players go down with injuries; Bardreau after taking a shot off his arm, and Parks with an upper-body injury. The Phantoms did show some fight, scoring early in the 3rd to make the game 5-4. Here Cousins scores an unassisted goal off another turnover.
Despite their 3rd period push, the Phantoms ultimately fell short with a final score of 6-4.
Looking Forward
With all the injuries, the Phantoms will likely make some call-ups from the Reading Royals in the ECHL. Here’s the latest injury rundown:
- Colin McDonald – Out 3-4 weeks
- Andrew MacDonald – Appears to be day-to-day
- Cole Bardreau – Day-to-day
- Danick Martel – Hopefully ready this weekend
- Michael Parks – Out at least a couple of weeks
- Robert Hagg – Out this weekend
The lines in practice look like this:
Leier – Brent – Palushaj
Straka – Cousins – Conner
Goulbourne – Padakin – Rosehill
Gostisbehere – Lashoff
Drewiske – Alt
Morin – Pettersson
On the bright side, Chris Conner is playing very well with two goals and four assists in three games. Cousins, Straka, and Martel follow him on the scoresheet, all scoring a point/game or better.
The Phantoms have three games this weekend. They play in Providence (Bruins) on Friday, play Providence again at home on Saturday, and stay home for a game against the Toronto (Leafs) Sunday night.
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