Phantoms Lineup

Andy Andreoff – Morgan Frost – German Rubtsov

Greg Carey – Cal O’Reilly – Pascal Laberge

Maksim Sushko – Mikhail Vorobyev – Isaac Ratcliffe

Max Willman – Kyle Criscuolo – Kurtis Gabriel

Tyler Wotherspoon – Nate Prosser

James de Haas – Reece Willcox

Eric Knodel – Chris Bigras

J-F Berube, Felix Sandstrom

Andy Welinski, Carsen Twarynski, David Kase, T.J. Brennan, Chris Stewart

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After struggling for a stretch, the Phantoms finally got a spark last Saturday when they snapped their losing streak with a shutout against the Laval Rocket on home ice. They took that momentum into Sunday’s matinee against Cleveland, where the Phantoms posted another shutout to complete their three-in-three weekend. Syracuse visited the PPL Center on Wednesday night and the home team extended their win streak to three games, and took sole possession of seventh place in the Atlantic Division.

On Friday night, with Alex Lyon still recalled to Philadelphia due to an injured Carter Hart, the Phantoms looked to continue putting up points when they welcomed a surging Binghamton Devils to town. The Devils, coming into tonight’s game, found themselves on an eight-game winning streak.

The opening period was just about as uneventful as they come. It took more than half the period for the Phantoms to register more than one shot on goal. Late in the period, both teams exchanged penalties, but neither set of special teams could come up with the first goal of the night. Lehigh Valley did finally put together some nice attempts and pressure on Binghamton during their power play, but Gilles Senn kept the puck out of his net.

About halfway through the second period, however, is when things really started to heat up at the PPL Center. Isaac Ratcliffe got the Phantoms on the board thanks to a nice setup by Eric Knodel, which Ratcliffe was able to finish while on the doorstep in front of Senn. German Rubtsov doubled the Phantoms’ tally when he went in on Senn, who mishandled the puck and left Rubtsov with a wide-open net for an easy second goal of the season.

Minutes into the third period, Ratcliffe made an essential play when he passed the puck expertly to Nate Prosser who put it into the Binghamton net to make it 3-0 for Lehigh Valley.

Nate Schnarr, one of the pieces of the Taylor Hall trade between the New Jersey Devils and the Arizona Coyotes, got Binghamton into the scoring column with a power play goal just one second before Ratcliffe exited the box for hooking. But the Phantoms got it right back when Kurtis Gabriel backhanded a rebound into the net off of a laser shot by Maksim Sushko.

The Phantoms extend their winning streak to four games, while at the same time snapping the run that the Binghamton Devils had been on for eight games. Lehigh Valley now hosts Rochester on Saturday night, a strong team that sits third in the North Division. The Phantoms can’t afford to have another slow start and will need to find a way to be in the game right from the opening faceoff.

Plus / Minus

▲  Isaac Ratcliffe, Maksim Sushko, German Rubtsov

▼  James de Haas, Pascal Laberge