Phantoms Lineup

Greg Carey – Cal O’Reilly – Joel Farabee

Andy Andreoff – Morgan Frost – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Maksim Sushko – Kyle Criscuolo – German Rubtsov

Kurtis Gabriel – Mikhail Vorobyev – Isaac Ratcliffe

Philippe Myers – Tyler Wotherspoon

T.J. Brennan – Reece Willcox

Chris Bigras – Mark Friedman

Alex Lyon – J-F Berube 

Matthew Strome, James de Haas, Gerry Fitzgerald, David Kase, Nate Prosser

Game Report

After a home opening game which ended in a shutout for the visiting team, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were looking for a much different outcome going into their second game of the season on Friday night at the PPL Center.

With division rivals, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, in town, and a lineup restocked with Alex Lyon, Philippe Myers, and Joel Farabee, it didn’t take long for the Phantoms to take control of the game.

Outshooting the Penguins 16-2 in the opening 20 minutes of play, Lehigh Valley pressured hard in the offensive zone, relentless on the forecheck. Kurtis Gabriel kicked off the scoring for the Phantoms, potting the first goal of the season for the team off a sharp shot from the slot. Mikhail Vorobyev followed that by finishing a well-designed tic-tac-toe play with just 36 seconds left in the period.

In the middle frame, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took over on the shot clock, and managed to put the puck through Lyon’s legs less than a minute into the period. It was only the third shot that Lyon had seen all night, but it would be the only one to get past him.

Farabee made highlight reels all across the tri-state area when he entered the zone with the puke, deked around a defenseman and patiently toe-dragged the puck past the crease to get Casey DeSmith to go down before he put the puck in the net back door. It will be a memorable first professional goal for Farabee and fans.

Chris Bigras kept the momentum going about a minute later with an accurate shot that just squeaked through DeSmith’s arm and the goal post to give the Phantoms a three-goal lead.

The third period felt sluggish and a bit low-key, with each team only registering one shot on goal through the first 11 minutes of the frame.  But the Phantoms persevered, and decisively downed the Penguins 4-1. 

Lehigh Valley gets right back to work on Saturday night when they host another Pennsylvania rival, the Hershey Bears. 

Listen to full audio of our post-game interviews with key players and head coach Scott Gordon in the player below.

Plus / Minus

▲  German Rubtsov, Joel Farabee, Philippe Myers

▼  Reece Willcox, Kyle Criscuolo