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| Photo courtesy @dwancherry. |
The Phantoms dismantled a St. John's IceCaps team that was coming off of back-to-back wins against one of the Eastern Conference's best in the Manchester Monarchs. They pulled away from Newfoundland with a 4-2 win on Saturday night and a blowout 6-2 decision Sunday evening.
The Phantoms (18-12-4-1) continue to get scoring up-and-down the lineup and it really showed today as Lehigh Valley had six different goal scorers - Andrew Gordon (10th), Nick Cousins (9th), Steven Delisle (1st), Blair Jones (5th), Oliver Lauridsen (1st) and Jay Rosehill (2nd). The Phantoms also got two assists each from Taylor Leier, Jason Akeson and Austin Fyten in what was a well-rounded dominant performance.
The Phantoms chased veteran Peter Budaj 10:49 into the first period after tallying three goals on their first nine shots. They put three more in on 25 shots on recently named 2015 AHL All-Star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck in the final 49:11.
With goaltender Rob Zepp called up to the Philadelphia Flyers, Anthony Stolarz got the start in net and stopped 21 of 23 shots to improve to 6-6-1 on the season. Flyers goaltender Steve Mason is expected to be out for two weeks, per Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, leaving the Phantoms to lean on their rookie prospect Stolarz once again for the foreseeable future.
Their fourth straight win, combined with four straight losses by East Division leader Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has the Phantoms returning home just three points out of first place with four games in hand on the Penguins. The Phantoms will catch up on games played this month, starting when they host the Albany Devils Friday night in their first home game since December 27th.
Check back tomorrow for our weekly Monday catch up and links post for the latest roster news and notes.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
0:55: LV - Gordon (10) - Cousins, Lauridsen
2:09: LV - (PP) Lauridsen, minor (delay of game)
6:49: STJ - (PP) MacKinnon, minor (tripping)
7:32: LV - PPG Cousins (9) - Leier, Akeson
10:49: LV - Delisle (1) - Comrie, Cousins
18:49: LV - Lauridsen, major (fighting)
18:49: STJ - Riley, major (fighting)
19:26: LV - (PP) Manning, minor (slashing)
2nd Period
3:28: STJ - Blanchard (2) - MacKinnon, MacLean
10:56: LV - Jones, minor (roughing)
13:19: LV - Jones (5) - Akeson
14:29: STJ - Blanchard (3) - MacKinnon, Brouillette
17:29: LV - Lauridsen (1) - Gordon, Fyten
3rd Period
1:42: LV - Rosehill (2) - Fyten, Leier
3:45: STJ - Riley, minor (slashing)
9:59: LV - Comrie, minor (roughing)
9:59: LV - Comrie, 10-minute misconduct (continuing altercation)
9:59: LV - Delisle, major (fighting)
9:59: LV - White, double-minor (roughing)
9:59: STJ - Blanchard, minor (roughing)
9:59: STJ - Blanchard, 10-minute misconduct (continuing altercation)
9:59: STJ - Cornell, minor (roughing)
9:59: STJ - Cornell, 10-minute misconduct (continuing altercation)
9:59: STJ - Hill, major (fighting)
ROSTER NOTES - Phantoms
Anthony Stolarz (21 saves - 23 shots) picked up his 6th win of the season. With Rob Zepp called up to Philadelphia, the Phantoms signed a local 22-year old from the St. John's area to a one-game PTO to serve as Stolarz's backup. *His name is Doug Pippy, and he's a goaltender in a local senior league in Newfoundland called Avalon East Senior Hockey League. Last season in the St. John's Junior League, Pippy led his team - the Avalon Capitals - to a championship.
The change in goal was the only lineup change for the Phantoms Sunday afternoon from Saturday night's game.
Phantoms Scratches
Mark Alt (broken hand), Jesper Pettersson (healthy), Shayne Gostisbehere (ACL surgery), Kevin Goumas (healthy), Derek Mathers (healthy) and Darroll Powe (upper body)
Lines
Jason Akeson - Blair Jones - Brett Hextall
Zack Stortini - Nick Cousins - Andrew Gordon
Petr Straka - Ryan White - Brandon Alderson
Jay Rosehill - Austin Fyten - Taylor Leier
Robert Hagg - Brandon Manning
Adam Comrie - Steven Delisle
Oliver Lauridsen - Brett Flemming
Anthony Stolarz - Doug Pippy*
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