Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA 10/21

The Phantoms wore special Snider Hockey jerseys tonight. Photo: Nina Weiss/Highland Park Hockey

Editor's Note: Testing out a potential new regular story to follow up the post-game recaps this season, tying everything together and giving some final thoughts/insights before moving forward to the next one.

Written by: Tony Androckitis, Twitter/Facebook

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms learned the hard way Friday night what poor decision-making with the puck will do to a team, no matter how offensively talented said team is.

Three odd-man rushes against ended up in the back of the net, and while the Bridgeport Sound Tigers played a sound road game tonight at the PPL Center - the Phantoms also made it easier on the New York Islanders' affiliate with careless puck play.

Here it is. Your Phantoms post-game extra. I'll try to tie everything together to give a greater understanding of what's going on with the Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate and their top prospects playing at the pro-level.

If you missed it, here's tonight's recap of the action.

Post-Game Video Interview

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Final Thoughts

• Tyrell Goulbourne was very noticeable in the 1st period. He was playing a heavy game, getting into the fisticuffs with Ross Johnston early. He also had a big hit on Carter Verhaeghe along the boards, and although he was whistled for charging he set the tone early. Later in the 1st frame, he drew a power play for his team - getting a step on a Sound Tigers' defender and causing him to slash Goulbourne before he could get a good shot off.

• It just seemed like the Phantoms were a split second off tonight. Passes weren't as crisp as they needed to be, a few miscues too many here and there. For a team with this kind of roster, 12 shots on goal through 40 minutes shouldn't happen. The energy and effort was there, but the execution seemingly wasn't.

• Tough to blame Anthony Stolarz for tonight's result. Bridgeport's first goal was simply a puck thrown to the net that bounced in off a leg. Then there was a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway and a pair of 2-on-1 chances against. The Phantoms didn't give their goaltender much of a chance on the goals he allowed, save for maybe the Sound Tigers' 5th goal scored by Scott Mayfield from a bad angle.

• The bottom line is this: The Phantoms have the offensive guns to score goals at will, but in order to do that they need to make smarter decisions with the puck and allow those offensive shoguns to get going. Too many times, a Phantoms' player tried to make a high-risk play and they simply didn't work against a hard-working Bridgeport team tonight.