GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 3 at Binghamton - 2 (3/26/21)

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NEWARK, NJ. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-3-2) used a big night from rookie Tanner Laczynski, a great response from goaltender Alex Lyon and another strong effort from the penalty kill to complete a 3-2 win against the Binghamton Devils Friday night at the RWJ Barnabas Health Hockey House.

Laczynski tallied all three Phantoms' goals, completing the hat trick shorthanded in the third period on a between the legs flip on a breakaway and continuing to build confidence in his game now that the puck is starting to go in for him. He tallied his first (and second) pro goals in Sunday's 5-4 OT win against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which also happened to be the game-tying and game-winning goals.

Getting back into 'game-shape' for a goalie is difficult as it is, let alone being tasked with being an NHL club's third goalie on the depth chart this season in a situation where guys are going long periods of time without playing games. For Lyon, after allowing five goals Wednesday, to get right back in net two nights later and stop 33 of 35 - including a big shorthanded breakway attempt from former Phantom Danick Martel - was great to see and bodes well for getting Lyon back on the right path.

The penalty kill went 6-for-6 Friday, including a five-minute major where they scored the game-winning goal shorthanded as well as a late-game 6-on-4. The Phantoms' PK unit remains tops in the  AHL with a league-best 90.9% success-rate.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Alex Lyon returned after one day of being listed on the Flyers' taxi squad Thursday, getting the start again Friday night in Newark for his second start after allowing five goals on 16 shots Wednesday versus Hershey.

Egor Zamula, who did not play after the 1st period Wednesday, did not play Friday. InsideAHLHockey.com first reported Zamula's injury as a lower body ailment, while Flyers' assistant GM Brent Flahr told Bill Meltzer on the Flyers Daily podcast that Zamula's in the day-to-day status for his ailment.

With Zamula out and Sam Morin up with the Flyers, Linus Hogberg and Mason Millman returned on defense.

Lines/Pairings:

Ryan Fitzgerald - Cal O'Reilly - Zayde Wisdom Max Willman - Tanner Laczynski - Wade Allison Garrett Wilson - Chris Mueller - Linus Sandin Isaac Ratcliffe - David Kase - Tyson Foerster

Tyler Wotherspoon - Derrick Pouliot Mason Millman - Logan Day Linus Hogberg - Chris Bigras

Alex Lyon - Zane McIntyre

Phantoms' Scratches: Eamon McAdam, Egor Zamula, Tanner MacMaster, Maksim Sushko, Matthew Strome, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier, Wyatte Wylie and Pascal Laberge

GAME RECAP

1st Period

After only seeing three shots in the first period Wednesday in his first full game in over a full calendar year, Lyon had to be dialed in early and he was - stopping three shots in succession in the opening minutes Friday against the Devils.

Twice in the first period, the Phantoms got power play opportunities only to be whistled for an offensive zone holding penalty to negate the chance shortly afterward.

Between the two sets of penalties that saw the teams playing a lot of 4-on-4, the Devils scored at 5-on-5 to take a 1-0 lead 8:31 into the contest.

Lyon robbed Brett Seney on the ensuing odd-man rush, going from his left to right to get a piece of Seney's shot off his blocker and shoulder, but the Devils forward quickly got to the loose puck in the corner and fired one off Lyon's right pad and into the net to give the Devils a 1-0 lead into the period.

The Phantoms had some trouble breaking the puck out of their own end at times, resulting in turnovers in the defensive zone turning into extended shifts defending or simple change-of-possession type plays that prevented the Phantoms from fully getting to their game.

Though the trio of Max Willman, Tanner Laczynski and Wade Allison seemed to be buzzing.

2nd Period

Laczynski's solid play continued, and he got rewarded for his efforts after Chris Bigras picked off a Devils breakout pass in the netural zone - picking up a pass from Bigras from atop the right-wing circle and flinging one through Devils goalie Gilles Senn to tie the game at 1-1 with 13:15 left in the period.

The score wasn't tied for long, as the Devils re-took the lead at 2-1 a little over two minutes later. Ben Street fired a hard shot just below the right-wing face-off dot, spotting teammate Nikita Okhotiuk heading to the back door from the left point. The play worked to perfect as Lyon made the save and the rebound went right to the Devils' defensemen who tapped it into an empty side of the net for his 2nd of the season.

The two teams traded power plays in the middle part of the period, but an interference minor on Binghamton with two seconds left before the second intermission ended up proving costly.

3rd Period

The Phantoms were able to cash in on the 1:58 of carry over power play time to begin the third, and it started with an excellent keep in at the center point by Logan Day. Day patiently moved the puck to the middle for Isaac Ratcliffe between the circles, who then kicked it out to the left-wing wall for Laczynski. Similar to his second period tally from the right-circle, Laczynski took the pass from Ratcliffe and zipped one to the far side from left circle to tie the game at 2-2 on his second two-goal game in as many contests.

Things got real interesting with 11:24 left as, away from the play, Devils forward Graeme Clarke appeared to clip Zayde Wisdom somewhere from behind as the Phantoms' forward was backchecking in the netural zone on his way back to the D-zone.

Wisdom fell to the ice, got up and responded by following Clarke and dropping his gloves and throwing the Devils player to the ice. Since Clarke didn't drop his gloves to engage the fight, Wisdom was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for instigating, a major for fighting and a game misconduct.

All Lehigh Valley did was go to work on the ensuing 5-minute penalty kill, a five minute stretch where they out shot the Devils 3-1 and got a go-ahead shorthanded goal from Laczynski - completing his first pro hat trick.

And was it ever in style.

Day forced a turnover just inside the Phantoms' defensive zone blue line and quickly transitioned the play the other way, sending a two foot pass ahead to Max Willman who sent another short quick pass to spring Laczynski for a breakaway where he pulled the puck back between his legs and flipped it over Senn's glove to put the Phantoms ahead 3-2 with 10:57 left to play.

Lehigh Valley had a chance to extend their lead on a power play with 5:27 left, but it was former Phantom Danick Martel with a shorthanded breakaway chance that Lyon came up big on with a sprawling pad save on Martel's backhand attempt to prevent the Devils from tying the game.

The Phantoms completed a 6-for-6 night on the PK in the final 2:33 of play when Derrick Pouliot was whistled for hooking, including some 6-on-4 PK time in the closing moments with Senn pulled for the extra attacker, on their way to preserving a 3-2 regulation win. The two teams rematch Saturday in Lehigh Valley.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:28: BNG - (PP) Street, minor (tripping) 6:04: LV - (PP) Wisdom, minor (holding) 8:31: BNG - Seney (2) - Schnarr, Foote 12:14: BNG - (PP) Studenic, minor (holding) 12:47: LV - (PP) Fitzgerald, minor (holding)

2nd Period

6:45: LV - Laczynski (3) - Bigras 9:00: BNG - Okhotiuk (2) - Street, Clarke 12:10: BNG - (PP) Clarke, minor (slashing) 14:48: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (slashing) 19:58: BNG - (PP) Bahl, minor (interference)

3rd Period

1:29: LV - PPG Laczynski (4) - Ratcliffe, Day 5:19: LV - (PP) Foerster, minor (hooking) 8:36: LV - Wisdom, minor (instigating) 8:36: LV - (PP) Wisdom, major (fighting) 8:36: LV - Wisdom, ten-minute misconduct 8:36: BNG - Clarke, minor (roughing) 9:03: LV - SHG Laczynski (5) - Willman, Day 14:33: BNG - (PP) St. Denis, minor (slashing) 17:27: LV - (PP) Pouliot, minor (hooking)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  0 - 1 - 2 = 3 Binghamton  1 -1 - 0 = 2

Shots

Lehigh Valley   10 - 10 - 10 = 30 Binghamton  7 - 15 - 13 = 35

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (33 saves - 35 shots) BNG: Gilles Senn (27 saves - 30 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-5 BNG: 0-for-6

Penalty Kill

LV: 6-for-6 BNG: 4-for-5

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