Photo: Nina Weiss/Flyerdelphia
The mantra of head coach Scott Gordon has been for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to get more shots on goal. He figured that if they could do that, scoring would take care of itself.
That's exactly what happened on Saturday night. Unfortunately for Gordon & Co, those shots didn't translate to two points. Mike Sislo, Reece Scarlett and Matt Lorito all had multiple points as the Albany Devils posted a 4-2 victory.
The largest positive coming into the battle was the Phantoms' tremendous penalty kill. They hadn't allowed a goal to an opponent on the power play since Dec. 18. That streak came to an end tonight, as well.
Albany went up 1-0 close to midway through the first when Seth Helgeson's point shot deflected off the back of Lehigh Valley defenseman Mark Alt and eluded Jason LaBarbera. Scarlett and Sislo collected the helpers on the marker. Despite doubling up Albany in shots in the frame, that was the only goal. The highlight of the period for Lehigh Valley came when Colin McDonald was forced to engage Scarlett in pugilistic endeavors after Scarlett jumped him. McDonald scored the takedown.
Rookie Joe Rehkamp got the Phantoms on the board at 3:20 when he took a chip pass from Tyrell Goulbourne in the slot and beat Albany goaltender Scott Wedgewood under the crossbar.
It was as close as the visitors would get. Less than a minute after Rehkamp's first career AHL tally, Blake Pietila deflected a Sislo point shot past LaBarbera eight seconds after Lehigh Valley's Kevin Goumas went off for a hook. Yardley, Pa. native Brian O'Neill finished off a tic-tac-toe sequence on the power play from Lorito and Scrarlett 12 minutes later to put the Devils up by two after two.
90 seconds into the third, Sislo collected his 16th of the season from the edge of the crease to extend the lead to three. Assists went toLorito and O'Neill. Defenseman Davis Drewiske netted his first goal in a Phantoms uniform two minutes later when Tim Brent dug the puck out of the corner and found him in the slot. Petr Straka collected the secondary assist. Despite their best efforts, that's as close as Lehigh Valley would get.
Notes: D Andrew MacDonald did not make the trip, forcing Gordon to use five forwards on the power play. They went 0-4 with the man advantage.
3 Stars: 3) ALB-Seth Helgeson (Goal) 2) ALB-Reece Scarlett (2 Assists) 1) ALB-Mike Sislo (Goal, Assist)
Up Next: The Phantoms return home to face the Binghamton Senators tonight at 5 p.m.
Brent Baldwin is Lehigh Valley Phantoms beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @BBFlyerdelphia.
