(Tommy Hendricks/Sports Talk Philly)
By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Rivalies run deep, as usually goes with divisional foes in all sports. The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers rivalry is as old as time, but their AHL teams proved it's still alive and well on Saturday night, as the Phantoms beat the Wolf Pack, 6-4, in a testy, back-and-forth affair.
Lehigh Valley snapped their three-game skid with the win, but the overall story of the game would be the after whistle events.
As uneventful as last night's first period between these two teams was, the opening 20 minutes of Saturday's game was action-packed. Six minutes into the contest, Hartford had a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 6-0 advantage in shots on goal.
The Wolf Pack goal came from Justin Fontaine, who scored his 8th of the year. Fontaine took a pass in the slot and faked a slap shot, before ultimately wristing a shot that got through Anthony Stolarz.
Hartford's lead ended up being short-lived with the Phantoms finally starting to press back. Danick Martel caught a high stick from Steven Fogarty, which drew blood, resulting in a four-minute double minor.
On the PK, goalie Brandon Halverson attempted to clear the puck out of the zone. His clear got picked off by Andy Miele, who threw a shot toward the far post. It was from there that Chris Conner deflected the puck through the blue paint, but it hit a Hartford defender in the skate and went right to Greg Carey. Carey threw a rebound on net that slipped between Halverson's pads to tie the game at one. The goal was Carey's league-leading 15th on the man advantage.
More puck luck went the Phantoms way at the 13-minute mark of the period, with the Phantoms buzzing in the offensive zone. After multiple odd rebounds off Halverson, the puck ended up at the top of the far point. From there, Colin McDonald turned and blasted a shot that caught the corner of the net to put the Phantoms up 2-1 and gave them their first lead of this weekend's series with the Wolf Pack.
The Phantoms added to their lead very early in the second, with an odd-man rush leading to a goal just over two minutes in. Martel came rushing down the wing, and found T.J. Brennan cross-ice for a one-timer to make it 3-1. Hartford answered a minute later, with Robin Kovacs banking the puck in off Stolarz from an odd angle to cut the deficit to one yet again.
Hartford got the game tied back up at the 9:29 mark, as Chris Brown took the puck and skated around the Phantoms net. When he came back out above the goal line and threw the puck cross ice to Marek Hrivik who tapped it passed Stolarz.
Hartford scored two straight to tie it up, but the Phantoms wanted to play a game of "everything you can do, I can do better." Radel Fazleev took the first step in doing so, beating Halverson five-hole on a breakaway to put life back in the crowd and give Lehigh Valley the lead back.
Martel made it two straight for the Phantoms just over two minutes later, skating across the slot and using a defender as a screen to beat Halverson and make it a two-goal game yet again.
Hartford again cut the lead to one 5:47 into the third, with Fogarty tapping in a rebound off a Mat Bodie shot. Bodie wristed a shot from the slot that got through traffic and off Stolarz's pad, but Fogarty was the man in front with the screen and got his stick on the puck first.
The goal turned the momentum in the Wolf Pack's favor, who despite not scoring to tie the game on their power play opportunity 30 seconds later, completely controlled the pace. They were able to pin Lehigh Valley deep in their zone for almost 20 seconds after the penalty expired, but Stolarz made some timely stops to keep it a one-score game.
Things really started to fall apart with just over half the period left. A scrum away from the play saw Bodie get a rare penalty hat trick, getting two for slashing, two for hooking and two for roughing all at the same time. Nicolas Aube-Kubel offset a third of those minutes, taking a roughing minor, but it all still gave the Phantoms their second four-minute power play of the night.
Again, they would score on the man advantage, with more puck luck going their way. Brennan stepped into a shot that went up high on Halverson, and deflected straight up into the air. The puck came back down on the goal line, where Andy Miele pushed it across to make it a 6-4 game, re-establishing the Phantoms two-goal lead.
Hartford pulled Halverson to get the extra attacker to try to make a late push with less than three minutes to go. Outshooting the Phantoms, 39-27, but trailing by two, the Wolf Pack took their time out with 1:37 left to try to draw something up. An icing call with 1:13 left gave Hartford a crucial offensive zone draw to try to get things going.
They got their 40th shot on Stolarz off that draw, and set up again after he held the puck for another whistle. Time was ticking away, but the Phantoms held strong defensively. An icing call with 1.3 seconds remains got more eventful than it should have, with a scrum after the whistle resulting in a Phantom getting tossed from the game. After the final horn sounded, a giant scrum ensued.
Tanner Glass slashed Miele after the final drop of the puck, and all hell broke loose. Bodies went flying everywhere and Chris Brown and Greg Carey dropped the gloves, engaging in a brutal bout. The line brawl set up a huge storyline for the final meeting between these two teams on March 4.
3 Stars
3. Andy Miele (LV) – Goal, Assist, -1
2. T.J. Brennan (LV) – Goal, Assist, -1
1. Danick Martel (LV) – Goal, Assist, +2
