GOAL! Phantoms win in OT! The team salutes the fans before entering the locker room. LV 4 – ADK 3 #LVvsADK pic.twitter.com/kucKR91Nyj
— LehighValleyPhantoms (@LVPhantoms) October 18, 2014
It was 18 years ago that the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Phantoms, took the ice for the first time. For the first 13 years of their existence, they were the Philadelphia Phantoms, and played in the neighboring Spectrum.
Then came the move from Philadelphia to Glens Falls, NY, where they became the Adirondack Phantoms. The return to the Philadelphia area was complete on Friday night, when the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hosted their first home game at the PPL Center in Allentown.
It was a roaring success as the PPL Center had an "Orange Out" promotion and the Phantoms came away with a 4-3 overtime win over the Adirondack Flames in the team's first game in the new state-of-the-art facility.
Scott Laughton scored twice in the victory, his second goal tying the game in the final minute of the second period.
Petr Straka gave the Phantoms the lead in the third before the Flames tied the game at 4:44 of the third on a goal by Dustin Stevenson.
In overtime, Brandon Manning scored the game-winning goal at 1:24 to bring the Phantoms record to 2-0-0.
In their season-opening win last Saturday, a 5-2 victory over the Scranton Wilkes/Barre Penguins, Chris Vandevelde, now with the Flyers, scored two goals. Mark Alt, Nick Cousins and Brandon Alderson also scored in the win.
Rob Zepp picked up the win in goal both nights.
Check in again on Tuesday for another update on the Flyers minor-league teams.
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
