Photo Courtesy of Nina Weiss
Jason LaBarbera has struggled mightily in a backup role for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for much of this season, but he was flawless on Sunday in a 3-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
LaBarbera's shutout did not come easy, as he turned away 35 shots from an active Penguins (21-7-0-1) offense. He was rewarded with his second win of the season, and first victory since Nov. 1. Additionally, the shutout was his first since March 18.
Nick Cousins earned a pair of assists as well, earning the primary helpers on the first two Phantoms (15-16-1-0) goals of the season. Andrew MacDonald turned in a multi-point effort as well, opening the scoring at 9:46 of the first period and assisting on Petr Straka's power-play goal with 1:13 to play in the second period.
Colin McDonald registered his second of the season as well, capping the scoring at 8:47 of the third period.
The Phantoms did not get too many opportunities on the power play, but scored on one of their two opportunities. Their penalty kill was stalwart, killing off all four penalties they took. Discipline was a bit of a problem for the Phantoms early on, as three of their penalties came in the first 21 minutes of the game, but they took just one penalty after that.
The Penguins were without the services of their young goaltender, Matt Murray, as he is in Pittsburgh as Marc-Andre Fleury's backup. In his place, Brian Foster made 16 saves on 19 shots.
Next up for the Phantoms is a rare Tuesday night game — their only one of the 2015-16 campaign. They will head to New York for a matchup with the Binghamton Senators.
[Box score]Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
