Photo: Nina Weiss/Flyerdelphia
The team the Phantoms were chasing in the standings paid a visit to the PPL Center on Saturday night and had them facing a two-goal deficit early in the third. After a gritty win on Friday, the momentum just didn't seem to carry over.
Taylor Leier took care of that almost single-handedly.
Leier struck twice in the third to force overtime before the Bridgeport Sound Tigers finished off the Phantoms with a shootout win in a 5-4 Phantoms loss on Saturday night.
Bridgeport opened the scoring at 13:32 with a power play goal by Jesse Graham. Graham fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle through a screened Anthony Stolarz to give the Sound Tigers the early lead.
The Phantoms would respond just over four minutes later. Phil DeSimone carried the puck across the blue line and maneuvered through three Bridgeport defenders before beating Christopher Gibson to even the score at one.
Early in the second, Adam Comrie picked up his second goal on the power play at 4:12. At the top of the blue line, Comrie fired through three bodies to beat Gibson and give the Phantoms the lead.
Bridgeport then struck for two goals before the period ended. They tied the game as Taylor Beck laced a shot through Sam Morin and high over Stolarz at 9:45. At 15:00, Connor Jones one-timed a shot that squeezed through Stolarz and in to put Bridgeport back on top.
The Sound Tigers would pad their lead just 1:08 into the third as Alan Quine took a pass in the slot and fired high, stick side on Stolarz.
That's when Leier took over. His first came at 12:05 as Chris Conner carried the puck behind the net and fooled the entire Bridgeport defense with a drop pass to a waiting Leier.
Leier tied the game with a power play goal at 18:06 as Conner again worked his way through two defenders to lay a pass across to Leier who threw it past Gibson.
The Phantoms carried power play time into overtime but failed to convert. Bridgeport also failed to capitalize, forcing a shootout.
In the shootout, Graham put a nice move on Stolarz for an easy goal while Gibson managed to stop Leier, Conner and Petr Straka to seal the win.
The Phantoms return to the ice on Sunday as they hit the road to face the Springfield Falcons at 5 p.m.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
