By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Hershey Bears concluded their back-to-back games on Saturday in Hershey. While the Phantoms were not able to end Hershey's seven-game point streak, they did avenge their loss on home ice Friday night with a 3-2 overtime win in Hershey.
With the win, Lehigh Valley kept their own streak alive of having not lost back-to-back games since the final weekend of October.
Hershey came in having gone 6-0-1 in their last seven games, including the win over the Phantoms on Friday night. Unlike Friday though, the Phantoms struck first.
Needing to find a way to get off to quicker starts was a hot topic in the locker room following a game on Friday where the Phantoms spotted Hershey a 3-0 lead. They made sure that did not happen on back-to-back nights by striking on the power play to get the first goal of the game.
Andy Miele took a pass from Greg Carey, and settled a bouncing puck down at the blue line. He walked the line and saw T.J. Brennan wide open at the half wall, and threw the puck his way. Brennan wound up and blasted a one-timer that found the net just inside the glove side corner on Bears goalie Vitek Vanecek to make it 1-0 Phantoms.
The Bears pressed hard in the second period, doubling the Phantoms in shots, 16-8, and testing Alex Lyon, who had started Friday night for the Phantoms as well. Despite having great chances all around Lyon, including a shot from Zach Sanford that found iron, it took the Bears almost the entire first 40 minutes of the game to solve the Phantoms netminder.
Chandler Stephenson found himself below the goal line behind the Phantoms net with the puck along the boards. Robert Hagg was defending him, but Stephenson broke away from the Phantom defenseman and centered a pass to the slot for Chris Bourque. Bourque threw a shot on goal that went right past the glove hand of Lyon and into the net to tie the game at one at the 17:40 mark of the period.
The Phantoms power play got the goal back early in the third with Colin McDonald getting the tally to tie Greg Carey for the team lead in goals with 10. After sending the puck cross ice to Jordan Weal, McDonald skated down the boards toward the net. Weal put the puck toward the net, and Taylor Leier and Chris Conner started whacking away at it. The puck came loose to McDonald, who put it high off the shoulder of Vanacek. The puck popped high in the air, and the Phantoms captain followed it the whole way up, waiting till the puck came back below the crossbar to tap it out of mid-air and into the net.
The Bears, much like the Phantoms, have had a way of coming back in games on their home ice. The tying goal came late in the period again, but Travis Boyd found the back of the net behind Lyon for the second straight night.
Boyd took a pass at the right dot from Bourque and snapped a wrist shot to the top glove side corner to make it 2-2 with less than six minutes to play. Both goaltenders made big stops in the final five minutes, and forced the game to overtime.
Going into Saturday, the Phantoms were 1-1 in games decided in the extra session, while Hershey was just 1-3. The Phantoms made sure that record fell to 1-4.
Mark Zengerle came back into the Phantoms zone to retrieve a loose puck, and whizzed an outlet pass up to Weal at the Hershey blue line. Weal skated into the zone to the top of the circle and pulled up. He was able to curl and drag the puck to the slot around a sliding Madison Bowey, and position himself for a shot. He then snapped a wrister top shelf on Vanacek to end the game and give the Phantoms the win.
The Phantoms win tied them in the standings with Hershey, with both teams at 29 points, good enough for second in the Atlantic Division. One of the teams ahead of them, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, await the Phantoms in Bridgeport Sunday night. The Sound Tigers are the only team the Phantoms have yet to beat this season, going 0-3 in their previous meetings.
3 Stars
3. Travis Boyd (HER) – Goal
2. Chris Bourque (HER) – Goal, Assist
1. Jordan Weal (LV) – Goal, Assist
