Photo: Nina Weiss/Flyerdelphia
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms closed the 2015 portion of the season by evening their record to 16-16-1 this season with a 3-1 win over the Hershey Bears at Giant Center on Thursday evening.
The Phantoms struck for the game's first goal mid-way through the first as Aaron Palushaj cashed in on a power play at 11:12. Tim Brent and Sam Morin picked up assists on the tally.
In a tight defensive game, it would take another full period and more to get another goal. At 13:38 of the second, Jesper Pettersson set up Danick Martel for his 11th goal of the season to extend the Phantoms lead to two.
Jason LaBarbera was solid in goal, making 27 saves, throughout the evening, but finally surrendered a goal late in the third. With an extra-attacker on for Hershey, Christian Djoos scored his third goal of the season from Chris Bourque and Dustin Gazley with 2:35 to play to cut the lead to one.
But Martel would score into the empty net to ice the game with 1:01 to play. Brent picked up a second assist on Martel's 12th goal of the season and second of the game, as did Sam Gagner, who played his first game in the AHL after being waived by the Flyers earlier in the week.
The Phantoms have back-to-back games in Portland against the Pirates this weekend on Saturday and Sunday to close out a five-game road trip. They will return home on Friday, Jan. 8, to host the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
