By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Friday night was rivalry night at PPL Center, as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms took on the Hershey Bears.
Separated by only a point in the standings, the matchup was the first of two in a home-and-home between the two clubs and could prove to be critical in the playoff picture come April.
Despite getting outplayed much of the game, the Phantoms were able to mount a late comeback to get within a goal but that was as close as they would get as the Bears held on for a 4-3 victory.
The Bears controlled much of the play in the first period, peppering Alex Lyon with shots early. Lyon was up to the task, and helped keep Lehigh Valley in the game. The Bears penalty kill, ranked second in the entire AHL, shut down the Phantoms fourth-ranked power play and kept momentum in the Bears favor, which lead to a goal for Hershey six minutes after the penalty expired.
On a rush into the Phantoms zone, Travis Boyd ended up with the puck at the top of the far side circle. He took a shot toward the net that came right back out into the slot, where defenseman Madison Bowery found it and went top shelf on Lyon to give the Bears the 1-0 lead.
The Phantoms penalty kill got their first big test in the second, faced with 53 seconds of 5-on-3 play. Strong work around the crease and big blocked shots helped keep Hershey off the board during their mean advantage time.
The momentum they gained back in this time was completely lost back within the next 10 minutes of the game, as two huge turnovers by Maxim Lamarche led to great opportunities for the Bears.
The first saw Lamarche skate out from behind his net and up the far boards. He got stripped of the puck by Christian Thomas, who skated toward the slot before popping a shot up off the back bar to make it 2-0 Hershey.
The second turnover also led to a goal by Thomas. Lamarche lost his balance at the Hershey blue line and the puck was stolen by Liam O'Brien. O'Brien took off up ice with Thomas with him and skated below the nearside circle in the Phantoms zone. There, he pulled up and centered the puck to Thomas, who wasted no time getting a shot off. Lyon made a spectacular glove save, but the puck popped out of his glove and went off the leg of Jordan Weal and into the net. Two bad bounces on one play and the Phantoms found themselves down three.
T.J. Brennan would cut into the Bears lead, scoring on a power play for the Phantoms that had gone 0-for-3 to that point in the game. It made the score 3-1, but the game was all Hershey to that point.
Hershey continued their dominance into the third, scoring 59 seconds in. Boyd got credit for a goal that seemed to bounce off everything in the crease in front of Lyon before going in. Nonetheless, it made the score 4-1 for the Bears.
Hershey kept pressing trying to find their fifth goal of the night, causing Lehigh Valley to get sloppy with their play. Lamarche had his bad night continue, getting his stick up high on a bear forward and getting called for high sticking at 3:32. With the Bears already surging, the man advantage gave them the perfect chance to extend their lead. The Phantoms killed the penalty off, and ended up getting their own man advantage only a minute later.
This turned into the second 5-on-3 of the night, which Lehigh Valley scored on with five seconds left on the first minor penalty. Weal took a pass from Lyon and entered Hershey's zone with a purpose. He took the puck by himself to the front of the net, and tucked a weak shot right between the pads of Cannata to cut the lead to two.
Play evened out from there, and despite being out-played most of the game, the Phantoms had gotten the shots on goal total back to even at 23 apiece with five minutes remaining. Lehigh Valley got the game back to within one with Robert Hagg going bar down for his first of the season.
The Phantoms continued to press, pulling Lyon with 1:42 left to try to tie the game. They got great chances, but a late penalty to Hershey gave the Phantoms one last chance. With only 10 seconds left, they took a time out to try to draw up one last play. A shot from the top of the circle from Greg Carey went just wide, and rolled around the boards and all the way down the ice as time ran out.
This rivalry won't have to wait long to be renewed, as the two teams go head to head on Saturday night in Hershey.
Quotes
Andy Miele on what the team did wrong in the first half of tonight's game: "We just weren't playing our game and we were trying to force things. They took advantage of that. We'll watch the video and tomorrow night we'll be much better with the puck."
Jordan Weal on how he feels about how the game went: "It was just the start for us tonight. We can't spot them a three goal lead and expect to come back every night in this league because it's a tough league. There's good defensive teams in this league. We just have to play the way we played in the second half of the game for sixty minutes and we'll be fine the rest of the weekend."
Robert Hagg on the team's third period, and the slow starts they have at home: "I think the whole team played the best in the third. We played with a lot more energy than we did in the first and the second. I don't know what the problem was but it felt like we weren't there tonight in the first and second and I don't have an answer for that. But we have to build from the third for tomorrow's game and get out with the win.
"Honestly, we've been struggling a lot here at PPL, I don't have an answer for that, but that's something we need to figure out because that can't happen. We need to get the crowd going early in the game and have a good start to the game. Build momentum. That makes it much easier for us as a team. I don't know what it is, but we need to figure it out."
Head coach Scott Gordon: "All four goals were our mistakes, just bad mistakes. And they cashed in on them. And good for them, but when I look at the game, I'd say the first period we played differently than what we normally do. We didn't give up a lot, we actually generated some decent chances that we didn't get shots on the net. After that, we got into some penalty trouble in the second, but there's a lot more good than bad. We generated a ton of chances tonight, we didn't spend a lot of time in our zone. When it was all said and done, we don't come away with the two points. But I like the way the team battled in the third period."
3 Stars
3. Jordan Weal (LV) – Goal, Assist
2. Travis Boyd (HER) – Goal, Assist
1. Christian Thomas (HER) – 2 Goals, Assist
