(Tommy Hendricks/Sports Talk Philly)
By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms got 12 power plays on of a night where both teams combined for 64 penalty minutes. The Phantoms scored on four of those power plays, capitalizing on Hershey's undisciplined play for a 6-2 victory at home on Friday night over the Bears.
Six different Phantoms scored goals during the heated rivalry matchup, and helped propel the team to its 24th win in 35 games this season.
The first period was penalty filled, but not for the reasons you would expect from a rivalry game. Six minor penalties combined were called against the two teams during the opening frame, with the Phantoms earning three power plays to the Bears two.
Lehigh Valley would capitalize on the last two of the three, with a pair of goals from Colin McDonald and Chris Conner.
McDonald's goal came on a strong play by Taylor Leier. Leier skated behind the Hershey net and centered the puck out front to Mark Zengerle. Zengerle let a one time shot go that Vitek Vanecek stopped, but the rebound stayed in the crease. McDonald potted that for his 14th goal of the season to give the Phantoms the 1-0 lead.
Conner's goal game off a tip in front of Vanecek courtesy of a point shot from Will O'Neill to make it 2-0 at the 18:05 elapsed time mark of the period.
A penalty 1:34 into the second on Tyler Lewington would set the tone for the period. Hershey was undisciplined all night, but especially in the middle frame, taking six minor penalties in the 20 minutes.
The Phantoms capitalized on a brief 5-on-3 almost immediately after the penalty to Lewington, with Jordan Weal scoring the Phantoms third goal on the power play to make it 3-1.
Anthony Stolarz played strongly in the second, making two big stops on Bears shorthanded chances. A shot from Darren Dietz at the top of the circles would be the only one that beat him of the seven shots he faced in the period. Dietz's third goal of the season brought Hershey back within two, but the Phantoms answered back with another goal of their own.
The Phantoms first even strength goal of the night was another O'Neill shot deflected in front. This time it was Corban Knight on the tip in, but the goal was waved off initially. The official put his arms up as if to signal "goalie interference," but after a brief conference, it was determined to be a good goal.
Two penalties assessed at the 18:45 mark of the second to Liam O'Brien, almost immediately after T.J. Brennan took an elbowing minor, gave the Phantoms a full power play to start the third.
Lehigh Valley did not score on the carry over power play, but would be given another chance five minutes into the third. Stan Galiev took a slash, and the Phantoms went to work to try to put the game on ice. It took almost the full power play, but with two minutes left on the man advantage, Cole Bardreau found an opening.
Mark Alt ripped a shot from the point that Vanecek made the save on, but again the rebound laid in the crease. Bardreau backhanded it into the open net to make it 5-1 and put the game seemingly out of reach.
Chris Bourque brought the Bears back to within three on a power play of their own, and that's when things got crazy. Before the goal, O'Brien upended Taylor Leier in front of the Hershey net. The play caused Leier to fall into Vanecek behind the play. Vanecek would not let Leier up, and by the time he got away, Hershey had scored.
Scott Laughton later capitalized on a breakaway, going forehand to backhand and scoring five-hole on Vanecek to make it 6-2.
In all, the Bears had 44 penalty minutes, giving the Phantoms 12 power plays in total. Lehigh Valley scored on four of them, and with Stolarz making 15 saves, came away with a win on Friday night.
This game was a brutal rivalry game, and the two teams will not have long before renewing the rivalry. The two play again tomorrow night in Hershey.
Quotes
Cole Bardreau on the success of the power play in the game: "I think when our effort's high there aren't many teams that can stop us, and we showed that tonight. When we're lucky enough to get a lot of power plays, we've arguably got one of the best in the league. We have a lot of skilled guys out there and they get the job done. It's huge."
Bardreau on the importance of being divisional opponents like Hershey: "Obviously, if you look, our division is one of the best in the league, you can't have any off nights. Any time you can get two points against a team that's close to you in the standings is pretty big."
T.J. Brennan on going after Liam O'Brien, and what to expect from the game tomorrow: "When anyone is kind of trying to build momentum for their team, and they get out of line there, it just isn't right. Obviously for myself to do something like that, it's a little undisciplined, but I think it was something he was kind of expecting. I'm sure we can expect them to come out hard tomorrow. They don't wanna lose a game 6-2, especially to a team they're right behind in the standings. We're gonna expect them to come out hard tomorrow and play a tough game and be ready to get those two points right back."
3 Stars
3. Corban Knight (LV) – Goal, Assist, +2
2. Chris Conner (LV) – Goal, Assist, -1
1. Cole Bardreau (LV) – Goal, 2 Assists, +2
