The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continued their homestand at the PPL Center Friday night against the Binghamton Devils. Hours before game time, the Phantoms made a couple of roster moves loaning forward Gerry Fitzgerald and defenseman David Drake to the Reading Royals.
There were no goals scored in the first period. Pascal Laberge was taken to the locker room after a hard hit and did not return for the rest of the game. Both teams committed a penalty, and the game remained scoreless 0-0 as the first period ended. The Devils outshot the Phantoms seven to four in the first period.
The Phantoms ended the scoreless drought in the second period as Isaac Ratcliffe (3) deflected the puck that was shot by Eric Knodel and into the net to put the Phantoms in the lead 1-0 with assists from Eric Knodel (3) and Maksim Sushko (7).
The Phantoms would then take a 2-0 lead with three minutes and twelve seconds left in the second period when Devils goalie Gilles Senn attempted to pass the puck to Kyle Cumiskey, but Phantoms forward German Rubtsov (2) intercepted the puck and scored. The Phantoms led 2-0 at the end of the second period. The Phantoms outshot the devils twelve to eight.
Three minutes and thirty-two seconds into the third period, the Phantoms extended their lead 3-0 as Nate Prosser (1) scored his first goal of the season with assists from Isaac Ratcliffe (6) and Kyle Criscuolo (5). Four minutes and twenty-six seconds later, the Devils were going on their third power play of the game on a hooking call against Phantoms forward Isaac Ratcliffe.
Two minutes later, the Devils would get on the board with a power-play goal by Nate Schnarr (3) with assists from Ryan Schmelzer (8) and Julian Melchiori (6) to make it a 3-1 Phantoms lead.
With under four minutes to play in the third period, the Phantoms sealed the game on a goal by Kurtis Gabriel (3) with assists from Maksim Sushko (8) and Mikhail Vorobyev (12) to give the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a 4-1 win over the Binghamton Devils. The Phantoms have now won four straight games while ending the Devils’ eight-game winning streak.
The Devils had a total of twenty-six shots, and the Phantoms had twenty-four. The Phantoms went zero for four on the power play, and the Devils went one for three. Phantoms goalie Jean Francois-Berube almost had another shutout with twenty-five of twenty-six saves allowing one goal and Devils goalie Gilles Senn was twenty of twenty-four saves allowing four goals.
The three stars of the game were Phantoms goalie Jean Francois-Berube with twenty-five saves, Phantoms defenseman Nate Prosser with one goal, and Phantoms forward Isaac Ratcliffe with one goal and one assist.
The Phantoms will finish off the homestand Saturday night at the PPL Center against the Rochester Americans at 7:05 pm.
