Lehigh Valley, Pa. — After collecting a goal and an assist in two games against the Charlotte Checkers this past weekend, as well as riding a three-game point streak, Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Nic Aube-Kubel has been named the PSECU Player of the Week.
After opening the season with a five-game home stand, the Phantoms faced their first road games of the season with a back-to-back set against the Charlotte Checkers on Friday and Saturday.
With the first period of Friday’s game ending in a 1-1 tie, Lehigh Valley later found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 deficit entering into the third period. After defenseman T.J. Brennan intercepted a centering pass near the blue line of the Phantoms zone, he shot up ice and directed a pass to the right wing boards where Aube-Kubel skated to the right faceoff dot before firing a shot past the stick side of Checkers’ goaltender Anton Forsberg.
The goal was nearly identical to his first goal of the season, scored nearly a week prior against the Springfield Thunderbirds on October 19.
NAK on the attack. pic.twitter.com/4XMHWq7vUR
— LehighValleyPhantoms (@LVPhantoms) October 20, 2019
Although the Phantoms went on to drop Friday night’s contest in a seven-round shootout, the team still obtained an all-important standings point to keep them in the Atlantic Division hunt.
On Saturday, Lehigh Valley was again on the wrong end of a 2-1 score entering into the third period, despite out shooting their opponents 24-7 in the middle frame.
The Phantoms continued to apply pressure to the Checkers in the opening minutes of the final period and, with just under 15 minutes remaining in the third, the team found the tying goal for a second night in a row.
After a Charlotte clearing attempt was kept in and chipped back into the zone by defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon, Maksim Sushko collected the loose puck and skated towards the middle of the zone before dishing a sort of drop pass to Aube-Kubel. With the opposing defense crowding towards Aube-Kubel, the 23-year-old forward spotted a wide open Sushko on the other side of the ice. Aube-Kubel connected with Sushko who fired a wrist shot into the net to tie the game at 2-2.
The assist in Saturday night’s contest stretched Aube-Kubel’s current point streak to three games (2G-1A), making it the second-longest active streak on the team.
Lehigh Valley netted a late power-play goal off the stick of Greg Carey to take the back half of the two-game set by a score of 3-2.
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