Kurtis Gabriel Scores Lone Goal for Phantoms in Overtime Loss
March 11, 2020
Lehigh Valley, Pa. – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (24-28-3-7) took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (29-26-3-5) in the second game of a four-game home-stand on Wednesday night. Despite 33 saves from Alex Lyon, the Phantoms were unable to repeat the strong offensive performance they had over the weekend, and fell 2-1 in overtime.
The first period was highlighted by 12 saves from Phantoms goaltender Alex Lyon, who stopped every shot the Penguins sent his way. With five seconds left in the period, he knocked away consecutive shots that looked all but certain to go in the net, to keep the game scoreless.
The Penguins sent nine more shots Lyon’s way to start the second period, and he stopped all of them until Kevin Roy scored with five minutes left in the first period. Roy fired a shot from the slot that got under Lyon’s glove for the goal. Lyon had just stopped a shot on a breakaway attempt before the Penguins took the lead.
The Phantoms tied it up with just over seven minutes remaining with a goal from Kurtis Gabriel. Chris Bigras took the initial shot, and Gabriel, who was screening Penguins goalie Dustin Tokarski deflected the puck in for his fifth goal of the season. Mikhail Vorobyev picked up an assist on the play, his fourth point in two games.
Lyon stopped another ten shots in the third period to keep Lehigh Valley in the game. Gabriel’s goal was enough to force overtime, but the comeback effort fell short, as Riley Barber scored 55 seconds into the period to give the Penguins the win.
Goals:
1st Period:
None
2nd Period:
WBS — 15:20 Kevin Roy (14) (Johnson, Cassels)
3rd Period:
LV — 12:54 Kurtis Gabriel (5) (Bigras, Vorobyev)
Overtime:
WBS — 0:55 Riley Barber (16) (Varone)
Three Stars:
1st: Riley Barber (Overtime Winner)
2nd: Alex Lyon (33 saves)
3rd: Kurtis Gabriel (1 goal)
NEXT TIME OUT: The Phantoms will continue their homestand on Friday evening as they once again take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 p.m in the final meeting between the Pennsylvania rivals inside PPL Center.
