Lehigh Valley, Pa. — After earning his sixth victory of the season, while turning aside 38 of 39 shots with a .974 save percentage, and recording an assist in his only game of the weekend, Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Mike McKenna has been named the PSECU Player of the Week.
After dropping a contest to the Syracuse Crunch in Upstate New York on Friday night, the Phantoms returned home to PPL Center to face off against the Utica Comets for the second time during the 2018-19 season.
While the Phantoms jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period, thanks to a pair of goals from Greg Carey, McKenna — who was appearing in his fifth game with Lehigh Valley — was only tested five times during the opening frame. From there, Utica put up two consecutive 17-shot periods to which the the 35-year-old netminder responded to by making 33 of 34 saves.
Late in the third period, with just over 40 seconds remaining in the contest, McKenna saw an opportunity to hit Justin Bailey with a long-distance outlet pass that setup an empty-net goal to put the Phantoms ahead 3-1. The assist marked the 23rd of McKenna’s professional career and helped to earn him second-star honors on the night.
McKenna now has an overall AHL record of 229-177-25-27 over his 14-year playing career.
Season tickets offering a wide range of benefits as well as 21-Game and 13-Game plans are available by calling the Phantoms at 610-224-GOAL (4625).
And for the latest Phantoms news, visit www.phantomshockey.com or follow the team on Facebook, Twitter (@lvphantoms) and Instagram (@lehighvalleyphantoms).
Prior PSECU Players of the Week
2-24-19 Mike Vecchione
2-18-19 Corban Knight
2-11-19 Connor Bunnaman
2-4-19 Justin Bailey
1-14-19 Taylor Leier
1-7-19 Mark Friedman
12-31-18 Tyrell Goulbourne
12-24-18 Alex Lyon
12-17-18 Carsen Twarynski
12-10-18 Carter Hart
12-3-18 Phil Varone
11-26-18 Greg Carey
11-19-18 T.J. Brennan
11-12-18 Chris Conner
11-5-18 Mike Vecchione
10-29-18 Phil Varone
10-22-18 T.J. Brennan
10-15-18 Greg Carey
10-8-18 Nic Aube-Kubel
