The 18-21-1-5 Lehigh Valley Phantoms played their final game before the AHL All- Star break.
7th place Lehigh Valley went into the XL Center in Hartford, CN to battle the first place Wolfpack (25-10-4-5).
Lehigh Valley struck first with Max Willman picking up his third of the season when he picked up a bounce off the end boards and fired it toward the net.
The puck went off the skate of Hartford netminder, Igor Shesterkin and with 5:39 played, the Phantoms were spooking the ‘Pack.
It took all of thirty one seconds for the lead to double with Greg Carey nailing his third with the assist going to Cal O’Reilly who picked up his 601st point as a Phantom and Lehigh Valley seemed to be settling in.
Starting Phantoms netminder, JF Berube gave up the proximity goal off a long range shot from the right corner that Darren Raddysh fired and at the 9:49 mark, the Wolfpack cut it to 2-1.
At 10:58, Ryan Gropp picked up his first of two on the night to knot it up at 2-2.
Phantoms Coach, Scott Gordon opted to yank Berube in favor of Alex Lyon.
The teams battled with both goaltenders all but standing on their heads and no further goals were scored in the remainder of the first nor the second period.
No goals until Cropp picked up his third of the season with 9:01 gone in the final stanza.
Lehigh Valley turned up the heat but could not find the equalizer. With the LV net wide open in favor of an extra man, Phil Diguiseppi scored his 13th with 7.7 seconds to seal the deal on the 4-2 Hartford victory.
The teams are now 2-2-0 against each other.
Igor Shesterkin stopped 28 of 30 Lehigh Valley shots.
Berube allowed two goals on the four shots he faced while Lyon stopped 20 of 21 in his 46:39.
The Phantoms Morgan Frost left to fly to Ontario, California to represent The Phantoms in the AHL All Star festivities on Sunday and Monday.
Kevin has followed and promoted the game of lacrosse since May 19, 1974.
The same day the Philadelphia Flyers won the Cup, the Philadelphia Wings were introduced to Neibauer and Philadelphia.
Kevin has covered many sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and.. lacrosse. A former licensed football referee and baseball umpire, Kevin brings a unique insight to his game coverage.
A published writer in JustHockey Magazine, Kevin covered the American Hockey League as well as a monthly story on a pugilist where Kevin used the pen name, The Rink Rat. Neibauer turned his attentions to lacrosse for a few years and does his part, whether podcasting or writing to grow the game. Kevin branched out to his roots and currently provides insight for all Philadelphia teams for Edge of Philly as well as his full-time duties with LaxPhilly.
