By Michael Heilman

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms hosted the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Friday night at the PPL Center. Scratches from tonight’s game were James de Haas, German Rubtsov, Carsen Twarynski, TJ Brennan, Morgan Frost, Pascal Laberge, and Chris Stewart. Alex Lyon started in goal.

With five minutes and forty-four seconds to go in the first period, the Phantoms ended the scoreless drought as Kyle Criscuolo (11) went around the net to find Andy Welinski (6) who went upstairs for the goal to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead. Tyler Wotherspoon (17) assisted Welinski’s goal. The Phantoms led 1-0 at the end of the first period. The shots were fifteen to seven for the Phantoms.

Seven minutes and fifty-eights into the second period, a tripping call against Phantoms left-winger Greg Carey put the Sound Tigers on the power play. The Sound Tigers took advantage of the power play to tie the game 1-1 as Travis St. Denis (8) waited for Otto Koivula’s (12) pass to get the puck in the net for the goal. Parker Wotherspoon (16) also assisted Denis’s goal. The game remained tied 1-1 as the second period ended. Shots were fifteen to five Phantoms. Phantoms dominated the shots and kept the Sound Tigers in check; however, they could not afford to give up any more penalties as they had already given up two so far.

With ten minutes and forty-three seconds left in the third period, the Sound Tigers took a 2-1 as Simon Holmstrom (5) received the puck from Grant Hutton (7), and went around Hutton and slammed the puck past Lyon for the goal. Robert Carpenter (5) assisted Holmstrom’s goal.

The Phantoms needed to answer back, and they did about two minutes later, as Max Willman (3) found Tyler Wotherspoon (4), who no one was covering. He was able to score to tie the game 2-2 with under nine minutes left in the game. Kyle Criscuolo (12) assisted in Wotherspoon’s goal. The game remained tied 2-2 so they headed for overtime. Shots were fourteen to eleven in favor of the Sound Tigers. The Phantoms did a great job adjusting their game plan for the third period as they didn’t commit any penalties.

A minute and thirty-eight seconds into overtime, the Phantoms sent the home crowd away happy as Mikhail Vorobyev (10) went around Sound Tigers right-winger Josh Ho-Sang and split the goaltender with a backhand shot to give the Phantoms a 3-2 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Andy Welinski (9) and Kyle Criscuolo (13) assisted Vorobyev’s goal.

The Phantoms were able to adjust their game plan and get their legs moving in this game to secure the win. The shots were forty-three to twenty-six in favor of the Phantoms. The Phantoms were zero for one on the power play while the Sound Tigers went one for two.

Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon made twenty-four of twenty-six saves allowing two goals and Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson was forty of forty-three saves allowing three goals.

The three stars of the game were Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson with forty saves, Phantoms defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon with one goal and one assist, and Phantoms forward Mikhail Vorobyev with one goal. The Phantoms will welcome the Hartford Wolf Pack to the PPL Center Saturday at 7:05 pm.