ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Sticks raised at center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms skated somberly off into the offseason, falling to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 5-1 at the PPL Center on Sunday evening.
Three Penguins power play goals proved to be the difference in a very chippy affair. The Phantoms' penalty kill, which had been around the middle-of-the-pack all season long, failed them on this night. The unit killed off the final two man-down situations, but the first two did the team in early.
"We gave up some goals that we usually don't," Phantoms defenseman Oliver Lauridsen said after the game. "Our penalty kill kind of fell apart."
It all started (and ended) with two straight penalties within the first two minutes of the contest. For starters, Scott Laughton was flagged down for a holding call. Almost immediately after that, Kevin Goumas closed his hand on the puck during a faceoff, leading to a delay of game penalty.
The Penguins took advantage of both of those opportunities, as Jean-Sebastian Dea stashed a rebound off of a point shot, and Tom Kuhnackl emerged from a board battle and ripped a shot over the shoulder of Phantoms starter Rob Zepp to make it 2-0.
"[If] they get a lead, it's very, very hard to get back into the game," head coach Terry Murray said. "I thought we stayed competitive, but it's very hard to score against them."
"We didn't get the job done."
Lauridsen injected some momentary life into the Lehigh Valley faithful with a goal of his own in the second period. He took a pass from fellow defenseman Robert Hagg and broke down the left wing, beating Penguins starter Jeff Zatkoff with a shot along the ice.
Zatkoff, who got the start in place of folk hero Matt Murray, performed just as admirably as Murray did all season long—he just didn't get the shutout like his goaltending partner did three previous times against this Phantoms team.
As it stands at season's end, the Phantoms will not be a playoff team. That had been decided for several weeks leading up to this game. That now extends a dubious streak without a Calder Cup playoff berth for the Flyers' AHL affiliate to six seasons.
Yet in the midst of all of this, development proved to be the number one priority, and according to Murray, it was accomplished.
"I thought guys overall improved," Murray said. "We've got young guys that are seeing more minutes, more critical situations. We have players that were called up this year and I thought handled themselves pretty well at the next level. It's a process, and this is year one of it."
"The process is to play games at the pro level," he added. "This is exactly what you have to do. They're going to be twice the players they are next year because of this first year of pro hockey for a lot of these guys. It was a real good year for that."
And so another journey ends, and the opportunity for many of these players to make the parent club presents itself in just a few months' time. A player like all-star defenseman Brandon Manning, who recently signed a one-year deal, will be the most notable Phantom to get a chance.
"I really like to see what he has done," Murray said of Manning. "To me, he's ready to make the next step. He contributes in all parts of the game."
"I think each level you play at you want to get better and improve," Manning said. "I think being an all-star this year and the numbers I put up speak for themselves. It's obviously a big step for me."
The Phantoms ended the season with 33 wins—their highest total since 2011-12, where they won 37 games under then-head coach Joe Paterson.
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