By: John Sparenberg
The Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms went outdoors last night at Hersheypark Stadium in the Capital Blue Cross Outdoor Classic, and in front of an announced crowd of 13,091, Phantoms' netminder Alex Lyon put on a classic performance, stopping 41 shots to backstop his club to a 5-2 win.
The Phantoms struck first 2:59 into the contest when their captain, Colin McDonald captured a rebound and lit the lamp for the second time this season.
The visitors closed out the first period scoring at 8:28 of the opening stanza when Alex Krushelnyski banked in a shot off the body of Bears netminder Pheonix Copley to make it 2-0 Lehigh Valley.
With a little more than three minutes left in the second period, Hershey's Nathan Walker, who beat Lyon last season in overtime in Lehigh Valley in the opening game of the playoff series between the Keystone State, beat him again with a rebound from the high slot to make it 2-1.
The Beard looked poised to take a one-goal deficit and the momentum from Walker's goal into the third period, but a defensive zone turnover by John Albert turned into an unassisted goal by Chris Conner at 19:53 halted that thought.
The 3-1 score held up late in the third period, and with his club still facing the two-goal deficit, Hershey head coach gambled and pulled Copley for an extra attacker, and his gamble paid off when Travis Boyd, on an assist from Walker, blasted a laser by Lyon at 17:04.
However, Lehigh Valley veterans T.J. Brennan and Conner each made sure that Mann's gambled did not pay further dividends, when they each added a goal into Copley's vacated cage to seal the win for the Phantoms.
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