ALLENTOWN — Something had to give at the PPL Center Sunday evening.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned home to begin a four-game homestand looking to get in the win column after going winless in their last six games with four regulation losses and two in overtime.
The visiting Portland Pirates had been slumping even more. They went eight straight without a win, the only difference being that Portland was still very much in the playoff race. Lehigh Valley was not mathematically eliminated, but its chances had faded.
Those postseason hopes continued to decrease as the Pirates ended their losing streak by topping the Phantoms 4-2. Lehigh Valley is now 0-5-2 in its last seven.
Lehigh Valley found itself down shortly after the opening faceoff as Shane Harper skated right in front of goalie Jason LaBarbera, was left open on the power play, and tapped in a pass from Kyle Rau just 2:57 in.
Not even halfway through the first period, the Pirates built a 2-0 lead.
A turnover from the Phantoms in their own zone led to Corban Knight feeding Wayne Simpson in the slot, who skated in and went to his backhand to beat LaBarbera 9:02 into the first.
"We got away from what we've kind of had success doing," Phantoms forward Tim Brent said. "That's putting pucks behind defensemen and putting pressure on them, getting a good forecheck going. We turned pucks over, we were soft in battles and kind of lost all of them."
Coach Scott Gordon said it wasn't an excuse but he thought they weren't ready to play the first 10 minutes of the initial period in part because of their travel schedule. The team played in Toronto Friday and took a bus straight back to Allentown following the contest. They didn't arrive home until 6 a.m. Saturday.
The players were on their own to get in a workout Saturday and were required to report Sunday at 2:45 p.m. Gordon admitted he didn't get much sleep since they returned. A number of the players mentioned the travel as an issue and admitted they weren't mentally ready.
The Phantoms looked sluggish throughout the first period. It showed in multiple ways on the scoreboard as well with Lehigh Valley being outshot 8-4.
They took that lack of effort into the second with the Pirates piling on early.
Rocco Grimaldi carried the puck into the Phantoms zone across the blueline and beat LaBarbera 1:17 into the middle period for a 3-0 advantage..
It also didn't help that the Phantoms were missing their No. 1 goaltender, Anthony Stolarz.
Lehigh Valley's NHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Flyers, announced their goalie Michal Neuvirth would be out three weeks with a lower-body injury and the Flyers recalled Stolarz on emergency basis Sunday morning.
Stolarz had started 13 of Lehigh Valley's last 14 games and was solid between the pipes during the stretch. In those 13 games he was 4-5-4 while compiling a 2.92 GAA with a .918 save percentage.
Martin Ouellette was recalled from ECHL's Reading Royals to take Stolarz's roster spot with the Phantoms.
With Stolarz seeing so much action for the Phantoms, LaBarbera obviously has been riding the bench. He had played just one game between Feb. 13 and Sunday.
There may have only been one goal that LaBarbera could have approached differently, but he still thought the lack of play might have affected him a bit to start.
"Maybe a little rusty early I think, but I felt better as the game went on," LaBarbera said. "It's not easy when your team is already struggling and then you dig yourselves a 3-0 hole that quick into the game."
The Phantoms showed some life by getting on the scoreboard with 7:44 in the second as Adam Comrie fired a shot from the point that deflected off a Pirate and past Portland goalie Mike McKenna to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Lehigh Valley continued to apply more pressure as the game went on, outshooting the Pirates 26-16 over the final two periods and pulled to within one late.
Following a wide shot that caught glass behind McKenna from Petr Straka, Chris Conner collected the puck and threw it on net as he came out from behind the cage. Conner's shot hit off McKenna and ended up in the Pirates' net with 1:27 remaining, making it 3-2.
The Phantoms didn't have much of a chance to complete the comeback as Simpson scored an empty net goal 22 seconds later for Portland to cap the scoring.
Notes: Kaleb Holder, an 8-year-old boy diagnosed with a rare degenerative brain disorder called ALD, was the Phantoms' guest for the ceremonial pre-game puck drop. … Attendance: 8,422, a sellout. It's the eighth straight sellout for the Phantoms and the 19th overall this season.
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