FLAMES EARN FIRST POINT

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Flames collected their first point in franchise history but came up just short as they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Brandon Manning’s goal just 84 seconds into overtime gave the Phantoms the victory in front of a sold out crowd of 8,647 on their opening night.

Markus Granlund (0-2-2) picked up the first multi-point game in Flames’ team history, while Sena Acolatse, David Wolf and Dustin Stevenson scored for Adirondack. Joni Ortio made 27 saves in defeat. Scott Laughton led the Phantoms with two goals.

Lehigh Valley opened the scoring tonight as Scott Laughton beat Joni Ortio for a power-play goal with 8:01 left in the first period. The 2012 20th overall selection by Philadelphia, Laughton, took a feed from Andrew Gordon and beat Ortio from a sharp angle to make it 1-0.

The Flames knotted the score at one as Acolatse scored his first of the season with the Flames on a 5-on-3 advantage at the 6:07 mark of the second, as the blueliner unloaded a howitzer from the point to beat Zepp. Granlund picked up the lone assist on the play, his first point of the 2014-15 campaign.

Adirondack took its first lead of the evening just over four minutes later as Wolf collected his first career AHL goal with a power-play tally of his own. The German winger took a feed from Mathieu Tousignant in front and slotted his shot past Zepp for the 2-1 advantage.

The lead would not last to the intermission, however, as Laughton added his second of the evening with the Flames down two men. Gordon put a smooth feed through the slot to Laughton, who banged the puck into a gaping net on the backdoor for the goal.

The Phantoms regained the lead as Petr Straka netted his first of the season at the 2:26 mark of the third period. Nick Cousins and Zach Stortini collected assists on the play as Lehigh valley pulled ahead 3-2.

It took the Flames just 2:18 to answer, however, as Stevenson fired a shot past Zepp’s blocker side to knot the score at three. Stevenson’s blast, assisted by Granlund, was reviewed upstairs for an extended period of time before it was ruled a good goal. With the helper, Granlund collected his second assist of the evening. The goal was the first goal of Stevenson’s AHL career.

The two teams traded chances for the remainder of the third but neither could break through and the Flames played overtime hockey for the first time this season. It would not last long, however, as Manning’s shot got past Ortio. Cousins and Shayne Gostisbehere each collected their second assists of the evening on the goal.

These two teams will meet again tomorrow evening at the Glens Falls Civic Center, which will mark the first time the Phantoms have returned to Glens Falls since they left after the 2013-14 season. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.