The Lehigh Valley Phantoms went into Toronto on a mission to do something that no other team has done this postseason; beat the Marlies on their home ice.

Toronto has gone 7-0 at home this postseason after winning all five home games in last year’s playoffs. While the effort was there, the result wasn’t, and Toronto has jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Phantoms in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship series. The series now returns to Lehigh Valley for the next three games.

The upside for Lehigh Valley is that they’ve gone 3-1 at home during the Calder Cup Playoffs which could bode well for their chances at a comeback.

On Sunday, the Phantoms seemingly did everything right. They scored first and even held a one-goal lead going into the third period, but the Marlies tied the game to send it into overtime. With visions of their classic five-overtime battle with Charlotte dancing in their heads, the Phantoms put together a couple of solid scoring chances, including one that was so close that the goal judge activated the red light. When the play was reviewed, it was found that Mike Vecchione’s shot glanced off the crossbar and appeared to go into the net. What made it confusing was that the stick of a Marlies defender hit the inside of the net, making it appear that the puck had caused the net to move and the light came on.

T.J. Brennan fired a laser on goal, but goalie Garret Sparks made an athletic save to preserve the game and give the Marlies another shot, which they took advantage of to gain a 3-2 win.

The opening game was also a one-goal game, with Toronto winning 4-3. In that game, the Phantoms had some great chances, but couldn’t convert them into goals.

Toronto came into the series with a 10-day layoff after it swept their division series championship. There was some talk that they might be showing a little rust against Lehigh Valley, but instead, they were simply refreshed and scored twice in the first 12-minutes of play to take an early 2-0 lead.

Vecchione has been in the middle of most of the action in the series. In addition to his near-goal in Game 2, he and Chris Conner went on a two-on-one break in the opener, but Sparks made a big save to stop the threat. Sparks again robbed Vecchione when he was on a breakaway and fired a shot that Sparks was able to cradle into his glove.

“We had some momentum and made a couple of adjustments. We were working the puck and getting them down low,” said forward Greg Carey. “I’ve got faith. We definitely can be better, and I think that bodes well for us.”

Lehigh Valley is hanging their hopes for a comeback on their success at home. During the regular season, they posted the best home-ice record with a mark of 27-6-3-2 at the PPL Center. It’s also encouraging that the team has seemingly learned from facing Toronto and seemed to be making adjustments that were resulting in better and more frequent shots later in Game 2.

It’s worth noting that in each of their first two playoff series, Lehigh Valley split the first two games on the road, and when the series returned home, they made their move and went a perfect 5-0 in the two series to advance.

FROST ON ICE ... The Phantoms added Morgan Frost, a 19-year-old forward from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League to their playoff roster. Frost was the Flyers first-round pick – 27th overall – in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. He tallied 112 points on 70 assists and 42 goals with the Greyhounds. The 70 assists tied him for the OHL lead. He hasn’t seen any action in the first two games of the series and likely won’t. Instead, he’s just being given a chance to see how things work in the AHL.

RIDING THE LYON ... After going to Dustin Tokarski in two games earlier in the postseason, Alex Lyon has now played five straight for Lehigh Valley, including the epic five-overtime game. He has made 72 saves in the first two games of the series and he figures to be back in goal for Game 3 Wednesday night at the PPL Center.