After winning the first five games of a six-game homestand, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were off for eight days before they got the chance to make it six straight. Unfortunately, the Hershey Bears rolled into the PPL Center Monday night and snapped the streak with a 5-2 win over Lehigh Valley. The loss came in front of a sellout crowd of 8,800 fans.

One issue during the win streak was the ineffectiveness of the Phantoms power play, which reached a streak of 13 straight man-advantage opportunities without Lehigh Valley picking up a goal. In the first period, Colin McDonald converted on a power play to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead. The goal fired up Hershey, as it quickly put more pressure on the Phantoms defense and peppered goalie Alex Lyon with shots, but they were kept off the scoreboard until the middle period of the game.Hershey scored twice within one-minute to take the lead before Andy Miele beat goalie Vitek Vanecek to tie the game at 2-2. From that point on, Lehigh Valley was ineffective, as the Bears held the momentum for the rest of the game, taking a 5-2 win. Penalties were a major part of the problem on the night for Lehigh Valley, as they were hit with 24-minutes of penalties over the three periods, with 10 of those minutes coming in the second period.The final penalty actually came after the final horn when Will O'Neill got into a scuffle and was assessed a 10-minute match penalty, which the league will review to see if further disciplinary action is warranted. Exactly what led to the altercation isn't clear, but there were reports that Hershey would press the league for added disciplinary action against O'Neill."I'm not really sure what sparked it," said Miele after the game. "It's just two competitive teams that both dislike each other. One little thing goes wrong and everyone starts going into a melee. It's going to happen when you play a team so many times."The trio of McDonald, Cole Bardreau and Scott Laughton on one line for the Phantoms has proven to be a good combination. For McDonald, the strength of the line comes from the fact that they're similar type players and are comfortable with each other."I like the way those two guys play," said McDonald. "They're very similar to my style. There's no second guessing what we are going to do out there. I played with Bardreau a lot last year and I'm getting to know Laughton better. We understand our role out there."PHANTOMS NOTESNO VACANCY ... The sellout was the 50th in franchise history and the first of the season for Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms are averaging 7,842 per game, good enough for third in the AHL, behind Hershey (8,506) and San Diego (7,937). The average per-game attendance league wide is 5,359.ANOTHER STREAK SNAPPED ... With Lehigh Valley holding a 1-0 advantage after the first period, things looked good for the home team. The Phantoms were a perfect 12-0 in games that they led following the first period until Hershey broke through to end that stretch.ROAD TRIP ... After being home for six straight, a stretch that covered 18 days, the Phantoms have a three-game, two city trip starting Wednesday night when they play in Rochester. They're back in Rochester Friday night and then head for Hartford for a game on Jan. 6. They'll return home against Albany and Utica on Jan. 7 and 8, respectively and Hershey comes back in on Jan. 13.