Zack Stortini was one of the more popular members of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms inaugural team last season, but he wound up signing with the Binghamton Senators during the offseason. Sunday night was his first trip to Allentown as a visiting player and he chose the occasion to put one of the new members of the Phantoms to a test. Just as the opening puck was dropped, Stortini went after AHL rookie Tyrell Goulbourne, who is four-inches and 15-pounds smaller than the AHL veteran.

It proved to be a bad idea.

Goulbourne, 21, held his own early in the brawl, but quickly got the upper-hand and dropped Stortini to the ice. As Goulbourne, the Flyers third round pick in the 2013 Draft, headed for the penalty box, Stortini had to be attended to by the team trainer and would be helped off the ice, looking like a guy who had no idea where he was or what was going on.

It was just the first of what could wind up being many tests for Goulbourne, who is looking to make his mark with the Phantoms this season.

“Actually, he just went after me, I just answered the bell,” said Goulbourne. “It’s scary to see those sort of things happen and I’m glad he’s okay. It shows a lot of his character to come back out after something like that happening.”

Stortini, who leads the AHL in penalty minutes with 45, did come back out and took out his revenge on his former teammates by scoring his first two goals of the season for Binghamton as part of the Senators 4-1 win over Lehigh Valley.

The loss was the third straight for the Phantoms, who are now 4-8 on the season. The loss came in the third game of a three-in-three streak of games, the second such streak of the season. The three-in-three scenarios haven’t been kind to Lehigh Valley early on, with the team holding a 1-5 record in those streaks. Part of the problem is getting younger players used to the grind of three games in three days, often with travel thrown into the mix.

“It’s something of a learning curve,” said veteran Tim Brent. “It’s more about playing smart, because your energy levels aren’t going to be what they were on Friday night. Making smart puck decisions so you don’t have to be chasing it all night and can conserve some energy.”

With seven more three-in-threes to go this season, coach Scott Gordon believes that his young players are already learning how to adjust their style of play in those games.

“Tonight was much better, I found Ghost [Shayne Gostisbehere] to have a lot more energy,” explained Gordon. “I thought our guys managed the game much better in not putting themselves in difficult situations with their decision making. They simplified it a little bit and that’s the way you’ve got to be.”

Phantom Facts

In all three games of the weekend three-in-three, Lehigh Valley trailed by one goal going into the third period, but were unable to pull out a win in any of the games... Robert Hagg returned from an injury in Saturday’s game against Scranton and Cole Bardreau returned to the lineup Sunday night. Both players missed eight games with injuries... Goulbourne scored his first goal of the season Friday night against Hershey in a 4-2 loss... Defenseman David Drewiske, 30, was recalled by the Flyers last week. To clear a spot for Drewiske, the Flyers loaned forward Chris Conner to Lehigh Valley... The Phantoms rank third in the AHL in average attendance at 7,637 per game... Lehigh Valley is last in the AHL in killing penalties, having killed just 72.9 percent of penalties this season.