Taylor Leier, the rookie left winger for the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, has a nice streak going for himself with power-play goals scored in each of the last three games.

The Phantoms’ recent run on power-play success (five power-play goals in their last 17 advantages) has seen the team move from 24th to 12th in the AHL’s power-play efficiency rankings in the last two weeks with a 17-for-94 performance so far this season.

“It’s nice,” Leier said of the resurgent power play as the Phantoms head into three-games-in-three-days stretches in back-to-back weekends.

While the 20-year-old Leier has done the scoring on the power play, he knows he doesn’t deserve all the credit.

“Zack Stortini does a really good job in front,” Leier said. “He makes my life easier trying to aim for the corners because he gets in the way of the goalies. He’s so big in front.”

The 6-foot-4, 232-pound Stortini is indeed a physical presence, but he’s proving to be much more than that for the Phantoms, earning the alternate captain’s “A” because of his work ethic and determination.

“Stortini does everything hard,” said Phantoms coach Terry Murray, who had to coach against him last season when Stortini played for Norfolk and reached the 200-penalty minute mark for the fourth time in his AHL career.

“When he does his drills, he does it from Point A to the end,” Murray said. “He doesn’t do them halfway, or three-quarters of the way. He does it all the way to the other end. He does it complete, the right way, which is one of the reasons he has the ‘A’ on him. He does it every day.”

Other players take notice. Stortini’s penalty minutes are way down so far this season (40 minutes in 19 games), but the Elliot Lake, Ontario, native is a fixture on the power play, the penalty kill and in critical minutes in tight situations at the end of the game and end of periods.

Murray said Stortini practices with the same effort he plays in games, and that work ethic is what earns players minutes.

“He does something most players don’t do, and that’s being tough,” he said. “It’s sticking up for your teammates, fighting for Leier the other night, and you want that as a coach. You want to teach the young players: ‘You want to play? Then do what this guy’s doing.’ He’s playing lots of minutes in critical situations. He’s a reliable player.”

Since his first NHL game with the Edmonton Oilers in 2007, the 29-year-old Stortini has played in 257 NHL games (with Edmonton and Nashville), collecting 14 goals, 27 assists and 725 penalty minutes.

This season, he’s got one goal and six assists to bring his AHL career totals to 31 goals, 39 assists and 1,263 penalty minutes in 385 games.

That kind of physical presence slows opponents down as they keep an eye out for Stortini.

“I can see everybody on the other team, with their eyes, make sure they know he’s where he is on the ice,” said Petr Straka, who plays left wing. “He creates a lot of space for me and [center Nick] Cousins to play. He has a lot of influence on the ice when he’s out there, and that helps players like me do our thing.”

Stortini’s objective on the power play is to screen the goalie, get in front of him so the goalie loses sight of the puck.

“He’s a smart player,” Straka said. “He has a high IQ on the ice.”

Murray said it’s both IQ and work ethic that make Stortini tough on goaltenders.

“He plays in the hard areas,” Murray said. “That to me is critical for the power play. Today, you have to get pucks through from the top. He’s the one guy who finds the goaltender’s eyes.”

Murray said that Stortini isn’t happy simply standing with his back to the goalie. As the goalie moves his head to find the puck, Stortini takes steps 6 inches this way, 8 inches that way, to constantly get in his way.

“That’s a skill,” Murray said. “It’s a skill a lot of players aren’t good at because they want to jump out of the way to knock the puck down with their stick. That’s what the goalie wants because then he can see the puck. Stortini hangs in there, he takes pucks in the midsection because of it, but over the long haul, he comes in with critical goals at critical times.”

Stortini, who is absolutely effervescent when he talks about other players, refused to take much credit for his play. He praised Murray, assistant coach Riley Cote and the ownership of the Flyers and Phantoms, calling it a privilege to play in the organization.

“For me, it’s quite an honor to play special teams for Terry Murray,” Stortini said. “He’s a great coach. I can’t say enough good things about him. For me, I prepare every summer to be the best hockey player I can be. I work out hard both on and off the ice. My goal is to get back in the NHL. I want to be a full-time NHL player.”

Right now, Stortini is the best example of a complete hockey player that Murray could hope to have for the younger players on the roster, showing them the way things need to be done to be successful.