The Lehigh Valley Phantoms visited the Bojangles’ Coliseum for two games starting Saturday night against the Charlotte Checkers. It’s been a while since these two teams played against each other back on November 22nd when the Phantoms beat the Checkers 5-4 in overtime.
The Phantoms dug themselves a whole one minute and fifty-seven seconds into the first period as Gerry Fitzgerald was called for hooking. The Phantoms’ defense stopped the Checkers on the power play, and the game remained scoreless. The Phantoms then committed another penalty six minutes later when Pascal Laberge was called for hooking. Once again, the Phantoms’ defense prevented the Checkers from scoring, and the game remained scoreless 0-0 at the end of the first period.
After committing a penalty that could have cost the Phantoms, Pascal Laberge (4) made it up by scoring the first goal of the game eight minutes and thirty-five seconds into the second period to put the Phantoms up 1-0 with assists from Mark Friedman (8) and Chris Bigras (2).
The Phantoms were playing well in this game. With under two minutes left in the second period, the Phantoms would take a 2-0 lead on a goal by Pascal Laberge (5), his second goal of the game with assists from Gerry Fitzgerald (3) and Maksim Sushko (4). The Phantoms led 2-0 as the second period came to a close.
With the third period starting, the Phantoms knew they had to keep playing hard as, at any given time, the Checkers could be right back in this game. The Phantoms did just that as they remained disciplined throughout the period. Phantoms went on their second power play of the game on a hooking call against Checkers left-winger Steven Lorentz. The Phantoms would capitalize on the power play as Mark Friedman (2) scored to extend the Phantoms lead 3-0 with an assist from Chris Bigras (3).
With under five minutes left to play in the third period, the Phantoms could smell a victory, but the Checkers had other plans. The Checkers cut the Phantoms lead 3-1 fifteen minutes and fifty-three seconds on a goal by Max McCormick (7) with assists from Gustav Forsling (6) and Chase Priskie (11).
Less than a minute later, the Checkers made it a one-goal game 3-2 on a goal by Clark Bishop with assists from Gustav Forsling (7) and Spencer Smallman (2). The Checkers then pulled goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for an extra attacker, however, the Phantoms held on for a 3-2 win over the Charlotte Checkers.
The Phantoms won the shots on goal total with thirty-five to the Checkers thirty-four. The Phantoms were one for two on the power play while the Checkers went zero for two. Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon made thirty-two of thirty-four saves allowing two-goal while Checkers goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made thirty-two of thirty-five saves.
The three stars of the game were Checkers defenseman Gustav Forsling with two assists, Phantoms defenseman Mark Friedman with one goal and an assist, and Phantoms forward Pascal Laberge with two goals. These two teams will play game two tomorrow at 1 pm from the Bojangles’ Coliseum.
(player stats for the year)
