The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to the PPL Center Saturday night to take on the Utica Comets. The Phantoms were looking to end their two-game losing streak.
The Phantoms went on the power play two minutes and eighteen seconds in the first period on a tripping call to Comets right-winger Kole Lind. The Phantoms could not take advantage of the power play. The Comets got the first goal of the game with under two minutes to play in the first period by Kole Lind (10) for a 1-0 lead. The Comets led 1-0 at the end of the first period.
The action picked up nearly halfway through the second period when the Phantoms tied the game 1-1 on a goal by Kurtis Gabriel (2) with assists from Matthew Strome (2) and Steve Swavely (2). A minute and nine seconds later, the Phantoms took the lead 2-1 as Gerry Fitzgerald (4) scored with assists from Maksim Sushko (6) and Carsen Twarynski (4).
What looked like a momentum shift in favor of the Phantoms quickly went back to the Comets as a minute, and eighteen seconds later, the Comets tied it up 2-2 by Wacey Hamilton (2) with assists from Olli Juolevi (12) and Reid Boucher (19). The Comets regained the lead 3-2 about three minutes later on a goal by former Phantom Justin Bailey (11). The Comets led 3-2 at the end of the second period.
The Phantoms did not do themselves any favors in the third period. They committed three penalties and managed to keep the Comets from doing any more damage for most of the third period. With a couple of minutes left in the game, the Phantoms pulled Jean-Francois Berube for the extra attacker.
Unfortunately, they could not find a way to tie the game. The Comets put the game away with four seconds left as Sven Baertschi (7) scored the empty-net goal and the Utica Comets defeated the Phantoms 4-2. The Phantoms have now lost three straight games.
The Phantoms had twenty-four shots on goal to the Comets twenty. The Phantoms were zero for two on the power play while the Comets were zero for three. Phantoms goalie Jean-Francois Berube made sixteen of nineteen saves, allowing three goals, and Comets goalie Michael DiPietro made twenty-two of twenty-four saves allowing two goals.
The Phantoms will wrap up the weekend tomorrow at 3:05 pm at the PPL Center against the Hershey Bears.
