The Lehigh Valley Phantoms finished their road trip north of the border Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Marlies looking to snap their six-game losing streak.
The Phantoms committed an early penalty in the first period. A hooking call against Morgan Frost sent the Marlies to their first power play of the game. The Phantoms’ defense did a great job not allowing the Marlies to get near Alex Lyon. About two minutes later, the Marlies committed their first penalty of the game, this time a roughing call against Tanner MacMaster with only two seconds left on the Marlies’ power play.
A couple of minutes after the Phantoms’ power play expired, the Phantoms struck first 1-0 on a goal by Gerry Fitzgerald (5) with assists from Kurtis Gabriel (3) and Chris Bigras (5). The Phantoms extended the lead 2-0 four minutes later, as Pascal Laberge (7) scored with assists from German Rubtsov (9) and Nate Prosser (4). The Phantoms were playing great hockey in the first period as they led 2-0 at the end of the first period.
There was little action in the second period as the Phantoms continued to play great and didn’t give the Marlies a chance to score. There was only one penalty in the second period, and that was an elbowing call against Marlies right-winger Pontus Aberg. The Phantoms could not add to their lead on the power play and headed to the locker room with a 2-0 at the end of the second period.
A minute into the third period, the Phantoms added another goal by Connor Bunnaman (3) with an assist from David Kase (4) to put the Phantoms ahead 3-0. The Marlies began to close the gap a couple of minutes later, as Timothy Liljegren (4) scored to make it a 3-1 Phantoms lead with an assist from Tyler Gaudet (9). Twelve minutes later, the Marlies made it a one-goal game as Giovanni Fiore (1) scored to make it a 3-2 game with assists from Timothy Liljegren (18) and former Flyers left-winger Matt Read (7).
The Marlies pulled goalie Joseph Woll for the extra attacker but the Phantoms put the game away as Morgan Frost (6) scored the empty-net goal to give the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a 4-2 win over the Toronto Marlies and snap a six-game losing streak. The Phantoms played a great game; they were playing smart hockey, only committing two penalties throughout the game — an excellent win for the Phantoms.
The Phantoms had thirty-five shots on goal, and the Marlies had twenty-seven. Both teams went zero for two on the power play. Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon made twenty-five of twenty-seven saves allowing two goals, and Marlies goalie Joseph Woll was thirty-one of thirty-four saves allowing three goals.
The stars of the game were Phantoms forward Maksim Sushko, Marlies defenseman Timothy Liljegren with one goal and one assist, and Phantoms forward Connor Bunnaman with one goal.
The Phantoms will play one more road game next Friday at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium to take on the Utica Comets at 7 pm before returning home to the PPL Center Saturday against the Laval Rocket at 7:05 pm and Sunday against the Cleveland Monsters at 3:05 pm.
