After having their game rescheduled due to not having enough players to play the Devils in Newark. The Phantoms made their 2021 home debut in front of a small crowd at the PPL Center. The Phantoms only had two players scratched for the game, and they were Chris Bigras and Tyson Foerster.
The Phantoms came right out of the gate with scoring opportunities and played mostly in the Devils’ zone. Defensemen Egor Zamula made a great pass to Brennan Saulnier for the breakaway but missed the shot wide right.
They kept the pressure on the Devils, creating turnovers that would lead to more shots. They would finally put one on the board at 5:30 when Ryan Fitzgerald went around the net and passed to Cal O’Reilly. His shot did sneak past Devils goalie Gilles Senn before Zayde Wisdom finished it off for the goal and a 1-0 lead.
The Phantoms had another breakaway, this time by Logan Day, who missed the shot. The Phantoms led 1-0 at the end of the first period. They dominated the shots total of 13-5.
Lehigh Valley picked up where they left off at the start of the second period. Chris Mueller created a shot opportunity for Max Willman, but he missed the shot. Willman did not give up, and once he touched the puck again, he made it count with a rocket off the post and in for a 2-0 lead. At first, it didn’t look like the puck went in.
However, another replay showed the puck did go in. Three minutes later, the Phantoms were going on their second power play of the game. They have not been able to score with a man advantage so far this year.
That changed at 8:39 in a tic-tac-toe goal with Cal O’Reilly finding Fitzgerald, who then found Zayde Wisdom for his second goal of the game to make it a 3-0 lead. With that goal, Wisdom is now tied for fourth in the goals scored category, only trialing Wolves Center Seth Jarvis, Sea Gulls Right-Winger Vinni Lettieri, and Wolves Center Rem Pitlick.
The Phantoms would go on another power play at 18:43 for a tripping call to Nick Merkley. The Phantoms would have a minute and fifty-seven seconds left on the power play heading into the third period. Once again, the Phantoms led the shots 11-5.
In the third period, the Phantoms kept their foot on the gas, creating shot opportunities but couldn’t add any goals. The Devils began to show some signs of life in the third period. They kept the puck in the Phantoms’ zone. Zane McIntyre made some great saves during this stretch to preserve the shutout. Late in the third period, the Devils pulled their goalie; however, they could not capitalize on the man advantage, and the Phantoms defeated the Devils 3-0.
The Devils outshot the Phantoms 15-6 in the third period. The Phantoms would win the shots total of 30-25 and went 1-4 on the power play while the Devils were 0-4. Zane McIntyre made all 25 saves and earned the second star of the game. Max Willman earned the third star, and Zayde Wisdom received the first star.
The Phantoms are in first place in the North Division with a 3-0-1 record. The Phantoms will play the makeup game against the Devils next Wednesday, February 24th, at 6 pm on AHL.tv.
