The Lehigh Valley Phantoms were back in action late Monday afternoon at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Phantoms were looking to rebound after a 4-1 loss to the Hershey Bears last Saturday. Lehigh Valley is 3-2-1 on the road this season.
The Phantoms had nine players scratched for the game, including Tyler Wotherspoon, Tanner MacMaster, Maksim Sushko, Matt Strome, Max Willman, Linus Sandin, Logan Day, Chris Bigras, Eamon McAdam.
The Phantoms did get some good news as they welcomed back Pascal Laberge to the lineup. He last played on February 24th in Newark. He scored a goal in that game before suffering an injury in the third period that forced him out for a couple of weeks.
The Phantoms got off to a good start in the first period. They were aggressive on the ice, hitting players left and right, and creating shot opportunities to score. The Phantoms were pushing the Penguins around. At 12:27, Ralph Cuddemi got the puck to create a three-on-one play with David Kase and Brennan Saulnier. They each took turns touching the puck before Saulnier scored to put the Phantoms up 1-0. It was Saulnier’s first career goal in the AHL.
The Phantoms nearly extend the lead twice, once on the power play, but couldn’t find a way to add to their lead. Late in the first period, Isaac Ratcliffe and Chris Mueller collided, resulting in Ratcliffe heading to the locker room just before the period ended. Ratcliffe would be alright and was able to continue the game. The Phantoms led 1-0 and had the shot advantage 10-8.
The Phantoms carried the momentum into the second period. At 2:46, Samuel Morin had three Penguins players on him. He made a backhand pass to Garrett Wilson, who had an empty net in front of him, and scored to extend the Phantoms lead to 2-0. The game then started to go away from the Phantoms, thanks to the referees. At 3:48, Zane McIntyre had gloved the puck, but the refs never blew the whistle.
Tim Schaller kept hacking at his glove until the puck came out, and he scored for the Penguins to cut the Phantom’s lead 2-1. McIntyre was furious that no whistle was blown and refs can no longer use instant replay. The league eliminated instant replays for this season. The refs gathered to discuss but did not reverse their decision.
After that goal, the game became a physical contest between the two teams. McIntyre was making some great saves, and fights nearly broke out whenever the Penguins tried to get the puck out of McIntyre’s glove. At 10:48, a delayed penalty was called against the Phantoms. The Penguins Tim Schaller found Josh Currie, who put a little heat on his shot to tie the game at two apiece. They remained tie at two apiece at the end of the second period, with the shots even at thirteen apiece.
Both teams continued to play well in the third period. The Penguins were spending the most time in the Phantoms’ neutral zone, and McIntyre continued to make good saves. At 13:07, every Phantoms player touched the puck as they were scrambling to get the puck in the net. Pascal Laberge finished the play by flipping the puck upstairs for the goal, and the Phantoms regained the lead 3-2.
At 14:57, the Penguins went on the power play thanks to a high-sticking call against Derrick Pouliot. The Phantoms had done a great job killing off power plays and killed off another in the third period. However, the Penguins were able to take advantage as Tim Schaller scored his second goal to tie the game again at three apiece. Once again, the Phantoms put pressure on the Penguins late in the third period but could not score, and the game would head to overtime. The Penguins had a 13-6 shot advantage. The Phantoms record in overtime is 3-2, and we’re looking to add another win.
At 3:18, the Phantoms got their wish. Isaac Ratcliffe found Ryan Fitzgerald, who used his speed to break away from a Penguins player and delivered the final blow to send the Phantoms home with a 4-3 win in overtime. The Phantoms are now 6-2-2 for the season.
The Penguins ended up finishing with the most shots at 35-32. The Phantoms continue to struggle on the power play going 0-3. Lehigh Valley is 4-37 on the power play this year, ranking them 26 out of 28 teams. The Phantoms are the league’s best penalty-killing unit, ranked number one allowing two goals in 27 attempts.
The Phantoms will now head back to Newark for a Wednesday night contest against the Binghamton Devils at 7:05 pm on AHL.tv.
