The Lehigh Valley Phantoms were back in Newark Friday night to take on the Binghamton Devils. The Phantoms were coming off a 6-2 loss to the Bears on Wednesday night and were looking to get back on track. Earlier in the day, the Flyers sent Alex Lyon back to the Phantoms after calling him back to the Taxi Squad yesterday. Felix Sandstrom headed back to the Flyers Taxi Squad. Alex Lyon got the start at goal. The Phantoms are 2-1 against the Devils this year.
Scratches for tonight’s game were Egor Zamula, Tanner MacMaster, Maksim Sushko, Matt Strome, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier, Wyatte Wylie, Pascal Laberge, and Eamon McAdam.
Early in the first period, Logan Day of the Phantoms had a chance to put Lehigh Valley up but missed the shot wide left. At 8:31, the Devils went up 1-0 after Brett Seney’s first shot hit Lyon and went to the corner. He then shot again, this time hitting Lyon’s pad and in for the goal.
Late in the first period, Tanner Laczynski stole the puck and nearly tied the game but missed the shot wide left. The Devils were up 1-0 after the first period. The Phantoms had a 10-7 shot advantage and were 0-2 on the power play.
In the second period, Max Willman nearly tied the game with a breakaway that hit Devils goalie Gilles Senn’s pad. Alex Lyon was making some great saves to keep the game 1-0. Finally, at 6:45, the Phantoms tied the game 1-1 after Chris Bigras found Tanner Laczynski. He briefly lost the puck before recovering and blasted the puck into the net.
Just as the Phantoms had momentum on their side, the Devils retook the lead three minutes later to make it 2-1. Ben Street shot the puck that bounced off Lyon before Nikita Okhotiuk finished the play for the goal.
The Phantoms kept coming at the Devils and created several chances to tie the game, but to no prevail. With two seconds left of the second period, the Phantoms went on the power play for the fourth time after Kevin Bahl was called for interference. The Devils had a 15-10 shot advantage. The power play would continue when the third period started.
A minute and twenty-nine seconds into the third period, the Phantoms tied the game at two apiece after Logan Day knocked down the puck and found Isaac Ratcliffe. He then made a great backhand pass to Tanner Laczynski before shooting the puck just under Senn’s glove for the goal.
Several minutes after the goal, Zayde Wisdom dropped the gloves and threw a couple of punches to Graeme Clarke while going down on the ice. Wisdom was thrown out of the game for misconduct, and the Devils were on a five-minute power play.
During the Devils’ power play, Max Willman intercepted the puck, then passed it to Tanner Laczynski for the breakaway goal and hat trick to give the Phantoms a 3-2 lead. Laczynski put the puck and stick between his legs then flipped it over the shoulder of Senn. The Phantoms’ penalty-killing unit did a great job not allowing the Devils to score on the power play.
The Phantoms had several more chances to extend the lead for the remainder of the third period. The Devils pulled Senn with over two minutes left for the extra attacker. The Phantoms were able to keep the Devils in check as they defeated Binghamton 3-2. It was Alex Lyon’s first win in over a year and two years since the Phantoms had a hat trick. Pascal Laberge was the last player to score a hat trick back on March 27th, 2019, against the Rochester Americans. The Phantoms are now 9-3-2 for the season.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with thirty shots, 1-5 on the power play, and Alex Lyon made thirty-three saves. Logan Day earned the second star, and Tanner Laczynski earned the first star. These two teams will go at it again tomorrow night from the PPL Center at 7:05 pm on AHL.tv.
