The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to Newark Friday night in their first of three games. The Phantoms were coming off a dismal 6-1 loss Wednesday night against the Hershey Bears. Before the game started, the Phantoms got back Pascal Laberge after he was called up to the Flyers Taxi Squad. The Phantoms lost Felix Sandstrom and Mason Millman to the Taxi Squad.
The scratches for tonight’s game were Linus Hogberg, Mason Millman, Zayde Wisdom, Maksim Sushko, David Kase, and Garrett Wilson. Getting the start at goalie was Zayne McIntyre, with the backup being Eamon McAdams.
In the first few minutes of the game, neither team was able to get a shot off. At 9:53, the Phantoms went on their second power-play after Tyce Thompson was called for high-sticking. Thirty-one seconds later, Egor Zamula found Chris Mueller, who then lured a couple of Devils players toward him before passing the puck to Tyson Foerster. Foerster had no one near him and shot the puck in front of a wide-open net for the goal to put Lehigh Valley up 1-0.
At 11:19, Chris Bigras headed to the penalty box on an interference call, putting the Devils on their first power play of the game. A little over a minute later, the Devils tied it up at one apiece when Graeme Clark found Reilly Walsh, who then shot the puck that went over the left shoulder of McIntyre and in for the goal.
With twenty-nine seconds left in the first period, Cal O’Reilly found Tyson Foerster, who hesitated to shoot the puck, but Gilles Senn slipped. Forester scored to put the Phantoms back up 2-1. It was O’Reilly’s 496th career assist. The Phantoms led 2-1 after the first period with the shots 17-8 for Lehigh Valley.
Thirty-three seconds into the second period, the Devils went on their second power-play after Pascal Laberge was called for slashing. At 1:05, Graeme Clark would find A.J. Greer for a one-time shot over the left shoulder of McIntyre to tie the game at two apiece. The Phantoms had a couple of chances, including a breakaway to reclaim the lead, but Senn stopped the puck.
Seven minutes and five seconds later, the Phantoms were in the Devils’ neutral zone. Wyatte Wiley shot the puck that Andy Andreoff tipped in for the goal and a 3-2 lead. After Andreoff scored, he was then involved in a fight with Michael Vukojevic, and both headed to the penalty box. Late in the second period, both teams were on power plays. Neither could score as the Phantoms remained ahead of the Devils 3-2 with shots being 11-9 for Lehigh Valley.
A minute and forty-four seconds into the third period, the Phantoms went on their fourth power-play but did not add to their lead. The Devils turned up the heat midway through the period as Lehigh Valley struggled to get the puck out of the zone.
Zane McIntyre made some great saves to keep the Phantoms in the lead. Late in the game, Binghamton pulled Senn for the extra man. Lehigh Valley put the game away when Andy Andreoff scored an empty-net goal for a 4-2 lead.
The Phantoms went on to defeat the Devils 4-2. The shots in the third period were 12-11 for the Phantoms. Lehigh Valley finished the night 1-4 on the power play, 40 total shots, and Zayne McIntyre made twenty-six saves. Egor Zamula earned the third star with two assists, and Tyson Foerster earned the first star with two goals.
Lehigh Valley will now head back to the PPL Center to play the Devils tomorrow at 7:05 pm on AHL.tv.
Great to see them back on the ice again.