The Lehigh Valley Phantoms finished their three-game series against the Binghamton Devils late Monday afternoon in Newark, NJ. The Phantoms won the previous two games against the Devils. Yesterday, the Flyers called up Egor Zamula, who will make his pro debut on Tuesday and Felix Sandstrom headed to the Taxi Squad.
The Flyers announced that even though Sandstrom was called up, he will return to the Phantoms and start at goal for Wednesday’s game against the Penguins. The Phantoms got back Linus Hogberg and Mason Millman from the Taxi Squad. Zayne McIntyre got the start at goalie. The scratches for the game were Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Zayde Wisdom, Maksim Sushko, David Kase, and Garrett Wilson.
Ten seconds into the game, Pascal Laberge put the Phantoms up 1-0 on an interception and scored from the right circle. It was the fastest goal in Lehigh Valley Phantoms history and the second-fastest behind Tye McGinn. He scored nine seconds against Portland on March 24th, 2013, with the Adirondack Phantoms.
Laberge would pick up an assist seven minutes later when he found Connor Bunnerman when he scored to extend the Phantoms lead to 2-0. The Phantoms kept the puck moving, keeping it away from the Devils. Four minutes later, Cal O’Reilly’s attempted to pass to Tyson Foerster when he hit the stick of a Devils player and redirect towards Cam York.
York shot the puck and scored his first AHL goal as a Phantom. Phantoms were now up 3-0. O’Reilly and Chris Bigras assisted in York’s goal. O’Reilly was now two assists away from 500.
One minute later, the Devils cut the Phantoms lead 3-1 when Graeme Clarke found Travis St. Denis for the goal. The Phantoms would get the goal back off the faceoff. Chris Mueller passed the puck to Cam York, who sent it to Chris Bigras. Bigras shot the puck that went under the glove of Gillies Senn, and the Phantoms were up 4-1.
Lehigh Valley went on the power play at 16:29 after Ben Thompson was called for high-sticking. The Phantoms took advantage when Cal O’Reilly found Linus Sandin. His shot went to the right-side corner of the net for the goal and a 5-1. O’Reilly was now one assist away from 500. The Phantoms led 5-1 after the first period, and the shots were in their favor 14-5.
At the start of the second period, the Devils made a goalie change, putting Mareks Mitens in for Gillies Senn. A minute and fifty-six seconds into the second period, Graeme Clarke found Ben Thomson, who had an open net and quickly scored to cut the Phantoms lead 5-2.
The Phantoms took their foot off the gas, and the Devils slowly got back into this game. After Cam York was called for cross-checking, the Devils went on their third power play of the game. Fabien Zetterlund was able to sneak the puck over the left corner of the net for the goal as McIntyre didn’t see it. The Devils made it a two-goal deficit 5-3. The game remained 5-3 after the second period, with the shots 10-9 still in favor of the Phantoms.
Thirty-one seconds into the third period, the Devils made it a goal game. Travis St. Denis’s shot the puck that bounced off McIntyre, then he retrieved it and scored to make it a 5-4 game.
You could see the Phantoms were frustrated, allowing the Devils to get back into the game after a hot start in the first period.
With 13:11 left of the third period, the Devils completed the comeback to tie the game at five apiece. Reilly Walsh went between Tyler Wotherspoon’s legs, Wotherspoon tripped, and Walsh buried the shot for the goal. Wotherspoon got up and swung his stick at the board. At that point, the Phantoms were hoping to hold onto the tie and go to overtime.
At 9:35, the Phantoms went on their fourth power play of the game as Nate Schnarr was called for cross-checking. With 9:15 left in the third period, Cal O’Reilly found Linus Sandin as he scored to put Lehigh Valley back up 6-5. Cal O’Reilly reached 500 career assists. He is now tenth all-time and is ten assists away from tying Bill Sweeney.
The Phantoms went on two more power plays, and instead of adding another goal, they were skating around, killing the clock. Lehigh Valley would defeat the Binghamton Devils 6-5 and completed the three-game sweep. The Phantoms finished the night 2-6 on the power-play, 37 shots on goal, and Zane McIntyre sixteen saves and gave up five goals.
Cam York earned the second star, and Linus Sandin earned the first star. The Phantoms will now head to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza on Wednesday, April 28th, against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7 pm on AHL.tv.
