The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to action Saturday night against the Binghamton Devils. The Phantoms have eight games remaining in the season. The Phantoms are 15-4-3 this season and trail the Hershey Bears by three points in the North Division.
Earlier in the day, the Phantoms got back Egor Zamula and Derrick Pouliot from the Flyers Taxi Squad while losing Wyatte Wiley to the Taxi Squad. Earlier this week, the Phantoms lost Felix Sandstrom to the Taxi Squad.
Scratches for tonight’s game were Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier, David Kase, and Cam York. Zane McIntyre got the start at goalie.
Lehigh Valley almost scored twice early in the game. Max Willman had a breakaway, but Gilles Senn denied the goal. Binghamton pressured the Phantoms in their zone. The Devils went up 1-0 after Brett Seney rebounded a shot from Fabian Zetterlund and went upstairs for the goal.
The Devils had another chance to score, and Zane McIntyre stopped the shot. Binghamton led 1-0 after one period. At times, Lehigh Valley had tired legs but were not playing bad and had an 8-5 shot advantage over the Devils.
Early in the second period, Chris Bigras had a breakaway, but Senn stopped him. They were playing better in the second period. Four minutes into the second period, the Phantoms tied the game at one apiece after Chris Bigras found Isaac Ratcliffe. He found the open net and in for the goal. Lehigh Valley was knocking on the door for another goal; however, Gilles Senn stopped the shots.
With 2:40 left in the second period, Max Willman went around a Devils player while another one slid past him before Willman scored to put the Phantoms up 2-1. About a minute later, the Devils answered back with a goal from Mason Jobst to tie the game again at two apiece.
Just as the second period came to a close, Chris Mueller nearly put the Phantoms back on top, but Senn denied him. Lehigh Valley had a 9-5 shot advantage.
Both goalies continued to have good games stopping the puck. At 11:22, the Devils went on the power play after Connor Bunnaman was called for holding. The Devils would take a 3-2 lead after Mason Jobst scored his second goal of the game. With two minutes left, Scott Gordon gambled and pulled McIntyre. It backfired, and A.J. Greer sealed the game with an empty-net goal to extend the Devils lead to 4-2.
The Phantoms kept McIntyre on the bench. Even though they were aggressive in the Devils’ neutral zone, they could not score and would fall to the Devils 4-2. The Phantoms finished the night with 29 shots, 0-2 on the power play, and Zane McIntyre made 17 saves.
Lehigh Valley will now head to the Giant Center for a Sunday afternoon matchup against the Hershey Bears at 3 pm on AHL.tv.
