The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-6-3-1) returned to the Giant Center against the Hershey Bears (21-7-2) in the season’s final meeting. The Phantoms trail the Bears by five points in the North Division. Since the Phantoms last game, Felix Sandstrom and Cam York were called up to the Flyers Taxi Squad. York made his Flyers debut on Friday night.
Zane McIntyre got the start at goalie. The scratches for the game were Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Ralph Cuddemi, Pascal Laberge, and David Kase.
Three minutes and seventeen seconds into the first period, the Bears took a 1-0 lead after Axel Jonsson-Fjallby’s shot hit the right pad of McIntyre before hitting the back leg of Derrick Pouliot and in for the goal.
A short time later, a hooking call against Eddie Wittchow sent the Phantoms to the power play. Lehigh Valley was unable to score on the power play. The Phantoms were all over the Bears zone, taking shot after shot, but Hershey goalie Pheonix Copley stopped every shot that came his way.
The Phantoms Zane McIntyre also made some good stops to keep the game 1-0 as the first period ended. The shots were 13-7 for the Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley started the second period trying to get a goal; however, Copley kept stopping every shot that went his way. Lehigh Valley went on the power play at 5:11 after former Phantom Reece Wilcox was called for hooking. Once again, the Phantoms were unable to get a goal.
Gerry Fitzgerald made a great pass to Tyson Foerster for the breakaway, but Copley robbed him of the goal. With 7:39 left in the second period, the Bears added another goal by Joe Snively to extend Hershey’s lead to 2-0.
Tyler Wotherspoon was the latest Phantom to take a shot against Copley, but his shot was also denied. The game remained 2-0 for the Bears after two periods. The Phantoms had a 9-7 shot advantage. They had been playing well, but Pheonix Copley was on another level.
The third period was not much different. Lehigh Valley was in the Bears’ zone, getting shots off to no prevail. With 3:58 left, Phantoms coach Scott Gordon gambled and pulled McIntyre for the extra attacker. At 16:40, Philippe Maillet scored an empty-net goal to extend Hershey’s lead to 3-0.
The Phantoms made one last attempt to try and score but were unable to as the Hershey Bears defeated the Phantoms 3-0. The shots in the third period were 9-7 for the Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley finished the afternoon with 34 shots, 0-2 on the power play, and Zane McIntyre stopped 24 shots and allowed two goals. The Phantoms finish with a 6-5 regular-season record against the Bears.
Lehigh Valley will return home to the PPL Center tomorrow afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 3:05 pm on AHL.tv.
