For the final time, this season, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-7-3-1) were on the road one more time at the Prudential Center Wednesday night against the Binghamton Devils (6-18-5-2). The Phantoms trail the Hershey Bears by six points in the North Division heading into this game.
Earlier in the day, the Phantoms got back Wade Allison, Felix Sandstrom, and Cam York from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers season ended on Monday.
Felix Sandstrom got the start at goalie. The scratches for the game were Mason Millman, Wade Allison, Maksim Sushko, Isaac Ratcliffe, Ralph Cuddemi, Wyatte Wylie, Pascal Laberge, Cam York, and Eamon McAdam.
Two minutes into the game, a scary incident occurred involving Tyson Forester. He went headfirst into the boards and was down for several minutes. Forester was helped off the ice and down the hall to the locker room. He would be out for the rest of the game with no update on his status.
Meanwhile, Lehigh Valley went on the power play after Matthew Hellickson was called for a game misconduct and boarding. The Phantoms failed to score on the power play.
Both teams went back and forth to each other’s zone and were unable to score. The game was scoreless as the first period ended, with Lehigh Valley having the shot advantage 11-9.
Both Chris Mueller and Egor Zamula had chances to score early in the second period, but Gilles Senn stopped them. Lehigh Valley was called for two penalties, putting the Devils on a five-on-three situation. The Phantoms were able to kill off both penalties to keep the game scoreless. With 7:34 left, Sandstrom took himself off the ice and headed to the locker room.
Zane McIntyre quickly got his gear and headed to the net to finish out the period. Finally, with 1:04 left, the Phantoms broke through. Zayde Wisdom found David Kase, who shot the puck while falling on the ice for the goal to put Lehigh Valley up 1-0. The game remained 1-0 after two periods. The shots were 13-9 for the Phantoms.
Felix Sandstrom returned to the ice to start the third period. The Devils pounded the Phantoms zone before tying the game at one apiece with 12:58 left after Brett Seney’s shot went to the upper left corner of the net. The game was now tied.
While the Phantoms were making a line change, the Devils had a breakaway by Josh Jacobs. His shot landed firmly inside Sandstrom’s glove. Sandstrom held his ground throughout the Devils’ assault, keeping the game tied. At 8:36, the Phantoms went on the power play after Nate Schnarr was called for high-sticking.
With 7:45 left in the third period, the Phantoms broke the tie. Zayde Wisdom’s shot hit the stick of Gilles Senn before flipping over his shoulder, and Chris Mueller made sure it crossed the line for the power-play goal and a 2-1 lead.
Lehigh Valley almost had another goal by Ryan Fitzgerald, but Senn was quick to stop him. With a minute left in the game, the Devils pulled Senn. The Phantoms were able to hang on to a 2-1 win. The Phantoms now trail the Bears by five points in the North Division with two games remaining. The shots were 12-7 for the Devils.
The Phantoms finished the night with 31 shots, 1-5 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 27 of 28 saves, while Zane McIntyre made two saves. Zayde Wisdom earned the second star of the game, and Chris Mueller was the first star of the game.
Lehigh Valley returns home for the final two games of the season starting Saturday, May 15th, against the Wilke-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 pm on AHL.tv.
