For the first time in two years, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-6-2) were at the Bojangles Coliseum Saturday night against the Charlotte Checkers (4-3-1). The Checkers are the AHL affiliate of both the Florida Panthers and the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken’s AHL team will start next year in Palm Springs, California, and will be called the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Felix Sandstrom started in goal, and the scratches were Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Linus Sandin, Samu Tuomaala, Wyatte Wylie, Sam Ersson, and Ryan MacKinnon.
From the get-go, the Phantoms could not keep up with the Checkers. Early in the game, Hayden Hodgson hit Checkers goalie Joey Daccord. Daccord was slow to get up but stayed in the game. Hodgson was issued a five-minute fighting, five-minute major, and ten-minute game misconduct and was ejected.
The Checkers scored three goals in the first ten minutes of the first period. The players that scored for the Checkers were Luke Henman (1) at 1:56, Zac Dalpe (2) at 6:22, and Logan Hutsko (3) at 9:42.
The Phantoms finally got on the board with 4:47 left when Garrett Wilson (5) found Isaac Ratcliffe (1), who had an open-net and scored that cut the Checkers lead to 3-1. However, not long after the goal, the Checkers went up 4-1 23-seconds later by former Phantom Carsen Twarynski (1).
Late in the first period, Jackson Cates (1) stole the puck on the breakaway for a short-handed goal, now trailing 4-2. The Checkers led 4-2 after one period, and the shots were 13-9 Checkers.
At 3:27 in the second period, Checkers center Alexander True scored on a breakaway short-hand goal for a 5-2 lead. After Checkers forward Logan Hutsko was called for slashing, the Phantoms were on the power play. At 11:45, Max William (3) rebounded Egor Zamula’s (4) shot and scored that cut the Checkers lead to 5-3.
Shortly after Willman scored, the Checkers got the goal back at 12:24 when Aleksi Heponiemi (3) rebounded Connor Carrick’s (3) shot and finished the play for a 6-3 lead.
Then, with 4:37 left in the second period, Checkers center Zac Dalpe found an opening and scored from the right slot for a 7-3 lead. The Checkers led 7-3 after two periods and led the shots 9-8.
There were no goals scored in the third period. The Phantoms were taking shots but were unable to find the net. The Checkers won the game 7-3 with the shots 13-4 Phantoms. The total shots were 30-26 Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms goalie Felix Sandstrom made 15 of 22 saves. He was replaced in the third period by Kirill Ustimenko, who made four saves. The Phantoms went one-for-seven on the power play.
The Phantoms wrap up the weekend from the Bojangles Coliseum against the Charlotte Checkers today at 1 pm.
