The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-8-3) rallied in the third period down 3-0, only to come up short 4-3 to the Charlotte Checkers (7-5-1) Wednesday night in front of 7,292 fans at the PPL Center.
The Phantoms were without Mason Millman, Linus Sandin, Wyatte Wylie, Sam Ersson, Charlie Gerard, Ryan MacKinnon, Hayden Hodgson, and Tyson Foerster. Felix Sandstrom was in goal.
A minute into the first period, Morgan Frost nearly had a goal, but Christopher Gibson stopped his shot. Then, with 6:23 left, Egor Zamula made a long pass to Max Willman for the breakaway. However, Christopher Gibson made another good save. On the other side, Felix Sandstrom made a couple of nice saves to keep the game scoreless.
Late in the first period, Checkers left-winger Max McCormick was called for slashing, putting the Phantoms on the power play. When the first period ended in a scoreless tie, the Phantoms had 1:39 left on the power play. The shots were 10-7 Checkers.
Shortly after the second period started, the Checkers created a turnover for a three-on-one play. Scott Wilson and Cale Fleury (4) took turns passing the puck before Wilson (4) scored a shorthanded goal for a 1-0 lead.
Tensions brewed between the two teams after Gustav Olofsson’s horse-collar tackle on Brennan Saulnier. Olofsson didn’t like that Saulnier took a shot at him with an elbow, but Saulnier missed him.
Then, the Checkers took a 2-0 lead with 10:52 left after Max McCormick (4) stole the puck and raced toward Sandstrom, shooting from the left side for another shorthanded goal.
At 12:18, the Checkers added another goal 3-0 when Alexander True (7) made a short pass to Logan Hutsko (4), who skated across the ice before shooting over the right shoulder of Felix Sandstrom for the goal.
With 1:18 left, Cal O’Reilly’s shot hit the post, and it looked like the Phantoms were on the board. However, the puck did not cross the goal line. The Phantoms trailed 3-0 after two periods but dominated the shots 14-6.
In the third period, the Phantoms began storming back. Max Willman (7) stole the puck and sniped it to the top of the left circle, now trailing 3-1. Willman’s seventh goal leads the Phantoms and is tied for fifth in the league.
With 8:07 left, Phantoms’ defensemen Cooper Zech (1) took a shot tipped in by Cal O’Reilly (2), making it a one-goal game 3-2. The goal was awarded to Cal O’Reilly, his second of the season.
Then, with four minutes left, Maksim Sushko (2) made a pass that hit the skate of German Rubtsov (2) and in for the tie 3-3. The Checkers challenged the play, and after a lengthy review, the officials determined it was a good goal.
A short time later, a high-sticking call against Cal O’Reilly put the Checkers on the power play. Then, off the faceoff, Zac Dalpe (2) made a pass with two Phantoms players near him for a wide-open Connor Carrick (2) for the slapshot that broke the tie 4-3 on a power-play goal.
Felix Sandstrom was pulled with 1:47 left. However, the Phantoms could not find a way to tie the game, and their rally fell short in a 4-3 loss. The shots were 11-7 Phantoms. After the game, a fight broke out between Isaac Ratcliffe and Alexander True.
The Phantoms had 32 shots, went 0/5 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 20 of 24 saves.
The Phantoms begin a three-game road trip starting Friday night in Rochester, New York, against the Americans at 7:05 pm.
