On Saturday afternoon, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (11-13-6-2) continued its five-game road trip against the Charlotte Checkers (19-14-2) from the Bojangles Coliseum.
This was the fourth meeting between these two teams with the season series 3-1 for the Charlotte Checkers. These two teams last met on December 3rd, with the Checkers winning 5-3.
Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere returned to the bench after dealing with COVID. Felix Sandstrom started in goal, and the scratches were Mason Millman, Brennan Saulnier, Ryan MacKinnon, Tyson Foerster, Sam Ersson, and Garrett Metcalf.
In the first period, Isaac Ratcliffe, Linus Sandin, Connor Bunnaman, Logan Day, and Wyatte Wiley took their shots at Billy Christopoulos, but Christopoulos stopped them.
On the other side, Felix Sandstrom made some great saves with splits and swatting the puck towards a Phantoms player hoping to get the jump toward an offensive rush.
The Phantoms had a couple of opportunities on the power play to score. However, the Phantoms first power play ended in 23-seconds after Linus Sandin got called for hooking. Garrett Wilson stole the puck late in the first period but tossed it to the boards as the Phantoms were changing players. After one period, the game was scoreless, with the shots 8-7 Checkers.
In the second period, the Checkers nearly broke the scoreless tie in a pileup, but Felix Sandstrom made the save. Logan Day, Hayden Hodgson, Connor Bunnaman, Isaac Ratcliffe, and Garrett Wilson had chances to score, but Billy Christopoulos stopped their shots once again.
Finally, the Phantoms broke through. On the faceoff in their zone, the Phantoms rushed to the Checker’s side. Cooper Zech (3) passed the puck to Connor Bunnaman (3), who tried to shoot but hit the skate of Cale Fleury. Linus Sandin finished the play by flipping the puck to the top of the cage that put the Phantoms up 1-0 with 6:52 left in the second period.
The Phantoms had a couple of chances to add to their lead until time expired. The Phantoms led 1-0 and led the shots 17-12 at the end of the second. They were doing a great job with puck movement and not giving an inch to the Checkers for them to create scoring chances.
However, the tables turned in the third period. With 17:45 left in the third period, the Phantoms went on the power play after Henry Bowlby was called for hooking. A minute later, the Checkers got the puck and rushed towards Sandstrom, with Connor Carrick (5) scoring the goal that tied the game 1-1. Max McCormick (5) assisted the goal.
After that goal, the momentum quickly turned to the Checkers’ favor. With 12:45 left, the Checkers took a 2-1 lead after a scramble in front of Sandstrom resulted in Kole Lind (11) pushing the puck into the net. Max McCormick (6) and Nolan Kneen (3) assisted Lind’s goal.
Then, with 11:38 left, the Checkers were on the attack on the left side when Scott Wilson (8) passed the puck to Zac Dalpe (13), who made a backhand shot upstairs past Sandstrom’s glove for a 3-1 lead. After that, frustration began to settle in for the Phantoms.
The Phantoms got aggressive; however, they were careless with the puck, creating turnovers. With 6:16 left, Connor Bunnaman went around the net, and his shot hit the pad of Billy Christopoulos. Garrett Wilson stayed with the play and pushed the puck into the net when the referee blew the whistle four seconds late and called it a no-goal.
Wilson was furious, and there was some pushing and shoving afterward. The officials didn’t look at the replay. The replay showed the puck did cross the goal line just before the whistle blew. Out of desperation, head coach Ian Laperriere pulled Sandstrom with four minutes left.
With 1:30 left in the game, the Checkers put the game away with an empty-net goal by Alexander True (8). Max McCormick (7) and Kole Lind (10) assisted True’s goal. Unfortunately, the Phantoms lost to the Checkers 4-1.
The Phantoms finished the afternoon with 29 shots, 0/3 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 16 saves.
The Phantoms and Checkers will go at it again from the Bojangles Coliseum today at 1 pm.
