On Friday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-14-6-2) allowed five goals in the first period against the Springfield Thunderbirds (20-13-4-1) at MassMutual Center. This was the second meeting between these two teams, with the Thunderbirds up 2-0 in the season series.
Felix Sandstrom was in goal, and the scratches for the game were Egor Zamula (illness, non-COVID), German Rubtsov (injury), Tyson Foerster (injury), Sam Ersson, and Garrett Metcalf.
Sixty-two seconds into the game, the Thunderbirds got off to a quick start when Sam Anas (17) made a cross-ice pass to Hugh McGing (9) as Felix Sandstrom split to stop the shot, but Anas flips the puck to the top shelf for a 1-0 lead. Matthew Peca (17) earned the secondary assist.
Then, similarly, the Thunderbirds struck again a minute and eight seconds later when Nikita Alexandrov (8) from the corner made a cross-ice pass to Josh Wesley (2), who sniped it to the top shelf for a 2-0 lead. Will Bitten (9) earned the secondary assists.
The Phantoms looked lost out on the ice. They were having a hard time keeping pace with the Thunderbirds and unable to control the puck. When the Phantoms were trying to get something going, the Thunderbirds were right there to kill the momentum.
With 10:20 left, the Thunderbirds were back in the Phantoms’ zone to set up for a shot. That’s when Steven Santini (10) took a shot from downtown tipped in by Nathan Walker (11) for his second goal of the puck and a 3-0 lead.
The game went from bad to worse for the Phantoms when Cooper Zech was called for hooking, putting the Thunderbirds on the power-play.
In tic-tac-toe fashion, Matthew Peca (18) made a quick pass to Nikita Alexandrov (9), who quickly found Nathan Walker (12) for his second goal of the game. Felix Sandstrom initially stopped the puck, but Walker rebounded his shot and got it past Sandstrom the second time.
The Phantoms committed another penalty not long after the goal, this time on Maksim Sushko for slashing. With 2:30 left in the first period, Nathan Walker (13) completed the hat trick shooting down low past Sandstrom’s left pad for the power-play goal 5-0. Hugh McGing (13) and Sam Anas (18) assisted the goal. The Phantoms were down 5-0 after one period with the shots 14-5 Thunderbirds.
In the second period, the Phantoms played with much more aggression. They did a better job at puck handling and staying with their man. With 15:20 left, Brennan Saulnier got whacked by Tanner Kaspick and challenged him to a fight. Both players dropped their gloves, and Saulnier got even with a left hook that left Kaspick bleeding after the fight. Kaspick never returned to the game.
The Thunderbirds had a couple of breakaway opportunities; however, the Phantoms stopped them by getting the puck out of their possession. Late in the second period, Keean Washkurak was called for slashing that put the Phantoms on the power-play. The Phantoms had 1:45 left on the power play at the end of the second period, still trailing 5-0. The shots were 20-19 Phantoms.
Twenty-six seconds in the third period, the Phantoms ended the shutout when Garrett Wilson (9) shot from the left circle that went off the glove of Joel Hofer for the power-play goal 5-1. Unfortunately, Hofer did not see the puck until it was too late. However, the Thunderbirds would get the goal back off the faceoff in the Phantoms zone with another tic-tac-toe goal between Steven Santini (11), Nathan Walker (16), and Will Bitten (6) shooting over the left shoulder of Sandstrom 6-1.
The Phantoms kept fighting, trying everything they could to get back into the game. Finally, with 10:03 left in the game, Adam Clendening (19) took a shot that hit the skate of Brennan Saulnier (1) before Nick Lappin (2) dove on his belly to score the goal, cutting the Thunderbirds lead 6-2.
That was as close as the Phantoms got to the Thunderbirds. The Phantoms were pressuring and shooting, but it was not their night, and they lost to the Thunderbirds 6-2.
The Phantoms finished the night with 30 shots, 1/4 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 20 saves.
Today, the Phantoms have one more road game at the XL Center against the Harford Wolf Pack at 7 pm.
