On Wednesday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (14-15-6-2) had an early morning game against the Bridgeport Islanders (16-18-4-4) at Webster Bank Arena.
They received a boost before the game got underway when the Flyers sent Jackson Cates, Morgan Frost, Isaac Ratcliffe, and Cam York back to the Phantoms during the Flyers All-Star break. Jackson Cates was in the lineup. Felix Sandstrom started in goal, and the scratches were Egor Zamula, German Rubtsov, Tyson Foerster, Sam Ersson, and Pat Nagle.
The Phantoms got off to a strong start early in the first period with good puck movement and chances by Brennan Saulnier and Jackson Cates. However, midway through the first period, the tides turned for Islanders.
With 6:06 left, Simon Holmstrom (6) scored with a backhand flip to the left side of Sandstrom to put the Islanders up 1-0. Samuel Bolduc (1) and Paul LaDue (6) assisted the goal.
The Phantoms generated another rush but could not score due to traffic in front of them. Ryan MacKinnon had a chance to score, but Cory Schneider denied him. The Islanders led 1-0 after one period with the shots 10-8 Phantoms.
In the second period, Felix Sandstrom made a diving save to keep the game 1-0. Then, the Islanders added to their lead 2-0 by former Phantom Andy Andreoff (8) shooting from the right side down low with 15:33 left. Chris Terry (18) and Otto Koivula (21) assisted Andreoff’s goal.
The Phantoms responded with 13:28 left on the rush as Brennan Saulnier (2) set up Logan Day’s (7) shot that was tipped in by Nick Lappin (3) to cut the lead in half 2-1. However, the Islanders got the goal back with 10:45 left when a two-on-one developed that resulted in Erik Brown (4) firing top shelf on the right side for a 3-1 lead. Kyle MacLean (10) assisted the goal.
The Phantoms were sloppy with puck possession, causing turnovers and giving the Islanders a chance. Bridgeport spent the rest of the period in the Phantoms zone and led 3-1 after two periods. The shots were 22-15 Islanders.
The Phantoms committed two penalties in the second period and killed both penalties. Lehigh Valley is ranked sixth in penalty kills (84%) in the league.
Nick Lappin almost had his second goal in the third period, but Cory Schneider stopped his shot. The Phantoms aggressively fought for the puck and took shots; however, nothing was going into the net.
With 9:12 left in the game, the Islanders, in tic-tac-toe fashion, rushed to the Phantoms zone with Seth Helgeson (4) finding Arnaud Durandeau (17), who then found Jeff Kubiak (4) as he buried the shot to the left side for a 4-1 lead. Sandstrom had a hard time locating the puck.
From there, the Phantoms were attacking the Islanders’ zone taking shot after shot, but nothing went their way, and the Islanders defeated the Phantoms 4-1.
The Phantoms finished the game with 24 shots, 0/1 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 24 of 28 saves.
The Phantoms are back home Friday night against the Providence Bruins at 7:05 pm.
