The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-16-6-2) closed out the weekend with a makeup game from December 10th against the Hartford Wolf Pack (22-12-4-2) at the XL Center.
Pat Nagle, who is currently representing the U.S. in the Olympics, recorded his first career shutout in a 4-0 win in their last meeting. This time, the Wolf Pack got most of their players back from the New York Rangers.
Garrett Metcalf started in goal, and the scratches for the game were Cooper Zech, German Rubtsov, Nick Lappin, Alex Kile, Tyson Foerster, Sam Ersson, and Pat Nagle.
In the first period, the Phantoms were attacking the Wolf Pack’s zone with a couple of scoring chances by Hayden Hodgson and Morgan Frost. With 12:23 left, Garrett Wilson (10) found Hayden Hodgson (12), who fired the puck to the left iron for his team-leading twelfth goal to take a 1-0 lead.
Hartford got some momentum back, but Garrett Metcalf stopped two shots. With 7:49 left in the first period, Egor Zamula (12) took a shot that a Wolf Pack player blocked. However, Charlie Gerard (3) was right there to finish the play from the center point with a top-shelf goal for a 2-0 lead. The Phantoms played good defense in the first period.
With 3:02 left, Wolf Pack defenseman Hunter Skinner lost his balance and landed on Hayden Hodgson, who hit his head on the boards and was down for several minutes. He got up and headed to the locker room and did not return for the rest of the period.
Late in the first period, Wolf Pack goalie Keith Kinkaid tried to draw a penalty on Brennan Saulnier, but it backfired, and the Phantoms were going on the power-play. Ty Ronning served the penalty. The Phantoms led 2-0 with 55-seconds left on the power-play to start the second period. The shots were 10-8 Phantoms.
However, at the start of the second period, the Wolf Pack quickly got back into the game. At the start of the second period, Hayden Hodgson returned from injury.
The Phantoms were playing keep-away early on, but they were sloppy with puck control, allowing the Wolf Pack chances to score. With 16:42 left, the Phantoms’ defense was after Patrick Khodorenko (9). However, they forgot to cover Austin Rueschhoff (11), who was right in front of Metcalf to score the goal that cut the Phantoms lead 2-1.
The Wolf Pack were gaining momentum, while the Phantoms were holding on. At 6:11, Egor Zamula was penalized for cross-checking. Shortly after, Garrett Metcalf initially stopped Nils Lundkvist’s (2) shot, but Tim Gettinger (9) was there with an open net in front of him that tied the game 2-2 with 13:27 left in the second period.
Two minutes later, the Wolf Pack were back in the Phantoms zone. Mike O’Leary (4) tipped in Matthew Robertson’s (8) shot for the goal and a 3-2 lead. Cristiano DiGiacinto (5) earned the secondary assists.
At 11:25, the Phantoms went on the power play after Jonny Brodzinski was called for tripping. The Wolf Pack got a hold of the puck during the power play and moved into the Phantoms’ zone. Tanner Fritz (18) passed the puck to Morgan Barron (9), who flipped the puck to the left side of Metcalf for a 4-2 lead.
The Phantoms were unable to score on the power-play. With 5:36 left, Nils Lundkvist (1) scored from the center point to make it 5-2. Jonny Brodzinski (17) and Anthony Greco (20) assisted his goal. It was a disaster period for the Phantoms trailing 5-2 after two periods. However, they had the shot advantage 28-20.
In the third period, the Phantoms were unable to generate any momentum. The Wolf Pack played keep away, taking time off the clock. As a result, the Phantoms spent most of their time chasing the Wolf Pack, trying to retrieve the puck.
With 4:51 left, the Phantoms made a push to the Wolf Pack’s zone. Isaac Ratcliffe (8) had a couple of Wolf Pack players on him but managed to find an open Wyatte Wylie (3). Wylie blasted the shot from the center point, cutting the Wolf Pack’s lead 5-3.
However, when the Wolf Pack cleared the zone, Garrett Metcalf came out of his net to retrieve the puck, only for Jonny Brodzinski (16) to steal the puck and score for a 6-3 lead. Brodzinski broke the Wolf Pack’s scoring streak record.
With 27-seconds left, Isaac Ratcliffe pushed the puck into the net from the left pad of Kinkaid to make it 6-4. The Phantoms ended the weekend with a 6-4 loss.
The Phantoms finished the game with 39 shots, 0/4 on the power-play, and Garrett Metcalf made 18 of 24 saves.
The Phantoms return home on Tuesday against the Belleville Senators at 7:05 pm.
