The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-18-6-2) were back at the PPL Center Saturday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (19-19-2-3). This is the second of three straight games for the Phantoms.
Before the game, the Phantoms made several changes to the lineup after Cam York and Linus Sandin were injured in Friday night’s game. The Phantoms recalled defensemen Mason Millman and forward Brad Morrison from the Reading Royals. Meanwhile, the Phantoms signed forward Alexis D’Aoust to a PTO contract from Trios-Rivieres of the ECHL.
Kirill Ustimenko was in goal, and the scratches were Linus Sandin, Morgan Frost, Nick Lappin, Ryan MacKinnon, Cam York, Tyson Foerster, Sam Ersson, and Garrett Metcalf.
In the first period, Adam Clendening, Linus Hogberg, and Garrett Wilson had a chance to put the Phantoms up, but Tommy Nappier denied them. The Penguins gained momentum late in the first period. On the other side, Kirill Ustimenko stopped two breakaway shots that kept the game scoreless after one period. The Penguins had a 13-4 shot advantage.
Fifty-one seconds into the second period, Jordy Bellerive’s (11) shot hit the right pad of Ustimenko before Taylor Fedun (4) rebounded it and scored from the right circle that put the Penguins up 1-0. Jonathan Gruden (11) earned the secondary assists.
Just 34-seconds later, Michael Chaput (10) made a long pass to Nathan Legare (6), who fired past Ustimenko’s left pad that extended the Penguins lead 2-0.
The Penguins were winning the battle with puck possession and dominating the game for the majority of the second period. With 3:10 left, Egor Zamula (14) made a cross-ice pass to Cal O’Reilly (11), who sniped the puck past Nappier on the right-side top shelf that cut the Penguins lead 2-1. Brad Morrison (1) earned the secondary assists.
Late in the second period, Hayden Hodgson made a nice dangle and nearly tied the game, but his shot went off the iron and out of play. The Penguins led 2-1 after two periods and led the shots 26-12.
The Phantoms aimed to carry momentum at the start of the third period. However, the Penguins quickly killed it when Pierre-Olivier Joseph (8) sniped to the upper left corner of the net for a 3-1 lead. During the play, Logan Day slipped on the ice that left the opening for Joseph to take the shot.
The Penguins continued to cause problems for the Phantoms and nearly added to their lead, but Ustimenko stopped the shots. With 4:33 left, Maksim Sushko (6) redirected Adam Clendening’s (22) shot, making it a one-goal game 3-2. Linus Hogberg (6) earned the secondary assists.
The Phantoms pulled Ustimenko with 2:39 left in the game. They were aggressively trying to tie the game but came up short, losing 3-2. After the game, Garrett Wilson and Matt Bartkowski exchanged punches, and the refs quickly broke it up. There were some other scrimmages but none escalated, unlike Wilson and Bartkowski.
The Phantoms finished the game with 22 shots, no power-play opportunities, and Kirill Ustimenko made 32 of 35 saves.
The Phantoms close out the weekend today against the Hershey Bears at 2:05 pm.
