The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-19-7-3) continued their road trip with the first of two games against the Cleveland Monsters (16-21-6-3) at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Kirill Ustimenko started in goal, and Pat Nagle was the backup. The scratches for the game were Cooper Zech, German Rubtsov, Linus Sandin, Ryan MacKinnon, Adam Johnson, Alex Kile, Sam Ersson, Felix Sandstrom, Garrett Metcalf.
German Rubtsov and Adam Johnson were injured in Wednesday’s game against the Penguins. Meanwhile, Felix Sandstrom (lower-body injury) did not travel with the team. The good news was that Brennan Saulnier returned to the lineup, and Alexis D’Aoust signed another ten-day contract from the Trois-Rivières Lions.
In the first period, the Phantoms killed off a couple of power-plays. The Phantoms did not register a shot near seven minutes into the game.
Brennan Saulnier had a couple of chances, one of them on the rush when he cut across the net, but Cam Johnson, on his stomach, smacked the puck away from Saulnier. Meanwhile, Kirill Ustimenko slammed the door shut on Tyler Angle’s shot to keep the game scoreless.
Both teams went back and forth with not a lot of action as the game was scoreless after one period, with the Phantoms leading the shots 5-4.
The second period began just how the first period ended, with lots of back-and-forth action. With 18:02 left, Kirill Ustimenko made a nice sliding right-pad save, denying Tristan Mullin. Matt Strome was called for a delay of game, and the Monsters were on the power-play.
Five seconds after the power-play expired, Justin Scott (10) from the right side, skated right up to Ustimenko with no Phantoms defenders on him, and he flipped the puck over the right shoulder of Ustimenko that put Cleveland up 1-0 with 14:32 left.
After the goal, Cleveland did get some momentum. With 13:29 left, Wyatte Wylie went down after getting hit in the face by his teammate Cam York when York tried to clear the puck out of their zone. Wylie was alright and stayed in the game.
The Phantoms did not register a shot in the second period until, with 10:08 left, Alexis D’Aoust blasted a shot that Johnson saved. Hayden Hodgson, Maksim Sushko, and Matt Strome had chances but were denied by Johnson.
Late in the second period, the Phantoms spent several minutes in Cleveland’s zone. Then, Tanner Laczynski (2) found Charlie Gerard (5) as he blasted the puck past the right slot of Johnson that tied the game 1-1. Wyatte Wylie (10) earned the secondary assist. After two periods, the game remained tied 1-1, with Monsters leading the shots 12-11.
In the third period, both teams were chirping at one another when Matt Strome and Tyler Angle were about to throw hands, but both teams and the refs broke it up before it escalated.
With 8:02 left, the Monsters almost took the lead when Thomas Schemitsch’s shot hit the left toe of Ustimenko, keeping the game tied 1-1.
Again, both teams went back and forth, with each team having a chance to break the tie, but the game headed to overtime tied 1-1. The shots were even at 19 apiece.
Seventeen seconds into overtime, Tanner Laczynski tried to get the puck away from Trey Fix-Wolansky (11) and missed it, creating a two-on-one play as Wolansky tripped. However, he managed to make a nice backhand shot on his belly over the right pad of Ustimenko that gave the Monsters a 2-1 win.
The Phantoms finished the night with 19 shots, 0/3 on the power-play, and Kirill Ustimenko made 18 of 20 saves.
The Phantoms play game two against the Monsters today at 1 pm from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
