On Friday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (19-24-7-3) returned to the PPL Center to take on the Laval Rocket (26-20-3) for the first time this season. The Phantoms were looking to snap a six-game losing streak (0-5-1).
The Philadelphia Flyers recalled forward Morgan Frost and loaned to the Phantoms forward Max Willman. Meanwhile, Wade Allison, Egor Zamula, and Matt Strome returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game. Hayden Hodgson returned from a three-game suspension. Allison’s last game was on January 19th, against the Penguins. He is on a three-game goal streak.
Felix Sandstrom started in goal with Kirill Ustimenko as the backup. The scratches for the game were Garrett McFadden, German Rubtsov, Jackson Cates, Brennan Saulnier, Nick Lappin, Sam Ersson, Charlie Gerard, Ryan MacKinnon, Alex Kile, and Tyson Foerster.
Early in the first period, there was a lot of back-and-forth action. The Phantoms had eleven shots but couldn’t score. With 15:21 left, Wade Allison went diving for the puck to score, but the right skate of Darien Kielb cut Allison’s left hand, and he left the game. Meanwhile, Laval didn’t register a shot until halfway through the first period.
With 6:49 left, Lehigh Valley defenseman Egor Zamula got caught with a hook, and Laval went on the power-play. Luckily, the Phantoms killed the power-play.
With 3:05 left, Laval forward Jesse Ylönen attempted a pass but instead hit the goal net, and Cal O’Reilly (14) took it skating across the net and made a backhand flip into the net from the right side for a 1-0 lead.
However, less than two minutes later, Laval tied it up on the rush when Kevin Roy (8) fired the puck over the right shoulder of Sandstrom into the net that tied the game 1-1. The game remained tied 1-1 after one period with the shots 13-9 Phantoms.
Before the second period started, Wade Allison returned to the game. Laval was pressuring the Phantoms, leading them to scoring chances.
With 14:28 left, Jesse Ylönen’s (15) shot hit Sandstrom’s right pad before Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (12) swatted the puck in the air over Sandstrom’s right side into the net for a 2-1 lead.
Laval were all over the Phantoms, and Lehigh Valley had difficulty keeping up with them. With 9:13 left, Hayden Hodgson made a nice setup for Adam Johnson from the left side, but Johnson could not finish the play.
Then with 8:18 left, a two-on-one play for Laval left Egor Zamula to defend Sandstrom. Danick Martel’s (11) pass hit the stick of Zamula before Justin Ducharme (3) fired the puck past Sandstrom’s right side into the net for a 3-1 lead. The Phantoms’ defense spent too much time on offense, which cost them.
Late in the second period, the Phantoms rushed to Laval’s zone as Wade Allison (2) handed the puck off to Logan Day (3) for a bullet over Kevin Poulin’s left shoulder into the net that cut Laval’s lead 3-2 with 1:53 left. The Rocket led 3-2 after two periods, and the Phantoms led the shots 21-20.
One minute and thirty-four seconds into the third period, Max Willman (9) put the jets on and skated towards Kevin Poulin from the right side before blasting the shot past his right shoulder into the net that tied the game 3-3. Wade Allison (3) and Cal O’Reilly (22) assisted Willman’s goal.
With 17:36 left, a high-sticking call against Laval’s Darien Kielb put the Phantoms on the power-play. Less than a minute later, Linus Sandin (9) made a nice cross-ice pass to Wade Allison (4) for a one-timer past the left side of Poulin into the net for a power-play goal that put Lehigh Valley upfront 4-3.
The Phantoms were rejuvenated and playing their best period of the game. They kept pressuring Laval, not allowing them to catch their breath.
Laval was having a hard time stopping the Phantoms. With 1:06 left, Isaac Ratcliffe and Louie Belpedio fought, and both were sent to the penalty box.
Laval pulled Poulin twice to try and tie the game. However, the Phantoms did a great job controlling the puck and killing the clock, not allowing the Rocket to score. The Phantoms snapped their six-game losing streak to win 4-3.
The Phantoms finished the night with 38 shots, 1/2 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 21 of 24 saves.
The Phantoms will have one more home game in the month of March today at 7:05 pm against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
