The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-25-7-3) started a six-game road trip Sunday evening against the Hershey Bears (29-21-4-3) at the Giant Center.
The Phantoms were looking to end the weekend on a winning note after winning two come-from-behind victories, while the Bears were off on Saturday. This is the eighth meeting between these two teams, with the Phantoms leading the season series 5-3.
Wade Allison was out of the lineup for the second straight game due to a laceration in Friday night’s game. Allison, along with Garrett McFadden, Tanner Laczynski, Jackson Cates, Brennan Saulnier, Nick Lappin, Sam Ersson, Ryan MacKinnon, Alex Kile, and Tyson Foerster, were scratched. German Rubtsov returned to the lineup after missing a couple of games.
Felix Sandstrom (10-13-3-1) started in goal with Kirill Ustimenko backing him up. Zach Fucale (9-8-4-2) started in goal for the Hershey Bears.
In the first period, both goalies made several terrific saves. The Phantoms had chances from Adam Clendening, Cal O’Reilly, Matt Strome, and Hayden Hodgson. With 13:32 left, the Phantoms went on the power play after the Bears had too many men on the ice.
The Phantoms were unable to capitalize on the power-play. Then with 7:01 left, the Phantoms were back on the power-play for the second time after Linus Sandin got hit from behind on a cross-check from Mike Sgarbossa.
The power-play lasted 46-seconds when Adam Clendening was called for interference. It was a bad call as Clendening was standing still when Matt Leason ran into him. The Phantoms killed off the power-play.
Late in the first period, the Bears generated several chances. With eight seconds left, the Bears had a four-on-two play when Felix Sandstrom blocked Matt Leason’s shot with his left pad as the goal net was dislodged. After one period, the game was scoreless, with the Bears leading the shots 12-8.
A minute into the second period, Cal O’Reilly tripped Mike Sgarbossa, putting the Bears on the power play. The Phantoms penalty-killing unit did its job, and the Bears were 0/2 so far. With 15:28 left, Garrett Wilson was called for tripping Mike Sgarbossa. However, this was a bad call as Sgarbossa ran into Wilson’s right leg.
Less than a minute later, the Bears attempted to score when Linus Hogberg got down to block the shot. The puck was under Hogberg, and he was called for a delay of game, making it a 5-3 advantage for the Bears.
However, Garrett Pilon got caught blasting Adam Clendening with a cross-check, ending one of the power plays. The Phantoms killed off the other power-play with 12:08 left. The Phantoms had three chances to break the scoreless but were unable to get one past Zach Fucale.
With 10:12 left, Wyatte Wylie went down after getting a hit with a high stick by Bears forward Matt Leason, and no call was made. He headed to the locker room after the hit. A couple of Lehigh Valley players let the refs know about the missed call.
There was a lot of dump and chase from both sides trying to generate any momentum for a scoring opportunity. Finally, with 3:10 left, Marcus Vela (6) tipped Mason Morelli’s (18) shot that went over the right shoulder of Sandstrom into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Phantoms trailed the Bears 1-0 after two periods with the shots 19-18 Bears.
Wyatte Wylie returned to the game to start the third period. With 17:05 left, Adam Clendening got elbowed on the mouth by Riley Sutter, and no call was made. Clendening let the refs know about it afterward. Missing calls was the theme throughout the game. Not just one here or there, but several.
With 11:58 left, the Phantoms went on the power play on a high stick call against Shane Gersich hitting Hayden Hodgson. Shortly after the power play ended, Max Willman had the puck and was charging at Fucale.
Garrett Pilon pushed him from behind, and Willman ran over Fucale. Unfortunately, the refs called Willman for charging the goaltender in the crease and didn’t bother looking at the replay. This officiating crew were horrible.
The Phantoms killed the power-play with 7:38 left. Adam Clendening and Garrett Wilson both had a chance score, but Fucale was stopping the shots.
With 1:36 left, Felix Sandstrom started to head towards the bench when Mike Sgarbossa (9) scored from center point in Hershey’s zone for a 2-0 win.
After the game, there was a scuffle, but no punches were thrown. This was the second time this week that the Bears shut out the Phantoms.
The Phantoms finished the night with 29 shots, 0/4 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 30 of 32 saves.
The Phantoms continue their six-game road trip on Friday, March 18th, against the Springfield Thunderbirds at 7:05 pm.
