After being shut out by the Springfield Thunderbirds on Tuesday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (28-32-15) returned to the PPL Center Wednesday night against the Cleveland Monsters (28-34-13). This was a makeup game from December 29th.
There were a couple of lineup changes as Maksim Sushko, and Tanner Laczynski were out with injuries. Meanwhile, Garrett Wilson and Cooper Zech were still out with injuries. With the injuries piling up, South Jersey native Colin Felix made his Phantoms’ debut.
Pat Nagle (10-5-6, 2.58 GAA, .907 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms with Darion Hanson as the backup, while the Monsters started Jet Greaves (11-11-2, 2.90 GAA, .906 SV%).
Scratches for the Phantoms were Cooper Zech, Tanner Laczynski, Ryan Fitzgerald, Maksim Sushko, Jackson Cates, Ryan MacKinnon, Hayden Hodgson, Garrett Wilson, Sam Ersson, and Kirill Ustimenko.
Five minutes into the first period, the Monsters took a 1-0 lead. Monsters’ forward Justin Scott (17) had the puck and took a shot that hit Nagle’s right pad. Then, Monsters’ forward Tristan Mullin (7) skated right up with two Phantoms players near him and rebounded Scott’s shot. Finally, he shot the puck, hitting Nagle’s right skate and into the net for the goal.
The Phantoms’ defense did not do a good job containing Cleveland’s offense, allowing them to get plenty of chances to score and generating many odd-man rushes. The Monsters were in control early in the first period, but the Phantoms were hanging around.
Then, with 5:17 left, the Phantoms tied the game. Max Willman (8) rushed towards the Monsters’ left side and fired the puck, hitting the left shoulder of Monsters’ goalie Jet Greaves. There was a scramble for the puck before Adam Johnson (5) spotted it and fired the puck past Greaves’ right side and into the net, tying the game 1-1.
Cleveland continued to find ways to get scoring chances, and luckily for the Phantoms, Pat Nagle was making the saves. The game was tied 1-1 after one period, and the Monsters led the shots 15-10.
The Phantoms went on their first power-play in the second period with 16:53 left after Tim Berni cross-checked Max Willman. Unfortunately, the Phantoms could not capitalize on the power-play and were now 0/1. The Phantoms played hard in the first five minutes of the second period and had a couple of chances to take the lead.
With 7:32 left, Cleveland took a 2-1 lead. Robbie Payne (11) won the battle off the faceoff, and Jake Christiansen (31) got control of the puck. Then, he found Tyler Sikura (15), cutting across the net with a backhand shot past Nagle’s right side and into the net for the goal.
The Phantoms had plenty of chances to tie the game with Wyatte Wylie, Nick Lappin, and Cal O’Reilly shots. However, the Phantoms’ chances of getting back into the game started to fall off the cliff. With 5:31 left, the Monsters’ got a three-on-two advantage. Owen Sillinger (5) made a pass to Tim Berni (3), who sniped the puck over the glove of Nagle and into the net for the goal. The Monsters’ lead was now 3-1, and Trey Fix-Wolansky (17) got the secondary assist.
The Monsters went on their first power-play of the game with 2:50 left after Phantoms’ defenseman Adam Karashik high-sticked Robbie Payne. During the power-play, Logan Day blocked a shot and was hurting. He went to the locker room once he could get off the ice.
Cleveland made the Phantoms pay with 1:48 left. There was a scramble for the puck in front of Pat Nagle. Justin Scott (18) took a shot, and Nagle slid to block the shot. However, he did not get the puck and tumbled over on the ice, and Cole Fonstad (8) found the puck and pushed it into the net, extending the Monsters’ lead 4-1.
Late in the second period, Phantoms’ newcomer Colin Felix dropped the gloves and fought Cole Cassels, making it four-on-four when the third period started. The Monsters led 4-1 after two periods and led the shots 30-17.
In the third period, the Phantoms chased the Monsters for the puck. The defense had a hard time getting organized, which showed in the scoring. Meanwhile, Cleveland continued to add to their lead.
With 8:29 left, Colin Felix cross-checked Trey Fix-Wolansky, and the Monsters went on their third power-play. During the power-play, Trey Fix-Wolansky (18) took a shot that hit the left pad of Nagle. Then, Cole Fonstad (9) rebounded the puck and scored past Nagle’s right side and into the net for a power-play goal. It was Fonstad’s second goal, and Cleveland’s lead was now 5-1.
Moving ahead with 2:35 left, the Monsters added another goal. Cleveland was back inside the Phantoms’ zone. Tim Berni (12) fired the puck from the right side that bounced off Pat Nagle. Nevertheless, Cole Cassels (6) rebounded the puck and fired it from the left circle top-shelf past Nagle’s right side and into the net for a 6-1 lead.
After the goal, the Monsters’ got control of the puck and killed the clock. As a result, Cleveland won the game 6-1. They dominated the game with 42 shots.
At times, the Phantoms outplayed the Monsters. However, the Monsters killed any momentum the Phantoms generated and were in complete control in the last two periods.
The Phantoms finished the game with 24 shots, 0/2 on the power-play, and Pat Nagle made 36 of 42 saves.
The Phantoms close out the regular season on Saturday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased thanks to our friends at StubHub.
