On Saturday night in front of the packed crowd at the PPL Center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hosted the Cleveland Monsters in their home debut of the 2022-23 season.
This was the Phantoms’ third game of the season after opening on the road, winning at Wilkes-Barre last Saturday, and losing to Hershey last Sunday.
Before the game, there were festivities to welcome the Phantoms. However, I do have one complaint. When the schedule says the game starts at 7:05 pm, do the festivities before 7:05 pm. Instead, the schedule should have said the game starts at 7:30 pm.
Sam Ersson got the start in goal, and the scratches for the game were Adam Karashik, Cooper Zech, Ryan Fitzgerald, Adam Brooks, and Cooper Marody.
In the first period, the Phantoms had several scoring opportunities before Hayden Hodgson (1) had a breakaway and sniped the puck past the left shoulder of Pavel Cajan to put the Phantoms up 1-0 with 12:47 left. Hodgson would not have had that opportunity had Adam Ginning leveled a Monsters player with a nice clean hit. Garrett Wilson (2) and Linus Hogberg (1) assisted Hodgson’s goal.
Three minutes later, Cleveland tied it up when Kirill Marchenko (2) made a couple of nice juke moves before taking a shot, only for Brendan Gaunce (2) to finish the play with a backhand shot into the net, tying the game 1-1 with 9:37 left. Carson Meyer (2) also assisted Gaunce’s goal.
Late into the first period, Phantoms forward Adam Ginning got caught holding and Cleveland went on the power play. However, Lehigh Valley stopped them, and Cleveland was 0/1. Meanwhile, with 11-seconds to go, Tyson Foerster got hit by Billy Sweezey, putting Lehigh Valley on the power play.
The Phantoms had a minute and 45-seconds of power play time to begin the second period tied 1-1. The shots were 8-5 Phantoms. At times, the Phantoms looked shaky on the ice but managed to play to Cleveland’s strength, and Sam Ersson made several nice saves.
In the second period, Tyson Foerster came close to scoring his first goal of the season with a backhand shot but Pavel Cajan stopped it. Midway through the second period, Cleveland forward Carson Meyer went to the penalty box for boarding, putting Lehigh Valley on their second power play.
A minute later inside Cleveland’s zone, Tyson Foerster (2) found Elliot Desnoyers (3), who lifted the puck over the left pad of Cajan for the goal and a 2-1 lead. The Phantoms fought hard to keep the puck inside Cleveland’s zone, and Cam York (2) also assisted Desnoyers’s goal.
Late in the second period, Cleveland started to put together solid drives, giving themselves several chances to score. Lehigh Valley defenseman Linus Hogberg got caught tripping, and Cleveland went on their second power play. Luckily, the Phantoms killed it and the Monsters were 0/2. The Phantoms headed to the locker room with a 2-1 after two periods, but Cleveland led the shots 22-19.
A minute and 41-seconds into the third period, the Monsters tied the game. They were on the rush when Marcus Bjork (2) found Justin Richards (1), who just got the puck past Sam Ersson’s right pad for the goal, tying the game 2-2. Emil Bemstrom (3) picked up the secondary assist.
Not long after the goal, the Phantoms went on their third power play when Josh Dunne was called for interference. However, the Phantoms could not capitalize. Later in the third period, Phantoms forward Tyson Foerster was called for interference, and Cleveland went on their third power play.
During the power play, Cleveland was looking to set up a shot when David Jiricek (3) passed the puck to Emil Bemstrom (3). Then, Bemstrom fired the puck top shelf past Ersson’s left shoulder, putting Cleveland up 3-2 with 8:26 left.
Late in the third period, the Phantoms pulled Ersson for an extra attacker. It paid off with 1:02 left when the Phantoms were on the move, and captain Cal O’Reilly (1) was at the right place at the right time, finding a small opening past a diving Pavel Cajan for the game-tying goal, 3-3. Cleveland got one more shot opportunity, but the game went to overtime tied 3-3. It was the Phantoms’ second overtime of the season.
However, 42-seconds into overtime, Cleveland caught the Phantoms in a line change, and Emil Bemstrom (4) skated with the puck, weaving around Tyson Foerster, and scored the game-winning goal. The Phantoms lost to the Monsters 4-3.
Despite the loss, the Phantoms looked good. Sam Ersson did a nice job in goal, making 27 of 31 saves. Lehigh Valley had 30 shots and was one for three on the power play. Meanwhile, Cleveland had 31 shots, one for three on the power play, and Pavel Cajan made 27 of 30 saves.
The Phantoms and Monsters will go at it again today at 3:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
