On Friday night at the PPL Center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-2-1) took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (5-0-1) for the second time in the season.
In their first meeting, the Phantoms beat the Penguins 3-2 in overtime on opening night. Since then, the Penguins haven’t lost a game. While the Phantoms keep on fighting for every win.
Before the game started, the Phantoms sent defenseman Adam Karashik to the Reading Royals. Meanwhile, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Evan Barratt, Adam Brooks, Cooper Marody, and Charlie Gerard were scratched from the game. Sam Ersson (0-1-1, 3.04, .898) started in goal.
The Phantoms did not get off to a good start in the first period. The Penguins had five shots in the opening three minutes of the game. Lehigh Valley did not get its first shot until 14:20 left in the period by Jordy Bellerive. Phantoms’ goalie Sam Ersson made some terrific saves including a right-pad save off a shot by Nathan Legare.
Late in the first period, the Phantoms took a 1-0 lead by Max Willman (2) with 1:46 left. Willman was tripped by a Penguins player on his way skating towards Tokarski, and he shot the puck on his belly through the five-hole of goalie Dustin Tokarski, and into the net.
The Phantoms played better late in the first period and led 1-0 after one period. Afterward, head coach Ian Laperriere voiced his frustration with the team’s performance. The shots were 14-12 Penguins.
In the second period, neither team registered a shot until six minutes in when Penguins’ forward Lukas Svejkovsky took a shot during their third power play. Lehigh Valley was hurting themselves by committing penalties, but two of them were bad calls against Cal O’Reilly.
The Phantoms had done a good job keeping the Penguins off the board until with 5:46 left when several Penguins players took a shot before Valtteri Puustinen (3) finished the play going top shelf past Sam Ersson’s right side, tying the game 1-1.
Afterward, the Phantoms had a couple of chances late in the second period but were stopped by Tokarski, and the game remained tied 1-1 after two periods. The shots were 23-15 Penguins.
Four minutes into the third period, the Phantoms went on their second power play after an interference call against Jon Lizotte. However, they could not capitalize, but Lizotte went back to the box for tripping. Nevertheless, the Phantoms still could not take advantage.
With under three minutes left, the Penguins scored two goals in two minutes and thirty-three seconds. First, Tyler Sikura (1) scored off the Tyson Foerster turnover for a 2-1 lead, and Corey Andonovski (2) scored on the breakaway to put the game away with a 3-1 win.
This was not the Phantoms’ best game. They had 22 shots, 0/3 on the power play, and Sam Ersson made 32 saves. As a final point, the Phantoms have a lot of work to do, and this team can turn things around as they have shown early on this season.
Meanwhile, the Penguins had 35 shots, 1/5 on the power play, and Dustin Tokarski made 22 saves. The Penguins look good so far and are playing good hockey. They are now on a five-game winning streak.
The Phantoms will have one more home game for the weekend on Saturday against the Bridgeport Islanders at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
