On a cool and damp Wednesday night at the PPL Center. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (8-7-2) took on their rivals Hershey Bears (14-4-2) in an Atlantic Division showdown. This was the third time these two teams have met with Hershey winning the first two games. This was Hershey’s first regular season game in Lehigh Valley this year.
Coming into this game, Hershey was on a four-game winning streak and 8-2 in the last ten games. On the other side, the Phantoms are 6-3-1 in their last ten games. Tyson Foerster had a five-game points streak, and Elliot Desnoyers was looking to add another goal. He has scored four goals in the last six games.
There were some minor changes to the roster since the Phantoms’ last game. First, Egor Zamula returned to the Flyers, while Jackson Cates played two games with Philadelphia before returning to the Phantoms, and was in the lineup. Second, With Cates back up, the Phantoms sent forward Charlie Gerard back to the Reading Royals.
Next, the Phantoms welcomed back Hayden Hodgson, who missed the last couple of weeks with an injury, and Sam Ersson returned after missing a week with the flu. Nolan Maier, who won in his AHL debut in last Saturday’s win over Rochester, was sent back to Reading.
Out of the lineup was Isaac Ratcliffe, who sustained an injury in last Saturday’s win over Rochester, He joined Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Ryan Fitzgerald, Evan Barratt, Adam Brooks, and Wyatte Wylie as the scratches for the game.
In the first period, Hershey was penetrating the Phantoms’ zone. Hendrix Lapierre came close to scoring for Hershey but Sam Ersson stopped him. Then Adam Ginning made a bad pass that was intercepted. Luckily, the Phantoms’ defense was doing a good job protecting Ersson. They were diving to block pucks and forcing Hershey to find another way to get to the net.
Then, the Phantoms’ offense started to pressure Hershey’s zone. They came close to taking the lead when Linus Hogberg made a nice pass to Jackson Cates but his shot hit the post.
Late in the first period, off the faceoff, Hershey took a 1-0 lead after Henrik Rybinski (3) drew Ersson away from his net before passing the puck to Hendrix Lapierre (5). He scored by putting the puck past Ersson’s right pad for the goal. Bobby Nardella (8) earned the secondary assist. The Phantoms were having problems with man-to-man coverage throughout this game.
With 28 seconds left, Louis Belpedio was called for slashing, putting the Bears on their second power play. Hershey had a power play early in the first period, but the Phantoms killed it. The Bears had 1:33 left of power play time left to begin the second period up 1-0 and led the shots 10-5.
Fifty-six seconds into the second period, the Phantoms went on their first power play after Mike Vecchione was called for a delay of game. During the power play, the Phantoms did more passing than shooting thus going 0/1.
Afterward, the Phantoms finally found a way to tie the game. On the rush, Cam York (10) made a no-look in-between-the-legs pass to Cooper Marody (3), who was charging toward Hershey goalie Zach Fucale. Then Marody passed the puck to Olle Lycksell (4) who made a nice backhand goal past Fucale’s right pad and into the net. The game was now tied 1-1 with 10:41 left.
However, penalties continued to hurt the Phantoms went Tyson Foerster went to the penalty box for the second time for boarding Aaron Ness. During the power play, the Bears set up a shot opportunity for Bobby Nardella (9) who found Connor McMichael (2) from the left circle. McMichael ripped the shot through the five-hole and into the net for a power-play goal and a 2-1 lead with 7:17 left.
Hershey was winning the puck possessions easily, and the Phantoms were having a hard time stripping the pucks away from them. Hershey nearly added another goal on the rush but Riley Sutter’s shot went over the net.
Late in the second period, the Phantoms generated a rush into the Bears’ zone. Then, all of a sudden, Garrett Wilson (4) found a small opening over Fucale’s right shoulder and fired the puck into the net, tying the game 2-2 with 1:15 left. Hayden Hodgson (1) and Jordy Bellerive (6) assisted Wilson’s goal. The Phantoms had one more opportunity to get the lead but ran out of time, and the game remained tied 2-2 after two periods yet Hershey continued to lead the shots 22-15.
Three minutes and twenty-eight seconds into the third period, Hershey regained the lead. They were rushing towards the Phantoms’ zone when Dylan McIlrath (4) shot the puck that hit the crossbar before Mike Sgarbossa (4) tapped the puck into the net with Ersson on his belly for a 3-2 lead with 16:32 left. Ethen Frank (4) picked up the secondary assist.
Lehigh Valley continued to shoot themselves in the foot with bad passing that almost led to two more Hershey goals but Sam Ersson stopped them. The Phantoms were having communication problems and were not in sync with each other. Most of the Phantoms players were trying to individually make something happen.
With 2:20 left, the Phantoms pulled Ersson for an extra attacker. It backfired as Ethen Frank (6) scored an empty net goal for a 4-2 lead with a minute left in the game. Aaron Ness (4) and Mike Sgarbossa (6) assisted his goal.
After the Phantoms turned the puck over, Hershey held on to the puck as time expired. The Phantoms lost to the Bears 4-2. They remain winless against Hershey this year.
This was not the best game for the Phantoms. They made too many mistakes and not taking care of the puck unlike their last game against Rochester. Head coach Ian Laperriere was not pleased with this performance and you can expect some lineup changes before the next game.
The Phantoms finished the night with 20 shots, 0/1 on the power play, and Sam Ersson made 32 saves. Ersson was good tonight but he had no defense to protect the net after the first period. The defense was also playing offense instead of protecting the net.
Meanwhile, Hershey took over first place with the win. They finished the night with 35 shots, 1/3 on the power play, and Zach Fucale made 18 saves.
The Phantoms begin a three-game road trip starting Friday with back-to-back games against the Charlotte Checkers at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
