On a mild Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-8-2) wrapped up a back-to-back weekend at the Bojangles’ Coliseum against the Charlotte Checkers (12-6-3). It was the Phantoms’ second game of a three-game road trip.
There was one change to the lineup before the game as Kieffer Bellows made his Phantoms debut. It was Bellows’ first AHL start since 2020 when he was with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Sam Ersson got his second start of the weekend, and the scratches for the game were Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Isaac Ratcliffe, Evan Barratt, Alex Kile, and Artem Anisimov.
Three minutes and fourteen seconds into the first period, the Checkers went on their first power play after Ronnie Attard was called for hooking. Charlotte benefited as they took a 1-0 lead with 15:09 left. Logan Hutsko’s (5) shot went off a Phantoms player before former Phantoms Gerry Mayhew (4) retrieved the puck. Mayhew shot the puck past Ersson’s right skate and into the net. Chris Tierney (12) picked up the secondary assists and Charlotte was 1/1 on the power play.
Three minutes later, Charlotte added another goal. Charlotte forward Lucas Carlsson (6) had the puck rushing from the right endboards. He went to pass the puck over to Chris Tierney (13), who missed it but Logan Hutsko (6) was right there for the finish as he riffled the shot inside Ersson’s left stake for a 2-0 lead with 12:18 left.
Charlotte was winning the puck battles, creating turnovers, and breaking up plays, preventing the Phantoms from generating any offensive attacks.
Shortly after the goal, Logan Hutsko hooked Tyson Foerster, putting the Phantoms on their first power play with 11:51 left. It took 38 seconds for the Phantoms to get on the board.
Jackson Cates (4) skated with the puck near the right endboards, drawing several Checkers players toward him. Charlotte left Tyson Foerster (6) wide open when Cates passed the puck to him and Foerster blasted the shot over Mack Guzda’s right pad and into the net. The score was 2-1 Checkers with 11:13 left and Kieffer Bellows (1) picked up the secondary assist.
Late in the first period, Riley Nash went to the penalty box for checking to the head, giving the Phantoms their second power play. Once again, the Phantoms capitalized. Cal O’Reilly (7) found Adam Brooks (2) wide open and Brooks swung the puck to the upper left corner into the net, tying the game 2-2 with 1:44 left. Cooper Marody (5) picked up the secondary assists.
Both teams had one more chance before the horn sounded but the game remained tied 2-2 after one period. Charlotte led the shots 16-14. Two takeaways, the Checkers should’ve added more goals but were missing their shots from the corners, and there were plenty of scuffles but no fights broke out.
In the first seven minutes of the second period, the Phantoms were called for two penalties. First, Tyson Foerster was called for hooking and Louie Belpedio for tripping. Luckily, the Phantoms killed both power plays. As the period went along, Charlotte was winning the faceoffs and puck battles.
Then, with six minutes left, Charlotte took a 3-2 lead after Riley Nash (12) forced a turnover from the right endboards and Henry Bowlby (3) cut across the ice before shooting the puck through the five-hole and into the net. Gerry Mayhew (4) picked up the secondary assist.
As the clock ticked down to two minutes left, the Checkers added another goal. Off the faceoff, Charlotte got control of the puck. Grigori Denisenko (3) did a nice job getting Belpedio to budge before launching the puck through the five-hole for a 4-2 lead. Dennis Cesana (4) and Anthony Bitetto (3) assisted Denisenko’s goal.
Both teams added one more shot to the stats board before the second period ended. Charlotte led 4-2 after two periods and led the shots 27-25. Once again, there were more scuffles but no major fights broke out.
Forty-six seconds into the third period, the Phantoms made it a one-goal game 4-3 after Jackson Cates (5) rebounded Ronnie Attard’s (7) shot and put it through the five-hole and into the net. Tyson Foerster (8) picked up the secondary assist.
Shortly after the goal, Cal O’Reilly went to the penalty box for holding. A minute later, Charlotte extended their lead to 5-3 after Lucas Carlsson (3) pushed the puck past Ersson’s right skate and into the net with 16:28 left. Grigori Denisenko (7) and Zac Dalpe (5) assisted his goal.
With under five minutes left in the game, Chris Tierney took down Tyson Foerster and went to the penalty box for interference. During the power play, Elliot Desnoyers (8) skated with the puck after the faceoff and pushed the puck through the five-hole to make it a one-goal game again to 5-4 with 3:42 left.
Then, the Phantoms pulled Ersson with 2:36 left to keep the momentum going. Elliot Desnoyers almost had another goal with 1:20 left but Mack Guzda blocked the shot with the right pad. Afterward, the Phantoms went on their fourth power play on a hooking call against Grigori Denisenko.
However, the Checkers put the game away with 1:05 left on an empty net goal by Anthony Bitetto (1) with an assist from Riley Nash (13). The score was now 6-4 in favor of the Checkers. On replay, the goal should not have counted as Chris Tierney was offsides. The refs missed three calls that should’ve gone the Phantoms’ way.
The Phantoms were unable to get another shot off and lost to the Checkers 6-4. Lehigh Valley splits the weekend series and has one more road game before returning to the PPL Center next weekend.
The Phantoms continue to have issues with penalties. They did a good job on Friday not allowing penalties but tonight they allowed five penalties and Charlotte scored on two of those. Otherwise, Lehigh Valley did not have a bad game and will play Charlotte again next weekend.
The Phantoms finished the night with 37 shots, 3/4 on the power play, and Sam Ersson made 30 saves. On the other side, the Checkers had 36 shots, 2/5 on the power play, and Mack Guzda made 33 saves.
The Phantoms have one more road game on Wednesday against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
