The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-11-3) returned to the PPL Center on Wednesday night against the first-place Hershey Bears (20-6-3). This was the fifth meeting between these two teams after playing each other this past Sunday in a 5-3 Hershey win.
Lehigh Valley has not beaten Hershey this year and the drought continued on Wednesday night. Before the game, there were several transactions. First, goalie Sam Ersson was called up to Philadelphia to fill in for Felix Sandstrom, who is out with an illness.
The Phantoms recalled goalie Pat Nagle on Tuesday and initially sent Nolan Maier back to Reading. Well, with the news of Ersson’s call-up, Maier went to Lehigh Valley 24 hours later. In addition to the goalie changes, Garrett Wilson missed his first game of the season with an illness. He joined Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, and Zayde Wisdom as the Phantoms’ scratches.
One last note before the game, this was Kevin Connauton’s last game of 2022. He is headed to Switzerland to join Team Canada for the Spengler Cup beginning next Monday.
In the first period, the Phantoms had four chances in the first three minutes of the game to put points on the board. Hershey did not get a shot off until six minutes in, resulting in a goal. Jake Massie (4) had the puck and took a shot that went off Nagle’s left pad. Afterward, Ethen Frank (9) rebounded the shot and fired it over Nagle’s left pad and into the net. Hershey led 1-0 with 12:25 left and Mike Vecchione (14) got the secondary assists.
At times, the Phantoms looked sluggish on the ice. They were making bad passes that resulted in turnovers, leaving Hershey players wide open, and too much passing and not enough shooting. However, they did a great job disrupting plays and winning the puck battles.
Late in the first period, the Phantoms’ offense got going. They were inside the Bears’ zone looking for an opening. Olle Lycksell (12) had the puck behind the goal net and saw Artem Anisimov (9) coming toward Hunter Shepard. Lycksell made the pass to Anisimov and Anisimov shot the puck through the five-hole and into the net. The game was tied 1-1 with 1:18 left.
Twenty-five seconds later, the Phantoms won the draw off the faceoff. Once again, they were back inside the Bears’ zone setting up a shot. Adam Ginning (6) fired the puck that hit Kieffer Bellows’s (5) stick and off the left pad of Shepard. Then, Elliot Desnoyers (11) rebounded the puck and shot it through the five-hole and into the net. The Phantoms led 2-1 with 53 seconds left.
After one period, the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Phantoms. The last three minutes were the best Phantoms shift of the night. One key takeaway was the Phantoms players were tapping their sticks on the ice to signal they were open. Ginning did that which led to the Phantoms’ second goal. The shots were 15-6 Phantoms.
In the second period, Wyatte Wylie got caught tripping Matt Strome and he went to the penalty box. It was Hershey’s second power play of the game. Fortunately, the Phantoms’ power play unit attacked to get the puck away from Hershey and they were now 0/2.
Midway through the second period, Hershey generated a rush inside the Phantoms’ zone led by Dylan McIlrath (7). After Matt Strome (1) touched the puck, he found Connor McMichael (6) cutting across the net before passing the puck to McMichael. McMichael rifled the shot off the top right corner of the goal net resulting in a goal. Hershey tied it up 2-2 with 8:55 left.
The Phantoms had a couple of chances to get the lead back on the power play but could not capitalize. The score remained tied 2-2 after two periods. The Phantoms remained ahead in shots 24-15. They played decent but continued to give Hershey too much room for shot opportunities.
Hershey came right out of the gate in the third period with five straight shots. The Phantoms had another opportunity to get the lead back on the power play after Riley Sutter boarded Egor Zamula. Once again, they were doing too much passing and never got a shot off, going 0/3 on the night.
Later in the third period, Elliot Desnoyers hooked Jake Massie and he went to the penalty box, giving Hershey their third power play. Forty-eight seconds later, Hershey went ahead. As they set up a shot opportunity inside the Phantoms’ zone.
Aaron Ness (6) made a pass to Ethen Frank (10) with a point-blank shot through the five-hole and into the net. It was Frank’s second goal of the night. Hershey led 3-2 with 9:38 left and Mike Sgarbossa (12) got the secondary assists.
With a minute and fifty-seven seconds left of the game. Pat Nagle was pulled for an extra attacker. However, Shane Gersich (7) stole the puck and passed it to Mason Morelli (5) for the go-ahead empty-net goal with ten seconds left. Hershey defeated the Phantoms by the final score of 4-2.
This was a game that the Phantoms should’ve won. If they had played as they did late in the first period, the Phantoms would’ve won the game. Instead, they were careless with the puck, had poor man-to-man coverage, and no one wanted to take a shot. If they decide to play like this going forward, the Phantoms will not win another game for the rest of the season.
The Phantoms remain winless against Hershey. Hershey became the first AHL team to win 20 games this season. Lehigh Valley finished the night with 29 shots, 0/3 on the power play, and Pat Nagle made 19 saves. On the other side, Hershey had 23 shots, 1/3 on the power play, and Hunter Shepard made 27 saves.
The Phantoms are back on the road for their last game before Christmas break. They will take on the Springfield Thunderbirds from the MassMutual Center at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased at StubHub.
