The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-13-4) continued their three-game road trip on Saturday afternoon. They traveled to the Coca-Cola Coliseum to take on the North Division-leading Toronto Marlies (21-9-2). This was the first meeting of the year between these two teams.
The Phantoms made some minor lineup changes ahead of the game. Bobby Brink, who scored his first AHL goal of his career was given the day off. In addition, Ronnie Attard, who was a little bit banged up after Friday night’s game was also out of the lineup. Hayden Hodgson and Linus Hogberg were inserted into the lineup.
Felix Sandstrom (1-0-0, 2.00, .923) made his second start in goal. In addition to Brink and Attard. Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Ryan Fitzgerald, Zayde Wisdom, and Isaac Ratcliffe were scratched by the Phantoms.
The Phantoms struck first three minutes and fifty-nine seconds into the first period. Wyatte Wylie (4) led the Phantoms into the Marlies’ zone before taking a shot. After his shot bounced off Erik Kallgren’s left pad. Ollie Lycksell (6) rebounded the puck and shot it past Kallgren’s left pad and into the net. The Phantoms led 1-0 with 16:01 left, and Artem Anisimov (6) picked up the secondary assist.
Four minutes and six seconds later. The Phantoms added another goal. Linus Hogberg (3) had the puck with a Toronto player on him. He passed the puck to Adam Ginning (2). Ginning made a long-distance shot that went over Kallgren’s glove and into the net. The Phantoms led 2-0 with 11:55 left, and Garrett Wilson (10) picked up the secondary assist.
Forty-nine seconds later. Egor Zamula tripped Marc Johnstone to put the Marlies on their first power play. Toronto ranks first in power-play goals and showed why they are the best. Logan Shaw (23) had the puck inside the Phantoms’ zone. He took a shot that was tipped in by Joey Anderson (12) over Sandstrom’s glove. The Marlies cut the Phantoms to 2-1 with 10:02 left. Nick Abruzzese (12) picked up the secondary assist.
A short time later, the Marlies tied the game. Bobby McMann (7) controlled the puck before taking a shot that hit Sandstrom’s pad. Then, Joey Anderson (13) got the puck, kicked it toward him, and scored under Sandstrom’s left leg. Sandstrom lifted his left leg as the puck got by him and into the net. The game was tied 2-2 with 4:26 left and Marshall Rifai (7) earned the secondary assist.
Toronto had three more chances to get the lead but ran out of time. The game remained tied 2-2 after one period. The Marlies led the shots 9-6. The Phantoms did a good job communicating with one another. However, they did not do a good job with man-to-man coverage and struggled for the rest of this game.
Three minutes and fifteen seconds into the second period. The Marlies went on their second power play after Adam Ginning was called for hooking. For the second time, the Marlies scored on the power play in a minute and forty-three seconds.
Joey Anderson (10) had the puck and made a cross-ice pass past a diving Kevin Connauton. Nick Abruzzese (9) was all alone and fired the puck past Sandstrom’s left skate and into the net. The Marlies led 3-2 with 15:12 left. Logan Shaw (24) earned the secondary assist.
A minute later, the Phantoms responded. Adam Ginning poked the puck away from a Marlies player before Olle Lycksell (15). He carried the puck into the Marlies’ zone. Lycksell fought off two Marlies players for the puck behind the goal net. Then, he made a quick pass to Artem Anisimov (11). Anisimov’s shot bounced off of Kallgren, then went through the five-hole, and into the net. The score was now 3-3 with 14:12 left.
Midway through the second period. The Marlies went on their third power play on a cross-checking call against Jordy Bellerive. For the third time in the game. The Marlies scored another power-play goal.
There was traffic in front of Sandstrom. Joseph Blandisi (11) had the puck and the Phantoms were more concerned about getting the puck out of the zone. However, they left Adam Gaudette (14) wide open. Blandisi found Gaudette and he riffled the puck over Sandstrom’s glove and into the net. The Marlies led 4-3 with 8:38 left and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev (20) picked up the secondary assist.
After the goal, the Phantoms responded a minute later. Olle Lycksell (16) stole the puck to initiate an attack. He made a pass to Tyson Foerster (12). Foerster’s shot went off the pad of Kallgren but Artem Anisimov (12) was there for the rebound and fired it past Kallgren’s left side and into the net. The game was tied again 4-4 with 7:43 left.
The Phantoms had two more opportunities to take the lead by Tyson Foerster but Kallgren stopped them. The game remained tied 4-4 after two periods. The shots were tied at 17 apiece.
A minute and thirty-eight seconds into the third period. The Phantoms went on their third power-play of the game. They were 0/2 so far. Unfortunately, they only had one shot and went to 0/3. The Phantoms and Marlies each had four shots on goal. After sixty minutes, the game went into overtime.
During overtime, Olle Lycksell had the puck with a Toronto player on him, and no one came to help him. He had to dump the puck. Despite the line change, someone should’ve gone and helped Lycksell. No one scored in overtime, and the game went into a shootout.
After Adam Gaudette scored for the Marlies. Jordy Bellerive was up first and scored for the Phantoms. Then, Joey Anderson scored for Toronto. Tyson Foerster needed to score but was denied by Kallgren. Finally, Olle Lycksell was the Phantoms’ last hope to keep the game going but Erik Kallgren stopped him. The Phantoms lost to the Marlies by the final score of 5-4.
The Phantoms finished the afternoon with 25 shots, 0/3 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 24 saves. On the other side, Toronto had 29 shots, 3/3 on the power play, and Erik Kallgren made 21 saves.
The Phantoms will wrap up their three-game road on Wednesday. They will play the Bridgeport Islanders from the Total Mortgage Arena at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
