The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-14-5) started a three-game road trip on Tuesday night. They were at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to take on the Cleveland Monsters (14-17-4). It’s the third meeting of the season between these teams. The season series is 1-1.
The Phantoms came into this game 4-4-2 in their last ten games, while the Monsters are 2-7-1. Since the Phantoms’ last game, Nolan Maier returned to Reading, and Pat Nagle came back to the Phantoms. Nagle backed up Felix Sandstrom, who started in goal.
The scratches for this game were Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Zayde Wisdom, Jordy Bellerive (illness), and Isaac Ratcliffe.
In the first period, the Phantoms committed three penalties in the first twelve minutes and twelve seconds into the game. Luckily, the Phantoms’ defense killed off all three power plays. Cleveland has the second-best power-play unit in the AHL. However, the offense got off to a slow start with only two shots on goal for most of the first period.
Late in the first period. Monsters’ defenseman Brenden Miller boarded Cooper Marody hard and he was down for several minutes. Max Willman went at it will Miller. Marody had trouble standing and was helped off the ice not putting any weight on his right leg.
Miller got tagged with a double minor penalty and the Phantoms had four minutes to get their first goal. The Phantoms had four chances to get on the board before going on the power play.
Just as the power play expired for the Phantoms. They got on the board. Bobby Brink (1) made a pass to Elliot Desnoyers (8). Desnoyers tried to do a spin-around shot but missed. Cleveland goalie Jet Greaves then tried to kick the puck away from the net but didn’t get all of it. Ronnie Attard (5) skated toward the puck and fired it over Greaves’s glove and into the net. The Phantoms led 1-0 with 1:05 left.
The Phantoms had a couple more chances after the goal but nothing doing. The Phantoms led 1-0 after one period. Cleveland led the shots 12-9. The Phantoms players were missing their assignments for the majority of this game. They were not in their right positions and Cleveland took advantage of this. Cleveland would be leading this game if it weren’t for Felix Sandstrom. In addition, Cleveland was winning the faceoff battles.
Lehigh Valley won the faceoff to begin the second period. The good news they got was Cooper Marody returned to the game. Thirty-three seconds into the second period. Tyson Foerster made a nice dangle move and nearly added a goal but Greaves stopped him.
The Phantoms went on their third power play of the game after Roman Ahcan high-sticked Louie Belpedio in the face. Belpedio was bloody and the penalty went from two minutes to four minutes. The Phantoms could not capitalize on the power play and went one-for-three.
However, five seconds after the power play expired. The Phantoms got another goal. Max Willman (4) led the Phantoms’ rush inside the Monsters’ zone. He made a pass to Jackson Cates (6). As Cleveland got the puck away from Cates. Louie Belpedio (3) rushed toward the puck before sailing it past the stick side of Greaves and into the net. The Phantoms led 2-0 with 8:31 left.
After the Phantoms committed two more penalties. Cleveland’s offense started to gain momentum. Once again, the Phantoms killed off both power plays. The Monsters had six shots in the last three minutes of the second period but some of them did not come close to Sandstrom.
The Phantoms led 2-0 after two periods but Cleveland led the shots 22-18. The Phantoms had 13 shots in the second period but they were not aimed at the goal net. Instead, the shots were wide left, wide right, or out of play. It’s nice to see the players shoot but they got to find their way into the net.
Another killer for the Phantoms was they gave away their next moves. The Phantoms’ body language indicated where they were going to go with the puck. Cleveland spotted this and their players went into their positions to break up plays.
Lehigh Valley won the faceoff to begin the third period. Three minutes and seventeen seconds into the third period. Garrett Wilson went to the penalty box for cross-checking. It was a bad call by the refs as Wilson did not touch Roman Ahcan. Nevertheless, the Monsters went on their sixth power play, and the Phantoms killed that too.
Kevin Connauton made a nice dangle move weaving around several Monsters players but missed the shot. He showed great patience before taking the shot. The Phantoms had 12 shots on goal before they were able to put the game away.
Cleveland pulled goalie Jet Greaves with 3:47 left of the game. The Phantoms had several chances to end the game but their shots either went wide left or wide right. After the Phantoms created a turnover. Bobby Brink (1) made a long-distance shot from the blue line that finally went into the net for an empty net goal. The Phantoms led 3-0 with 1:15 left.
The Phantoms’ shutout came to an end with 19 seconds left after Owen Sillinger (5) jammed the puck past Sandstrom’s left stake and into the net. It was now 3-1 Phantoms. The Phantoms won the game by the final score of 3-1.
The Phantoms finished the night with 29 shots, 1/4 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 28 saves. On the other side, Cleveland had 31 shots, 0/6 on the power play, and Jet Greaves made 28 saves.
The Phantoms and Monsters will go at it again on Wednesday at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
