Twenty-four hours after the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-14-5) beat the Cleveland Monsters (14-18-4) on Tuesday night. The two teams met again at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Wednesday night for their fourth meeting of the season.
There was one lineup change before the game began. After getting whacked in last night’s game. Cooper Marody got the night off and Zayde Wisdom took his place. Marody joined Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jordy Bellerive (illness), and Isaac Ratcliffe as the scratches for the game.
Felix Sandstrom started his seventh straight game. It was his last game on the conditioning loan. The Flyers will have a decision to make. If the Flyers want to keep Sandstrom with the Phantoms, he would have to clear waivers. Sandstrom’s backup was Pat Nagle.
It was an uneventful first period. The Phantoms won the faceoff to begin the game. They had nine shots on goal for the first period. Both teams were not good with puck possession. Lehigh Valley players did not put themselves in any type of organized positions. As a result, Cleveland came close a couple of times in taking the lead.
The positive outcome for the Phantoms in this game was winning the faceoffs. Especially with Artem Anisimov and Cal O’Reilly lines. The first goal of the game went to the Monsters. Billy Sweezey (9) led the Monsters’ rush toward the Phantoms’ zone. He made a pass to Trey Fix-Wolansky (17). Wolansky rushed from the left dot before he shot the puck over Sandstrom’s right shoulder and into the net. The Monsters led 1-0 with 11:03 left.
Cleveland played with desperation after losing two straight games and being 2-7-1 in their last ten games. Late in the first period. Egor Zamula went to the penalty box for holding. However, the penalty lasted nine seconds after Cole Fonstad held Adam Brooks.
The Monsters got away with a penalty earlier in the game when Tyson Foerster was hit with a high stick by Joona Luoto. Neither team capitalized on the power play. The Monsters led 1-0 after one period. Cleveland had four shots in the first period.
The Phantoms won the faceoff to begin the second period. The Phantoms did a lot of dumping and chasing in this game but the players were not quick enough to get to the pucks. Another miscue by the Phantoms was not being available at their positions. They left several Monsters players wide open with some of them almost turning into goals.
Cleveland’s defense did a better job at their positions. Every time a Phantoms player touched the puck. They quickly got to them to disrupt the plays. The Phantoms did not have enough time to react or plan their next move.
Midway through the second period. The Phantoms went on their second power-play after Josh Dunne high-sticked Louie Belpedio in the face. Thirty-two seconds later, the Phantoms tied the game.
Tyson Foerster (13) had the puck as the Phantoms were entering the Monsters’ zone. He passed the puck to Artem Anisimov (7). Then, Anisimov passed the puck to Olle Lycksell (7). Lycksell took a shot that hit off of Brandon Davidson, who got down to block the shot. Olle Lycksell rebounded the puck and whisked it toward the upper left corner and into the net for a power-play goal. The score was 1-1 with 7:54 left.
The Phantoms had six shots for the remainder of the second period. The game remained tied 1-1 after two periods. The Phantoms dominated the shots 25-8. Unfortunately, the Phantoms were missing their shots wide left, and wide right, or went out of play.
In the third period, the Phantoms committed three penalties for a total of four power-play opportunities for Cleveland. The Phantoms killed all four of those power plays. Cleveland came on strong in the third period. They forced turnovers but could not get the puck into the net as Felix Sandstrom continued to deny them. Sandstrom did a great job after giving up the one goal.
After sixty minutes, the game remained tied 1-1 heading into overtime. The Phantoms are 3-3 in overtime. Their wins came on the road and they added another one.
With a little over a minute left. Louie Belpedio broke up a play by Owen Sillinger. Artem Anisimov (8) got the puck and started to rush toward the Monsters’ zone. He missed the first shot but rebounded the puck. As three Monsters players started to crowd Anisimov. Cleveland left Louie Belpedio (4) all alone and Anisimov found Belpedio and he zipped the puck past the left skate of Jet Greaves and into the net for a game-winning 2-1 win. Olle Lycksell (19) got the secondary assist. It wasn’t easy, but the Phantoms got the job done.
The Phantoms finished the night with 33 shots, 1/4 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made 20 saves. On the other side, the Monsters had 21 shots, 0/4 on the power-play, and Jet Greaves made 31 saves.
The Phantoms have one more road game left in their three-game road trip. They take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday at 7:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
