The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (31-22-6) continued their five-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Utica Comets (29-21-8). It was the second and final meeting of the season between these teams. Coming into this game, Utica led the season series 1-0.
The Phantoms made some minor lineup changes. First, they welcomed Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers back after their brief stint with the Flyers. Foerster was on the first line while Desnoyers played the second line.
Artem Anisimov was a little banged up and sat out this game along with Wyatte Wylie, Jackson Cates, and Ryan Fitzgerald. In addition, Troy Grosenick, Will Zmolek, and Alex Kile were also scratched from the game. Nolan Maier (4-1-2, 2.64 GAA, .896 SV%) started in goal with Sam Ersson backing him up.
The Phantoms got off to a slow start in the first period. Utica controlled the game by winning the one-on-one battles, forechecking, and good shooting. However, Lehigh Valley stayed with them but two coverage breakdowns led to a couple of odd-man rushes for Utica and Nolan Maier stopped them.
The Phantoms had 11 shots on goal in the first period. Lehigh Valley started generating momentum late in the period winning the one-on-one battles, disrupting Utica’s flow, and staying out of the box. It was a clean first period but the game remained scoreless.
In the second period, Adam Ginning committed two penalties. A tripping call and an interference call. The second call came when Ginning touched the puck while his one skate was still in the penalty box. Luckily, the Phantoms killed both Utica power plays.
Eight minutes and fifty-six seconds into the second period, the Phantoms scored. Adam Brooks (15) made a wonderful cross-ice pass to Tyson Foerster (19) with a highlight reel backhand flick over Jake Theut’s left pad and into the net. It was 1-0 Phantoms with 11:04 left.
A minute and nineteen seconds later, the Phantoms extended their lead. Cooper Marody (19) dumped the puck to the corner of Utica’s zone and Garrett Wilson (21) chased it down. Wilson took the puck behind the goal net and found Elliot Desnoyers (21) for a quick shot over Theut’s glove and into the net. It was now 2-0 Phantoms with 9:45 left.
Later in the period, the Phantoms had their own odd-man rush with Willman, Belpedio, and O’Reilly but could not score. The Phantoms had 11 shots in the second period. Utica lost Ryan Schmelzer after he collided with a teammate and did not return.
Lehigh Valley did a good job controlling the game, staying patient to let plays develop, shooting, and being aggressive. The Phantoms led 2-0 after two periods. One thing the Phantoms did not do a good job of was winning the faceoffs. Utica dominated in that category.
In the third period, Utica got aggressive and were giving it everything they had. Tyson Foerster got called for holding, putting the Comets on their third power play. They took advantage of it when the Phantoms’ coverage broke down leaving Brian Pinho (9) wide-open and scoring a power play goal. It was now 2-1 Phantoms with 15:15 left.
Later in the period, the Phantoms went on their first power play of the game on a holding call against Alexander Holtz. It took 42 seconds for the Phantoms to get the goal back. Egor Zamula (15) made a pass to Olle Lycksell (27). Lycksell found Garrett Wilson (12) for a turnaround shot that went over Theut’s glove and into the net. The Phantoms led 3-1 with 5:59 left.
Utica pulled Jake Theut twice with one of them leading to a goal by Simon Nemec (9) cutting in front of Nolan Maier and jamming the puck past his left skate and into the net. The score was now 3-2 Phantoms with 2:45.
Utica kept Theut on the bench and the Phantoms scored two empty net goals by Max Willman (9) and Cooper Marody (12) for a 5-2 Phantoms win. Cal O’Reilly (13) assisted Willman’s goal.
With the win, the Phantoms have now won five straight games and are 6-3-1 in their last ten games. They are now tied with Springfield for fourth place with 13 games left in the regular season. The Phantoms are now 23-7-5 when scoring three goals or more, and 21-1-1 when they allow two goals for fewer. In addition, Cooper Marody has nine points and Adam Brooks has five points in their last four games.
The Phantoms finished the afternoon with 34 shots, 1-1 on the power play, and Nolan Maier, who played an outstanding game made 27 saves. On the other side, the Comets had 29 saves, 1-3 on the power play, and Jake Theut made 29 saves.
The Phantoms host the Hershey Bears on Wednesday at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub.
