The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (31-24-6) concluded a five-game homestand on Sunday afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (25-26-10) for the tenth time this year. Coming into this game, the Phantoms were 5-3-1 against the Penguins this year.
There was one minor lineup change before the game: Wyatte Wylie replaced Adam Karashik on defense, and Hayden Hodgson (injury) was out for another game. In addition to Karashik and Hodgson, Troy Grosenick, Emil Andrae, Ryan Fitzgerald, and Will Zmolek were out for the game. Sam Ersson (19-14-1, 2.71 GAA, .903 SV%) started in goal with Nolan Maier backing him up.
A minute into the first period, the Penguins took the lead off the faceoff inside the Phantoms’ zone. Jonathan Gruden (7) won the faceoff and Valtteri Puustinen (28) sent the puck toward the corner of the end boards leading to a mad scramble. Then, Gruden prevented Adam Ginning from getting the puck, and Puustinen found Drake Caggiula (16), who flipped the puck over Ersson’s right pad and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Despite the Phantoms having 12 shots on goal in the first period, the Penguins outplayed them. Lehigh Valley could not generate any momentum and the Penguins capitalized on a couple of bad passes with one of them a breakaway by Jonathan Gruden but Sam Ersson made a great left-pad save.
Kevin Connauton went to the penalty box for holding shortly after the save. The Phantoms did a terrific job protecting Ersson and killed the power play. The Penguins had one shot during the power play. Artem Anisimov had a shot but Dustin Tokarski saved it.
Then with nine seconds left, Kyle Olson hooked Elliot Desnoyers on the left arm, and the Phantoms went on their first power play of the game. The Phantoms had a minute and fifty-two seconds of power play time to begin the second period down 1-0.
A minute and four seconds into the second period, the Penguins scored during the Phantoms’ power play. Drake Caggiula (17) got the puck away from Ronnie Attard to create a two-on-one play. He fired the puck off the inside right pad of Ersson and it dribbled into the net for a short-handed goal. It was now 2-0 Penguins with 18:56 left. Jack St. Ivany (7) and Jonathan Gruden (8) assisted with his goal.
The Phantoms could not score on the power play and went to 0-1. Shortly after the power play expired, Lehigh Valley went on their second power play after Kyle Olson slashed Adam Brooks. The Phantoms had one shot during the power play but went to 0-2. Lehigh Valley went 0-4 on the power play in the game.
Later, the Phantoms gained momentum when Egor Zamula took a shot that bounced off of Dustin Tokarski and Cooper Marody got the puck and went around the goal net. He found Garrett Wilson and passed the puck to him before he shot it through the five-hole and into the net.
However, the refs waived the goal off as Adam Brooks made incidental contact with Tokarski. The replay showed that Brooks did not touch him and the goal should’ve counted. The fans let the refs have it afterward.
Taking the goal away hurt the Phantoms’ momentum and they were not able to recover. The game got worse for Lehigh Valley when Jonathan Gruden shoved Cooper Marody down on the ice and hit him from behind, driving his head hard onto the ice and was down for several minutes bleeding and the refs did not call a penalty. Head Coach Ian Laperriere, the players, and the fans were livid, and rightfully so. Marody went to the locker room and did not return to the game.
Late in the second period, the Phantoms finally got on the board. Ronnie Attard (18) made a long pass to Max Willman (14) inside the Penguins’ zone. Willman drew two Penguins players toward him and he passed the puck to Jackson Cates (11). Cates took the puck and flipped it over Tokarski’s left pad and into the net. It was now 2-1 Penguins with 2:02 left.
Two minutes and twenty-five seconds later, the Penguins got the goal back. The Penguins charged into the Phantoms’ zone. As they were getting set for a shot opportunity, Drake Caggiula’s (28) shot bounced off Ersson’s left pad but Jonathan Gruden (14) was there for the rebound and flipped it over his left pad and into the net. It a now 3-1 with 36 seconds left.
Just before the period ended, Olle Lycksell got clipped by a Penguins player and went to the bench with his left skate up. Luckily, he stayed in the game. The Phantoms had 13 shots in the second period and trailed the Penguins 3-1 after two periods.
In the third period, the refs called two penalties against the Phantoms, making things worse. The third penalty on Max Willman should not have been called as Jonathan Gruden put on an acting performance and the refs bought it. Garrett Wilson had enough and went after Gruden but the refs broke it up.
The Penguins struck again with 4:54 left Jack St. Ivany’s (8) shot deflected off Ersson but Tyler Sikura (9) was there for the rebound and scored for a 4-1 lead. Eighteen seconds later, the Phantoms scored their second goal on a Bobby Brink (8) breakaway and he made a terrific backhand flip over Dustin Tokarski and into the net. It was 4-2 with 4:36 left. Kevin Connauton (10) and Artem Anisimov (13) assisted with his goal.
Late in the game, Sam Ersson was pulled several times and the Penguins put the game away on an empty net goal by Filip Hållander (11) with 47 seconds left. Sam Ersson finished the night with 25 saves.
The Phantoms lost to the Penguins by the final score of 5-2. The Phantoms end with a 2-3 record during the five-game homestand. Lehigh Valley is now 6-4 in their last ten games having lost three in a row.
The Phantoms had 13 shots in the third period and 38 shots overall. The Penguins had 30 shots, 0-3 on the power play, and Dustin Tokarski made 36 saves. Lehigh Valley had their opportunities to score with four power-play chances. Instead, they continue to struggle and shoot themselves in the foot. Their coverage was decent but they left some Penguins players open which led to their goals.
However, this game was not about the Phantoms and Penguins. This was about the poor officiating dictating this game. The refs missed several calls that should’ve gone against the Penguins and what made things worse was they saw them and did nothing. As mentioned in previous games, the officiating has been horrible all season long and there needs to be accountability. This is unacceptable in hockey and should not be tolerated.
As for the postseason, the Phantoms are currently holding the fifth spot in the Atlantic Division. The top six teams get into the playoffs. The Phantoms have a four-point lead over Bridgeport for the fifth spot and five points ahead of Hartford with ten games left in the season.
The Phantoms and Penguins will go at it again on Saturday from the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza at 6:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game are available on StubHub, and Viagogo.
