The Lehigh Valley Phantoms concluded the 2023 preseason on Sunday afternoon from the PPL Center against the Hershey Bears in their final tune-up for the regular season.
The Phantoms did not get off to a good start. Nine minutes and fifty-six seconds into the first period, Hershey took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Tyson Empey with assists by Nicky Leivermann and Henrik Rybinski. Hershey led 1-0 after one period.
The Phantoms had six shots and committed one penalty. They had two chances on the power play to score but came up empty-handed. Hershey had eight shots on goal.
In the second period, Louie Belpedio committed two penalties with one of them resulting in a penalty shot by Ryan Hofer, who successfully scored that made it 2-0 Hershey. Hershey led 2-0 after two periods. The shots in the second period were 9-6 Hershey.
Lehigh Valley battled back in the third period. Three minutes and fifteen seconds into the third period, Adam Ginning scored to make it 2-1 Hershey. Tanner Laczynski and Ronnie Attard assisted with Ginning’s goal. However, Hershey got the goal back by Bogdan Trineyev who made it 3-1.
Lehigh Valley made it a one-goal game again 3-2 by Alexis Gendron, with assists from Elliot Desnoyers and Louie Belpedio. 24 seconds later, the Phantoms tied the game 3-3 by Evan Polei with assists from Jordy Bellerive and Adam Ginning. The game headed to overtime.
Forty seconds into overtime, Tanner Laczynski scored the game-winning goal to give the Phantoms a 4-3. Victor Mete and Matthew Brown. The shots on goal were 23-18 Hershey. The Phantoms were 0 for 4 on the power play, and goalie Cal Peterson made 20 of 23 saves.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms start the regular season next Saturday against the Cleveland Monsters at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
