The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-1) hit the road for the first time this season against the Springfield Thunderbirds (1-2) from the MassMutual Center on Friday night. This was the first of two matchups this weekend.
There were several lineup changes from last. Alexis Gendron, Tanner Laczynski, and Cooper Marody were on the first line with Victor Mete and Louie Belpedio playing defense.
The second line had Olle Lycksell, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala. The third line was Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Wade Allison. The fourth line consisted of Jordy Bellerive, Brendan Furry, and Zayde Wisdom.
On defense behind Mete and Belpedio were Adam Ginning, Ethan Samson on the second line, and Helge Grans and Ronnie Attard on the third line. Cal Peterson (0-1, 5.00 GAA, .844 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms.
There was a couple of news lines before this game started. First, the Philadelphia Flyers loaned forward J.R. Avon to the Phantoms, while placing defenseman Marc Staal on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury. Avon was scratched for this game along with Adam Karashik, Evan Polei, Adam Brooks, Matt Brown, and Jacob Gaucher.
As of this writing, it looks like the Flyers will not call up anyone from the Phantoms with Rasmus Ristolainen close to returning. The Flyers play again on Saturday night against the Dallas Stars at 8 pm on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Springfield got off to a hot start in the first period with six shots in four minutes. There was no protection for Peterson early in the game. The Thunderbirds forced turnovers by poke-checking any momentum the Phantoms tried to build. The Phantoms were terrible with puck possession and losing the one-on-one battles. However, that would change as the game went along.
At 6:58, Springfield struck first when Lehigh Valley turned the puck over to Joseph Duszak (1). He passed the puck to Adam Gaudette (2). Gaudette sniped the puck from the left circle over Peterson’s glove and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Later in the first period, Alexis Gendron went to the penalty box for slashing, It was one of three penalties committed by Lehigh Valley. It took 48 seconds for Springfield to score.
In a tic-tac-toe goal, Joseph Duszak (2) went to Nathan Walker (2), who made a cross-ice pass to Adam Gaudette (3) from the left circle before shooting the puck over Peterson’s glove for a 2-0 lead with 6:54 left of the first period.
Lehigh Valley started to come alive late in the first period. They got the puck inside the Thunderbirds’ zone. Springfield tried to get the puck out of their zone but Lehigh Valley fought hard to keep it inside their zone. They slowed down Springfield’s rushes with hip checks and started to control puck possession.
Elliot Desnoyers got a hold of the puck before making a power move from the left side. He went to shoot the puck but it went off the pad of Subban. Olle Lycksell was there for the rebound before making a backhand shot over Subban’s left shoulder and into the net. It was now 2-1 Springfield with 3:12 left.
Late in the first period, Ethan Samson went to the penalty box for tripping. The Thunderbirds had 42 seconds left of power play time to start the second period up 2-1. Lehigh Valley had 11 shots on goal, while the Thunderbirds had 15.
In the second period, Lehigh Valley killed the power play. Nine minutes into the second period, Lehigh Valley tied the game. Ronnie Attard (1) had the puck leading the Phantoms into the Thunderbirds’ zone. He made a pass to Helge Grans (1), who shot the puck with Garrett Wilson (1) deflecting it through the five-hole and into the net. It was now 2-2 with 10:59 left.
Later in the second period, Lehigh Valley scored two goals in ten seconds. The first happened at 14:42 when Samu Tuomaala forced a turnover inside their zone. Elliot Desnoyers (2) took the puck with Olle Lycksell (2) with him. Desnoyers made the pass to Lycksell before chipping it through the five-hole and into the net. It was now 3-2 Lehigh Valley with 5:17 left.
Then, Lehigh Valley took advantage of sloppy puck possession by Springfield with Ethan Samson (1) getting the turnover before passing it to Tanner Laczynski (3). Laczynski’s shot went off Suban’s shoulder but Alexis Gendron (2) was there for the rebound and put the puck into the back of the net for a 4-2 lead with 5:07 left of the second period. The Phantoms led 4-2 after two periods. They dominated the shots on goal 21-6.
Two minutes and twelve seconds into the third period, Lehigh Valley took advantage of a power play. Cooper Marody (2) had the puck inside the Thunderbirds’ zone. He passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (4). Laczynski was looking for a shot but instead found Olle Lycksell ready to fire. Laczynski passed the puck to Lycksell, who blasted a one-timer through the five-hole and into the net for the hat trick. It was now 5-2 Lehigh Valley with 17:47 left in the game.
For the rest of the game, the Phantoms committed two too many men penalties. Springfield pulled Malcolm Subban for the majority of the third period. With 23 seconds left, Garrett Wilson appeared to have scored his second goal behind the blue line but it was waived off for offsides. The Phantoms defeated the Thunderbirds by the final score of 5-2.
The Phantoms made a nice recovery after a sluggish start. They took advantage of poor puck play by Springfield, won the one-on-one battles, and tightened their defense as the game went along except for the third period due to the man advantage by Springfield.
The Phantoms committed six penalties throughout the game. They had 38 shots on goal, 1 for 5 on the power play, and Cal Peterson made 31 saves on 33 shots.
Lehigh Valley continues their road trip on Saturday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
