The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-4) returned to the PPL Center on Sunday evening against the Hartford Wolf Pack (5-2) for the second time this season.
There were minor lineup changes before today’s game. First, Garrett Wilson and Wade Allison were elevated to the first line joining Rhett Gardner. The second line remained the same with Olle Lycksell, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala.
The third line had J.R. Avon, Jordy Bellerive, and Cooper Marody, and the fourth line featured Evan Polei, Jacob Gaucher, and Zayden Wisdom. The defense remained the same.
Parker Gahagen (2-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .925 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Mason Millman, Tanner Laczynski, Brendan Furry, Adam Brooks, Alexis Gendron, and Matthew Brown.
Before the game started, the Phantoms held a moment of silence for former Phantom Adam Johnson, who passed away in a freak accident playing for the Nottingham Panthers (EIHL). Johnson played one season for the Phantoms in the 2021-22 season with 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists), and 12 penalty minutes in 30 games.
After his stint with Lehigh Valley ended, Johnson played for the Augsburger Panther (DEL) earning 22 points (7 goals, 15 assists), and 10 penalty minutes in 45 games. This season with the Panthers, Johnson had seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) in seven games. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, fans, teammates, and the Nottingham Panthers.
In the first period, the Phantoms had eight shots on goal. While they were taking some good shots and winning puck possessions, they did not have enough juice to push through. On the other side, the defense was decent throughout the game. They played better man-to-man coverages forcing Hartford to change their strategy. However, Hartford did take advantage of two Lehigh Valley penalties.
At 15:54, Jordy Bellerive went to the penalty box for boarding. A minute later, Hartford struck first. Jonny Brodzinski (5) had the puck behind the goal net. He was waiting for someone to get open before banking the puck off the wall and into the direction of Brennan Othmann (2).
Othmann took a shot but the puck bounced off Parker Gahagen’s right pad before Riley Nash (2) rebounded it and chipped it over Gahagen’s left pad and into the net for a 1-0.
Late in the first period, Garrett Wilson and Bobby Trivigno dropped the gloves and threw punches before Trivigno went to the penalty box and Wilson went to the locker room. The Phantoms trailed the Wolf Pack 1-0 after one period.
The injuries started to pile up for the Phantoms. Defenseman Emil Andrae was injured early in the first period and did not return for the rest of the game, forcing the Phantoms to play with five defensemen. Meanwhile, forward Evan Polei took a puck that hit his face shield and he headed to the locker room. Luckily, Polei returned at the beginning of the second period.
In the second period, the Phantoms did not get their first shot off until 8:15. With 6:20 left, Garrett Wilson stole the puck but his shot was blocked by Louis Domingue. Later in the second period, Rhett Gardner paid a visit to the penalty box for holding.
It took six seconds for Hartford to strike. Off the faceoff inside the Phantoms’ zone, Brennan Othmann (3) passed the puck to Mac Hollowell (7). Then, Hollowell made a pass to Riley Nash (3) for another chip-in goal over Gahagen’s left pad and into the net for his second power-play goal. Hartford led 2-0. The Phantoms had eight shots on goal in the second period but trailed 2-0 with one period left to play.
In the third period, the Phantoms came out swinging with three shots in the first four minutes of the third period. At 7:57, the Phantoms went on the power play after Anton Blidh was called for tripping.
While the Phantoms did not score during the power play, they finally got on the board at 11:04 when Wade Allison (1) led the charge inside the Wolf Pack’s zone. He whiffled on the shot but Olle Lycksell (6) was there to finish the play, riffling the puck over Louis Domingue’s glove and into the net. It was now 2-1 Wolf Pack with 8:53 left in the game. In addition, it was the first goal scored for the Phantoms in five periods.
Late in the game, Hartford put the game away. First, Jonny Brodzinski (6) from the slot fired the puck over the left pad of Parker Gahagen for a 3-1 lead with 3:01 left. Alex Belzile (5) and Brennan Othmann (4) assisted with his goal.
Next, the Phantoms pulled Gahagen with under three minutes left. Despite the extra attacker, Brett Berard (2) found Riley Nash (3) before Nash made a long pass to Adam Edstrom (2), who scored the empty net goal for a 4-1 lead with 2:10 left.
The Phantoms lost to the Wolf Pack by the final score of 4-1. They had 21 shots on goal, committed three penalties, went 0 for 3 on the power play, and Parker Gahagen made 23 saves off 26 shots.
The Phantoms are headed back to the Giant Center on Wednesday night against the Hershey Bears at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
