The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (6-6-2) began their three-game road trip in Canada on Friday night against the Laval Rocket (5-8-1) from the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Wade Allison were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Brendan Furry, and Cooper Marody were on the third line, and Alexis Gendron, Jacob Gaucher, and Zayde Wisdom were on the third line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Helge Grans were on the first line. Victor Mete made his first start since October 22nd paired up with Ronnie Attard on the second line. Adam Ginning and Ethan Samson were on the third line.
Cal Peterson (1-3-0, 3.76 GAA, .884 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Adam Karashik, Mason Millman, Evan Polei, Jordy Bellerive, Adam Brooks, and Elliot Desnoyers.
In the first period, the Phantoms had four shots on goal. Lehigh Valley’s defense did a good job blocking several of Laval’s shots, forcing Laval to find another way to get a shot but the defense pinned them against the glass to force turnovers.
Laval had 11 shots on goal. With 4:33 left of the first period, Lehigh Valley’s Cooper Marody stole the puck and nearly put it into the net but Laval goaltender Jakub Dobeš made the save.
Lehigh Valley did a good job creating turnovers in the first period. However, they committed three penalties in which Laval had seven shots on goal. Lehigh Valley killed those penalties and had now killed 17 straight power plays in their last four games. The game remained scoreless 0-0 after one period of play.
In the second period, Lehigh Valley dominated with 12 shots on goal. The defense did a good job creating turnovers, playing man-to-man coverage, and allowing one shot on goal. Laval’s offense struggled to pass the puck and get shots off. They would get to the Phantoms’ zone several times but whiffled on their shots.
At 13:24, the Phantoms went on their second power play when Jan Mysak tripped Cal Peterson retrieving the puck. The Phantoms capitalized. Inside the Rocket’s zone, Cooper Marody (7) made a pass to Samu Tuomaala (7), who then passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (2). Laczynski attempted to pass the puck to Olle Lycksell but it hit the back skate of Laval’s William Trudeau and right into the net for a 1-0 lead with 4:41 left of the second period.
The Phantoms killed off two power plays and finished the second period with eight straight shots including the goal. Lehigh Valley led 1-0 after two periods. The total shots on goal were 16-12 Lehigh Valley.
Two minutes and fifty-nine seconds into the third period, Lehigh Valley’s Samu Tuomaala (8) led the charge down to the Rocket’s zone. He made a cross-ice pass to Tanner Laczynski (8), who took a shot but it bounced off the left pad of Jakub Dobeš before Olle Lycksell (9) was there for the rebound and fired it into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Laval’s offense started to push hard into the Phantoms’ zone. They had five shots on goal all stopped by Cal Peterson. Later in the third period, Laval pulled goalie Jakub Dobeš for an extra attacker. Lehigh Valley’s Samu Tuomaala (9) fought hard to get a turnover inside their zone before passing the puck to Tanner Laczynski (9). Laczynski had a Laval player coming at him and made the pass to Olle Lycksell (10). Lycksell fired a bullseye shot down the middle into the empty net for a 3-0 lead.
Shortly after the faceoff, Lehigh Valley’s Rhett Gardner ran into Jakub Dobeš which caused a brawl. Jakub Dobeš held onto the puck for too long before getting run over by Gardner. The entire Lehigh Valley second line was in the penalty box.
Laval kept Jakub Dobeš on the bench for a six-on-four power play with 3:38 left of the game. During that time, Laval scored two goals by Brandon Gignac (5) with 2:33 left and Riley Kidney (1) with four seconds left. The power play goals ended Lehigh Valley’s streak of 20 straight penalty kills.
The Phantoms held on to beat the Laval Rocket by the final score of 3-2. Lehigh Valley had 32 shots on goal, committed nine penalties for 57 minutes, went 1 for 3 on the power play, and Cal Peterson made 24 saves off 26 shots.
The Phantoms continue their trip to Canada on Saturday against the Belleville Senators at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
