The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (7-6-2) continued their three-game road trip in Canada on Saturday night at the CAA Arena against the Belleville Senators (6-7) in their second and final meeting of the season. The Phantoms won the first matchup 5-3 on October 15th.
There were some minor lineup changes. On offense, the first three lines remained unchanged with Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Wade Allison on the second. J.R. Avon, Brendan Furry, and Cooper Marody were on the third line, and Evan Polei, Jordy Bellerive, and Zayde Wisdom played the fourth line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Helge Grans were on the first line. Victor Mete and Ronnie Attard were on the second line, and Adam Ginning and Adam Karashik were on the third line.
Parker Gahagen (3-3-1, 2.71 GAA, .905 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Ethan Samson, Mason Millman, Adam Brooks, Alexis Gendron, Jacob Gaucher, and Elliot Desnoyers.
The Phantoms got off to a slow start in the first period with five shots in the first nine minutes of the game. Lehigh Valley had trouble getting through the Senators’ defense. Penalties continued to be an issue for the Phantoms. An inference call on Emil Andrae and a cross-checking call against Jordy Bellerive put Belleville on the power play. The Phantoms killed both power plays.
Lehigh Valley got going late in the first period with five straight shots on goal in one minute. With 58 seconds left, former Phantom Ryan MacKinnon whiffled on a pass that was intercepted by Samu Tuomaala (10). He made a pass to Olle Lycksell (3) but Lycksell passed it back to Tuomaala which drew goaltender Leevi Merilainen away from the crease. Tuomaala found Tanner Laczynski (3), who fired the puck into an open net for a 1-0 lead. The Phantoms had 12 shots on goal and led 1-0 after one period of play.
Ten seconds into the second period, Belleville’s Dillon Heatherington tried to get the puck out of their zone but it was intercepted by Ronnie Attard (3). Attard sniped the puck which Samu Tuomaala (2) tipped it into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Five minutes and thirty-three seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s J.R. Avon (1) hustled toward the puck that was held by Belleville’s Leevi Merilainen. He left the puck open to return to his crease and Avon intercepted it. Avon got the puck to Brendan Furry (1) before Cooper Marody (5) finished the play shooting it over the right pad of Leevi Merilainen and into the net for a 3-0 lead.
Shortly after the goal, Belleville made a push in the Phantoms’ zone. With 13:22 left, Angus Crookshank fired the puck that bounced off the crossbar and the Belleville crowd thought it went in. Thirteen seconds later, the play was stopped to look at the replay. They awarded the goal to Crookshank (5) with assists from Cole Reinhardt (5) and Maxence Guenette (11). On the replay, the puck hit the crossbar and never went into the net. The goal should not have counted.
With five minutes left of the second period, Bokondji Imama pushed Wade Allison into the net and was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty. It took 33 seconds for the Phantoms to get the goal back. Olle Lycksell (4) made a pass to Cooper Marody (8) looking for a shot. Then, he passed the puck to Emil Andrae (1). Andrae made a nice juke move before zipping the puck over Leevi Merilainen’s glove and into the net for a power-play goal. It was now 4-1 Lehigh Valley.
Less than two minutes later, Lehigh Valley’s Helge Grans (4) made a long pass from the Phantoms’ zone, banking the puck off the boards and hitting the stick of Tanner Laczynski (4). Laczynski turned on the jets before sneaking the puck under the right pad of Merilainen and into the net for a 5-1 lead. The Phantoms had 12 shots on goal in the second period and led 5-1 with one period left to play. The best news in the period was the Phantoms visited the penalty box one time.
Before the third period began, Belleville changed goalies with Kevin Mandolese replacing Leevi Merilainen. Despite the goalie change, the Phantoms kept on scoring.
At 11:19 of the third period, Belleville’s Lassi Thomson hooked J.R. Avon. Shortly after the faceoff, Lehigh Valley’s Jon-Randall Avon (2) made a pass to Victor Mete (2) before he made a pass to Ronnie Attard (2), who had his stick up before making a slap shot toward the upper right corner and into the net for a 6-1 lead.
Shortly after the goal, Lehigh Valley’s Adam Karashik (1) dumped the puck toward Belleville’s zone, which Garrett Wilson (7) got to it. Then, he made a no-look pass to Wade Allison (2) for a mini breakaway. Allison got Mandolese to leave his crease before putting the puck into the net, which made it 7-1 with 4:56 left in the game.
Late in the third period, Jordy Bellerive (1) made a pass to Evan Polei (1) to the corner of the right boards before Polei sent the puck to Ronnie Attard (3), who sniped the puck over Mandolese’s glove and into the net which made it 8-1 Lehigh Valley.
The Phantoms defeated the Senators by the final score of 8-1. It was their third straight road win. This was Lehigh Valley’s best game of the season. They had 42 shots on goal, committed three penalties for 10 minutes, went 2 for 3 on the power play, and Parker Gahagen made 32 saves off 33 shots.
The Phantoms conclude their Canada trip on Tuesday against the Toronto Marlies at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
