The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-6-3) concluded the two-game homestand on Saturday night against the Rochester Americans (10-5-2) from the PPL Center. The Americans came into this game on a three-game winning streak and were winners of four of their last six games. Lehigh Valley also has won four of their last six games which made this an intriguing matchup.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanne Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Wade Allison are on the second line. Alexis Gendron, Elliot Desnoyers, and Cooper Marody were on the third line, and Evan Polei, Brendan Furry, and Zayde Wisdom were on 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 was paired up with Adam Karashik on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (0-0-1, 3.68 GAA, .857 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Ethan Samson, Jordy Bellerive, J.R. Avon, Adam Brooks, Parker Gahagen, and Jacob Gaucher.
In the first period, the Phantoms had 19 shots on goal. They came close several times to take the lead but had problems getting the puck past goaltender Dustin Tokarski. Lehigh Valley did a good job creating turnovers, which led to those chances at Tokarski.
However, while Lehigh Valley’s offense did get some good shots off, they did not take the time to get set up inside the Americans’ zone for a chance to put one past Tokarski.
At 14:19, Olle Lycksell got called for a hooking penalty. A minute and 19 seconds later, Rochester struck first when Kale Clague (10) passed the puck to Brandon Biro (6) inside the Phantoms’ zone. Clague found the shot he wanted, and the puck bounced off the crossbar and into the direction of Lukas Rousek (3). Rousek rebounded the puck before chipping it over Sandstrom’s right pad and into the net for a power play goal.
Rochester led 1-0 with 4:22 left of the first period. Rochester had seven shots on goal in the first period. Late in the first period, Wade Allison and Alexis Gendron tried to get the puck past Tokarski but to no avail. The Phantoms trailed 1-0 after one period of play.
A minute and forty-three seconds into the second period, Ronnie Attard carried the puck into the Americans’ zone before getting pinned up against the boards.
After a few seconds, Elliot Desnoyers (6) emerged with the puck. He tried a wrap-around shot but instead found Alexis Gendron (3) headed toward him before making the pass and Gendron chipped in past Tokarski’s left skate and into the net which tied the game 1-1.
Later in the second period, Rochester’s Mason Jobst hooked Rhett Gardner which put the Phantoms on their second power play. A minute later, the Phantoms moved the puck well with Olle Lycksell (5) passing it to Cooper Marody (10), who then passed it to Samu Tuomaala (4) for a slapshot through the five-hole and into the net for a 2-1 lead.
Twenty-eight seconds later, Rochester’s Nikita Novikov (8) made a pass to Viktor Neuchev (2) inside their zone. Then, Neuchev made a no-look pass to Damien Giroux (2) for a breakaway chance. Lehigh Valley goaltender Felix Sandstrom moved up the crease and Giroux fired the puck through the five-hole and into the net, tying the game 2-2 with 10:20 left of the second period.
Lehigh Valley’s offense responded two minutes and seven seconds later when Emil Andrae (3) made a pass to Tanner Laczynski (5). The puck hit the stick of Nikita Novikov causing the puck to bounce all over the place. Samu Tuomaala (12) took a shot and missed but Laczynski was there to finish the play by chipping it over the right pad of Dustin Tokarski for a 3-2 lead.
Late in the second period, Damien Giroux got in an extra shot on Felix Sandstrom which led to Rhett Gardner fighting him. Gardner was also tacked with a cross-checking penalty putting Rochester on the power play. A short time later, Cooper Marody went to the penalty box for a closing hand on the puck, putting the Americans on a 5-on-3 power play.
Rochester took advantage when Linus Weissbach (4) passed the puck to Mason Jobst (5). Jobst skated with it from center point before passing the puck to Brandon Biro (6), who sniped it over Sandstrom’s right shoulder and into the net, tying the game again 3-3. The Phantoms dominated the shots on goal 18-5 but the game remained tied 3-3 after two periods of play.
A minute and twenty-two seconds into the third period, Rochester’s Linus Weissbach went to the penalty box for holding the stick. However, Lehigh Valley’s Wade Allison got called for tripping Jeremy Davies ending Lehigh Valley’s power play. It was a bad call as Allison and Davies both crashed into the wall.
The bad penalty led to a Rochester goal. Justin Richards (3) got the puck to Jeremy Davies (9), who then made a pass to Tyson Kozak (1) inside the right circle. Kozak was patient before pelting the puck under Sandstrom’s right pad and into the net for a 4-3 lead with 17:07 left of the game.
From there it was all Phantoms. At 5:41, Rochester’s Tyson Kozak went to the penalty box for elbowing. During the power play inside the Americans’ zone, Olle Lycksell (6) found Samu Tuomaala (13). Then, Tuomaala passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (6), who fired it from inside the left circle past the left skate of Dustin Tokarski tying the game 4-4 with 12:57 left of the game.
At 10:55, Rochester’s Jeremy Davies high-sticked Lehigh Valley’s Olle Lycksell in the face and he was bleeding from the nose. Usually, that is a double minor penalty but the refs only put Kozak in the penalty box for two minutes.
Lehigh Valley capitalized when off the faceoff Wade Allison (3) and Ronnie Attard (4) fought for the puck up against the boards before Attard took control to find Alexis Gendron (4) all alone. Gendron fired the puck under the arm of Tokarski and into the net for a power play goal. It was now 5-4 Lehigh Valley with 8:08 left in the game.
After the goal, Lehigh Valley did a nice job keeping Rochester from pulling Dustin Tokarski until with 45 seconds left of the game. The Americans got one shot on goal until time expired. The Phantoms defeated the Americans by the final score of 5-4.
The Phantoms had 49 shots on goal. While it is nice to see that take that many shots. They only managed to score five goals. If anything, the Phantoms need to work on getting pucks into the net. They committed four penalties for 16 minutes, went 3 for 5 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 11 saves off 15 shots.
The Phantoms hit the road for the next three games starting next Friday against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
