The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-7-3) started a three-game road trip on Friday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack (13-4-2) from the XL Center. Before this game, the Phantoms were 1-2 against Hartford this season.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. J.R. Avon, Brendan Furry, and Wade Allison in the second line. Alexis Gendron, Elliot Desnoyers, and Cooper Marody were on the third line, and Evan Polei, Jordy Bellerive, 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 Ethan Samson on the third line.
Cal Peterson (3-3-1, 2.85 GAA, .904 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Adam Karashik, Mason Millman, Garrett Wilson (Suspension), Rhett Gardner, Adam Brooks, and Jacob Gaucher.
The Phantoms got off to a good start in the first period. They had outshot the Wolf Pack 8-1 in the first nine minutes of the game. They spent the early part of the first period inside the Wolf Pack’s zone. Lehigh Valley made some nice turnovers and J.R. Avon almost put them up but his shot was denied by Hartford’s Louis Domingue.
Lehigh Valley goaltender Cal Peterson made a great diving save off Riley Nash’s shot. At 13:24, Hartford’s Matt Rempe tripped Tanner Laczynski which put the Phantoms on their first power play of the game.
However, during the power play, Hartford’s Blake Hillman (5) forced a turnover from Elliot Desnoyers before Brandon Scanlin (4) got control of the puck. He made a no-look pass to Riley Nash (8) for a breakaway. Nash got Cal Peterson to freeze and made a backhand shot past Peterson’s right skate and into the net for a shorthand goal. Hartford led 1-0 with 5:04 left of the first period. The Phantoms went 0 for 1 on the power play.
At 15:39, Lehigh Valley’s Helge Grans was called for tripping Matt Rempe but it was a bad call as Rempe fell on his own. Nevertheless, Hartford took advantage Mac Hollowell (17) fired the puck off the shoulder of Peterson. There was a scramble in front of Peterson. Ryder Korczak (3) tried to get shot off but missed. However, Adam Sykora (3) quickly got control of the puck, spun around, and shot it past Peterson’s right skate for a power play goal. It was 2-0 Hartford with 2:48 left of the first period.
Not long after the goal, Lehigh Valley goaltender Cal Peterson was called for tripping which was served by Olle Lycksell. With under a minute left, Adam Sykora (6) and Ryder Korczak (4) both took shots inside the Phantoms’ zone before Anton Blidh (4) made the rebound and chipped it over Peterson’s left pad and into the net for another power-play goal. It was 3-0 Hartford.
After the Phantoms got off to a hot start, they cooled off with three shots for the rest of the first period while Hartford had 19 shots on goal. They struggled with man-to-man coverage, had problems with puck control, and were outplayed by Hartford. Lehigh Valley had 11 shots on goal but trailed 3-0 after one period of play.
At 4:15 of the second period, Lehigh Valley’s Emil Andrae visited the penalty box for a delay of game. Less than a minute later, Hartford’s Nikolas Brouillard (8) made a pass to a wide-open Brennan Othmann (9). Then, Othmann made a quick pass to Riley Nash (9), who chipped the puck over Peterson’s right pad and into the net for Hartford’s third power-play goal. It was now 4-0 with 15:45 left of the second period.
After the goal, the Phantoms generated some momentum. At 10:51, Ethan Samson (2) made a pass to Adam Ginning (5). Ginning found J.R. Avon (4), who dangled around Brett Berard before rifling the puck over the right shoulder of Louis Domingue and into the net. It was now 4-1 Hartford.
A minute and eleven seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Victor Mete (4) made a cross-ice pass to Cooper Marody (11). Marody patiently waited for Ronnie Attard (4), who turned on the jets before blasting the puck past Domingue’s left pad and into the net, cutting the Wolf Pack’s down to 4-2 with 7:50 left of the second period.
Just when it looked like the game was turning around, Lehigh Valley killed the momentum when J.R. Avon went to the penalty box for tripping. Shortly after the power play expired, Nikolas Brouillard (9) passed the puck to Alex Belzile (12). Lehigh Valley’s defense left Brennan Othmann (6) wide-open and he made the Phantoms pay when Othmann fired the puck over Peterson’s glove and into the net for a 5-2 lead with 2:19 left of the second period.
Late in the second period, Hartford’s Matthew Robertson (7) made a pass to Anton Blidh (2). Blidh skated with the puck before firing it off the pads of Peterson. The puck briefly bounced around before Adam Sykora (4) made a backhand shot over Peterson’s right pad and into the net for a 6-2. The Phantoms had 11 shots on goal but trailed 6-2 after two periods of play.
Two minutes and twenty-eight seconds into the third period, the Phantoms had three shots on goal but none of them went into the net. At 11:16, Lehigh Valley’s Alexis Gendron went to the penalty box for roughing.
Nineteen seconds later, Hartford’s Matthew Robertson (8) made a pass to Adam Sykora (7). Sykora spotted Ryder Korczak (2) inside the right circle. He made the pass and Korczak sniped it into the net for a 7-2 lead with 8:25 left in the game. It was the fourth power-play goal scored by Hartford.
Less than a minute later, a brawl broke out after Matt Rempe hit Cal Peterson after the whistle was blown. Once the fight was over, the Phantoms went on the power play. Fifty-seven seconds later, Lehigh Valley was inside the Wolf Pack’s zone. They were moving the puck around started by Elliot Desnoyers making a pass to Emil Andrae (4).
Andrae found Samu Tuomaala, who then passed it to Olle Lycksell (7). After several passes, Lycksell sent the puck back to Tuomaala (5), who pelted the puck over the right pad of Louis Domingue and into the net. It was the first power-play goal scored by Lehigh Valley but Hartford led 7-3 with 6:59 left.
For the rest of the third period, the Phantoms had five shots on goal and lost to the Wolf Pack by the final score of 7-3. Lehigh Valley had 39 shots on goal, committed six penalties for 18 minutes, went 1 for 5 on the power play, and Cal Peterson made 32 saves off 39 shots.
The two teams will go at it again on Saturday at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
