The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-9-1) returned home to the PPL Center to start a five-game homestand on Friday night against the Providence Bruins (12-8-1-2). The Phantoms were 0-1-1 against the Bruins this season.
Due to the recent transactions, there were several lineup changes. The starting lineup featured Garrett Wilson, Elliot Desnoyers, and Wade Allison on the first line. Cooper Marody, Brendan Furry, and Samu Tuomaala were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Jordy Bellerive, and Alexis Gendron were on the third line, and Evan Polei, Jacob Gaucher, and Zayde Wisdom were on the fourth line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Adam Ginning were on the first line. Victor Mete and Ronnie Attard were on the second line, and Adam Karashik was paired up with Ethan Samson on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (1-0-2, 4.09 GAA, .843 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game were Helge Grans, Tanner Laczynski, Rhett Gardner, and Adam Brooks all out with injuries.
In the first period, Lehigh Valley’s offense struggled with two shots on goal. Lehigh Valley was disorganized. They could not set up for shooting chances with the Bruins’ defense disrupting them. The players looked jittery and out of sync.
Providence was in control of the first period with 11 shots on goal. They came close several times to taking the lead but Felix Sandstrom made all 11 saves. Lehigh Valley’s defense did not do a good job covering their guys. Providence’s offense found ways to separate themselves from the Phantoms’ defense to get those shooting chances.
Late in the first period, the Phantoms’ offense made a late push. With 32 seconds left, Zayde Wisdom and Evan Polei generated a rush. Wisdom went to pass the puck to Polei but he was taken down by Providence’s Luke Toporowski which put the Phantoms on their second power play of the game.
Lehigh Valley had two power-play chances in the first period. They could not score on the first one but had 1:28 of power play time to begin the second period and the game remained scoreless 0-0 after one period of play.
In the second period, Lehigh Valley’s offense had four shots on goal in the first four minutes. At 7:22, Providence’s Fabian Lysell went to the penalty box for holding, giving the Phantoms their third power play of the game. However, the power play lasted forty-two seconds after Patrick Brown poke-checked Cooper Marody causing a turnover. Anthony Richard got a hold of the puck for a breakaway until Emil Andrae held him and was called for the penalty.
Shortly after, Lehigh Valley’s Elliot Desnoyers hit Michael Callahan with a high stick giving the Bruins a five-on-three power play. During the power play, Jayson Megna (10) passed the puck to Georgii Merkulov (10) from the right side of Sandstrom. He took a shot that went off the stick of John Farinacci (7) and went over Sandstrom’s left shoulder and into the net for a 1-0 lead with 10:17 left of the second period.
However, a closer look at the replay shows that the puck went off of Lehigh Valley’s Adam Karashik’s stick before going over Sandstrom’s left shoulder and into the net. Late in the second period, Providence’s Trevor Kuntar struck Ethan Samson with a high stick which put the Phantoms on their fourth power play of the game.
Lehigh Valley had one shot during the power play and went 0 for 4. Felix Sandstrom continued to play great making six of seven saves. Lehigh Valley’s offense had six shots on goal but trailed 1-0 after two periods of play. After the period ended, Cooper Marody told 69 WFMZ’s Kristi Fulkerson that they needed to “create chaos.”
In the third period, Lehigh Valley came out aggressive but could not score. They created turnovers and spent the majority of the third period inside the Bruins’ zone. At 7:55, Lehigh Valley’s Garrett Wilson went to the penalty box for roughing.
On the power play, Providence’s Georgii Merkulov (11) passed the puck to Justin Brazeau (7). Then, Brazeau made a pass to Reilly Walsh (2) near the blue line at center. Walsh fired the puck through the five-hole and into the net for a 2-0 lead with 11:51 left of the game.
At 11:13, Providence’s Joey Abate went to the penalty box for interference. With 3:18 left, the Phantoms pulled Sandstrom for a six-on-four power play. Despite the advantage, the Phantoms did not score. Lehigh Valley was shut out by the Bruins 2-0 and have lost four straight games.
Lehigh Valley had 19 shots on goal, committed six penalties for 12 minutes, and went 0 for 5 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom played a good game making 23 saves off 25 shots.
The Phantoms continue their homestand on Saturday against the Charlotte Checkers at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
