The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (11-11-1) concluded a five-game homestand on Saturday night against the Springfield Thunderbirds (14-8-2) from the PPL Center in their fourth meeting of the season. The Phantoms were 2-1-1 against Springfield this season.
Before the game, the Phantoms called up goaltender Parker Gahagen. He was scratched for the game as he played for the Royals last night against the Worcester Railers.
The starting lineup featured Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Wade Allison on the first line. Adams Brooks, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Elliot Desnoyers, and Cooper Marody were on the third line, and Brenden Furry, Jacob Gaucher, and Zayde Wisdom were on the fourth line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Louie Belpedio 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.
Felix Sandstrom (2-1-2, 3.32 GAA, .871 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Mason Millman, Evan Polei, Jordy Bellerive, Alexis Gendron, and Parker Gahagen.
At 2:48 of the first period, Springfield’s Leo Loof hooked Garrett Wilson to put the Phantoms on their first power play. At 3:23, Lehigh Valley moved the puck well inside the Thunderbirds’ zone when Cooper Marody passed the puck to Emil Andrae.
Next, Andre found Samu Tuomaala (16) before he passed the puck back to Emil Andrae (8). Then, Andrae passed the puck to Cooper Marody (6), who fired the puck from the right circle passing the left skate of Vadim Zherenko and into the net for a power play goal. Lehigh Valley led 1-0 with 16:36 left of the first period.
Lehigh Valley had eight shots on goal in the first four minutes of the game including the power play goal. However, Springfield’s first shot of the game resulted in a goal at 7:19 when Lehigh Valley was changing lines. Springfield’s Mikhail Abramov (8) smacked the puck around the boards toward Jakub Vrana (1). Then, Vrana quickly passed the puck to Adam Gaudette (15). Gaudette turned on the jets for a breakaway before shooting the puck past Sandstrom’s right skate and into the net tying the game 1-1.
For the rest of the first period, the Phantoms had two more power play opportunities but could not score. Lehigh Valley’s offense had one shot on goal for the rest of the first period and turned over the puck several times.
On the other side, Springfield had seven shots on goal. Lehigh Valley’s defense could not keep up with Springfield. The Thunderbirds came close a couple of times to taking the lead but Felix Sandstrom made the saves to keep the game tied 1-1 after one period of play. Lehigh Valley’s Brenden Furry and Springfield’s Keean Washkurak were ejected from the game at 17:15 for fighting at the puck drop.
At 6:01 in the second period, Springfield won the faceoff inside the Phantoms’ zone. Drew Callin (1) won the faceoff as Zachary Bolduc (7) got control of the puck before shooting it off the pads of Felix Sandstrom. However, Mikhail Abramov (4) was there for the rebound before chipping it over Sandstrom’s right pad and into the net for a 2-1 lead with 13:59 left of the second period.
The Thunderbirds had six shots on goal in the first six minutes of the second period including the goal, while the Phantoms had two shots on goal. Springfield had 12 shots on goal in the second period. Later in the second period, Louie Belpedio tried to get the puck out of their zone but the puck hit Cooper Marody in the face and he headed to the locker room and missed the rest of the second period.
Lehigh Valley had 12 shots on goal in the second period. With 1:37 left, Ronnie Attard came close to tying the game but his shot hit the post. Lehigh Valley committed two penalties but managed to kill both Springfield power plays. Lehigh Valley trailed 2-1 with one period left to play.
Lehigh Valley committed three penalties in the first two minutes and fifty-five seconds of the third period including two five-on-three power plays. They killed the first one but were not lucky with the second one. At 3:01, Springfield’s Matthew Peca (17) passed the puck to Jakub Vrana (2) inside the Phantoms’ zone. Next, Vrana got the puck to Dylan Coghlan (9) before he sniped it from the left circle past Sandstrom’s glove and into the net for a 3-1 lead with 16:59 left in the game.
The Phantoms had 14 shots on goal but still could not put one past Vadim Zherenko including one power play opportunity. At 16:20, the Phantoms pulled Sandstrom for an extra attacker. It backfired at 18:08 when Springfield’s Drew Callin (4) shot the puck from their zone center point into an empty net for a 4-1 lead with 2:07 left in the game.
With 20 seconds left, Lehigh Valley’s Jacob Gaucher won the faceoff inside the Thunderbirds’ zone where J.R. Avon sniped the puck over Zherenko’s glove and into the net. The Phantoms ended the five-home game homestand with a 4-2 loss to the Thunderbirds.
Lehigh Valley had 36 shots on goal. They shot themselves on the foot committing five penalties for 27 minutes, went 1 for 5 five on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 26 saves off 29 shots. The Phantoms did not do a good job executing plays. They had problems getting set up for shots and taking them. They also turned the puck over several times. The defense left Sandstrom fending for himself. He made a ton of good saves but had no protection.
Lehigh Valley heads to the Bojangles Coliseum for a two-game series against the Charlotte Checkers starting on Thursday at 7 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
