The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-11-1) visited the Bojangles Coliseum for a two-game series against the Charlotte Checkers (13-10-3) on Thursday night. The Phantoms were 2-0 against Charlotte this season.
Since Lehigh Valley’s last game, several transactions have taken place. First, the Philadelphia Flyers recalled forward Rhett Gardner and goaltender Cal Peterson. The Flyers then returned forward Olle Lycksell to Lehigh Valley, and the Phantoms had to recall goaltender Parker Gahagen from the Reading Royals (ECHL).
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Wade Allison on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Adam Brooks, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala 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 (2-2-2, 3.29 GAA, .875 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Mason Millman, Evan Polei, Jordy Bellerive, and Alexis Gendron.
In the first period, the Phantoms hurt themselves with turnovers. At 6:12, Lehigh Valley’s Wade Allison went to pass the puck to Tanner Laczynski but he stopped short and Charlotte’s Casey Fitzgerald (5) was there for the turnover. He banked the puck off the boards toward Patrick Khodorenko (6), who had a breakaway chance before firing the puck through the five-hole and into the net for a 1-0 lead with 13:48 left of the first period.
Later in the first period, the Phantoms had 11 shots on goal but could not finish the plays. At 16:01, Lehigh Valley’s Wade Allison went to the penalty box for tripping and Lehigh Valley killed Charlotte’s power play.
Three minutes and nineteen seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Victor Mete (6) passed the puck to Samu Tuomaala (8). Tuomaala had J.R. Avon and Elliot Desnoyers with him. However, Tuomaala made a nice shot in front of Uvis Balinskis, who attempted to block Tuomaala’s shot. Still, Samu fired it over the glove of Spencer Knight and into the net tying the game 1-1 with 30 seconds left.
Eleven seconds later, a turnover by Lehigh Valley’s Adam Brooks led to another goal when Riley Bezeau (3) stole the puck before turning toward Felix Sandstrom and firing the puck past his left skate which put Charlotte back up 2-1. The Phantoms had 12 shots on goal but trailed 2-1 after one period of play.
In the second period, Charlotte’s Jake Wise nearly extended the Checkers lead but the puck hit the top crossbar and straight down not completely crossing the goal line. Lehigh Valley’s defense was better in the second period only allowing six shots on goal. On offense, Lehigh Valley did a nice job creating chances inside the Checkers’ zone and did a better job holding onto the puck.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had 17 shots on goal. The Phantoms had two power play opportunities in the second period. They did not score on the first power play but took advantage of the second one after Charlotte’s Cameron Morrison slashed J.R. Avon on the breakaway.
During the second power play, the puck got stuck in the left corner of the boards and both teams were trying to dig it out. Samu Tuomaala (17) won the battle to get the puck to Tanner Laczynski (13). Then, Laczynski made an excellent pass between the legs of Uvis Balinskis and toward J.R. Avon (7). Avon got the puck before firing it past the left skate of Spencer Knight and into the net tying the game 2-2 with 30 seconds left. The Phantoms and Checkers were tied 2-2 after two periods of play.
In the third period, there was no consistency in the refereeing. The Phantoms were called for four penalties including two misconducts by Wade Allison and Louie Belpedio which were bad calls. The refs clearly favored Charlotte.
Belpedio’s misconduct was defending Felix Sandstrom after he got hit several times after the whistle by Patrick Khodorenko. The Phantoms’ penalty-killing unit did an excellent job to keep the game tied 2-2. The Phantoms had five shots on goal and the game headed to overtime tied 2-2.
Fifty-eight seconds into overtime, Lehigh Valley’s Emil Andrae (9) had the puck before passing it back to Olle Lycksell (8). Then, Lycksell passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (7) near the neutral zone. Laczynski charged into the Checkers’ zone with Justin Sourdif on him. He broke away from Sourdif before rifling the puck over the glove of Spencer Knight and into the net to give the Phantoms a 3-2 win over the Checkers. The Phantoms are now 3-0 against Charlotte.
The Phantoms had 35 shots on goal and went 1 for 2 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom had a good night with 21 saves off 23 shots.
The two teams will go at it again before going on their Christmas break on Friday at 6 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
