The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-11-4-1) concluded a two-game series at the Bojangles Coliseum on Friday night against the Charlotte Checkers (14-10-3). The Phantoms were 3-0 against Charlotte this season.
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 Alexis Gendron, Jacob Gaucher, and Jordy Bellerive 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.
Parker Gahagen (4-3-1, 2.48 GAA, .914 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Mason Millman, Evan Polei, Brendan Furry, and Zayde Wisdom.
The Phantoms got off to a difficult start in the first period. Nine seconds into the game, Charlotte’s Casey Fitzgerald (6) dumped the puck behind the goal net where Parker Gahagen attempted to retrieve it but the puck skipped by him.
Then, Charlotte’s Wilmer Skoog (1) made a quick pass to Zac Dalpe (5), who fired the puck past Gahagen’s glove and into the net for a 1-0 lead. It was the fastest goal allowed by Lehigh Valley in team history. Lehigh Valley’s defense did not protect Gahagen at all.
Lehigh Valley’s offense struggled to hold on to the puck early in the first period. Charlotte was attacking from all sides of the ice forcing turnovers and the Phantoms were losing the battle.
At 9:43, Charlotte’s Gerry Mayhew (10) and Patrick Khodorenko (10) were fighting with a couple of Lehigh Valley players for the puck near the right boards before Khodorenko emerged with the puck. He fired the puck but it bounced off Parker Gahagen. Gahagen thought the puck went in another direction but it stayed where it was before Brendan Perlini (6) finished the play by rifling it past Gahagen’s left skate and into the net for a 2-0 with 10:17 left of the first period.
Late in the first period, Lehigh Valley’s offense started to get going. They attacked the Checkers’ zone by forcing a couple of turnovers and winning the puck battle.
Lehigh Valley had ten shots on goal before finally breaking through at 18:21 when Tanner Laczynski (14) passed the puck to Louie Belpedio (2), who was coming off the bench before ripping the shot which was tipped in by Olle Lycksell (13) through the five-hole and into the net cutting the Checkers lead down to 2-1 with 1:39 left of the first period.
The Phantoms had 11 shots on goal but trailed Charlotte 2-1 after one period of play. After a rough start to begin the game, Gahagen settled down making five saves off seven shots.
Forty-two seconds into the second period, Charlotte’s Wilmer Skoog held Olle Lycksell which put the Phantoms on their third power play of the game.
During the power play, Lehigh Valley moved the puck well inside the Checkers’ zone. Emil Andrae (10) made a pass to Cooper Marody (18) before Marody passed the puck to Tanner Laczynski (8). Laczynski attempted to make a cross-ice pass to Olle Lycksell but the puck hit the stick of Lucas Carlsson and rolled into the net tying the game 2-2 with 18:27 left of the second period.
After the goal, Charlotte’s offense was in full force. They aggressively attacked the Phantoms’ zone moving the puck well keeping the Phantoms’ defense on their toes. At 4:54, Jake Wise (5) made a pass to Casey Fitzgerald (7). Then, Fitzgerald made a rocket shot off the endboards where Mackie Samoskevich (7) was there to quickly fire the puck over Gahagen’s left pad and into the net for a 3-2 lead with 15:06 left of the second period.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had 11 shots on goal in the second period along with two power play opportunities but could not cash in. Late in the second period, Lehigh Valley’s Ronnie Attard stole the puck and nearly scored. In addition, Ollie Lycksell also came close to scoring but Charlotte goalie Ludovic Waeber denied his shot. On the other side, Parker Gahagen made 11 saves off 12 shots and the Phantoms trailed the Checkers 3-2 after two periods of play.
Thirty-seven seconds into the third period, Lehigh Valley’s Olle Lycksell tripped Patrick Khodorenko which put the Checkers on their second power play. At 2:20, Jake Wise (6) and Uvis Balinskis (3) worked together to get the puck to Mackie Samoskevich (8), who turned on the jets and skated right up the middle. Then, he moved to his right side before firing the puck over the glove of Parker Gahagen and into the net for a 4-2 lead with 17:40 left in the game.
A minute and twenty seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s offense went to work. Ethan Samson (4) had retrieved the puck before making a long pass to Wade Allison (6) for a breakaway. He rushed up the middle before zipping the puck shooting through the five-hole and into the net cutting Charlotte’s lead down to 4-3 with 16:20 left of the third period.
Thirty-six seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Victor Mete (7) passed the puck to Cooper Marody (7). Marody dangled around a Charlotte player before firing the puck off the post, then off the back of Charlotte goalie Ludovic Waeber before rolling into the net tying the game 4-4.
This was Lehigh Valley’s best period of the game. Their defense did a solid job protecting Gahagen allowing five shots on goal. Lehigh Valley’s offense was executing plays with 14 shots on goal. They came close several times to taking the lead including a mini breakaway by Ollie Lycksell.
Despite the aggressiveness the Phantoms were putting on Charlotte, the game remained tied 4-4 heading into overtime for the third game in a row between these two teams. In overtime, both teams had six shots on goal each giving it everything they had.
However, like last night’s game, the referees failed to call a penalty on Charlotte’s Lucas Carlsson for tripping Emil Andrae. Neither team scored in overtime and the Phantoms went to their first shootout of the game.
In the first round, Charlotte’s Mackie Samoskevich scored. Then, in the second round, Lehigh Valley’s Wade Allison tied it. In the third round, Olle Lycksell shot was unsuccessful. Then Charlotte’s Brendan Perlini fired the puck past Gahagen’s glove and into the net for the game-winning goal. The Phantoms lost to the Checkers by the final score of 5-4.
The Phantoms had 42 shots, committed two penalties for four minutes, went 1 for 4 on the power play, and Parker Gahagen made 26 saves off 30 shots.
The Phantoms return to the PPL Center to start a three-game homestand starting on Wednesday against the Utica Comets at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
