The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-12-1-1) continued their three-game homestand on Saturday night against the Hershey Bears (27-6) for the fifth time this season. The Phantoms were 1-2-1 against Hershey.
On Friday, the Phantoms sent defensemen Adam Karashik and Mason Millman to the Reading Royals (ECHL) with Karashik returning to Lehigh Valley on Saturday after playing for the Royals on Friday night against the Worcester Railers.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Wade Allison on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Elliot Desnoyers, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Adam Brooks, and Samu Tuomaala were on the third line, and Brenden Furry, 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.
Cal Petersen (4-6-1, 3.20 GAA, .898 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Evan Polei, Zayde Wisdom, and Alexis Gendron.
In the first period, the Phantoms had nine shots on goal. Lehigh Valley’s offense came close a couple of times to taking the lead including a breakaway chance by Olle Lycksell but Hershey goaltender Clay Stevenson stopped them.
On the other side, Lehigh Valley’s defense only allowed four shots on goal. However, Hershey had a breakaway chance with Joe Snively but his shot went off the right post. Lehigh Valley did a good job playing man coverage not allowing Hershey to do much on offense.
The Phantoms had one power play opportunity at 5:55 when Hershey’s Mike Sgarbossa hooked Lehigh Valley’s Tanner Laczynski but Lehigh Valley had one shot on goal during the power play and the game remained scoreless after one period of play.
In the second period, the Phantoms had 13 shots on goal but it wasn’t their best played period. They had a couple of power play opportunities but could not capitalize on them.
In one of the strangest goals of the season at 3:44, Hershey was in the process of changing lines when Logan Day (12) passed the puck to Lucas Johansen (2). Johansen dumped the puck down into the Phantom’s zone, which went off the skate of Garrett Roe sending the puck up in the air. Ronnie Attard put his hand up to signal the puck was up in the air but Cal Peterson did not see it. The puck bounced through the five hole and into the net for a 1-0 lead. Lehigh Valley’s defense allowed four shots on goal.
After the goal, Lehigh Valley had five shots on goal for the rest of the second period including chances by Samu Tuomaala and Louie Belpedio. Still, Clay Stevenson continued to shut them out. Hershey was the better team winning the one-on-one battles, and forcing turnovers, and faceoffs. Lehigh Valley trailed Hershey 1-0 after two periods of play.
Three minutes and ten seconds into the third period, Hershey’s Lucas Johansen (2) passed the puck to Vincent Iorio (7) inside the Phantoms’ zone. Then, Iorio shot the puck off the end boards into the direction of Matt Strome (1), who tipped the puck in the air before swatting it over Peterson’s right shoulder and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
At 7:58, Hershey’s Riley Sutter (8) stole the puck from Lehigh Valley’s Adam Brooks inside the Phantoms’ zone. Then, Sutter passed the puck to Bogdan Trineyev (4), who made a nice spin around luring two Lehigh Valley players toward him leaving Matt Strome (2) wide open. Trineyev passed the puck to Strome, who fired the puck under Peterson’s left pad and into the net for a 3-0 lead with 12:03 left in the game.
At 11:26, Hershey’s Jake Massie (1) made a nice poke check at Ronnie Attard forcing another turnover. Massie had a breakaway chance before shooting the puck at Peterson. The puck bounced between Peterson’s legs and rolled into the net for a 4-0 lead with 8:35 left in the game.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had 15 shots on goal but could not score and they went on to lose to the Bears by the final score of 4-0. Lehigh Valley has been shut out five times this season, three of them against Hershey.
Lehigh Valley played a good game in the first period and half but after the first goal, they fell apart. Hershey is just a good hockey team with a chance to win another Calder Cup. Hershey always knows when to step up and execute plays and Lehigh Valley did not have answers.
Lehigh Valley had 37 shots on goal, committed two penalties for four minutes, went 0 for 3 on the power play, and Cal Peterson made 13 saves off 17 shots.
Lehigh Valley wraps up 2023 on Sunday night against the Charlotte Checkers at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
