The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-13-1-1) rung out 2023 by concluding a three-game homestand on Sunday night against the Charlotte Checkers (16-11-3) for the fifth time of the season from the PPL Center. The Phantoms were 3-0-0-1 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 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 (4-2-2, 3.27 GAA, .878 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Evan Polei, Brendan Furry, and Jordy Bellerive.
The Phantoms were flat and had no energy in the first period. They had eight shots on goal but struggled to generate scoring chances. At 4:36, Charlotte moved the puck well inside the Phantoms’ zone. Patrick Giles (3) passed the puck to Lucas Carlsson (14), who fired the puck which was deflected by Zac Dalpe (8) over the left shoulder of Felix Sandstrom and into the net for a 1-0 lead with 15:24 left of the first period.
Later in the first period, Charlotte’s Casey Fitzgerald (9) passed the puck to Mackie Samoskevich (13) heading toward the Phantoms’ zone. Then, Samoskevich banked the puck off the left boards before Brendan Perlini (8) took control of the puck. Lehigh Valley’s Victor Mete battled to keep Perlini away from Sandstrom. However, Perlini made a nice cut passing Mete before shooting the puck over Sandstrom’s right pad, hitting the post, and into the net for a 2-0 lead with three minutes left of the first period.
Things got chippy afterward when Lehigh Valley’s Adam Brooks and Charlotte’s Gerry Mayhew both headed to the locker room on roughing penalties. Not long after the penalties, Lehigh Valley’s Louie Belpedio tripped Justin Sourdif putting Charlotte on their first power play.
Forty-one seconds later, Charlotte’s Patrick Khodorenko (11) tried to take a shot but missed. Then, Michael Benning (5) got the puck before making a cross-ice pass to Lucas Carlsson (10), who pelted the puck through the five-hole and into the net for a 3-0 lead.
The Phantoms had two power-play chances in the first period but could not score. Lehigh Valley’s defense was not good allowing 12 shots on goal and trailed 3-0 after one period of play.
A minute and fifty-two seconds into the second period, Charlotte moved the puck well inside the Phantoms’ zone. Uvis Balinskis (7) passed the puck to Brendan Perlini (5). Then, Perlini went to make a backhand shot that bounced off the left pad of Felix Sandstrom where Zac Dalpe (9) was there to finish the play by shooting it past Sandstrom’s left skate and into the net for a 4-0 lead.
After giving up their fourth goal of the night, Lehigh Valley started to play with desperation. However, they had issues staying out of the penalty box committing three penalties.
At 6:34, Lehigh Valley’s Ethan Samson was called for slashing. During Charlotte’s power play, Lehigh Valley’s Tanner Laczynski (15) got control of the puck to move it into the Checkers’ zone. He went around the goal net before making a pass to Adam Brooks (1). Brooks lost the puck after getting poke-checked. Louie Belpedio found the loose puck and rushed toward it before smacking it over the right pad of Spencer Knight and into the net for a shorthanded goal cutting Charlotte’s lead down to 4-1.
At 12:05, Lehigh Valley’s Alexis Gendron (2) went to shoot the puck but missed the net as Ronnie Attard (11) made the rebound. Next, Attard attempted a shot but lost the puck due to a poke check by Matt Kiersted. Then, Jacob Gaucher (2) stayed with the play rushing toward the loose puck before blasting it through the five-hole and into the net making it a 4-2 Charlotte lead with 7:55 left of the second period.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had 14 shots on goal. They pushed hard to get themselves back into the game, while Lehigh Valley’s defense allowed nine shots on goal. The Phantoms trailed the Checkers 4-2 after two periods of play.
In the third period, the Phantoms had nine shots on goal. They continued to play aggressively on the ice. They had had three power play opportunities but continued not taking advantage of them. They are now 0 for 10 in their last three games on the power play.
Lehigh Valley goaltender Felix Sandstrom was pulled twice for an extra attacker. With 1:50 left in the game, Wade Allison attempted a wraparound shot but the puck bounced off Spencer Knight. There was a traffic jam in front of Knight where Olle Lycksell tried to get a shot off but missed it before Alexis Gendron fired the puck over Knight’s left pad and into the net for a goal.
However, the refs waived it off after Allison made contact with Spencer Knight. The goal should have counted as Allison was bumped from behind by Lucas Carlsson. The Lehigh Valley fans let the refs have it. The AHL desperately needs a sky judge to see the game from another view. If they had it, the Phantoms would have had that goal.
With 1:15 left of the game, Charlotte’s Casey Fitzgerald (10) made a pass to Justin Sourdif (8), who then made a long pass from their zone to Mackie Samoskevich (9), who had a breakaway before putting the game away with an empty net goal. The Phantoms concluded 2023 with a 5-2 loss to the Checkers.
Lehigh Valley had 31 shots, committed five penalties for 19 minutes, went 0 for 5 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 29 saves off 33 shots.
The Phantoms visit the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza to start 2024 on Saturday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 6:05 pm on AHL.TV. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
