The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (14-13-1-1) started a two-game road on Saturday night from the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (17-13-1-1) for the first time this season.
The starting lineup featured Garrett Wilson, Tanner Laczynski, and Wade Allison on the first line. Olle Lycksell, Adam Brooks, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala were on the third line, and Jordy Bellerive, 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 Adam Karashik on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (4-3-2, 3.30 GAA, .878 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Ethan Samson, Evan Pole, and Brendan Furry.
The game got off to a slow start in the first period. Lehigh Valley did not get their first shot of the game until 4:45. Both teams were doing a lot of dump and chase and neither could get their offense set up for a scoring chance. At 5:51, the Phantoms went on their first power play when Corey Andonovski hooked Adam Ginning. The Phantoms started to get going offensively.
They had three shots on goal but went 0 for 1 on the power play. Lehigh Valley had seven straight shots on goal before Tanner Laczynski was called for hooking Vinnie Hinostroza. The Phantoms killed the power play.
At 12:19, Wilkes-Barre’s Corey Andonovski (11) passed the puck to Jack St. Ivany (6). Ivany held onto the puck for a couple of seconds before shooting it near the blue line which was tipped in by Matt Filipe (4) through the five-hole for a 1-0 lead with 7:41 left of the first period.
Over a minute later, Lehigh Valley’s Olle Lycksell (10) led the charge toward the Penguins’ zone. He had Taylor Fedun on him and Lycksell went around him before passing the puck to Cooper Marody (9), who fired the puck over Magnus Hellberg’s glove and into the net tying the game 1-1 with 6:25 left of the first period.
Late in the first period, the Penguins outshot the Phantoms 7-1. Felix Sandstrom made eight of nine saves and Lehigh Valley had 11 shots on goal but the game remained tied 1-1 after one period of play.
In the second period, Wilkes-Barre came out of the gate with four shots on goal. Lehigh Valley’s defense did not protect Sandstrom. Wilkes-Barre’s offense had 12 shots on goal. They had many chances early in the second period but kept missing their shots.
The officials missed Tanner Laczynski getting high-sticked with 12 minutes left. With 6:50 left of the second period, The Phantoms caught the Penguins changing lines when Adam Brooks had a breakaway chance but missed the shot. Lehigh Valley had ten shots on goal in the second period.
There were a couple of fights that happened with Zayde Wisdom and Dmitri Samorukov, followed by Garrett Wilson and Jonathan Gruden although Wilson was tagged with a double roughing penalty which put the Penguins on their third power play of the night.
Shortly after the power play ended, the Penguins took the lead. Off the faceoff inside the Phantoms’ zone, Wilkes-Barre’s Vinnie Hinostroza (3) won the faceoff with Alex Nylander (12) securing the puck. Nylander passed the puck to Ty Smith (19), who then passed it back to Nylander. Nylander sniped the shot inside the right circle past Felix Sandstrom’s glove and into the net for a 2-1 lead with 3:03 left of the second period.
Lehigh Valley’s offense turned the puck over several times. The defense allowed the Penguins to get 12 shots on goal. Felix Sandstrom made 11 saves and the Phantoms trailed 2-1 after two periods of play.
Three minutes and fifty seconds into the third period, Wilkes-Barre’s Austin Rueschhoff (3) made a nice backhand pass to Jack St. Ivany (7), who took a shot but the puck bounced off of Sandstrom. Sandstrom did not see where the puck went and before he found it, Peter Abbandonato (6) fired it past his right skate and into the net for a 3-1 lead.
Then, Lehigh Valley’s offense started to make a comeback. At 8:32, Louie Belpedio (2) made a pass to Samu Tuomaala (9). Tuomaala charged toward the Penguins’ zone. He skated past Corey Andonovski before sniping the puck over Magnus Hellberg’s glove and into the net cutting the Penguins lead down to 3-2.
A minute and twelve seconds later, Zayde Wisdom and Jacob Gaucher (3) fought two Penguins players in the corner of the right board. Gaucher emerged with the puck before passing it to J.R. Avon (4). Randle made a terrific backhand pass to a wide-open Ronnie Attard (6), who pelted the puck past Magnus Hellberg’s glove and into the net tying the game 3-3.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had ten shots on goal and the defense allowed five shots on goal. The game remained tied 3-3 heading into overtime.
A minute and thirty seconds into overtime, Lehigh Valley’s Cooper Marody (20) got the puck to Louie Belpedio (3). Belpedio tripped on his own two feet making a pass to Samu Tuomaala (10), who ripped the puck over the right pad of Magnus Hellberg and into the net. The Phantoms defeated the Penguins by the final score of 4-3 in overtime.
Lehigh Valley had 33 shots on goal, committed three penalties for ten minutes, went 0 for 2 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 25 saves off 28 shots.
The Phantoms conclude the weekend on Sunday against the Hershey Bears at 3:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
