The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (14-13-5-1) concluded a two-game road trip on Sunday afternoon from the Giant Center against the Hershey Bears (29-7) in Hershey’s Teddy Bear toss game. The Phantoms were 1-3-1 against Hershey this season.
The starting lineup featured J.R. Avon, Tanner Laczynski, and Wade Allison on the first line. Olle Lycksell, Rhett Gardner, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. Garrett Wilson, Elliot Desnoyers, and Samu Tuomaala were on the third line, and Jordy Bellerive, Jacob Gaucher, and Adam Brooks 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 (4-7-1, 3.26 GAA, .892 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Helge Grans, Adam Karashik, Evan Polei, Brendan Furry, and Zayde Wisdom.
Early in the first period, both teams did a lot of dump and chase. Neither team could get set up for scoring chances. At 6:40, Hershey’s Dylan McIlrath slashed Jordy Bellerive which put Lehigh Valley on their first power play. Lehigh Valley did not register a shot during the power play and went 0 for 1.
As the first period went along, Hershey started to get some chances. They kept the puck away from the Phantoms but when they took shots, they were missing them wide of the goal net. Hershey had eight shots on goal in the first period. With 6:54 left, Hershey’s Ryan Hofer almost had a goal but Cal Peterson pulled the splits to deny the goal.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had five shots on goal. With 3:37 left, Lehigh Valley went on their second power play of the game as Emil Andrae was hooked by Mike Vecchione. However, Andrae would get a holding call at 17:37 when Garrett Roe had a breakaway chance but missed the shot high over the crossbar.
Lehigh Valley killed Hershey’s power play. Lehigh Vally had a chance to take the lead late in the first period when Jacob Gaucher had a mini breakaway but his shot bounced off goaltender Mitch Gibson. The game remained scoreless 0-0 after one period of play.
At 4:15 of the second period, Hershey’s Chase Priskie (15) kept the puck away from Jacob Gaucher before passing it to Hardy Häman Aktell (4). Then, Aktell made a long pass to Bogdan Trineyev (5), who weaved by both Ronnie Attard and Victor Mete before shooting the puck under the right pad of Peterson for a 1-0 lead. After the goal, fans threw teddy bears onto the ice and the game was delayed for nearly an hour.
At 13:38, Lehigh Valley’s Jordy Bellerive slashed Hardy Häman Aktell to put Hershey on their third power play. Lehigh Valley killed the power play. At 15:45, Jordy Bellerive (3) came out from the penalty box. He fired the puck the first time but it was blocked by a Hershey game. Then, he rebounded it before firing it again this time going over the right shoulder of Mitch Gibson and into the net tying the game 1-1 with 4:15 left of the second period.
Two minutes and two seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Emil Andrae (13) got the puck out of their zone. Jacob Gaucher (4) chased down the puck with Riley Sutter chasing the puck as well. Gaucher beat Sutter for the puck before making a backhand pass to Adam Brooks (1), who chipped it in through the five-hole and into the net for a 2-1 lead with 2:26 left of the second period.
The Phantoms had nine shots on goal in the second period and led 2-1 after two periods of play. Cal Peterson made nine saves off ten shots.
In the third period, Hershey started to regain control. They had six shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the third period. Lehigh Valley goaltender Cal Peterson made several big saves as his defense started to crumble.
Hershey’s offense had ten shots on goal. At 14:40, Hershey was fighting for the puck. Lucas Johansen (4) skated near the blue line inside the Phantoms’ zone. Then, he went to shoot the puck but it touched Joe Snively’s (18) stick causing the puck to be loose. Mike Sgarbossa (7) chased down the loose puck before getting control of it. Then, he zipped it over the left shoulder of Cal Peterson and into the net tying the game 2-2 with 5:21 left of the game.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had eight shots on goal, including four shots in the last three minutes of the third period. The game remained tied 2-2 heading into overtime.
A minute and thirty-two seconds into overtime, Lehigh Valley’s Louie Belpedio had a chance to end the game on the breakaway but his shot bounced off the pads of Mitch Gibson. Twenty-eight seconds later, Hershey’s Chase Priskie (16) made a pass to Ethen Frank (14).
Then, Frank got the puck to Alex Limoges (10). Limoges had Louie Belpedio on him. Limoges attempted to shoot the puck but instead, the puck went off the stick of Louie Belpedio through the five-and into the net for the game-winning goal. The Phantoms lose to the Bears by the final score of 3-2 in overtime.
The Phantoms had 24 shots on goal, committed four penalties for eight minutes, went 0 for 3 on the power play, and Cal Peterson made 26 saves off 29 shots.
Lehigh Valley returns to the PPL Center to start a two-game homestand on Friday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
