The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-14-5-1) started a three-game road trip on Wednesday night from the Blue Cross Arena against the Rochester Americans (17-13-3-1) in their second meeting of the season. These two teams last played each other on November 25, 2023, where the Phantoms won the game 5-4.
The good news for the Phantoms before the game was Helge Grans returned to the lineup after missing seven weeks of action with an upper-body injury.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. Garrett Wilson, Rhett Gardner, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. J.R. Avon, Elliot Desnoyers, and Jordy Bellerive were on the third line, and Brendan Furry, Jacob Gaucher, and Adam Brooks were on the fourth line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Ronnie Attard were on the first line. Adam Ginning and Ethan Samson were on the second line, and Helge Grans was paired up with Mason Millman on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (6-3-2, 3.07 GAA, .888 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Adam Karashik, Louie Belpedio, Evan Polei, Zayde Wisdom, and Wade Allison.
A minute and thirty-one seconds into the first period, Rochester’s Jeremy Davies (12) was hooked by Samu Tuomaala for a delayed call. Rochester pulled the goalie for an extra attacker. Then, Davies passed the puck to Zach Metsa (7), who then found Brandon Biro (11) nearby. Biro was patient waiting for the screen to develop before rifling the puck through the five-hole and into the net for a 1-0 lead with 18:29 left of the first period.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had 12 shots on goal. Their chance to tie the game came at 3:12 when Aleksandr Kisakov tried to pass the puck to Joseph Cecconi but the puck got by him. Samu Tuomaala sped toward the puck but was hooked by Kisakov putting the Phantoms on the power play. It was one of three power plays for the Phantoms in the first period and they did not capitalize on any of them.
At 9:22, Lehigh Valley’s Helge Grans made a costly turnover trying to pass the puck to Tanner Laczynski which was stolen by Brandon Biro (11). Biro skated near the goal net before jamming the brakes to make a pass to Lukas Rousek (18). Then, Rousek saw a wide-open Brett Murray (4), who fired the puck that hit Felix Sandstrom’s skate and rolled into the net for a 2-0 lead with 10:38 left of the first period.
Lehigh Valley’s defense was not sharp and left several guys open. Rochester had eight shots on goal in the first period. Late in the first period, Rochester’s Aleksandr Kisakov hooked Garrett Wilson. The Phantoms had six seconds left of power play time to begin the second period down 2-0 after one period of play.
Lehigh Valley started the second period with six shots in the first eight minutes and thirty seconds including two chances by Garrett Wilson but Rochester goaltender Eric Comrie made the saves. Lehigh Valley had 12 shots on goal in the second period.
At 10:15, Lehigh Valley’s J.R. Avon got the puck shortly after the faceoff inside their zone. He tried to pass it to Tanner Laczynski but he was knocked down forcing a turnover by Mason Jobst (11). Jobst quickly passed the puck to Michael Mersch (15), who led the charge into the Phantoms’ zone. Then, he passed the puck to Linus Weissbach (6), who pelted the puck from the right circle past the stick of Felix Sandstrom and into the net for a 3-0 lead with 9:45 left of the second period. The Americans had eight shots on goal.
For the rest of the second period, Lehigh Valley had to kill a five-on-three Rochester power play after Mason Millman (holding) and Emil Andrae (tripping) went to the penalty box. Lehigh Valley killed both penalties.
Late in the second period, the Phantoms had three shots on goal in the last two minutes and still could not put the puck past Eric Comrie. There were also a couple of scuffles between the two teams but no punches were thrown. The Phantoms trailed the Americans 3-0 after two periods of play.
In the first 12 minutes of the third period, Lehigh Valley committed three penalties including a Ronnie Attard hold which took down Jeremy Davies that led to Davies injuring his knee. Rochester took advantage of one of those power plays. Meanwhile, the Phantoms had two power play chances but could not take advantage. Lehigh Valley had eight shots on goal in the third period.
At 12:47, Rochester was on the power play. They did a good job setting up for a scoring chance. Jiri Kulich (8) made a pass to Isak Rosen (16), who whiffed on a shot from the left circle but Mason Jobst (9), got a piece of the puck before going off his skate and rolled into the net for a 4-0 lead with 7:13 left in the game.
Lehigh Valley’s defense was not good at protecting Sandstrom. They allowed Rochester to get open several times and the Americans took advantage of Lehigh Valley’s mistakes. In addition, Felix Sandstrom was not sharp in this game. He missed several saves and should have prevented at least three goals.
At 17:18, Rochester’s Viktor Neuchev (8) got the puck to Aleksandr Kisakov (4) as they tried to generate a rush. Then, Kisakov made a pass that went off the stick of Mason Millman toward the direction of Tyson Kozak (2), who turned on the jet speeding toward Sandstrom. He was held by Ethan Samson but that did not stop him from jamming the puck past Sandstrom’s right skate and into the net for a 5-0 lead with 2:42 left in the game.
With 14 seconds left in the game, Rochester tacked on one more goal. Aleksandr Kisakov (5) fended off two Lehigh Valley players before passing the puck to Tyson Kozak (4). Then, Kozak made a nice backhand pass to Viktor Neuchev (4), who shot it under the right pad of Felix Sandstrom and into the net for a 6-0 lead.
The Phantoms had no answers in this game and were shut out by the Rochester Americans 6-0. Lehigh Valley had 32 shots on goal, committed five penalties for ten minutes, went 0 for 5 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 14 saves off 20 shots.
The Phantoms continued their three-game road trip visiting the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for a two-game series against the Cleveland Monsters on Friday at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
