The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-15-5-1) concluded their three-game road trip on Saturday night from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse against the Cleveland Monsters (24-11-1-1) for their second straight game. The Phantoms were 0-2 against Cleveland this season.
The starting lineup featured Olle Lycksell, Tanner Laczynski, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. J.R. Avon, Rhett Gardner, and Cooper Marody were on the second line. Garrett Wilson, Elliot Desnoyers, and Brendan Furry were on the third line, and Evan Polei, Jacob Gaucher, and Jordy Bellerive were on the fourth line. This is Polei’s first game since December 8, 2023.
On defense, Adam Ginning and Ronnie Attard were on the first line. Email Andrae and Helge Grans were on the second line, and Victor Mete was paired up with Ethan Samson on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (6-4-2, 3.31 GAA, .877 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Adam Karashik, Louie Belpedio, Mason Millman, Zayde Wisdom, Wade Allison, and Adam Brooks.
The first period was filled with penalties of which both the Monsters and Phantoms committed three each. Lehigh Valley’s offense had seven shots on goal. Helge Grans came close to putting the Phantoms in the lead with 8:09 left of the first period.
At 17:04, Lehigh Valley’s Emil Andrae tripped Brendan Gaunce which put Cleveland on their third power play. During the power play, Cleveland’s offense moved the puck well inside the Phantoms’ zone keeping Lehigh Valley on their toes. Mikael Pyyhtia passed the puck to David Jiricek (1), who made a slapshot that bounced off the pads of Felix Sandstrom. The puck hit Carson Meyer’s (6) stick before Brendan Gaunce (7) made the rebound. Then, he put the puck past Sandstrom’s right skate and into the net for a 1-0 lead with 1:15 left of the first period.
With 17 seconds left, Garrett Wilson was held by Billy Sweezey putting the Phantoms on the power play. Lehigh Valley had 1:43 left of power play time to begin the second period down 1-0 after one period of play. Lehigh Valley’s offense did not play badly but their Achilles heel was getting set up for scoring chances. They did not take their time to get set up and instead took shots missing wide of the net.
In addition, Lehigh Valley’s defense had problems containing Cleveland. The Monsters’ offense separated themselves from Lehigh Valley’s defense allowing them to get 14 shots on goal. Lehigh Valley goaltender Felix Sandstrom made some key saves to keep the game 1-0 making 13 saves off 14 shots.
A minute and two seconds into the second period, Garrett Wilson appeared to have scored. However, after the refs reviewed the play, it was ruled a no-goal. On the replay, it looked like Wilson scored the goal.
At 2:17, Cleveland’s David Jiricek (2) made a pass to Samuel Knazko (4) inside the Phantoms’ zone. Knazko took a shot that missed wide bouncing off the end glass before Brendan Gaunce (8) made the rebound and chipped it over Sandstrom’s left pad into the net extending Cleveland’s lead to 2-0 with 17:43 left of the second period.
Two minutes and twenty seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Helge Grans (5) got the puck to Cooper Marody (24). Marody skated around the goal net before making a quick pass to Rhett Gardner (4) in front of goaltender Jet Greaves. Then, Gardner jammed it through the five-hole and into the net cutting Cleveland’s lead down to 2-1 with 15:33 left of the second period.
Later in the second period, Lehigh Valley’s Adam Ginning (8) passed the puck to Rhett Gardner (2). Gardner skated around the goal net finding a wide-open Ronnie Attard (8), who made a slapshot through the five-hole and into the net tying the game 2-2 with 11:02 left of the second period. Lehigh Valley had eight shots on goal in the second period.
At 10:14, Cleveland’s David Jiricek (3) passed the puck to Brendan Gaunce (10), who was near the goal net. Then, Gaunce turned around to shoot the puck but Sandstrom blocked it. There was a traffic jam in front of Sandstrom where Carson Meyer (15) jammed it into the net giving Cleveland a 3-2 lead with 9:46 left.
The Lehigh Valley players disputed the goal due to contact on Sandstrom and a hand pass but the refs ruled it a goal. The refs were not consistent on their calls all game long. Late in the second period, the Phantoms had a couple of shots but could not tie the game. Lehigh Valley trailed Cleveland 3-2 after two periods of play. Felix Sandstrom made 10 saves off 12 shots.
The Phantoms took control of this game in the third period. At 5:41, Samu Tuomaala (19) made a pass to Emil Andrae (16) inside the Monsters’ zone. Andrae smacked the puck toward Jet Greaves which was deflected by Olle Lycksell going over Greaves’s shoulder and into the net tying the game 3-3 with 14:19 left in the game.
Later in the third period, Cleveland committed two delay of game penalties making it a five-on-three in favor of the Phantoms. During the penalties, Cooper Marody (25) did a nice job drawing a couple of Cleveland players toward him leaving Emil Andrae wide-open. Marody passed the puck to Emil Andrae (4), who ripped the shot through the five-hole and into the net giving the Phantoms a 4-3 lead with 7:06 left of the game. Lehigh Valley had 11 shots on goal in the third period.
Late in the third period, Lehigh Valley’s Helge Grans was sent to the penalty box for removing an opponent’s helmet. With 2:40 left, Cleveland pulled their goalie. Cleveland had three shots on goal in the final minute of the game but the Phantoms held on to beat the Monsters by the final score of 4-3.
This was a hard-fought win by the Phantoms to end the three-game road. They finished the road with a 1-2 record and got their first win against Cleveland this season. Lehigh Valley had 26 shots on goal, committed eight penalties, went 1 for 7 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom had a good night despite giving up three goals making 33 saves off 36 shots.
The Phantoms return to the PPL Center to begin a six-game homestand starting next Friday against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
