The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-16-5-1) returned to the PPL Center on Friday night to start a six-game homestand against Wilke-Barre/Scranton Penguins (23-14-5) in their second meeting of the season. The Phantoms are 1-0 against the Penguins this year.
There were a lot of roster moves since the Phantoms last game. Forward Jordy Bellerive was traded to the San Jose Barracuda, while Cal Peterson was recalled by the Philadelphia Flyers.
In addition, goaltender Parker Gahagen was recalled from the Reading Royals, and defenseman Mason Millman was sent back to the Reading Royals (ECHL). Defenseman Adam Karashik also went down to Reading but was called back up to the Phantoms on Thursday and was scratched for the game.
The starting lineup featured Bobby Brink, Rhett Gardner, and Samu Tuomaala on the first line. J.R. Avon, Adam Brooks, 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 Zayde Wisdom were on the fourth line.
On defense, Emil Andrae and Helge Grans were on the first line. Victor Mete and Ethan Samson were on the second line, and Adam Ginning was paired up with Ronnie Attard on the third line.
Felix Sandstrom (7-4-2, 3.29 GAA, .881 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The scratches for the game included Adam Karashik, Louie Belpedio, Tanner Laczynski, and Wade Allison. Belpedio, Laczynski, and Allison were all still out with injuries.
The Phantoms did not have a good first period. Three minutes and eight seconds into the game, Zayde Wisdom tripped Vinnie Hinostroza which put the Penguins on their first power play. It took 38 seconds for the Penguins to score. They were moving the puck well inside the Phantoms’ zone. Felix Sandstrom covered the right side of the goal net but left the left side wide open and the Penguins took advantage. Sam Poulin (5) passed the puck to Austin Rueschhoff (6).
Lehigh Valley’s defense left Jesse Puljujärvi (4) all alone and Rueschhoff took advantage of their miscues by passing the puck to Puljujärvi, who fired it into an open net on the left side for a power-play goal for a 1-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley’s offense had trouble controlling the puck, thus having problems getting set up for scoring chances. With 14:55 left, Lehigh Valley’s Ethan Samson made a long pass to Brendan Furry. Furry cut across the ice but got poke-check by a Penguins player.
Garrett Wilson got to the puck but he was pushed from behind by Dmitri Samorukov into goaltender Magnus Hellberg, hitting him on the head. Victor Mete got the puck before making a backhand shot into the open net for a goal but it was waived off by the official. Wilson tried to tell the head official that he was pushed by Samorukov but the refs stood their ground.
At 10:12, Wilke-Barre/Scranton’s Jesse Puljujärvi (4) passed the puck to Radim Zohorna (2) to begin the rush toward the Phantoms’ zone. Just before Ronnie Attard hit Zohorna, Zohorna passed the puck to Marc Johnstone (3), who was all alone before turning on the jets leaving Ronnie Attard in the dust. Attard could not poke-check the puck before Johnstone flipped the puck over Felix Sandstrom’s right shoulder and into the net for a 2-0 lead with 9:48 left of the first period.
The Phantoms could not keep up with the Penguins, who were faster on the ice. In addition, Lehigh Valley could not break up the plays to stall Wilke-Barre/Scranton’s momentum. At 16:42, The Penguins were back inside the Phantoms’ zone. Alex Nylander (11) made a pass to Owen Headrick (2), who then passed the puck to Sam Poulin (10). Poulin caught the Phantoms’ defense sleeping as he skated right up to Sandstrom before chipping the puck over Sandstrom’s right shoulder and into the net for a 3-0 lead with 3:17 left of the first period.
Late in the first period, Lehigh Valley’s Evan Polei went after Matt Filipe but instead got into a fight with goaltender Magnus Hellberg. Polei and Wilkes-Barre’s Austin Rueschhoff went to the penalty box making it four-on-four. There were three seconds left of four-on-four play when the first period ended. The Phantoms had nine shots on goal but trailed the Penguins 3-0. Felix Sandstrom made seven saves off ten shots on goal.
In the second period, Lehigh Valley started to make a comeback. They cleaned up the miscues that hurt them in the first period. Lehigh Valley had two shots on goal in the first five minutes of the second period. They started to put pressure on the Penguins, who were not as aggressive as they were in the first period.
At 9:13, Lehigh Valley’s Elliot Desnoyers (10) led the charge into the Penguins’ zone near the left boards. Next, Desnoyers made a pass to Brendan Furry (3) in front of goaltender Magnus Hellberg. Furry had to fight Sam Poulin for the puck as Hellberg went on his belly in an attempt to secure the puck. Then, Garrett Wilson (7) came from out of nowhere to chip the puck over Hellberg and into the net cutting the Penguins lead down to 3-1 with 10:47 left of the second period.
Later in the second period, Garrett Wilson creamed Radim Zohorna against the endboards which led to Poulin charging at Wilson, and the two traded punches. Wilson easily won the fight, leaving a cut above Poulin’s eye but had to be helped off the ice with a lower-body injury and did not return to the game. Poulin was also tacked with an instigating penalty which was the Phantoms’ first power play of the game.
Lehigh Valley did not take advantage of the power play. However, they would go on their second power play of the game with 58 seconds left of the second period when Vinnie Hinostroza cross-checked Zayde Wisdom.
During the power play, Lehigh Valley’s Rhett Gardner (3) got the puck to Sam Tuomaala (21). Tuomaala fought a Penguins player to maintain the puck but Bobby Brink (1) took it. He skated toward the center of the Penguins’ zone before rifling it over the right shoulder of Magnus Hellberg for a power play goal.
It was now 3-2 Penguins with 27 seconds left of the second period. Lehigh Valley had 14 shots on goal but trailed the Penguins 3-2 after two periods of play. Felix Sandstrom stopped all 11 shots on goal by the Penguins.
Seven minutes into the third period, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Marc Johnstone slashed J.R. Avon putting the Phantoms on the power play for the third time of the game. A minute and thirteen seconds later, Lehigh Valley’s Ethan Samson (6) got the puck to J.R. Avon (5) before leading the charge into the Penguins’ zone. Avon used his speed to blow by everyone before spinning around to pass the puck to Adam Brooks (2), who shot it over Magnus Hellberg’s glove and into the net tying the game 3-3 with 11:47 left of the game.
Lehigh Valley dominated the third period. They were forcing turnovers, had 17 shots on goal, attacking the Penguins’ zone, and winning the one-on-one battles. Everything was going Lehigh Valley’s way until 18:31. The Phantoms were in the middle of changing lines when Marc Johnstone (5) sent the puck toward the Phantoms’ zone. Helge Grans chased down the puck with Radim Zohorna (3) not far behind. Zohorna won the puck battle over Grans before he passed it to a wide-open Sam Poulin (11), who zipped it through the five-hole and into the net for a 4-3 lead with 1:29 left in the game.
With 1:02 left of the third period, Lehigh Valley pulled Felix Sandstrom for an extra attacker. Despite their best efforts, Lehigh Valley’s comeback attempt fell short with a 4-3 loss to the Penguins.
The Phantoms had 40 shots on goal, committed one penalty, went 2 for 3 on the power play, and Felix Sandstrom made 21 saves off 25 shots.
Lehigh Valley continues the homestand on Saturday against the Toronto Marlies at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. You can watch the game for free. Purchase Phantoms tickets today on StubHub and Viagogo.
