The Lehigh Valley Phantoms were back in action Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza to close out the month of April. Lehigh Valley is 15-4-2 this year and 3-2 against the Penguins. Lehigh Valley got back Zayde Wisdom, Garrett Wilson from the injury list and got back Derrick Pouliot and Felix Sandstrom from the Flyers. Andy Andreoff was recalled to the Flyers Taxi Squad.
Felix Sandstrom got the start at goalie. The scratches for the game were Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Maksim Sushko, Ralph Cuddemi, Eamon McAdam, David Kase, and Cam York.
The game was scoreless in the first ten minutes. At 11:27, Brennan Saulnier cross passed the puck to Linus Sandin, and Sandin put the puck into the net to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead. It was his fifth goal of the season and third in the last two games. Not long after the goal, Saulnier was hit on the head by Will Reilly and was down for a few minutes while the game went on. The refs stopped the game, and Saulnier headed to the locker room.
There was some arguing back and forth between the two teams. The refs then sent Reilly to the penalty box for two minutes for checking to the head. Phantoms coach Scott Gordon was arguing that the penalty should’ve been longer. The Phantoms were unable to score on the power-play.
Brennan Saulnier would then come back out. As soon as he went back on the ice, he found Will Reilly and express his dissatisfaction over the hit. The refs went to break it up, and Saulnier was still throwing punches. The refs ejected Saulnier from the game and gave him a game misconduct, instigating and fighting penalties. Both goalies were made some good saves, and the Phantoms were up 1-0 after the first period. Lehigh Valley shots were 11-8.
The Phantoms came close several times to add to their lead, but Penguins goalie Alex D’Orio was on top of his game and stopped the puck. The Penguins had a couple of chances to score. Felix Sandstrom held his ground on some tough shots coming his way. Several skirmishes happened throughout the game, but the refs were quick in squelching them. Late in the second period, Chris Bigras was called for interference, putting the Penguins on the power-play for the second time. Lehigh Valley led 1-0 after two periods, and the shots were in their favor 12-10.
Three minutes into the third period, Mason Millman headed to the penalty box for tripping, creating a five-on-three situation. It took the Penguins twenty-eight seconds to tie the game up. On the faceoff, Anthony Angello recovered the puck from going out of the neutral zone. He then shot the puck that went under the pad of Sandstrom and in for the goal.
Both teams had chances to take the lead. However, both goalies protected their nets against any shots coming their way. The game remained tied 1-1 after regulation and headed to overtime.
The Penguins put the game away a minute and thirty-six seconds into overtime. Josh Currie lured a couple of Phantom’s players toward him, leaving Sandstrom by himself. Tim Schaller went top shelf for the goal giving the Penguins a 2-1 win.
The Phantoms finished with a high 41 shots in the game, 0-3 on the power-play, and Felix Sandstrom made thirty-two saves. Sandstrom earned the third star of the game. Lehigh Valley’s record is now 15-4-3.
The Phantoms will return to the PPL Center on Saturday, May 1st, at 7:05 pm against the Binghamton Devils on AHL.tv.
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