By Michael Heilman
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms were looking to make it two in a row against the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday night at the PPL Center. Scratches for the game were Tyler Wotherspoon, Steven Swavely, Mark Friedman, German Rubtsov, Gerry Fitzgerald, Chris Bigras, TJ Brennan, Pascal Laberge, and Chris Stewart.
Five minutes and eleven seconds into the first period, the Phantoms took a 1-0 lead as Morgan Frost (13) shot the puck and hit Wolf Pack goalie Tom McCollum, which rebounded to Andy Welinski (7) who shot the puck and scored. Frost, along with Max Willman (4), assisted Welinski’s goal. The Phantoms kept the Wolf Pack in check and remained in the lead 1-0 at the end of the first period. The shots were fourteen to four for the Phantoms.
The Wolf Pack tied the game twelve seconds into the second period as Ty Ronning (1) shot the puck that bounced off the glass that was rebounded by Shawn McBride (20) and scored to tie the game 1-1. Ronning and Darren Raddysh (17) assisted McBride’s goal.
The Phantoms then went on the power play after an interference call against Wolf Pack defense Darren Raddysh. The Phantoms regained the lead 2-1 as Greg Carey (12) made a long pass to Andy Andreoff (5), who then found Cal O’Reilly (5) for a backhand goal. The Wolf Pack once again tied the game with three minutes and thirty-seven seconds left in the period as Nick Jones (7) rebounded the puck from a previous shot by Joey Keane (21) and slipped the puck past Alex Lyon to tie the game 2-2.
The Phantoms got the lead back with a minute and fifteen seconds left in the second period as Morgan Frost (9) ripped the shot after the faceoff to make it a 3-2 Phantoms lead. Andy Andreoff (6) assisted Frost’s goal. The Phantoms led 3-2 at the end of the second period. The shots were ten to seven for the Wolf Pack.
The Wolf Pack would tie the game again with eleven minutes and forty-eight seconds left in the third period as Mason Geetsen’s (8) shot was rebounded by Matt Beleskey (15) and squeezed the puck into the net to tie the game again 3-3. Joey Keane (22) also assisted Beleskey’s goal. The game remained tied 3-3, and so they headed to overtime. The shots were ten to nine for the Wolf Pack.
There were no goals scored in overtime, and the game headed to a shootout. Wolf Pack right-winger Steve Fogarty scored the winning goal in a shootout to give the Wolf Pack a 4-3 win over the Phantoms.
The Phantoms had edged the Wolf Pack in shots thirty-two to twenty-seven. The Phantoms were one for five on the power play, and the Wolf Pack went zero for three. Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon made twenty-three of twenty-six saves allowing three goals while Wolf Pack goalie Tom McCollum was twenty-nine of thirty-two saves allowing three goals.
The three stars of the game were Phantoms center Cal O’Reilly with one goal, Phantoms left-winger Andy Andreoff with two assists, and Wolf Pack right-winger Steve Fogarty with one assist and game-winning goal in a shootout.
The Phantoms will wrap up the weekend tomorrow afternoon at the Giant Center against the Hershey Bears at 5 pm.
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