Phantoms Lineup

Ryan Fitzgerald – Cal O’Reilly – Wade Allison

Isaac Ratcliffe – Chris Mueller – Zayde Wisdom

Carsen Twarynski – Connor Bunnaman – Maksim Sushko

Garrett Wilson – Max Willman – Tyson Foerster

Tyler Wotherspoon – Wyatte Wylie

Linus Hogberg – Chris Bigras

Derrick Pouliot – Logan Day

Zane McIntyre – Eamon McAdam

Felix Sandstrom, Tanner MacMaster, Mason Millman, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier, Pascal Laberge

Kirill Ustimenko (hip surgery), David Kase, Egor Zamula

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After a thrilling shootout victory on Saturday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were back on the road Monday night for a tilt in Newark against the Binghamton Devils.

First Period

It took a little bit for the Phantoms to get going in the opening frame, even though they received their first power play opportunity just over a minute into the game when Michael Vukojevic got whistled for tripping. Lehigh Valley couldn’t generate much on the man advantage, and Binghamton seemed to jump on that sluggishness once the teams were back at even strength.

The Devils controlled the puck and were able to penetrate the Lehigh Valley zone quite often, but goaltender Zane McIntyre was up to the task and looked solid in the Phantoms’ net.

About halfway through the period, Wade Allison gained the zone and completed a nice little give-and-go play with Cal O’Reilly who got a good shot off on Gilles Senn, which the Binghamton netminder stopped.

It seemed like the Phantoms started showing some energy after that and tilted the ice back in their direction, getting some good scoring chances and creating turnovers in the neutral zone. In the final minute of the period, however, Wyatte Wylie took a high-sticking penalty to put the Devils up a man for an extended period of time to start the second.

Second Period

After killing off the rest of Wylie’s penalty, the Phantoms found themselves shorthanded again right away as Logan Day was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking. Before he could exit, Tyler Wotherspoon joined him on a tripping call and gave the Devils a bit of five-on-three power play time. Scott Gordon and the Lehigh Valley bench were obviously displeased with the officiating.

The Phantoms’ penalty killers succeeded once again, however, and the power play units even got some action in the middle frame, but nothing Lehigh Valley did could get past Senn. At one point, Max Willman had a great play as he shrugged off double coverage through the neutral zone, stayed on the puck, entered the zone cleanly, got around a defender and whipped a shot off that went just wide.

Binghamton was awarded the only goal in the period, a shorthanded tally by Marian Studenic who got loose and couldn’t be stopped.

Third Period

Although back-and-forth play was the theme in the third period, there were definitely some highlights. The biggest one came when Ryan Fitzgerald connected with Linus Hogberg, who put the puck in off the post from the slot to score his first AHL goal. Since Hogberg has played in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the goal isn’t considered his first professional goal, but is his first in North America.

Allison continued to shine in this frame as well, having had some good looks throughout the game, but the puck just wouldn’t go for him.

Off to overtime again, O’Reilly was sent to the penalty box mere seconds into the extra frame. The Devils couldn’t convert the four-on-three power play thanks to the strength of the Lehigh Valley penalty killers, but it remained four-on-four hockey for the remainder of overtime, as no other whistles were blown.

In the shootout, Tyson Foerster and Fitzgerald both beat Senn, but Allison was denied. Fabian Zetterlund blasted a slapshot past McIntyre to win it for Binghamton.

Plus / Minus

▲  Zane McIntyre, Wade Allison, Max Willman

▼  Maksim Sushko