On Sunday afternoon, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (25-27-7-4) completed a three-game weekend sweep against the Bridgeport Islanders (27-27-6-4) at the Total Mortgage Arena.
Heading into the game, the Phantoms trailed the Penguins by nine points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, Bridgeport trailed the Penguins by four points for the final playoff spot. The Islanders lost to the Penguins 9-2 Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Penguins were off on Sunday.
There were two lineup changes as Garrett McFadden replaced Egor Zamula on defense. Zamula got rocked by a hit last night and sat out for this game. Meanwhile, Alex Kile replaced Charlie Gerard.
Zamula and Gerard joined Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jackson Cates, Linus Sandin, Will Riedell, Sam Ersson, Darion Hanson, and Kirill Ustimenko scratched for today’s game.
Pat Nagle 7-3-4, 2.60 GAA, .904 SV%) started in goal for the Phantoms, with Felix Sandstrom the backup. Jakub Skarek (16-12-4, 3.20 GAA, .899 SV%) started in goal for the Islanders.
In the first period, the Islanders dominated early with a 7-0 shot advantage. With 14:31 left, Wyatte Wylie hooked Arnaud Durandeau, putting the Islanders on their first power play.
The Phantoms killed the Islanders’ power play. With 10:50 left, Garrett Wilson registered the first shot on goal for the Phantoms.
Late first period, Isaac Ratcliffe was called for interference on Collin Adams, putting the Islanders on their second power-play of the game. It was a bad call by the refs. Ratcliffe barely interfered with Adams, and head coach Ian Laperriere questioned the call.
There was a lot of back-and-forth action in the first period. With 3:23 left, Wade Allison left the game and did not return. He was skating gingerly after taking a couple of hard hits and a blocked shot. There was no update on Allison’s condition after the game.
Meanwhile, Pat Nagle made several terrific saves and stopped all 16 shots from the Islanders. After one period, the game was scoreless, and the Islanders led the shots 16-5. The Islanders had 52-seconds left of their second power play to begin the second period.
The Phantoms killed the 52-seconds to start the second period. With 18:24 left, the Islanders got away with a penalty after Arnaud Durandeau boarded Cooper Zech.
Then, with 13:52 left, the Phantoms went on their second power-play after Seth Helgeson hooked Logan Day.
On the power-play, Adam Johnson (3) redirected Adam Clendening’s (29) shot past Skarek’s right side into the net for the game’s first goal and a 1-0 lead. Tanner Laczynski (7) earned the secondary assist.
Four minutes later, the Islanders tied it up 1-1. Wyatte Wylie made a bad pass that was intercepted by Parker Wotherspoon (15). Wotherspoon took a shot from the left side that Nagle blocked. However, Collin Adams (5) was right there for the rebound and pushed the puck past Nagle’s lower right side into the net for the goal with 8:41 left in the second period.
With 5:11 left, the Phantoms went on their third power-play after Collin Adams slashed Max Willman. Then, the Phantoms went on a five-on-three power-play for a minute and twenty seconds after Adam Johnson got blasted by Jeff Kubiak on a cross-check.
The Phantoms missed the one power-play. However, they capitalized on the second. Brennan Menell (7) fired from the center point that was tipped into the net by Isaac Ratcliffe (7). The Phantoms were back in the lead 2-1 with 2:49 left. Cal O’Reilly (25) earned the secondary assist. The Phantoms played a tremendous second period, leading 2-1 after two periods, and led the shots 26-25.
In the third period, Islanders forward Otto Koivula (32) took a shot that hit Nagle’s left pad. Then, Mitchell Vande Sompel (2) rebounded the puck and shoveled it past Nagle’s right skate and into the net. The game was tied 2-2 with 11:19 left.
Twenty seconds later, the Phantoms took the lead back. Tanner Laczynski (8) took a shot that Islander’s goalie Jakub Skarek blocked. The puck bounced off the boards before Logan Day (5) fired a one-timer from the right circle to the upper left corner and into the net. The Phantoms led 3-2 with 10:59 left. Adam Johnson (12) earned the secondary assist.
Sixteen seconds later, Max Willman tried to clear the puck out of the Phantoms’ zone. However, the puck went out of play, and Willman was called for a delay of game. The Islanders went on their fifth power play of the afternoon.
The Islanders capitalized. With 8:32 left, Bridgeport was setting up for a shot. Mitchell Vande Sompel (14) passed the puck to Chris Terry (24). Terry had his stick ready to fire and riffled the puck from the left circle past Nagle’s left side and into the net, tying the game 3-3.
Then, with 5:08 left, the Phantoms went on their fifth power-play. Paul LaDue held max Willman. They were getting set up for a shot opportunity in the Islanders’ zone. First, Adam Clendening (30) made a cross-ice pass to Cal O’Reilly (26). Then, O’Reilly took a shot from the left circle that was tipped into the net by Isaac Ratcliffe (8) for a 4-3 lead. It was Ratcliffe’s second goal of the game. With Ratcliffe’s goal, the Phantoms took the lead for good.
The Islanders were desperate to tie the game. With 1:33 left, they pulled Jakub Skarek for an extra attacker. However, Islanders forward Mitchell Vande Sompel was chasing Adam Johnson to prevent an empty-net goal. Both players slid, and Sompel hit the goal net. He was down for several minutes but got up and skated back to the bench.
Once play resumed, the Islanders pulled Skarek again. But, this time, the Phantoms’ defense was ready, and once they got the puck, they killed the clock and won the game 3-2.
As a result, they earned another two points. They are now seven points behind the Penguins for the final playoff spot. The Phantoms played a good game. Playing three straight games took a toll on the players, who looked exhausted at times out on the ice.
Isaac Ratcliffe was a soldier today. He scored twice and blocked two shots, and was playing hurt. Tanner Laczynski had an excellent game as well, with two assists.
The Phantoms finished the afternoon with 35 shots, 3/5 on the power-play, and Pat Nagle made 28 of 31 saves.
The Phantoms visit the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 pm. Tickets for the game can be purchased courtesy of our friends at StubHub.
