On Sunday afternoon at the Giant Center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-4-1) closed out the weekend by playing their third straight game against the Hershey Bears (3-2-2). This was the second time that both teams played each other after Hershey beat the Phantoms 2-1 on October 16th.
Before the game started, the Phantoms sent forward Charlie Gerard to the Reading Royals. Gerard played for the Royals on Sunday and scored the game-winning goal against the Indy Fuel. Sam Ersson (0-2-1, 3.03, .904) started in goal.
The Phantoms were coming off a rough game Saturday night in a 6-3 loss to the Bridgeport Islanders and were looking for better results this time around.
Forty-three seconds into the game, Hershey went on the rush led by Mike Vecchione (4), who made a nice backhand pass to Mike Sgarbossa (1), who scored his first goal of the season shooting over the right pad of Ersson for a 1-0 lead. Sam Anas (2) picked up the secondary assist.
The Phantoms had an opportunity to tie the game on the power play after a roughing call against Dylan McIlrath, but could not capitalize. After that, Alex Kile headed to the penalty box for tripping, putting Hershey on their first power play.
It took a minute for Hershey to score another goal when Mike Vecchione (5) found Mike Sgarbossa (2), who shot the puck through the five-hole of Ersson for a 2-0 lead with 7:59 left. Sam Anas (3) earned the secondary assist.
Despite allowing two goals, the Phantoms were playing better hockey than last night. They were hitting, creating turnovers, and creating scoring opportunities. With under six minutes left, former Phantom forward Matt Strome went to the penalty box for interference.
The Phantoms took advantage when Olle Lycksell (3) took a shot that went off of goalie Zach Fucale, and Jackson Cates (1) was right there to get the rebound and score the power play goal over Fucale’s right pad, cutting Hershey’s lead 2-1 with 4:30 left. Hershey got off two more shots before the first period ended. Hershey led 2-1, and the shots were tied 9-9.
In the second period, the Phantoms committed two penalties. The power play unit did a good job killing off the two penalties. Even though there were no goals scored in the second period, the Phantoms had eight chances to tie the game. It was a good period for them, and Sam Ersson made several nice saves, including a right-pad save off a breakaway by Hendrix Lapierre.
However, the game went away from the Phantoms in the third period. First, Bobby Nardella (1) rifled a shot over Ersson’s left shoulder, extending Hershey’s lead to 3-1 with 17:34 left. Hendrix Lapierre (3) and Mason Morelli (5) assisted Nardella’s goal.
Next, an unfortunate injury happened to Cam York. York was going for the puck and got hit by Mason Morelli. York was down for several minutes before being helped off the ice as he could not put weight on his left leg. There were no updates available for the rest of the game.
Two minutes later, Hershey put the game away on a breakaway goal by Mike Vecchione (3) sprinting past two Phantoms players before shooting over Ersson’s glove for the goal. It was now 4-1 Bears with 12:26 left. The Phantoms players were out of gas by that point in the game, and the Bears won 4-1.
The Phantoms finished the game with 23 shots, one-for-three on the power play, and Sam Ersson made 30 saves, while Hershey had 34 shots, two-for-five on the power play, and Zach Fucale made 22 saves.
The Phantoms continue their road trip next weekend in Canada against the Belleville Senators on Friday night at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
