Photo Credit: Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Springfield, MA – The Phantoms headed up to Springfield Massachusetts, home of the Springfield Thunderbirds on a mission. Lehigh Valley played host the night prior to the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Phantoms would win the back-and-forth battle, Samu Toumala was the OT hero in front of 8,200+ fans in downtown Allentown on Friday night. Lehigh Valley would participate in their third straight game past regulation. The Thunderbirds would claim the two points, Dylan Coghlan sending the Springfield faithful home happy. Springfield won their 5th straight, after starting the season 1-4-0, they seemed to have hit their stride. The Phantoms have earned at least a point in each of their last three games.
RECAP
Garret Wilson kicked things off, his second goal of the season sliding the rebound home into the yawning cage just over four minutes into the game at 4:01. About twenty seconds later JR Avon took a minor penalty for a slash at 4:20. A bit of controversy on the Thunderbirds man advantage, an in-arena horn would sound when it just seemed Springfield got things going. After things were situated, so we thought the Phantoms would win the face-off and get a clear that would cause a bit of frustration from the fans. As it seemed that the Thunderbirds were getting set for one last power play rush the horn would sound again, oddly enough in Lehigh’s favor giving them an offensive draw that would ultimately kill the Avon minor. Wilson with the lone goal in the frame, Cahagen stopped all 10 shots he faced.
The second period was all about goals and goaltending. Dylan Coghlan kicked things off at about the halfway point, a blast from the point with a hard-nosed screen in front giving Cahagen no chance at the 9:50 mark. Brendan Furry netted his 1st of the season, 2nd of his pro career a snipe past a frustrated Subban at 14:30. The Phantoms were hoping to head into the final frame ahead by one, but Wyatt Kalynuk had different plans. Kalynuk’s wrister snuck through the pads of Cahagen and trickled in, the former 2017 Flyers draft pick netted his 1st of the season he hadn’t scored in any of the 14 games he played in 2022-23. Shots for the second 13-9 in favor of Springfield.
A goaltending duel in the third, although not many shots. Subban stopped all 5 he saw in the third, and Parker Cahagen stopped all 7 he saw. The Phantoms went from lucky to unfortunate late in the frame. The fortunate part was a man advantage at the 18:08 mark, the unfortunate part was a solid Springfield penalty kill followed by a Thunderbirds power play in the overtime session. The penalty is a rare/odd one a delay of the game in that there no no zone for goalies. Parker Cahagen committed the infraction at 19:36.Â
The power play carried over into the OT, and more confusion relating to the clock and scoreboard. After everything was situated the Thunderbirds man advantage tried to get to work, but the Phantoms were up to the task early. An unfortunate break for Lehigh Valley would ultimately give Springfield the win. Rhett Gardner would put the Phantoms’ backs to the walls, first, he would be called for a hooking minor then in frustration wristed the puck against the boards, the ref said you can’t do that and gave him an extra 10 for unsportsmanlike conduct. Dylan Coghlan called the game, taking full advantage of the 4-on-3 power play in the extra session. The snipe from straight away came at 2;29 into OT, just the Thunderbirds 2nd shot of the session.
Parker Cahagen stopped 29 of the 32 shots he saw in the overtime loss. Malcolm Subban on the other end stopped 20 of the 22 he saw for the Thunderbirds.
That wraps up 3 games in 4 days for the orange & black, they earned at least one standing point in each of the 3 games Lehigh Valley moves to (4-4-2-0) on the season. The Thunderbirds head into Wednesday on a 5-game winning streak, they move to (6-4-0-0) on the year.
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The Phantoms and Thunderbirds are both off until Wednesday morning, both clubs facing off in an education-day game at approximately 10:35 a.m. in Springfield, MA.
Attendance: 5,739
MassMutual Center | Springfield, MA
