GAME STORY: Charlotte at Lehigh Valley (3/5/22)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-22-10) hope to avoid a five-game winless skid with a Saturday night rematch against the Charlotte Checkers (28-21-3) at 7:15 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Pat Nagle got the start in net for Lehigh Valley in Saturday's rematch against the Checkers. Felix Sandstrom, who took the loss last night (27 saves - 31 shots), served as Nagle's backup.

Kirill Ustimenko was re-assigned to ECHL Reading, with Nagle and Sandstrom healthy and the injured Samuel Ersson still on the mend.

Head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after Friday night's game, "I sure need more out of a lot of guys in that room - for 60 minutes," later adding, "There's a couple of guys that are going to come out, and a couple of guys are going to come in. "Next man up."

Changes there were.

Defenseman Logan Day and forwards Maksim Sushko, German Rubtsov and Linus Sandin were out, while defenseman Cooper Zech and forwards Tanner Laczynski, Brennan Saulnier and Nick Lappin returned to the lineup.

Wade Allison, though cleared and assigned to the Phantoms officially Saturday afternoon, was not in the Phantoms' lineup Saturday night.

Phantoms Scratches: Samuel Ersson (lower body), Wade Allison, Maksim Sushko, German Rubtsov, Linus Sandin, Logan Day, Hayden Hodgson (serving suspension game 2 of 3), Alex Kile (upper body) and Tyson Foerster (upper body)

Lines/Pairings:

Adam Johnson - Cal O'Reilly - Tanner Laczynski Garrett Wilson - Morgan Frost - Charlie Gerard Isaac Ratcliffe - Matt Strome - Connor Bunnaman Brennan Saulnier - Jackson Cates - Nick Lappin

Egor Zamula - Adam Clendening Cam York - Wyatte Wylie Linus Hogberg - Cooper Zech

Pat Nagle - Felix Sandstrom

Charlotte Checkers Lineup Notes

Joey Daccord got the start in net Saturday night against Lehigh Valley. Antoine Bibeau served as the team's backup with Friday night's starter Spencer Knight (20 saves - 22 shots) got the night off after also starting Wednesday in Hershey in a 44-save shutout effort.

Checkers Scratches: Spencer Knight, Chris Gibson, Karch Bachman, Nolan Kneen, Connor Carrick, Max Gildon, Grigori Denisenko, John Ludvig,

Max McCormick - Alex True - Logan Hutsko Scott Wilson - Kole Lind - Owen Tippett Carsen Twarynski - Zac Dalpe - Luke Henman Henry Bowlby - Cole Schwindt - Aleksi Heponiemi

Matt Kiersted - Cale Fleury Dennis Cholowski - Chase Priskie Jacob Friend - Carter Robinson

Joey Daccord - Antoine Bibeau

GAME RECAP

1st Period

It was a quiet start as neither team registered a shot in the opening few minutes of play, but after an Isaac Ratcliffe hooking penalty sent the Phantoms to an early penalty kill Charlotte seized control - tallying two goals in a span of 54 seconds to open up a 2-0 lead.

After great movement on the power play allowed Charlotte to pressure the entire power play opportunity, Cale Fleury moved the puck from his center point position to the left wing for Kole Lind who quickly sent a cross-ice feed to Owen Tippett at the right wing circle.

Tippett patiently waited for an opening before sniping one to the top shelf for his second goal of the season.

On the next shift, the Checkers scored in transition.

Henry Bowlby dropped a pass back to the left point off-the-rush as defenseman Dennis Cholowski joined the play and picked up the puck - blasting one past Phantoms' goaltender Pat Nagle to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead just 7:28 into the contest.

Despite digging themselves into an early 2-0 hole, the effort and intensity seemed to be there for Lehigh Valley as the period wore on.

The trio of Isaac Ratcliffe, Matt Strome and Connor Bunnaman that had a strong game as a unit last night had a strong cycle going in the offensive zone. Nothing flashy, but the sustained puck possession and repeated board battle wins led to Strome taking a cross-check in the corner - drawing the Phantoms their first power play of the night.

Despite out-shooting the Checkers 9-3 in the opening period, the Phantoms found themselves trailing 2-0 after 20 minutes.

First Period Thoughts

There was definitely much more urgency from the Phantoms in the first period as compared to last night's game where they were losing a lot of puck battles and chasing the play.

Certainly some frustration to be had with some good looks at the net and a 3-to-1 edge in shots on goal. Checkers' goalie Joey Daccord was equal to the task in the opening 20 minutes, stopping all nine shots he faced. The Phantoms had a power play opportunity later in the period, but were unable to generate much in the way of chances during  man advantage chance.

An interesting sequence in the final five minutes after Carsen Twarynski put a hit on Isaac Ratcliffe in front of the Checkers' bench. Ratcliffe responded with two heavy slashes on Twarynski before Checkers captain Zac Dalpe dropped his gloves and challenged Ratcliffe to a fight, which ended quickly as the much bigger Phantoms forward earned the takedown. Despite being longtime former teammates, Ratcliffe had some words for Twarynski after the fight as he was separated from Dalpe and directed toward the penalty boxes across the way. No love lost there on that play.

2nd Period

A tough start to the middle frame for Lehigh Valley, as on a routine dump-in Garrett Wilson put a hit on Kole Lind as the Checkers forward was wrapping around behind his net with the puck. The only problem was Lind subtly dished the puck as he wrapped around - drawing an interference minor on Wilson as he got blasted shortly after releasing the puck to his teammate.

The Phantoms started off the penalty kill with a shorthanded chance as Jackson Cates came flying down the left wing with speed. As he approached the left-circle he was shoved by a Checkers' defender - catching him off-balance and launching him into the end boards. After the hard collision with the end wall, play was stopped and Cates was later immobilized before being placed on a stretcher.

After the scary scene, the Checkers cashed in on the power play shortly after the lengthy stoppage to extend their lead to 3-0.

Alexander True took it hard to the net from the right wing, with Nagle getting an initial save before losing track of the loose puck at the side of his net. Chase Priskie poked home the loose puck 1:57 into the middle frame, with Aleksi Heponiemi recording his second assist of the evening.

That spelled the end of the evening for Pat Nagle, who surrendered three goals on five shots to that point. Felix Sandstrom came on in relief.

Less than two minutes later, the Phantoms frustration got the best of them.

Fourth line forwards Nick Lappin and Brennan Saulnier were involved in a scrum 160 feet away from the puck at the far end, and although they later re-joined the play on the puck it wasn't long before Tippett put his skills on full display - going from his own blue line and weaving his way past Phantoms' defenders on his way down low before he popped a pass into the slot for an open Kole Lind one-timer that beat Sandstrom clean to open the game up to the tune of a 4-0 Checkers' lead with still 16:15 left to play in the second period.

Similar to the first frame, the Phantoms continued to go to work and fire shots toward Checkers' netminder Joey Daccord. They just weren't finishing off any of their chances.

Despite a 21-9 edge in shots at one point late in the middle frame, they entered the final frame in a 4-0 hole.

Second Period Thoughts

The middle frame played out similarly to the first in that the Checkers' opportunistic offense struck twice in rapid succession for the second straight period in another 20-minute segment where the Phantoms were getting a majority of the shots on goal.

Frustration continued to build as the period wore on. There were plenty of extra chops, swipes and hits away from the play or after whistles.

That was a scary situation in the opening minute of the period when Jackson Cates went into the endboards hard and wasn't able to get up. Hopefully, the immobilization and stretcher escort off the playing surface was more precautionary than anything. I know the Phantoms won't use it as an excuse, but sometimes it's difficult to get right back into that game mindset. Charlotte scored two goals less than two minutes apart shortly after the near 10-minute injury stoppage.

Third Period

The Phantoms broke through to end Daccord's shutout bid early in the third period, as the top line of Adam Johnson, Cal O'Reilly and Tanner Laczynski combined to get Lehigh Valley on the scoreboard. Johnson got a puck Laczysnki for a shot that was stopped initially, but O'Reilly got to the rebound and was able to lift a backhander over the Checkers' netminder to make it a 4-1 game 2:18 into the final frame.

Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, they weren't able to add to it to get any momentum going as Charlotte finished off a rush at the other end just over four minutes later to put it back to a four-goal game, at a 5-1 count. Carter Robertson poked home a rebound of an Alexander True drive to the net for his first career AHL goal.

Morgan Frost later deflected a Wyatte Wylie shot from the corner for his sixth of the season to cut the Phantoms' deficit to 5-2 with 11:14 remaining, but that's as close as the Phantoms would get in their second consecutive 5-2 loss at the hands of the Checkers.

The loss Saturday sees the Phantoms winless skid extended to five games (0-4-1) with a chance to end that coming up Tuesday night in Hershey.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:28: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (hooking) 6:34: CHA - PPG Tippett (2) - Lind, Fleury 7:28: CHA - Cholowski (3) - Bowlby, Heponiemi 13:27: CHA - (PP) Friend, minor (cross-checking) 15:14: LV - (PP) Ratcliffe, minor (slashing) 15:14: LV - Ratcliffe, major (fighting) 15:14: CHA - Dalpe, major (fighting)

2nd Period

0:15: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (interference) 1:57: CHA - PPG Priskie (6) - True, Heponiemi 3:45: CHA - Lind (17) - Tippett, Priskie 4:20: LV - (PP) Wylie, minor (delay of game) 5:06: CHA - (PP) Cholowski, minor (interference) 9:32: CHA - (PP) Kiersted, minor (slashing) 18:20: LV - (PP) Clendening, minor (slashing)

Third Period

2:18: LV - O'Reilly (13) - Laczynski, Johnson 6:47: CHA - Robertson (1) - True, Hutsko 8:46: LV - Frost (6) - Wylie, Wilson

BOXSCORE

Charlotte     2 - 2 - 1 = 5 Lehigh Valley   0 - 0 - 2 = 2

Shots

Charlotte     3 - 9 - 7 = 19 Lehigh Valley   9 - 13 - 12 = 34

Goalies

CHA: Joey Daccord (32 saves - 34 shots) LV: Pat Nagle (2 saves - 5 shots in 23:45) and Felix Sandstrom (12 saves - 14 shots in 36:15)

Power Play

CHA: 2-for-5 LV: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

CHA: 3-for-3 LV: 3-for-5