GAME STORY: Hartford - 5 at Lehigh Valley - 6 (3/12/22)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-24-10) played a high-octane, high-offense affair Saturday night against the Hartford Wolf Pack as the two teams combined for 11 goals.

After a six-goal first period saw the Phantoms trailing 4-2, Lehigh Valley tightened things up defensively while also staying on the attack - tallying three in the middle frame before holding on for a 6-5 regulation win.

Cal O'Reilly and Hayden Hodgson tallied two goals each, while Tanner Laczynski and Logan Day also hit the back of the net in the Phantoms' win. Kirill Ustimenko (eight saves - 12 shots) was replaced by Felix Sandstrom to begin the middle frame, and Sandstrom picked up the win - stopping all but one of the 23 shots he faced in relief.

The Phantoms conclude their three-game weekend with a 5 p.m. face-off in Hershey against their in-state rival.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Kirill Ustimenko got the start in net Saturday against Hartford. Felix Sandstrom, who stopped 21 of 24 shots he faced in Friday night's win, served as the team's backup.

Wade Allison was not in the Phantoms' lineup Saturday after returning in Friday's game following his right wrist being cut by a skate in the 1st period. Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game that Allison wasn't a scheduled scratch Saturday in the middle game of the 3-in-3. "He's banged up [from Friday]," Laperriere said, adding that he wasn't sure if Allison would return to the lineup Sunday in Hershey.

Charlie Gerard slotted into the lineup in Allison's place on the top line.

Other than that, same lineup as Friday night for Lehigh Valley.

Phantoms Scratches: Samuel Ersson, Garrett McFadden, German Rubtsov, Jackson Cates, Brennan Saulnier, Nick Lappin, Charlie Gerard, Ryan MacKinnon, Alex Kile and Tyson Foerster

Lines/Pairings:

Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Charlie Gerard Garrett Wilson - Tanner Laczynski - Linus Sandin Isaac Ratcliffe - Matthew Strome - Hayden Hodgson Adam Johnson - Connor Bunnaman - Maksim Sushko

Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening Cooper Zech - Wyatte Wylie Egor Zamula - Logan Day

Kirill Ustimenko - Felix Sandstrom

GAME RECAP

1st Period

Things were wide open in the first period for both teams to start, as the teams traded three goals in a span of 1:04 in the opening six minutes of play.

First, Cal O'Reilly opened the scoring after good work from Max Willman through the netural zone and an excellent read by Charlie Gerard who, from the right point, fired a puck to the net front just as he crossed into the offensive zone - seeing O'Reilly beelining it to the net. The hard floating pass was on the money, and O'Reilly re-directed it past Wolf Pack goaltender Keith Kinkaid to give the Phantoms an early 1-0 lead.

Before PA announcer Joe Wowk could finish announcing O'Reilly as the goal scorer for Lehigh Valley, Hartford tied the game up at 1-1 on the very next shift - getting a goal from Ty Ronning just 21 seconds after O'Reilly's opening goal.

Hartford took the lead less than a minute later after Willman was tagged for an inadvertent high-stick resulting from a defensive zone face-off. It only took six seconds for the Wolf Pack to score on the ensuing man advantage with Zac Jones firing a puck from the left circle past a screened Kirill Ustimenko for Jones' 5th of the season.

The Phantoms responded with a power play goal of their own to tie the game back up at 2-2 just prior to the midway mark of the period. Kinkaid came up big on a Hayden Hodgson one-timer from the left-wing face-off circle but lost the rebound behind him in his crease. O'Reilly spotted it and reached over the WolfPack goaltender to poke the puck into the net for his second tally of the period.

The Wolf Pack power play one-upped the Phantoms' PP unit by re-taking the lead on another power play tally with 7:55 remaining in the opening period.

The real back-breaker, however, came in the final 70 seconds of the period. On a routine dump-and-chase play, Phantoms defender Adam Clendening took an awful pursuit angle, allowing Hartford to be first to a loose puck behind the Phantoms' net. Tanner Fritz made the play behind the net, quickly feeding Austin Rueschhoff in front for a quick shot past Ustimenko to extend Hartford's lead to 4-2 heading into the middle frame.

2nd Period

While tough to blame Ustimenko on that fourth goal, it was apparent Saturday night was not going to be his night. Phantoms' head coach Ian Laperriere turned to Felix Sandstrom to start the middle frame.

Lehigh Valley killed off a carry-over Egor Zamula delay of game penalty to begin the middle frame, then went back to work - tallying back-to-back goals in the opening 7:01 of the period to even things up at 4-4 as the goals just kept on coming.

First, Tanner Laczynski deflected a Logan Day point shot past Kinkaid 3:48 into the period to bring the Phantoms within a goal, before Hodgson simply took over the game for the Phantoms.

Hodgson was relentless on a backcheck as Hartford was attempting to break a puck out of their end, pickpocketing a Hartford skater just inside the offensive zone blue line before gliding to the right-wing circle and ripping one past Kinkaid to tie the game.

Hodgson wasn't done there, either. Perhaps after serving his three-game suspension, he was trying to make up for lost time.

It just seemed like the Ratcliffe-Strome-Hodgson line was dominant every time the trio stepped onto the ice. It was only fitting Laperriere put that group out there in the waning moments of the period, and boy did that move pay off in a big way.

The Phantoms set up another strong cycle play in the offensive zone, with Ratcliffe later spinning away from a defender and feeding Hodgson in front to give Lehigh Valley a 5-4 lead heading to the third period. It marked Hodgson's second of the game and team-leading 18th goal of the season.

3rd Period

With a one-goal lead entering the third, the Phantoms kept their foot on the gas and spent most of the first half of the period on the attack in the offensive zone. They didn't add to their lead, but by spending time in the offensive zone they were, of course, not in their own end defending.

That changed in the second half of the period as Hartford began applying pressure, looking for a game-tying goal. They got one to make it 5-5 with 7:05 left to play as Matt Lorito finished a play off at the side of the net for his fourth of the year in his 10th game since joining the Wolf Pack mid-season.

Still, the Phantoms didn't panic. Less than three minutes later, Linus Sandin made an excellent cross-ice pass to feed Logan Day with an easy tap-in on the back door to put Lehigh Valley ahead 6-5 with 4:07 left to play.

Hartford got a gift of a power play with 3:22 left as Tanner Fritz took down Hodgson in the corner, but it was Hodgson who headed to the box because as he was falling from the takedown his stick came up and clipped the Wolf Pack forward.

But the Phantoms got the kill, and with Hartford's goalie on the bench were able to hold on for the 6-5 win.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:01: LV - O'Reilly (15) - Gerard, Willman 5:22: HFD - Ronning (13) - Richards, Greco 5:59: LV - (PP) Willman, minor (high-sticking) 6:05: HFD - PPG Jones (5) - Lundkvist, Rueschhoff 8:38: HFD - (PP) Jones, minor (tripping) 9:01: LV - PPG O'Reilly (16) - unassisted 10:45: LV - (PP) Sandin, minor (holding) 12:05: HFD - PPG Pajuniemi (9) - Fritz, Jones 18:56: HFD - Rueschhoff (14) - Fritz, Lorito 19:50: LV - (PP) Zamula, minor (delay of game)

2nd Period

3:48: LV - Laczynski (2) - Day, Sushko 4:05: HFD - (PP) Ronning, minor (tripping) 7:01: LV - Hodgson (17) - unassisted 9:12: HFD - (PP) Tinordi, minor (cross-checking) 14:36: HFD - Skinner, major (fighting) 14:36: LV - Day, major (fighting) 18:56: LV - Hodgson (18) - Ratcliffe, Zech

3rd Period

12:55: HFD - Lorito (4) - Pajuniemi, Skinner 15:53: LV - Day (4) - Sandin, Zamula 16:38: LV - (PP) Hodgson, minor (high-sticking)

BOXSCORE

Hartford      4 - 0 - 1 = 5 Lehigh Valley  2 - 3 - 1 = 6

Shots

Hartford      12 - 9 - 14 = 35 Lehigh Valley  12 - 12 - 8 = 32

Goalies

HFD: Keith Kinkaid (26 saves - 32 shots) LV: Kirill Ustimenko (8 saves - 12 shots in 20:00) and Felix Sandstrom (22 saves - 23 shots in 40:00)

Power Play

HFD: 2-for-4 LV: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

HFD: 2-for-3 LV: 2-for-4