GAME STORY: Laval - 3 at Lehigh Valley - 4 (3/11/22)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms entered the locker room during the second intermission trailing Laval 3-2, staring a potential seventh straight loss in the face before coming out for the third period.

While it's too early to call tonight's third period performance a season-saving moment - Lehigh Valley remains six points behind the final playoff spot in the Altantic Division - the way they dominated the final frame and turned a one-goal deficit into a big regulation win sets the tone for the rest of the weekend.

The Phantoms' top line of Wade Allison (one goal, two assists), Cal O'Reilly (one goal, two assists) and Max Willman (one goal, one assist) led the way, as Willman and Allison scored 1:58 apart in the opening three and a half minutes of the third period to turn things around for good. Lehigh Valley dominated the third period, out-shooting Laval 17-4 and earning a big two points. Felix Sandstrom stopped 21 of 24 to pick up his ninth win of the season.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Felix Sandstrom got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Friday night against Laval. Kirill Ustimenko served as Sandstrom's backup.

Pat Nagle was reassigned to Reading (ECHL) Thursday.

Defenseman Garrett McFadden was called up to Lehigh Valley from Reading, and was a healthy scratch Friday as Egor Zamula was able to return to the lineup after missing Tuesday's game due to a minor injury.

Morgan Frost was called up to the Flyers Friday afternoon, with Max Willman being loaned to Lehigh Valley. Willman was in the Phantoms' lineup Friday.

Wade Allison, Maksim Sushko and Matt Strome all returned to the Phantoms' lineup Friday.

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 - Wade Allison 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

Felix Sandstrom - Kirill Ustimenko

GAME RECAP

1st Period

The Phantoms got off to a strong start, rattling off the first 11 shots on goal in the contest - really taking it to Laval and spending much of the opening half of the period with puck possession and time spent in the offensive zone.

A bit of a scary play in the opening five minutes of play, as Wade Allison crashed the net and had a Laval defender accidentally step on his right hand/wrist. Allison was cut and holding his right arm up as he exited to the bench, and subsequently the locker room for repairs. He didn't return the rest of the period.

Lehigh Valley eventually was able to break the scoreless tie on their 13th shot of the period, on a bit of a fluke-y play.

After losing an offensive zone draw, Cal O'Reilly was chasing down a puck behind the Laval net when forward Jesse Ylonen accidentally flubbed a pass from the left wing wall right onto his netminder Kevin Poulin. Poulin tried to clear the puck out of his crease, but O'Reilly swooped in and scored an unassisted backhand tally for his 14th of the season with 3:05 left before the first intermission.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Kevin Roy scored for the Rocket from the left wing moments after being denied by Sandstrom on a clear breakaway from center ice.

Despite having a 13-4 edge in shots, after O'Reilly's goal the Rocket started to gain momentum leading up to Roy's game-tying goal with 1:17 left in the period. They fired the final five shots of the period Sandstrom's way, and the Phantoms netminder was equal to the task - getting his team to the locker room with the score even at one apiece.

2nd Period

The good news to begin the middle frame was seeing Allison return onto the ice.

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, it was Laval feeding off the momentum they created late in the opening period - as they rattled off four the opening five shots of the period before taking a 2-1 lead 5:32 into the frame.

Somehow, Rocket forward Jesse Ylonen was able to casually skate the puck from the left-wing wall into the slot before he fired a hard, uncontested shot on Sandstrom. The Phantoms' goalie made the initial save, but Rafael Harvey-Pinard was atop the crease and able to bat in the rebound for his 12th of the season.

From there, the Phantoms continued to be on their heels a bit.

Laval capitalized.

Former Flyers/Phantoms forward Danick Martel led a 2-on-1 rush, feeding one across to Justin Ducharme for a goal to put Laval ahead 3-1 with 8:18 left before the second intermission.

Sandstrom continued to face Grade-A chance after Grade-A chance, most notably coming up big on a 2-on-1 - making a glove save to keep the Phantoms within striking distance in the final three and a half minutes of the period.

The save turned out to be crucial, as Logan Day joined a rush later in the period and went bar-down to get the Phantoms back within a goal heading to the third.

Wade Allison got a puck ahead for Max Willman in the neutral zone, and Willman dropped one back for the trailing Day - with the Phantoms' defender using a Laval defender as a screen and firing a high-riser that hit the top shelf with 1:52 left in the middle frame.

3rd Period

Lehigh Valley came out for the third period, in what felt like a season-defining period of hockey, and absolutely dominated the Rocket - quickly turning a one-goal deficit into a one goal lead on a pair of goals 1:58 apart in the opening four minutes of the frame.

First, Willman took a puck from Allison with speed through the neutral zone before firing a hard shot past Poulin to tie the game 1:34 into the period.

Less than a minute later, the Phantoms got a power play after Adam Johnson was clipped with a high-stick off of an offensive zone face-off - allowing the Phantoms to continue to seize momentum before Linus Sandin slid a pass across to Allison for a one-timer from the left-wing circle to put the Phantoms back in front, 4-3.

Even with the one-goal lead, the Phantoms kept their foot on the gas pedal all the way to the final horn.

If not for the play of Poulin in Laval's net, the game would have been out of reach in the closing minutes. Instead the Rocket had a chance in the final minute, with Poulin on the bench for the extra attacker, but the Phantoms were able to hold on and close things out with a big win to start their three-game weekend.

Lehigh Valley is back in action Saturday night as they host Hartford.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

13:11: LV - (PP) Zamula, minor (hooking) 16:55: LV - O'Reilly (14) - unassisted 18:43: LAV - Roy (8) - Bourque, Amorosa

2nd Period

5:32: LAV - Harvey-Pinard (12) - Ylonen 11:42: LAV - Ducharme (3) - Martel, Amorosa 18:08: LV - Day (3) - Willman, Allison

3rd Period

1:34: LV - Willman (9) - Allison, O'Reilly 2:24: LAV - (PP) Kielb, minor (high-sticking) 3:32: LV - PPG Allison (4) - Sandin, O'Reilly 8:31: LAV - (PP) Harvey-Pinard, minor (cross-checking) 18:54: LAV - Belpedio, minor (roughing) 18:54: LV - Ratcliffe, minor (roughing)

BOXSCORE

Laval Rocket   1 - 2 - 0 = 3 Lehigh Valley   1 - 1 - 2 = 4

Shots

Laval Rocket   9 - 11 - 4 = 24 Lehigh Valley   13 - 8 - 17 = 38

Goalies

LAV: Kevin Poulin (34 saves - 38 shots) LV: Felix Sandstrom (21 saves - 24 shots)

Power Play

LAV: 0-for-1 LV: 1-for-2

Penalty Kill

LAV: 1-for-2 LV: 1-for-1