GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 0 at Hershey - 2 (3/14/22)

HERSHEY, Pa - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-25-10) faced an uphill battle playing their third game in two and a half days against a Hershey Bears team that enjoyed a rare Saturday night off. It compounded with some of the most questionable officiating observed in the team's seven-year history as an AHL franchise.

Lots of late whistles, questionable calls and questionable non-calls killed the flow of the game in the second period, and an egregious "charging goaltender in crease" minor penalty in the third period on Max Willman was the cherry on top of the poor officiating sundae.

"It's been a tough weekend for the referees, that's for sure," a frustrated head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game, declining to comment on any further follow-up questions on his thoughts on some of the calls, like that Willman penalty at a crucial time in the third period of a 1-0 game.

Felix Sandstrom played valiantly in a losing effort, stopping all but one of the 31 shots he faced.

Marcus Vela tallied the only goal scored with a goalie in the net, as he re-directed a Mason Morelli shot late in the second period to break a scoreless tie. Mike Sgarbossa added an empty net tally to complete the 2-0 final score. Zach Fucale stopped all 29 shots he faced, picking up his third straight shutout

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Felix Sandstrom got the start in net Sunday for Lehigh Valley. Kirill Ustimenko served as the team's backup after being pulled following the 1st period of Saturday night's game - surrendering four goals on 12 shots against Hartford.

Wade Allison remained out of the lineup as he was cut by a skate Friday, and the team likely wants to play on the side of caution to allow his cut to heal and the 4-5 stitches in his wrist to be removed.

Tanner Laczynski was an undisclosed injury scratch up front.

German Rubtsov replaced Laczynski in the lineup, but exited some point during the 1st period with an upper body injury.

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 - Connor Bunnaman - Linus Sandin Isaac Ratcliffe - Matthew Strome - Hayden Hodgson Adam Johnson - German Rubtsov - Maksim Sushko

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

Felix Sandstrom - Kirill Ustimenko

GAME RECAP

1st Period

Playing their third game in three nights against a Hershey team that had the night off on Saturday, Lehigh Valley was able to weather the storm in the opening 20 minutes and get to the intermission in a scoreless tie.

The trio of Isaac Ratcliffe, Matthew Strome and Hayden Hodgson continued their strong play from Saturday night, generating offensive zone time and scoring chances with regularity.

Cal O'Reilly had a shorthanded breakaway chance late in the period, but Zach Fucale came up big to keep the game scoreless. In fact, he had to quickly make a second stop because his Bears' teammate at the net front racing to get back nearly kicked the rebound into the net.

Hershey had some dangerous chances as well, most notably in the final 10 seconds of the period on a 4-on-2 rush that ended with a point-blank chance from Marcus Vela from six feet out that Felix Sandstrom was able to somehow contort his body and make an unbelievable left pad save to get scoreless tie into the middle frame.

2nd Period

The story of the second period was penalties and some seriously late whistles.

Lehigh Valley was whistled for three penalties in the opening 5:42 of the period, the latter of which wasn't even going to be called until a Bears' forward was shouting in the referee's ear about Linus Hogberg shuffling a puck underneath his stomach. Then the arm went up and the call was made.

It probably wasn't a coincidence that they called Hershey for a very questionable cross-checking penalty on the very next shift, likely realizing they had to correct a mistake on the Hogberg call.

Later in the period, Wyatte Wylie ate a high-stick from a Bears' forward down low in the corner that went uncalled with a referee standing in perfect position to see the play unfold. Wylie's mouth was cut, and he missed the rest of the period as he needed some stitching on his lip.

The Bears' eventually broke the scoreless tie late in the second period on a pretty standard shot from the outside with traffic in front. Marcus Vela was able to re-direct a puck past Sandstrom to give the Bears a 1-0 lead with 3:08 left before the second intermission.

Third Period

The brutal officiating reached its peak midway through the third period, as Max Willman glided toward the net from the right-wing circle - looking for a loose puck in Zach Fucale's crease.

Bears' forward Garrett Pilon, draped on Willman's back, guided and shoved Willman directly into the Bears' goaltender. The official standing in the near-side corner raised his arm and called Willman for "charging goaltender in crease" - a penalty I hadn't heard of or even knew existed until tonight.

The parameters of that penalty state that, in the opinion of the referee making the call that Willman was ahead of the defender and drove through the goalie - essentially avoidable contact with the goalie.

That simply didn't happen. Willman didn't drive through the goalie - he was shoved into the goalie. Unavoidable contact.

The Bears' didn't score on the ensuing power play. In fact, they went 0-for-6 with the man advantage on the evening.

But in a 1-0 game in the third period with the Phantoms buzzing fresh off an unsuccessful power play that showed promise, it was an absolute momentum killer for Lehigh Valley.

They continued to run on fumes, and were forced into a hooking minor on Mike Vecchione to prevent a Bears' breakaway two minutes after Willman's penalty expired - preventing them from getting any momentum back or pushing for a tying goal.

The Phantoms got Sandstrom to the bench for the extra attacker with about 1:40 left, but as he was heading off the Bears stole a puck and shot one the length of the ice into the empty net to seal the deal on a 2-0 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

6:28: HER - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Protas) 12:59: HER - (PP) Sgarbossa, minor (cross-checking) 13:46: LV - (PP) Clendening, minor (interference)

2nd Period

0:33: LV - (PP) O'Reilly, minor (tripping) 4:32: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping) 5:42: LV - (PP) Hogberg, minor (delay of game) 6:23: HER - (PP) Pilon, minor (cross-checking) 16:52: HER - Vela (6) - Morelli, Geisser

3rd Period

8:02: HER - (PP) Gersich, minor (high-sticking) 10:22: LV - (PP) Willman, charging goaltender in crease 14:21: LV - (PP) Johnson, minor (hooking) 18:26: HER - ENG Sgarbossa (9) - unassisted

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   0 - 0 - 0 = 0 Hershey Bears  0 - 1 - 1 = 2

Shots

Lehigh Valley   8 - 10 - 11 = 29 Hershey Bears  12 - 7 - 13 = 32

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (30 saves - 31 shots) HER: Zach Fucale (29 saves - 29 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-4 HER: 0-for-6

Penalty Kill

LV: 6-for-6 HER: 4-for-4