GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 0 at Hershey - 4 (3/8/22)

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-24-10) saw their winless streak extended to six games after a lackluster effort in Hershey Tuesday night against in-state rival Hershey Bears (27-21-7) in a 4-0 shutout loss that leaves Lehigh Valley fading further into the distance rather than inching back toward postseason contention.

"Too many passengers," a frustrated Phantoms' head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game.

Beck Malenstyn broke a scoreless tie in the middle frame, and ended up with two goals and an assist to pace the Bears' attack. Zach Fucale pitched a 26-save shutout - his second AHL shutout in the 2021-22 campaign. The Bears also got goals from Brett Leason and Garrett Pilon early in the third period to break open a 1-0 game into a 3-0 Bears' advantage - one they wouldn't look back on on their way to snapping a four-game winless skid of their own.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Felix Sandstrom got the start in net Tuesday night in Hershey. Pat Nagle was scheduled to be the backup, but was unable to play due to illness. Kirill Ustimenko joined the team and backed up Sandstrom as a last-minute (literally) replacement.

Egor Zamula and Matt Strome joined the Phantoms' injured list, along with Jackson Cates.

Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game that Cates' head & neck area are okay following Saturday's scary hit into the endboards which caused play to be stopped and a stretcher brought onto the ice to take Cates to the hospital.

Laperriere was also hopeful that Zamula and Strome wouldn't miss too much time with their respective injuries.

Wade Allison wasn't in the Phantoms' lineup Tuesday, but Laperriere expects him to be in the lineup this weekend.

Phantoms Scratches: Samuel Ersson (lower body), Pat Nagle (illness), Egor Zamula, Wade Allison, Maksim Sushko,  Matt Strome, Jackson Cates, Ryan MacKinnon, Hayden Hodgson (serving suspension game 3 of 3), Alex Kile (upper body) and Tyson Foerster (upper body)

Lines/Pairings:

Adam Johnson - Cal O'Reilly - Linus Sandin Garrett Wilson - Morgan Frost - Charlie Gerard Isaac Ratcliffe - Tanner Laczynski - Connor Bunnaman Brennan Saulnier - German Rubtsov - Nick Lappin

Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening Cam York - Wyatte Wylie Cooper Zech - Logan Day

Felix Sandstrom - Kirill Ustimenko

GAME RECAP

1st Period

The Bears had the early edge in play, spending the opening few shifts on the attack - firing the first six shots of the contest on net toward Felix Sandstrom in the opening two and a half minutes.

Lehigh Valley got a power play chance shortly after Hershey's early shooting spree, but were unable to register their first shot on goal during the ensuing man advantage. In fact, the best chance during the two minutes came on a Bears' 2-on-1 shorthanded chance that Sandstrom was able to come up big on to keep the game scoreless.

It wasn't until there was 9:04 left in the first frame that the Phantoms got their opening shot of the contest - a Connor Bunnaman stuff attempt at the side of the net after Isaac Ratcliffe won a puck battle down low.

The Phantoms seemed to get their legs under them as the period wore on, but the two teams remained scoreless heading into the first intermission due in large part to 11 saves from Sandstrom.

2nd Period

The Bears nearly scored on the opening shift of the period, as a puck got in behind Sandstrom and was inching toward the goal line before Adam Clendening fished it out of the crease to avoid danger.

From there, the teams traded penalties in the opening half of the period before resuming to 5-on-5 hockey for the latter half.

That was when Hershey was able to break through and produce the game's opening goal - a hard shot from the right point by Dylan McIlrath that Beck Malenstyn was able to get a piece of to re-direct the puck past Sandstrom for his sixth of the season. Riley Sutter added a secondary assist on the Bears' opening goal at 10:21 of the middle frame.

The middle frame was pretty even, overall, but the Phantoms found themselves heading to the third period trailing Hershey 1-0.

3rd Period

Hershey didn't sit back with the 1-0 lead to begin the third.

Instead, they took it to the Phantoms and turned a one-goal game into a 3-0 in the opening four minutes of the period - getting goals from Brett Leason and Garrett Pilon just over two minutes apart to break the game open.

The Phantoms pulled their goaltender with 5:03 left in an attempt to get back into the game, but Malenstyn hit the empty net for his second goal of the night to put the Bears ahead 4-0 with 2:12 left to play.

Tempers flared at the final horn with Brennan Saulnier engaged with a Bears' player in front of Hershey's bench, and the two teams had a center ice standoff before cooler heads prevailed.

It certainly sets the tone for the final seven meetings between these two teams, if nothing else.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

3:19: HER - (PP) Gersich, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

3:45: LV - bench minor, too many men (served by Lappin) 6:06: HER - (PP) Morelli, minor (interference) 6:30: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (holding) 10:21: HER - Malenstyn (6) - McIlrath, Sutter 19:33: LV - (PP) Johnson, minor (delay of game)

3rd Period

1:38: HER - Leason (2) - Malenstyn 3:47: HER - Pilon (15) - Gersich, Johansen 9:20: HER - (PP) Geisser, minor (cross-checking) 14:57: HER - (PP) Johansen, minor (interference) 17:48: HER - ENG Malenstyn (7) - unassisted

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   0 - 0 - 0 = 0 Hershey Bears  0 - 1 - 3 = 4

Shots

Lehigh Valley   5 - 8 - 13 = 26 Hershey Bears  11 - 9 - 10 = 30

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (26 saves - 29 shots) HER: Zach Fucale (26 saves - 26 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-4 HER: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

LV: 3-for-3 HER: 4-for-4