GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 4 at Hartford - 0 (1/29/22)

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-14-8) had a great response Saturday night in Hartford coming off a 6-2 blowout loss in Springfield Friday night.

While they trailed 5-0 in the first period Friday, on Saturday it was a different story entirely for the Phantoms. Three goals in a span of just over three minutes in the first period saw the Phantoms jump out to a 3-0 lead that they never looked back on.

Hayden Hodgson, Wyatte Wylie and Alex Kile tallied first period goals to propel the Phantoms' offensive attack, while Garrett Wilson added a second period goal to complete the 4-0 final score. 34-year-old goaltender Pat Nagle stopped all 26 shots he faced, notching his first career AHL shutout in what is his final game with the Phantoms as he departs for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing where he will represent Team USA.

The Phantoms will make the snowy trek back to Allentown where they'll finish their 3-in-3 weekend at home against rival Hershey at 5:15 p.m. ET.

GAME RECAP

1st Period

It was a complete 180 for the Phantoms in the first period Saturday night as compared to Friday night's five-goal debacle.

Instead, it was the Phantoms jumping out to an early lead - opening the flood gates to the tune of three goals in a span of 3:08 in the opening half of the period - to break open the game.

Logan Day got a puck at the center point from Cal O'Reilly and fired a hard shot past Wolf Pack netminder Tyler Wall to open the scoring at 7:26. Hayden Hodgson was later credited with the goal, his ninth of the season.

On the next shift, Nick Lappin won an offensive zone face-off back to the right point where Wyatte Wylie stepped into one to put the Phantoms ahead 2-0 just 36 seconds after Day's goal.

Matthew Strome picked up his sixth assist of the season a little over two minutes later, getting a puck down low from Hodgson and getting it in front for Alex Kile cutting to the net for a quick shot past Wall to make it 3-0 with 9:26 left in the opening period.

Lehigh Valley's momentum was stalled a bit from there, as the Phantoms took back-to-back penalties in the second half of the period, but still held their 3-0 lead heading into the middle frame. The shots after the first period were listed as 9-4 in favor of the Phantoms.

2nd Period

Hartford had the first three shots on net in the middle frame, with some carryover power play time to begin the period, but were unable to get one past Phantoms goaltender Pat Nagle before Lehigh Valley added to their lead.

Linus Sandin was hooked on his shot attempt on an odd-man rush and Garrett Wilson skated hard to the net and found the rebound on the delayed penalty call, stuffing it home to put the Phantoms ahead 4-0 just 3:56 into the second period.

The teams traded power plays in the middle of the period, with the Phantoms getting their PK to 3-for-3 on the night with a successful kill with just over four minutes left before the second intermission.

After facing just five shots in the first period, Pat Nagle was equal to the task on all 11 shots he faced in the middle frame - coming up with the timely saves when they were needed.

3rd Period

Things quieted down further in the third period, and although the Wolf Pack out-shot the Phantoms 10-5 in the final frame, Lehigh Valley seemed more than content to keep things to the perimeter in the defensive zone and played a rather simple game in the third period to protect their 4-0 lead all the way to the final horn.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:26: LV - Hodgson (9) - Day, O'Reilly 8:02: LV - Wylie (1) - Lappin 10:34: LV - Kile (2) - Strome, Hodgson 11:01: LV - (PP) Lappin, minor (boarding) 19:08: LV - (PP) Sushko, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

3:56: LV - Wilson (10) - Sandin 10:06: HFD - (PP) Sanchez, minor (tripping) 13:52: LV - (PP) Sandin, minor (hooking)

3rd Period

9:40: HFD - (PP) Khodorenko, minor (tripping)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   3 - 1 - 0 = 4 Hartford   0 - 0 - 0 = 0

Shots

Lehigh Valley   9 - 7 - 5 = 21 Hartford   5 - 11 - 10 = 26

Goalies

LV: Pat Nagle (26 saves - 26 shots) HFD: Tyler Wall (17 saves - 21 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-2 HFD: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

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