GAME STORY: Rochester - 4 at Lehigh Valley - 3 SO (12/18/21)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (6-11-6) put together a solid effort for the opening 50 minutes of regulation, but let a 2-1 lead nearly slip away in the final minutes of the third period before forcing overtime and later falling in the shootout to the Rochester Americans (14-8-0) Saturday night.

Connor Bunnaman, Maksim Sushko and Garrett Wilson tallied goals in the loss for the Phantoms. Goaltender Samuel Ersson stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced in the opening 40 minutes but was unable to return for the third period. Pat Nagle came on in relief, stopping 7 of 10 in the third and in overtime.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Samuel Ersson got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday night in Allentown. Pat Nagle, who got the start in net Friday night in Hartford, served as Ersson's backup. It marked Ersson's first game action since an October 29 game in Utica.

Wade Allison, who left Friday's game in the 3rd period with an apparent upper body injury, didn't return to game action and was out of the lineup Saturday.

Linus Sandin returned up front for his first game action since an opening weekend loss in Hershey. Sandin had been out since that October 17 game after a blind cross-check at the netfront sent him lunging toward a teammate's shot from the point and the puck connected with his face, breaking several bones and causing him to have surgery.

Phantoms' Scratches: Kirill Ustimenko, Cooper Zech, Mason Millman, Wade Allison, Nick Lappin and Tyson Foerster

Lines/Pairings:

Maksim Sushko - Cal O'Reilly - Charlie Gerard Garrett Wilson - Connor Bunnaman - Gerry Mayhew Isaac Ratcliffe - Matthew Strome - Hayden Hodgson Brennan Saulnier - German Rubtsov - Linus Sandin

Cam York - Adam Clendening Egor Zamula - Wyatte Wylie Linus Hogberg - Logan Day

Samuel Ersson - Pat Nagle

GAME RECAP

1st Period

Samuel Ersson had to be ready from the opening faceoff in his first game back since October 29. Rochester fired the first five shots on goal his way , and had subsequent pressure on an early power play chance but were unable to get one past the Phantoms' netminder.

Instead, it was the Phantoms taking a 1-0 lead moments later after great work by Gerry Mayhew to get a puck up top to Cam York. York got the puck and made a wise decision to use the open space in front of him to skate to the net and force a defender to step up on him. That opened things up for Connor Bunnaman, who from the side of the net shuffled one past Rochester goaltender Aaron Dell for his third of the season and second in as many nights.

Rochester continued to have some series of extended pressure throughout the period, but Ersson and the Phantoms' defense kept things to the outside and a majority of the Americans' chances were one and done.

2nd Period

There were several whistles in the opening minutes of the middle frame, as there wasn't much pace to play.

Lehigh Valley had their first power play opportunity just past the midway mark of the period, but were unable to convert. In fact, it was Ersson coming up with a big save - stopping Peyton Krebs' shorthanded breakaway attempt during the Phantoms' power play.

Ersson continued to be the story for the Phantoms, coming up big time and time again - including a pair of stops near the midway mark of the period that kept Lehigh Valley ahead 1-0.

Later in the period, shortly after a Phantoms' penalty to Garrett Wilson had expired, Rochester was able to tie the game at 1-1 with 3:24 left before the second intermission on a back-door tap in by Americans' captain Michael Mersch.

3rd Period

Friday night in Hartford, Lehigh Valley came out and dominated the third period on the way to sealing the deal on a win. The Phantoms, in similar fashion, had a strong start to the third period Saturday as well.

The Phantoms made the most of an early chance in the opening minute of the third, winning an offensive zone face-off and getting it to the net where Maksim Sushko was able to pick a corner on Dell to put the Phantoms ahead 2-1 just 46 seconds into the final frame.

In fact, the Phantoms out shot the Americans 8-0 in the opening 11:41 of the period - keeping the Americans on their heels and preventing them from getting much of an attack going.

Going unnoticed with the lack of shots by Rochester was the fact that Pat Nagle came on in relief of Samuel Ersson for the third period. There wasn't a particular save or sequence in the second period where there was a noticeable stoppage for an injury, so it's likely something that was bothering him as the game went along. Whether it's related to the injury that kept him out most of the opening months of the season remains to be seen.

Rochester didn't quit despite being out-shot 14-3 in the third period. Instead they attacked the net and got a pair of goals from Mersch (his 2nd of the game) and Sean Malone 2:03 apart in the final 3:23 of regulation to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.

Lehigh Valley took their timeout and pulled their goalie for the extra attacker in the final minute, getting a bouncing puck on a dump into the offensive to squirt out from behind the net and into the slot onto the stick of Garrett Wilson who fired one in to force overtime.

Overtime

In one of the most entertaining 3-on-3 OT periods you'll ever see, the two teams combined for nine shots on goal and nearly a half dozen more Grade-A opportunities with both goalies making ten-bell saves to get their respective teams into the shootout.

Shootout

LV

Matthew Strome - no goal Gerry Mayhew - GOAL Adam Clendening - no goal

ROC

Arttu Ruotsalainen - GOAL J.J. Peterka - GOAL

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

5:24: LV - (PP) O'Reilly, minor (tripping) 8:16: LV - Bunnaman (3) - York, Mayhew

2nd Period

10:44: ROC - (PP) Mersch, minor (tripping) 14:30:  LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (interference) 16:36: Mersh (13) - Biro, Ruotsalainen

3rd Period

0:46: LV - Sushko (4) - O'Reilly, Gerard 8:23: ROC - (PP) Samuelsson, minor (cross-checking) 16:37: ROC - Mersch (14) - Prow, MacInnis 18:40: ROC - Malone (9) - MacInnis, Mersch 19:10: LV - Wilson (6) - Clendening

Overtime

0:22: LV - (PP) O'Reilly, minor (hooking)

BOXSCORE

Rochester       0 - 1 - 2 - 0 - 1 = 4 Lehigh Valley  1 - 0 - 2 - 0 - 0 = 3

Shots

Rochester      11 - 11 - 3 - 7 -1 = 33 Lehigh Valley  7 - 7 - 14 - 2 - 0 = 30

Goalies

ROC: Aaron Dell  (27 saves - 30 shots) LV: Sam Ersson (21 saves - 22 shots in 40:00) and Pat Nagle (8 saves - 10 shots in 25:00)

Power Play

ROC: 0-for-3 LV: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

ROC: 2-for-2 LV: 3-for-3