GAME STORY: Syracuse - 3 at Lehigh Valley - 2 (OT) 10/30/21

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-5-2) jumped out to an early lead and held a 2-1 advantage heading to the third period for the second straight night, but the Syracuse Crunch (4-2-1) battled back and forced overtime before later completing the comeback in the three-on-three - extending the Phantoms' season-opening winless skid to seven games.

"I mean what can I say? Yeah it's obvious," Phantoms' head coach Ian Laperriere said of his team being unable to play a full 60 minutes. "That would've been nice to get two points, but right now we'll take the point and try to build off of that."

The Phantoms played a pretty strong game overall, but for whatever reason putting together a full 60-minutes and sealing the deal has escaped the team through the opening seven games.

Felix Sandstrom was solid in net, stopping 28 of the 31 shots he faced, but once again the Phantoms were unable to provide enough offensive support to win the game.

The line of Garrett Wilson (two assists), Gerry Mayhew (one goal, one assist) and Morgan Frost (one goal, one assist) provided all of the team's offense tonight.

Charles Hudon (one goal, one assist) and Sean Day (two assists) led Syracuse offensively, while goaltender Amir Miftakhov improved his personal record on the season to 2-0-0 by stopped 24 of the 26 pucks he faced Saturday.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Felix Sandstrom got the start in net for the Phantoms Saturday night against Syracuse. The important note coming out of the goalies is that it was Kirill Ustimenko called up from Reading in advance of the game, serving as Sandstrom's backup.

Samuel Ersson, who took the loss Friday night in Utica, per head coach Ian Laperriere after Saturday's game.

There were two other lineup changes from last night's lineup, as defenseman Cooper Zech made his Phantoms' debut and Isaac Ratcliffe returned up front after missing Friday's game against Utica.

Wyatte Wylie, who has been struggling lately, was scratched on defense while energy guy Brennan Saulnier was rotated out of the lineup to make room for Ratcliffe on the left wing.

Phantoms Scratches: Samuel Ersson, Mason Millman, Linus Sandin, Brennan Saulnier, Samu Tuomaala, Wyatte Wylie and Ryan MacKinnon

Lines/Pairings:

Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Tyson Foerster Garrett Wilson - Morgan Frost - Gerry Mayhew Maksim Sushko - German Rubtsov - Hayden Hodgson Isaac Ratcliffe - Connor Bunnaman - Jackson Cates

Cam York - Logan Day Egor Zamula - Adam Clendening Cooper Zech - Linus Hogberg

Felix Sandstrom - Kirill Ustimenko

GAME RECAP

1st Period

Similar to Friday night in Utica, the Phantoms got off to a solid start Saturday in the first period against Syracuse.

Unlike last night, Lehigh Valley didn't have to wait until the second period to get rewarded for it.

Morgan Frost was clipped by high-stick by Gabriel Fortier on the opening shift of the hockey game, and Lehigh Valley unofficially made the most of the ensuing man advantage. It won't go down as a power play goal because the goal was scored one second after Fortier's penalty expired, but it's essentially a man-advantage goal that got the Phantoms off and running Saturday night.

Morgan Frost, from down low in the right-wing circle, threw a puck to Garrett Wilson atop the crease. Wilson's shot and subsequent stuff attempt on the rebound were stopped but Gerry Mayhew was able to push it in past Crunch goaltender Amir Miftakhov to put the Phantoms ahead 1-0 just 2:33 into the contest. It marked Mayhew's team-leading third goal of the season for Lehigh Valley.

The Phantoms were doing the right things - being hungrier on pucks, stronger on the forecheck and getting their shots through.

Frost's line with Mayhew and Wilson were generating offense consistently in the opening period. Hayden Hodgson had some strong plays as well.

It seemed like when the Phantoms kept things simple they were at their best.

Syracuse responded and got to their game as the period progressed, actually ending up out-shooting the Phantoms 12-10 in the first frame. It wasn't until a late-period penalty on Lehigh Valley that Syracuse evened the game at 1-1.

Charles Hudon tallied his third of the season in short order, with Simon Ryfors and Sean Day adding assists on the Crunch's power play marker with 24.5 seconds left in the opening period.

2nd Period

The Phantoms got back to their game in the middle frame, firing the first four shots on net of the period before re-gaining their one-goal lead 5:09 into stanza.

It was once again the Wilson-Frost-Mayhew line providing the offense, with Wilson chipping ahead and Frost picking it up in the neutral zone before weaving his way to the top of the left-wing circle and wiring one past Miftakhov for his first goal of the season.

Syracuse had the better of play in the middle part of the period, setting up several chances around Felix Sandstrom's net, but the Phantoms' netminder was equal to the task - sometimes making sprawling saves to keep his team in front 2-1.

The Crunch also hit two posts in the waning moments of the period, one after they drew a boarding penalty on Logan Day behind the Phantoms' net and the second moments later to begin the ensuing man advantage.

Credit Sandstrom for standing tall and keeping the Phantoms ahead 2-1 heading to the third period.

Third Period

For whatever reason, both teams committed quite a lot of icing calls in the opening minutes of the third.

For Lehigh Valley, it came back to bite them after an icing call just over four minutes into the period.

Charles Hudon won the ensuing face-off and moments later set up Gabriel Dumont to tie the game back up at 2-2 with 15:30 left in regulation.

The Phantoms had a chance late in regulation - on a power play with 4:42 left to play - but once again were unable to find a way to cash in when they needed to most.

Overtime

The Phantoms came up short in the three-on-three, with Jimmy Hunington batting in a rebound 1:01 into OT for his team-leading sixth goal of the season to lift Syracuse to the 3-2 decision.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:32: SYR - (PP) Fortier, minor (high-sticking) 2:33: LV - Mayhew (3) - Wilson, Frost 7:32: LV - (PP) Frost, minor (hooking) 19:12: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping) 19:36: SYR - PPG Hudon (3) - Ryfors, Day

2nd Period

5:09: LV - Frost (1) - Wilson, Mayhew 17:46: LV - (PP) Day, minor (boarding)

3rd Period

4:30: SYR - Dumont (3) - Hudon, Day 9:16: LV - (PP) Frost, minor (hooking) 15:18: SYR - (PP) Green, minor (boarding)

Overtime

1:01: SYR - Huntington (6) - Jones, Fortier

BOXSCORE

Syracuse   1 - 0 - 1 - 1 = 3 Lehigh Valley 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 2

Shots

Syracuse   12 - 8 - 8 - 3 = 31 Lehigh Valley 10 - 10 - 6 - 0 = 26

Goalies

SYR: Amir Miftakhov (24 saves - 26 shots) LV: Felix Sandstrom (28 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

SYR: 1-for-4 LV: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

SYR: 2-for-2 LV: 3-for-4