Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! (11/17/21)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-8-3) are finding ways to lose hockey games rather than finding ways to win them in what has been a disappointing and undoubtedly frustrating start to the season as a team.

"Well, when you give up two shorthanded [goals against] like we did tonight, by laziness, you don't deserve to get any points," Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game.

Wednesday night's game story -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-charlotte-4-at-lehigh-valley-3-111721

Three Things

1. Too little, too late

The Phantoms had a good push back in the third period when they needed to, trailing 3-0, but after tying the game up ultimately surrendered a power play goal against in the final two minutes of regulation.

"Yeah, I mean, it's good to come from behind in the third. We came on like we wanted to, but, again, I took a penalty and it cost us the game," Phantoms' captain Cal O'Reilly said after the game, the forward whose high sticking minor with 3:06 left to play proved costly.

"It was a good battle back, I agree," Laperriere said. "At 5-on-5 I didn't see any issues, but the power play cost us the game. Those turnovers... that's the story of the night."

2. The Power Play Backfires

Last Wednesday night in Hershey, it was the Phantoms scoring two shorthanded goals and breaking open the game on their way to victory.

Fast forward one week, and the Phantoms were on the other end of two shorthanded goals against in the middle frame against the Checkers - including a 5-on-3 shorthanded market that extended their lead to 2-0.

"Yeah, it is deflating, especially five on three," Laperriere said. "Once in a while it will happen, when it happens from a broken play, I can live with that. when it happens because we're lazy reloading i have issues with that."

Both shorthanded goals came at key junctures of the game. The first, on the opening shift of the second period, broke a scoreless tie.

"Obviously our power play let us down," captain Cal O'Reilly said after the game. "We had an opportunity to score. We didn't, and not to mention that we gave up two [shorthanded goals against]. You're not gonna win many games given up two [shorthanded goals against]. That can't happen."

The second, which extended the Checkers' lead to 2-0, came with a chance for the Phantoms to tie the game and look for more on a five-minute major power play and subsequent minor penalty that gave way to a 5-on-3.

"That's when we got to go out and get one, or at least get momentum. So when we come out of it, you know, we're going and not the opposite, that just just can't happen. It's frustrating and disappointing the way that we did that to ourselves.

Could there be personnel changes on the horizon for the Phantoms' power play units?

"Yeah, I'm going to put whoever deserves to be out there and are going to do what we tell them to do," Laperriere told Inside AHL Hockey. "You have to earn it to be on the powerplay, not something that is given. And right now I feel like some guys feel like they won't get off the power play. But if we keep keep giving goals like that, you know, there's going to be changes for sure."

3. Time To Dig Deep

Cal O'Reilly provided an honest and insightful interview post-game Wednesday night, despite being asked the tough questions after another frustrating defeat.

"We've been doing a lot of talking. It comes down to us. We've got to figure this out, because it's gonna be a very long year for us and not very fun if we don't show up to play every night," O'Reilly said. "We showed we can do it. And the disappointing thing is that we're not doing it consistently. So as a team, we really got to come together. There's not anybody but us to do it."

With just three wins through 14 games, times are tough for the Phantoms and the responsibility of staying even-keel through the highs and lows of a 76-game season often-times falls on the veterans of the team to instill leadership, positive reinforcement and a lead-by-example type of motivation to help will a team out of its funk.

O'Reilly was hard on particularly hard on himself and his costly late-game high-sticking penalty, but he's a good leader to have in the locker room and certainly is capable of steering the ship and bouncing back in a big way.

"That's going to happen. Stuff is going happen in games where they're gonna have the momentum, and we have to find a way to just shove it and play, you know? Like, that's the game of hockey. It's the ups and downs during a game."