Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! (11/3/21)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-5-2) picked up their first win of the season in a big way Wednesday night, getting a total team effort in a 4-0 win over rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Wednesday night's Game Story -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-w-bscranton-0-at-lehigh-valley-4-11321

Three Things

1. First Win Feelings

For the first time this season, the Phantoms' locker room wasn't dead silent after the game. From the media room, the locker room is just on the other side of the wall where the backdrop for post-game media availabilities is set up. It started off sounding like a rave, bass pumping. Then, 'Jessie's Girl' and later on some classics like 'Carry On My Wayward Son'

"I feel great, but I feel great for those guys. They've been working hard. And it's no BS when I say that they did a lot of good things and didn't get rewarded in the first seven games," head coach Ian Laperriere. "And tonight, finally, the power play scored a big goal and the penalty killing was amazing. It was a great team effort for sure."

*2. Total Team Effort

After opening the scoring 2:25 into the contest on a 5v5 goal from Maksim Sushko, the Phantoms were able to extend their lead to 2-0 thanks to a 5-on-3 power play goal from Tyson Foerster. After he scored you could see the sigh of relief from upstairs in the press box. There were several plays throughout the game where you could just tell the Phantoms weren't gripping their sticks tightly and in their own heads.

"Yeah, I think for my game, especially," Foerster said, who admitted he's been quite snakebitten to start this season. "I think I've been creating a lot of decent chances to score. I just haven't been able to find a back of the net. And I think 5-on-3 is a good way to start. And hopefully I can continue that on and keep producing."

The penalty kill was a perfect 8-for-8, and while the Phantoms shouldn't make a routine of making steady trips to the penalty box the officiating was questionable throughout the contest. Several times, while engaged in scrums, it was the Phantoms coming out of it with the only penalty.  In the second period, they took four straight and five of the six penalties in the stanza.

And Felix Sandstrom was strong once again. This time, like the team, he was rewarded for his strong play. He recorded his first career AHL shutout, stopping all 25 shots he faced - including some timely saves during a four minute penalty kill in the third period.

"You learn with time that if you keep going, it's gonna come and just gotta keep fighting through it, even though it's tough sometimes. I mean, there's a lot of games this year. So [it was] a tough start, but now we have a chance to turn it around here," Sandstrom said after the game.

3. Scout City

Perhaps it was just because it was a mid-week game and none of the other AHL or NHL teams in the area were playing, but I don't ever recall seeing so many scouts at the PPL Center as there was on Wednesday night.

Unofficially, there were nine different NHL teams with a scout on hand:

Anaheim, Dallas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Vegas and Washington