Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! (1/15/22)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-12-7) saw their nine-game points streak come to an end Saturday night, while on the other end of that the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins snapped an eight-game losing skid of their own.

Saturday night's game story -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-w-bscranton-5-at-lehigh-valley-2-11522

Three Things

1. COVID Shutdown Catching Up To Phantoms

While Friday night's win was great, especially considering the circumstances heading into this weekend's three-games-in-three-days, it certainly wasn't a recipe for success. They were territorially dominated and out-shot 42-16, but as captain Cal O'Reilly told Inside AHL Hockey after that game they got some bounces to go their way.

Head coach Ian Laperriere and his Phantoms' team knew coming into the weekend there were going to be fighting it. Honestly, Saturday night's game played out just about the same way as Friday's game against the Penguins. The only difference Saturday was the Penguins were rewarded for their dominating performance.

"We knew it was gonna be hard and obviously today, some guys didn't have any legs and we couldn't get it going," Laperriere told Inside AHL Hockey after Saturday's loss in the rematch against the Penguins. "That room? Those guys care about one another. They've been working hard all year. I have zero problems with the work ethic. Tonight, they just didn't have the juice."

2. Power Play Lone Positive?

Down 4-0 in the third period, it was the Phantoms' power play that nearly, singlehandedly, brought the team back into realistic contention. Connor Bunnaman and Wade Allison converted on back-to-back man advantage chances to bring the Phantoms within two at a 4-2 deficit but that was as close as they would get.

"Going into the third period, I mean, it was all about resiliency, and who was going to show pride tonight," Phantoms forward Isaac Ratcliffe said after the game. "And our power play came through."

3. Emptying The Tank

The Phantoms have a quick turnaround with a 3:15 p.m. ET faceoff against the Toronto Marlies Sunday afternoon to conclude three games in a span of 48 hours.

"We have to get back to the structure, the style of play, the identity that those guys have been building since Day One," Laperriere said of pushing through in the third game. "It worked obviously, like last nine games we got points. So they do something right, they do a lot of things right. We just need to get back at it. And when in doubt, when you struggle and you lose games like tonight you always know you can go back to the structure to that style of play, the identity that that team is having this year."