Phantoms Post-Game EXTRA! (2/19/22)

ALLENTOWN, Pa - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (17-18-9) hung in there against the top team in the Eastern Conference Saturday night, tying the game up in the third period and forcing overtime to earn a standings point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Utica Comets (30-9-5).

Saturday night's game story -> https://insideahlhockey.com/article/game-story-utica-3-at-lehigh-valley-2-so-21922

Three Things

1. Close With The Comets

It may have been a tougher pill to swallow to talk about moral victories had the Phantoms lost in regulation Saturday night, but it's worth pointing out that the Utica Comets are the top team in the Eastern Conference and the first AHL team to 30 wins on the 2021-22 season. The fact that the Phantoms took them the distance, all the way to the fourth round of a shootout, is certainly a positive.

"We stuck with it," head coach Ian Laperriere said after the game. "That's the best team in the league, we talked about it before the game, and we stuck with the best team in the league. Obviously, I would have loved to get a win, but we'll take that that's a big point for us we want to keep climbing and so a big point and we do a lot of good things and, again, when you make a couple mistakes that we made tonight a team like that will make you pay. And that's what happened."

"Definitely a gutsy effort towards the end there, you know, tie it up to two," Phantoms' forward Tanner Laczynski told InsideAHLHockey.com Saturday night. "I think we just got to keep playing our structure and we'll find ourselves in a good path."

2. Sandstrom's Injury, Ustimenko Rises To The Challenge

Another game, another injury in the Flyers organization.

Goaltender Felix Sandstrom left the game in the first period with a lower body injury. It's believed the initial injury occurred during Alexander Holtz's first period mini-breakaway goal that tied the game at 1-1. Holtz went backhand to forehand atop the crease, losing his footing and sliding into Sandstrom's pads before pushing the puck across the goal line.

Sandstrom stayed in the game until a stoppage in play with 3:42 left before the first intermission, at which time he continued to flex a groin/leg before heading to the bench and removing himself from the game. Kirill Ustimenko came on in relief the rest of the way.

"It's never easy for a goalie to come in like that after sitting on the bench for [nearly] 20 minutes," Laperriere said. "And he did, he made a huge save at the end of the third there to save us the point."

Ustimenko ended up playing really well in stopping all but one of the 21 shots he faced - including all five he saw in overtime and three of the four shooters he faced in the shootout.

"Usti coming off the bench keeping us in the game, I thought he played phenomenal," Laczynski said of the play of Ustimenko. "To do that, you know, off cold legs. I think that's awesome. And that's good for him."

3. Laczynski's Return

Saturday night marked the 2021-22 regular season debut for Tanner Laczynski, who underwent hip surgery during training camp back in September. He had been ramping things up the past few weeks, skating hard in practices and gearing up to get back into game action.

"I felt a little bit better than I thought, I would to be honest," Laczynski told InsideAHLHockey.com after the shootout loss. "Obviously, the first period is always tough and just trying to hang in there, get through it. But I thought as the game went on, I was progressively getting better, and, you know, getting my step back."

Laczynski played in all situations Saturday.

He had a shorthanded chance early in the game that drew a penalty and gave the Phantoms a brief power play on the tail end of the successful kill. He got time on the power play as well. He also made some plays in the neutral zone that allowed him to spend more time in the offensive zone. Late in the game, he was taking important face-offs and winning a majority of them (the AHL doesn't keep track of individual face-off win/losses).

Laperriere mentioned he was playing Laczynski a lot, which will only help him get back into a rhythm sooner rather than later. With the way the Phantoms' roster is shaping up right now, Laczysnki should continue to be deployed in a top-six, all-situations role while in the AHL.