In a potential series-clinching game, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms fell short against the defending back-to-back Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears.
Costly Penalties
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms made quick work of the Hershey Bears’ power play coming into this game. The Bears gave up three shorthanded goals in the first three games of the series. The Phantoms' penalty kill looked like it would do more of the same today. The time spent down a man may have taken a quick toll on the team.
The Phantoms generated good offensive chances on Lehigh Valley’s first two penalties. Roughly 30 seconds after the first period ended, Hershey opened the scoring when Bogdan Trineyev fired it past goalie Cal Petersen. The Bears struck again when Chase Priskie put a weak shot past Petersen as their second power play came to an end.
Penalties continued to mount, killing momentum and making the play a mess. There were 23 total penalties, 13 of which were in the third period, and 13 of those penalties belonged to the Phantoms. Sorting them out became a Pepe Silvia-level task.
Former Phantom veteran, Mike Vecchione, who played two NHL games with the Flyers, was a menace tonight. He scored a goal, got a penalty, served a second, and was all over the ice.
Goaltending Woes and Whoa!
There are fewer phrases you can associate with the Flyers organization than “goaltending woes.” This series has shown that Phantoms are not immune to the problem.
Veteran minor-league netminder Parker Gahagen had a terrific regular season (12-4-3-1, 2.39 GAA, .916 SV%) and his postseason numbers were even better (3-1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .929 SV%). The Phantoms easily handled their wildcard opponent, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, with him in the net and showed no signs of slowing down.
Naturally, an injury got in the way. Gahagen went down with a lower-body injury in Game 3. Cal Petersen came in to replace him and was able to backstop the team to a victory that took the Bears to the brink of elimination.
In his previous seven starts against Hershey, Petersen stood tall, notching a 4-2-1 record, 2.19 goals against average, and a .919 save percentage. He had a third loss after coming in on relief. This, however, did not appear to be his night.
In Game 4, Cal Petersen looked like, well, Cal Petersen. He gave up six goals on 27 shots, including a few weak ones he surely would like to have back. At every opportunity, Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere pulled Petersen to give the Phantoms a chance to get back late in the game.
After the horn, goalies Cal Petersen and Clay Stevenson began pushing and shoving. A crowd gathered, but the referees quickly broke it up.
Of note, Flyers’ goaltending prospect, Carson Bjarnason, dressed for his first AHL game. He dressed to back up Petersen due to Gahagen’s injury.
The Crowd Went Wild
After going down 3-0 to the Bears and being outshot 12-3 in the first period, the Phantoms were understandably booed off the ice.
Those boos changed to raucous cheers in the early part of the second period when Zayde Wisdom put a slick backhander behind Clay Stevenson to get the Phantoms on the board. Thirty-five seconds later, Rodrigo Abols made it a one-goal game.
The Phantoms continued to hem the Bears in their own end until the wheels came off.
Down three and all seemed lost, the Phantoms found another gear. The PPL Center got loud halfway through the third when Givani Smith dropped the gloves against Hershey’s Andrew Perrott. The refs quickly broke up the fight, and that seemed like the end of it.
With roughly six minutes left in the game, Oscar Eklind made it 6-3. The Phantoms showed life again, ultimately pulling within two, making it a 6-4 game. Frustration set in, and the Phantoms set the tone for Game 5 with some rough play resulting in multiple penalties, a second fight, and more pushing and shoving.