Allentown, PA – The Phantoms set up strong chances throughout the night. But when presented with some of their biggest opportunities, they were unable to cash in as a scrappy Springfield squad somehow emerged with a 3-1 win on Wednesday night at PPL Center.
Alex Bump (7th) sniped on the rush off a terrific stretch pass by Denver Barkey to get the Phantoms on the board early in the third period. But when Lehigh Valley (13-10-3) needed a big penalty kill right after that the Phantoms were unable to come through in the key moment as the T-Birds re-took the lead.
And without many chances through the night, Springfield (8-11-5) was still opportunistic. Chris Wagner (7th) scored shorthanded and Aleksantari Kaskiamki (5th) struck on the power play for the Thunderbirds while Vadim Zherenko turned in a strong 23-save performance.
Lehigh Valley’s first period was solid as the Phantoms outshot the Thunderbirds 8-5. Sawyer Boulton got the crowd into the game early with his second fight of the season against newcomer Troy Murray who looked to impress in his AHL debut but, instead, was on the receiving end of some of Boulton’s big swings.
The Phantoms had the bulk of the possession in the second period and also a decided 9-3 shots advantage. But Lehigh Valley also didn’t bear down enough on their chances. A 2-on-1 with Barkey and Lane Pederson fizzled out and Barkey’s effort to connect back in front for Anthony Richard somehow missed and sailed harmlessly out of the zone. And that’s how the puck was bouncing on the Phantoms through parts of this frustrating evening.
An 0-for-5 power play didn’t help either as Springfield flustered the PHantoms with one of the strongest penalty kills in the league.
“The power play absolutely killed us tonight,” head coach John Snowden said. “We got outworked by their penalty kill. We don’t get pucks back, don’t attack. It’s kind of on the perimeter and we are hoping for the perfect play. You have to break their structure.”
Veteran Chris Wagner took advantage of a shorthanded opportunity with a bank from behind the net when Kolosov had gotten bumped into his cage by a teammate. Wagner’s unusual shorthanded goal at 15:57 of the second period got the T-Birds on the board and gave the visitors a 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
The third period began with another missed opportunity when Bump had a rebounding puck come his way in the left circle but another bounce went the wrong way on Lehigh Valley as the prolific rookie scorer missed a mostly open net when he pushed his effort wide.
Bump didn’t miss on his next chance though. Barkey chased down Springfield’s odd-man rush and intercepted a pass clean. But he wasn’t done. With his head up, he swooped in behind Aleksei Kolosov and spotted Bump open all the way down ice on the left wing. Bump had Lane Pederson charging for the middle to provide an option but he saw the open shot himself from inside the left dot where he clanged it off the far post and in past the glove of Zherenko to tie the game at 1-1 at 3:19 into the third.
But Springfield would shortly thereafter go on the power play and Calle Rosen’s blocked shjot popped over to Kaskimaki in the crease who had barely enough on his effort to float one past Kolosov trying to locate the rebound. Less than two minutes after the Phantoms had tied it, Springfield re-took the lead at 2-1 with the power-play goal.
More strong opportunities for the Phantoms for parts of the third period would miss or be extinguished. Alexis Gendron’s fourth shot on goal of the game was knocked away by Zherenko. Lane Pederson had a big chance with under three minutes left that wouldn’t go.
Eventually, Michael Buchinger (2nd) intercepted an entry and offered a high lob over a pair of leaping Phantoms players that found the empty net at 19:25 to finish the night.
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