The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have a golden opportunity on Friday night.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have a golden opportunity on Friday night. Ian Laperriere’s team, with a home-ice victory in Game 4, will eliminate the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears in the Atlantic Division semifinal.
Win and the Phantoms move on to the best-of-five Atlantic Division Final. Lehigh Valley would play the winner of the Charlotte Checkers vs. Providence Bruins series. The B-Bruins avoided a sweep on Thursday with 3-2 road win in Game Three.
If the Phantoms are unable to finish off the series on Friday, the best-of-five set moves back to Hersey on Sunday for a winner-takes-all game. Todd Nelson’s club has more experience in high stakes matches. The Phantoms last advanced beyond the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs in 2018.
Through the first three games of the current series against Hershey, special teams and goaltending have been the big story. Neither team has done much on the power play. The Phantoms are 1-for-11 so far. The Bears are 1-for-16.
In addition to going 15-for-16 on the penalty kill so far, the Phantoms’ counterattacking “power kill” springboarded the team to wins in Game Two and Three.
Last Friday evening in Hershey, Zayde Wisdom tallied a pair of shorthanded goals in the third period to provide the Phantoms all the insurance they needed in a 3-1 victory. On Sunday afternoon at PPL Center, Jacob Gaucher opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker at 11:23 of the first period. The Phantoms went on to win, 4-2.
During the best-of-three first round series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Phantoms’ penalty kill also rose to the occasion. Lehigh Valley was 9-for-10 on the PK. As with the current series with the Bears, the Phantoms had only one power play goal (1-for-8) against the Baby Pens. Alex Bump’s 5-on-4 goal in the third period put a stranglehold on the opening road win. Bump also tallied an even strength goal in that game, set up nicely by Jett Luchanko (four assists in the series, five helpers through five postseason matches to date).
Thus far, the Phantoms have received excellent goaltending in the playoffs. Parker Gahanen flirted with a shutout until the waning minutes of Game One against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In the Hershey series, Gagahen made several dazzling saves among 19 stops in Game Two.
The Phantoms ran into some adversity in Game Three of the current series. At 11:12 of the second period, Hahagen (15 saves on 17 shots) was forced to exit with an apparent injury. Enter veteran Cal Petersen. The 30-year-old had not played since April 18. However, he shook off any rust to stop all 15 shots the Bears fired on net. Two were 10-bell saves.
At the other end of the ice, Hunter Shepard is one of the best goaltenders throughout the American Hockey League. Solving him is usually a very tough chore. He opened the current series with a 26-save shutout in Game One.
In Game Two, Shepard kept the game scoreless until late in the second period. Finally, after 98-plus minutes of not allowing a single goal, Shepard proved human. Anthony Richard’s wrister from the right circle gave the Phantoms a 1-0 lead at 18:41 of the middle frame. Wisdom’s shorthanded heroics in the third period provided the difference in the end.
