By Michael Heilman

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to the PPL Center Sunday afternoon to face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Kirill Ustimenko started at goal, and the scratches for today’s game were Maksim Sushko, German Rubtsov, Chris Bigras, and Chris Stewart.

Four minutes and five seconds into the first period, Morgan Frost turned the puck over to Nick Schilkey (12) who passed the puck to Jordan Schmaltz (12), that then found Travis St. Denis (11) who buried the shot for the goal to put the Sound Tigers up 1-0.

The Phantoms tied the game 1-1 when Mikhail Vorobyev (14) passed the puck to Max Willman (5), who then found Gerry Fitzgerald (7). Fitzgerald’s shot bounced off of the right shoulder of Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson, who didn’t see the puck as it crossed the goal line with 10:19 left in the first period.

The Phantoms took the lead three minutes later when Greg Carey (14) passed the puck to Isaac Ratcliffe (9), who spun to find Reece Willcox (2). Willcox blasted the puck into the net for the goal to put the Phantoms on top 2-1 with 7:17 left in the first period.

The Phantoms were then called for a bench minor penalty that sent the Sound Tigers on the power-play with Greg Carey serving the penalty. While on the Sound Tigers power-play, Reece Willcox (11) made a long pass to Mikhail Vorobyev (15), who cross passed the puck to Isaac Ratcliffe (6) who then put it in for the goal with 2:22 left in the first period. The Phantoms now led 3-1.

The Sound Tigers would get a goal back when Sebastian Aho (3) ripped a shot passed Kirill Ustimenko and into the net to make it a one-goal game again 3-2. Travis St. Denis (15) and Oliver Wahlstrom (11) assisted Aho’s goal. The Phantoms remained in the lead 3-2 as the first period ended with the shots twelve to eight for the Phantoms. The Phantoms committed four penalties in the first period, only giving up one goal as the penalty-killing unit stepped up to prevent the Sound Tigers from adding any more goals.

Three minutes and thirteen seconds into the second period, the Phantoms extended their lead to 4-2 on a top-shelf backhand goal from Mikhail Vorobyev (12). Max Willman (6) and Tyler Wotherspoon (18) assisted Vorobyev’s goal.

The Phantoms committed a couple more penalties, but no damage was done as the Phantoms led 4-2 as the second period ended. The shots were seven to four for the Sound Tigers. The Phantoms were going to have a minute and fifty-eights left on the power-play.

The Phantoms were unable to convert on the power-play as the third period was underway. However, the Phantoms did add another goal when Andy Welinski (13) got the puck to Greg Carey (15), who made a long pass that bounced off of the board and found David Kase (7) all alone for a breakaway goal to put the Phantoms up 5-2.

The Sound Tigers were again able to get a goal back when Terry Broadhurst (1) scored to cut the Phantoms lead 5-3 with 10:25 left in the third period. Colin McDonald (15) and Grant Hutton (12) assisted Broadhurst’s goal.

The Phantoms still found themselves up a goal with 7:42 left in the third period when the Sound Tigers cut the lead to 5-4. Sebastian Aho (27) passed the puck to Grant Hutton (13), who made a long pass to Nic Pierog (3), who sprinted in between a couple of Phantoms players to score the goal.

The Phantoms three-goal lead had now vanished when the Sound Tigers came back to tie the game at five-all with 4:59 left in the third period. Nick Schilkey (13) passed the puck to Grant Hutton (14), who took a shot that hit Kirill Ustimenko. The puck stopped for a second before Robert Carpenter (4) hit the puck into the net for the goal. The game remained tied at five, all as the third period ended with the shots thirteen to eight for the Sound Tigers.

Overtime was not enough to settle the score, so the game headed to a shootout. The Sound Tigers finished the Phantoms off in the shootout as Oliver Wahlstrom, and Terry Broadhurst scored to give the Sound Tigers a 6-5 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Phantoms have now lost four-straight games.

The total shots in the game were thirty-one to twenty-five for the Sound Tigers. The Phantoms went zero for five on the power-play while the Sound Tigers were one for eight. While some of the penalties were not the Phantoms fault, they must address this before Wednesday’s game against the Penguins. The bad news for the Phantoms was that Morgan Frost and Mark Friedman were injured in the game. Frost came back out in the second period but did not play in the third period while Friedman did not return.

Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko finished the afternoon twenty-five of thirty saves allowing five goals while Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson made twenty of twenty-five saves, allowing five goals.

The three stars of the game were Phantoms defenseman Reece Willcox with one goal and one assist, Phantoms forward Mikhail Vorobyev with one goal and two assists, and Sound Tigers left-winger Terry Broadhurst with one goal.

The Phantoms will be back in action on Wednesday at the PPL Center against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:05 pm.

(player stats for the year)