7-3 Trouncing Closes out Regular Season Schedule at PPL Center
April 18, 2024
Allentown, PA – Trailing 3-2 after 40 minutes didn’t bother the Phantoms one little bit. Lehigh Valley racked up a season-high five goals in the final period to go out with a bang in the final home game of the regular season as the Phantoms crushed the Cleveland Monsters 7-3.
Ty Murchison knocked home his first career pro goal while the recently returned Olle Lycksell (18th, 19th) and Rodrigo Abols (14th, 15th) both had a pair of goals as did the captain, Garrett Wilson (13th, 14th) with a shortie and, appropriately enough, an empty-netter for the last goal of the regular season on home ice.
Lehigh Valley (35-28-8) also locked up the 5-seed in the Atlantic Division for the Calder Cup Playoffs next week but still does not know the first-round opponent or schedule. The announcement will be made after the results of the various Saturday games. The Phantoms will open postseason play with a Best-of-3 series against either the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins or the Providence Bruins. But first there’s one more regular-season game to go when the Phantoms travel to Hershey on Saturday night for another rivalry clash in Game #72 of the 2024-25 season.
The night opened with a stirring tribute for the late Tony Voce. The former Philadelphia Phantoms great and Boston College product who passed away during the summer was honored before the game with several members of his family being recognized on the ice. Parker Gahagen and Olle Lycksell were named as Co-Winners of the first annual Tony Voce Award as the team MVP’s as voted on by the players.
Also honored before the game were Hunter McDonald for Commuinty Excellence and Garrett Wilson as the Phan Club’s top player of the year.
Luca Del Balluz (27th) opened the scoring for Cleveland at 6:26 into the game but the lead didn’t last long.
Just 34 seconds later it was Olle Lycksell rocking home his first of the night on a sharp-angle shot from beneath the left dot with an impressive quick release that he rattled around the top of the cage past Zach Sawchenko.
Garrett Wilson hustled in to receive a pass from a Rhett Gardner intercept on the penalty kill and converted on a rocket to the upper-left corner at 8:04 to put the Phantoms ahead at 2-1.
Lehigh Valley almost made it 3-1 when Anthony Richard was impeded on a breakaway and granted a penalty shot with 2:01 remaining in the first but Sawchenko’s glove barely got enough of Richard’s shot to deflect it away.
Cleveland (35-25-11) ended up clinching a playoff spot anyway via Belleville’s regulation loss at Laval. But the Monsters had designs of punching their ticket on their own accord and took a 3-2 lead in the second period on consecutive goals just 55 seconds apart. Dylan Gambrell (13th) buried his try and then newcomer Guillaume Richard (2nd) scored off a faceoff win by Del Bel Balluz to put the Monsters ahead.
The Phantoms equaled a season-high five goals in a period in a massive and impressive outburst in the third.
Lehigh Valley turned the tables on the Monsters with three goals in a quick two-minute burst.
Recent addition Ty Murchison’s shot from center-point deflected off a Cleveland player for his first pro goal in just his third game at 4:21 to tie the game at 3-3.
Abols took a beautiful feed from the left boards by Louie Belpedio and sniped past the blocker of Sawchenko at 5:27 to make it 4-3. Alex Bump also recorded an assist on the play for his first pro point while he was making his pro debut after winning the NCAA National Championship with Western Michigan just last week.
Timeout Cleveland. The Monsters were struggling. But the attempt to thwart Lehigh Valley’s momentum wouldn’t work.
Olle Lycksell was on the backdoor to receive the seam pass across from Nikita Grebenkin on the rush at 6:23 to make it 5-3.
Abols scored again on the power play when Grebenkin’s pass from the boards bounced off a Cleveland defender in the slot and perfectly into big Rodrigo’s wheel-house at 12:15 to make it 6-3.
Cleveland pulled its goalie with over six minutes remaining setting up a 6-on-4 power play but the Phantoms worked their way through it while Louie Belpedio and Rodrigo Abols both had close calls on long empty-net tries.
The Phantoms finally buried the final dagger with 20 seconds left on Wilson’s sharp-angle cage-rattler to finish the night. It was the third time this season the Phantoms have scored at least seven goals in a game. It was also the second time for Lehigh Valley to score five goals in a period including December 20 against Toronto when the Phantoms struck for a qunitet in the second period in a 7-2 win.
The Phantoms players stayed on the ice to enjoy the moment with their fans in celebration of the end of the home portion of the regular-season schedule. The guys threw dozens of orange Rally the Valley T-Shirts for the excited members of Phan Nation who can’t wait to Rally the Valley next week.
The Phantoms conclude the regular season on Saturday at the Hershey Bears. The schedule for the first-round of the Calder Cup Playoffs will be announced following the conclusion of Saturday’s game.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st 6:26 – CLE, L. Del Bel Balluz (27) (M, Pyythia) (0-1)
1st 6:50 – LV, O. Lycksell (18) (Z. Wisdom, J. Gaucher) (1-1)
1st 8:04 – LV, G. Wilson (13) (R. Gardner) (2-1)
2nd 5:18 – CLE, D. Gambrell (13) (R. Ahcan, S. Knazko) (2-2)
2nd 6:13 – CLE, G. Richard (2) (L. Del el Balluz) (2-3)
3rd 4:21 – LV, T. Murchison (1) (Z. Wisdom, O. Lycksell) (3-3)
3rd 5:27 – LV, R. Abols (14) (L. Belpedio, A. Bump) (4-3)
3rd 6:21 – LV, O. Lycksell (19) (N. Grebenkin, R. Abols) (5-3)
3rd 12:15 – LV, R. Abols (15) (N. Grebenkin, L. Belpedio) (PP) (6-3)
3rd 19:40 – LV, G. Wils0n (14) (G. Smith, R. Gardner) (EN) (7-3)
Shots:
LV 34 – CLE 31
PP:
LV 1/2, CLE 0/5
Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (W) (28/31) (13-15-3)
CLE – Z. Sawchenko (L) (27/33) (10-11-5)
Records:
Lehigh Valley (35-28-8)
Cleveland (35-25-11)
UPCOMING
Saturday, April 19 (7:00 pm) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears. End of Regular Season
Calder Cup Playoffs – Round 1, Best of 3 Series – Dates and Opponent TBD
