he Lehigh Valley Phantoms dropped a 6-4 verdict to the Hershey Bears at PPL Center on Friday evening. It was a lost opportunity for the Phantoms to move on in the playoffs.
Instead, the best-of-five series will be decided on Sunday at Giant Center in Hershey. The victor will take on the winner of the Charlotte Checkers series against the Providence Bruins.
The Phantoms spent most of Friday’s match chasing the game. Ian Laperriere’s team showed its characteristic resilience. The Phantoms erased two-thirds of a 3-0 deficit early in the second period. In the final frame, the Phantoms trailed 6-2 before making a late desperation push. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough.
Three factors in the loss
- Disastrous first period. The first few shifts of the game went fine but went rapidly downhill from there. The Phantoms ran into penalty trouble. They turned over pucks, including one that produced Hershey’s first goal. By the time intermission hit, the two-time defending Calder Cup champion Bears had a three-goal lead and 12-3 shot advantage.
- Bears won the special teams battle. The Phantoms entered Game 4 at 15-for-16 on the penalty kill. This included three shorthanded goals (two by Zayde Wisdom in Game Two, one by Jacob Gaucher in Game Three). Officially, Hershey was 2-for-8 on the power play on Friday. From a practical standpoint, it was 3-for-8. Hershey’s second goal of the match was simultaneous to the expiration of an Anthony Richard penalty. Meanwhile, the Phantoms ower play is now 1-for-18 in the series after going 0-for-7 on Friday. A failed 5-on-3 hurt the comeback effort. At 3-2, the Phantoms had their most extended power play pressure of the night but failed to find an equalizer.
- Subpar goaltending. Veteran Cal Petersen was a hero last Sunday. He entered mid-second period in relief of the injured Parker Gahagen and stopped all 15 shots he faced. He caught a few breaks along the way with Hershey missing the net several times from prime range. On Friday, the Bears picked apart Petersen (a tongue twister) by shooting high on three of their goals. Two others were juicy rebounds the Phantoms defenders failed to clear. The last one was an outright misplay, as Petersen over-committed to the left post. The result was a wraparound goal into a half-open net.
Why not Bjarnason?
Gahagen did not practice during the Phantoms’ four-night hiatus between Games Three and Four. He will not be available for Sunday’s deciding match. That’s a shame . The former Army goalie, who turns 32 later this month, is a great story. Gahagen has also played very well in the playoffs (3-1 record, 2.00 goals against average, .929 save percentage). Rookie Carson Bjarnason backed up Petersen on Friday.
After the game, Laperriere said he never gave thought to a goalie switch after the first period (trailing 3-0) or after the second period (behind 5-2). The coach added that Petersen will start on Sunday in Hershey.
“Cal is my guy, and I’m sticking with him,” the head coach said.
Laperriere did not elaborate. He said that he felt it was a valuable experience for the 19-year-old Bjarnason to at least be able to sit on the bench in a pro playoff game. However, it should be noted that Bjarnson was banged up at the end of the Western Hockey League season with the Brandon Wheat Kings. Right off the bat, the word was that he wouldn’t see game action for the Phantoms this spring. Bjarnason would only have appeared in Friday’s game if Petersen was injured and unable to continue.
Bjarnson last played on April 1. He tried to play through the undisclosed injury in the playoffs but struggled (0-3, 4.19 GAA, .870 save percentage). He also had a rough time last spring (0-4, 7.15 GAA, .831 SV%). I know what Laperriere’s thought process was during and after Friday’s game. He didn’t want to throw a rusty and banged-up Bjarnason to the wolves (well, bears).
The public vote of unwavering confidence in Petersen? It’s a necessity.
The Phantoms don’t have any other choice but to cross their fingers and hope for the best on Sunday. Gahagen isn’t available. It would be unfair to ask Bjarnason to make his pro debut with the season on the line. Eetu Makiniemi missed 95 percent of the season with injury. Keith Petruzzelli is an ECHL goaltender.
A few silver linings
The bright spots on Friday? First and foremost, Wisdom stepped up yet again for his team. He stepped out from below the goal line and beat Hunter Shepard with a nice backhanded goal. Earlier, Wisdom came very close to scoring his third short-handed marker of the series. After being on the cusp of being out of the Flyers’ organization, he looks like a late-blooming prospect. Wisdom could be in the mix to compete for a bottom-six role for the Flyers come training camp.
Gaucher, Rodrigo Abols and Oscar Eklind also scored for the Phantoms in a losing cause. Veteran captain Garrett Wilson hit the post in the first period (the play was briefly reviewed on video) with the score still 1-0 in Hershey’s favor. Later, Nikita Grebenkin (assist, two shots, plus-two) had a nice setup to Elliot Denoyers that the recipient was unable to finish for a goal.
On the blue line, Emil Andrae had a couple of ups and downs on Friday. However, the positives outweighed the negatives. He also chipped in an assist, had four shots on goal, and came within a whisker of a spectacular individual effort goal. Unfortunately, a moment after the near score, Andrae took an offensive zone hooking penalty.
Phantoms rookies Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump had a hard time finding time and space to make plays on Friday. The last three games have been a bit frustrating for Bump in particular.
The officiating on Friday night was downright awful. But it was bad on both sides of the calls. Wilson was tossed on a late-game misconduct when the Phantoms went down 5-on-3 after pressuring heavily with Petersen pulled for a 5-on-5 in front of an empty net.
Things got chippy in the third period. Givani Smith and Louie Belpedio had fighting majors. Throughout the game, there were multiple after-the whistle scrums.
Flyers general manager Daniel Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones did not attend Friday game. They were in house on Sunday for Game Three. Flyers assistant general manager Barry Hanrahan made the trip to Allentown on Friday. Additionally, player development staff attended. I saw Sam Morin in passing after the game.
Phantoms starting lineup
15 Olle Lycksell – 56 Jacob Gaucher – 74 Zayde Wisdom
29 Nikita Grebenkin – 18 Rodrigo Abols – 90 Anthony Richard
17 Garrett Wilson – 77 Jett Luchanko – 21 Alex Bump
43 Oscar Eklind – 91 Elliot Desnoyers – 54 Givani Smith
19 Hunter McDonald – 7 Louie Belpedio
6 Emil Andrae – 5 Ethan Samson
37 Adam Ginning – 3 Helge Grans
40 Cal Petersen
[34 Carson Bjarnason]
Nothing beats live hockey
After the Phantoms game on Friday night, I stayed around the PPL Center pressbox level with The Hockey Writers’ Mike Fink. We watched overtime in the Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs game. That was fun.
However, it was more enjoyable just to be back in the pressbox and watch live hockey. Kevin Kurz sat directly to my right. It felt kind of backwards, like being on your off-wing. Kevin sits two spots to my left at Wells Fargo Center. Back when Kevin worked for the Flyers in public relations, he was the one who hired me in 2007 to do some freelance for The Philadelphia Flyer (game program, back when teams had those). Kevin, Zack Hill and Joe Klueg opened the door for me. You have them to blame!
Kidding aside, I hope the Phantoms’ postseason run continues past Sunday. It’s so much nicer to be in the arena rather than watching on television. The last game I attended before Friday’s tilt was the Flyers’ regular season home finale on April 15.
I was at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees for their Exit Day media availability. That’s never much fun, though. Rather, it’s goodbye for the summer. That is, if you don’t count Development Camp or perhaps a press conference or two. It was good to see Bob Rotruck last night. I was unable to make it to Allentown during the regular season this year.
Following the Postgame Ian Laperriere and Zayde Wisdom press conferences at the podium, Kevin and I did interviews with Alex Bump and Jett Luchanko. Originally, it was supposed to be an exclusive interviews for Kevin, but he graciously invited me to participate.
On Sunday, look for a feature article on the two Phantoms’ rookies on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com. It struck me late last night that my first interview at training camp last September was with Luchanko. Unless the Phantoms advance further in the Calder Cup Playoffs, my final live interview of the 2024-25 campaign will also have been with the 2024 first-round pick.
Note to the Flyers: I would certainly not complain if you announce the next full-time head coach in the next two weeks. I am staying in Philly until late May, primarily to be available for in-person coverage of a post-hiring press conference. If the Phantoms prevail in their current playoff series with Hershey, I’ll return to Allentown for Atlantic Division Final coverage.
Note the Lappy! Cal stinks at any level!