Phantoms Impeach the Senators

3-2 Win on Anthony Richard Goal in Third

January 15, 2025

Allentown, PA – It might not have been the prettiest win of the season for the Phantoms but somehow they found a way in a midweek clash against the Belleville Senators in a 3-2 victory at PPL Center. Anthony Richard (7th) scored on the power play with under 11 minutes left with a little help from a couple Belleville defenders and then the penalty kill and Cal Petersen somehow held off the B-Sens the rest of the way.

Lehigh Valley (18-14-6) also received goals from Helge Grans (5th) and Rodrigo Abols (9th) in a dominating first period in which the Phantoms outshot the Senators 15-4. But the second and third periods were a different story.

“We lost our compete level and stopped working,” head coach Ian Laperriere said. “I’ll take the two points, don’t get me wrong here. But I warned them. To go from the first period the way we played, and we played well I thought, to the last 40, that’s unacceptable. And that’s on me and I’ll take the blame. I’ll make sure they’re more ready for the next game because if we do that against Rochester we won’t like the outcome.”

Despite the knowledge that it was an off-night for the team, it was still a victory.

And the Phantoms have started out red hot while picking up standings points for a sixth time in the last seven games (5-1-1) to open calendar year 2025. Lehigh Valley also has secured points in 11 out of 15 games since December 14 going 9-4-1 in that stretch. The Phantoms also improved to 5-1-1 on Wednesdays.

More importantly, the Phantoms remained in a fourth-place tie in the Atlantic Division standings with the Providence Bruins and also stayed two points back of the third-place Charlotte Checkers both of whom won tonight.

Grans blasted home his fifth of the season from center point to open the scoring at 4:47 with assists for Abols and Alexis Gendron.

Belleville (15-12-5) answered at 8:43 with a power-play goal by Jan Jenik (5th) backhanding it through in the crease after he pulled it out from Cal Petersen attempting to get a cover on the power play.

Lehigh Valley (18-14-6) responded less than a minute later with Oscar Eklind forcing a turnover in the Senators’ zone and then Grans nudging a set-up into the slot for Abols who blasted it past the stick-side of goaltender Michael Simpson for a 2-1 lead at 9:35.

The Phantoms benefitted from the tilted ice in the first period with a 15-4 shots advantage. The Senators regrouped and came out strong in the second frame and limited Lehigh Valley to a season-low two shots in the entire period. The Phantoms also eventually tied their season low for shots in a game with 20 which they also did on November 8 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton which was also a win.

It appeared the Senators had tied the game with a power-play goal with about 3:30 left in the second period on a drive from the right dot by Stephen Halliday past a diving Petersen. But while Belleville was celebrating, the team eventually realized the officials had disallowed the goal after some contact with Petersen. That break kept the Phantoms ahead at 2-1 into the second intermission.

Belleville did successfully equalize in the opening minute of the third period with a bar-down snipe from the left circle by Wyatt Bongiovanni at 4-on-4 to make it a 2-2 tie.

Anthony Richard’s winning goal came at 9:14 into the third period when his shot from the right dot hit off the stick off defenseman Filip Roos, deflected into the air, and then bounced in off the body of a defender on the other side of the crease. The fortunate bounce put the Phantoms ahead and got Richard back in the goal column for the first time since December 4.

From December 12 through January 11, Richard had missed 13 games due to injury before returning to the lineup on Sunday at Bridgeport. Tonight was Richard’s 497th career AHL game and the goal was his 151st all-time in the AHL.

A parade of penalties kept opening the door for Belleville throughout the third period in efforts to take the lead or come back again and tie. Back-to-back infractions required almost four full minutes on the P.K. from 2:18 until 6:04 into the third but the Phantoms scrambled around and picked up key clears and blocks while Petersen also made the big saves. Belleville went on the power play two more times to end the game including some late 6-on-4 opportunities in the last minute. But Petersen made more big saves through a third period in which Belleville outshot the Phantoms 11-3 and somehow Lehigh Valley managed to escape with the win.

Lehigh Valley held the Senators to 1-for-7 on the power play while the Phantoms only had two power plays of their own with Richard scoring the winner on one of them.

The Phantoms improved to 13-5-6 in one-goal decisions and their 24 total one-goal games out of 38 total games played is tied for the most in the AHL with Hershey. Lehigh Valley is 8-0-3 at home in one-goal games and leads the AHL in most one-goal wins on home ice.

The Phantoms return to action on Friday night at the Rochester Amercians who are in first place in the North Division.

The Phantoms and Americans will rematch at PPL Center on Saturday as part of Air Products Night featuring our Children’s Book Donation Drive.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 4:47 – LV, H. Grans (5) (A. Gendron, R. Abols) (1-0)
1st 8:43 – BEL, J. Jenik (5) (J. Rees, P. Daoust) (PP) (1-1)
1st 9:35 – LV, R. Abols (9) (H. Grans, O. Eklind) (2-1)

3rd 0:46 – BEL, W. Bongiovanni (13) (A. Crookshank, F. Roos) (2-2)
3rd 9:14 – LV, A. Richard (7) (B. Gleason, A. Gendron) (PP) (3-2)

Shots:
LV 20 – BEL 26

PP: 
LV 1/2, BEL 1/7

Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (W) (24/26) (10-11-3)
BEL – M. Simpson (L) (17/20) (1-1-0)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (18-14-6)
Belleville (15-12-5)

UPCOMING

Friday, January 17 (7:05) – Phantoms at Rochester Americans

Saturday, January 18 (7:05) – Rochester Americans at Phantoms – Air Products Night, Children’s Book Donation Drive

Friday, January 24 (7:05) – Springfield Thunderbirds at Phantoms

Saturday, January 25 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms – meLVin Youth Jersey Night

Sunday, January 26 (3:05) – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins

 

 

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