And just like that, we’re all tied up again.
The Phantoms were back in Hershey again tonight for the second game in their best-of-five series with the Bears, and after a lackluster showing in Game 1 and a frankly deserved loss, the Phantoms were eager to quickly and decisively get things back on track. And while it might not have been their tidiest effort, they were able to break through in this game, at long last, and come away with a 3-1 win, and an even series, heading back to Allentown on Sunday.
The Basics
First period: No scoring
Second period: 18:41- Anthony Richard (Nikita Grebenkin, Helge Grans)
Third period: 2:05- Zayde Wisdom (Jacob Gaucher, Adam Ginning) SHG, 2:50- Alex Limoges (Ivan Miroshnichenko) PPG, 6:34- Zayde Wisdom (Elliot Desnoyers, Helge Grans) SHG
SOG: 15 (LV) – 20 (HER)
Some takeaways
An eventful — but also not eventful? — start to the game
This was certainly, if nothing else, one of the stranger starts to a game that we’ve seen. The Phantoms came out for this one looking highly motivated, playing with some really notable pace (a pace which the Bears were matching well) and they were putting in some very good work in the offensive zone, moving the puck around and getting some shots sent in the general direction of the net, while holding up well against the physical tone the Bears were working to set (and indeed doling out some physicality on their own as well). To the eye, it looked like a spirited and engaged bit of playoff action — it was just in no way translating to actual shots being put on the actual goals. That is, despite all of the zone time they were getting, it took the Phantoms 15 minutes to record their first shot on goal, and the Bears weren’t much better. All in all, after a bit of a late frame flurry, we hit the first intermission with three shots for the Phantoms, and six for the Bears. It really do just be like that sometimes.
Welcome to the AHL
We’re resisting the urge to get too snarky around here, but that will have to wait just one more section.
The second period got off to an exciting start when Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson laid a huge hit along the boards, leaving a Bears player down on the ice, but play was allowed to continue down in the opposite end of the ice while the injured player struggled to get to the bench. Once the whistle was eventually blown, and each bench was sufficiently upset, the officials decided to conference to determine if any calls should be made.
Garrett Wilson steamrolls Nicky Leivermann into the boards. No call made.
Then, the officials gather for what seems like an eternity at the scorers table and now Wilson is getting a 5-min boarding major & game misconduct.@InsideAHLHockey pic.twitter.com/IBmUOXSLlK
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) May 3, 2025
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What they ultimately landed on was this: Wilson was given a major and a misconduct for the hit — which none of the officials seemed to see in real time, as no call was made on the ice — leaving him tossed from the game and giving Hershey a five minute power play. Or, what would have been a five minute power play, but in effect ended up being three minutes, because they were also dealt a penalty for too many men on the ice (for the player that was lying injured in front of their bench, and which was, again, not whistled in real time). The good news amongst all of this is that the Bears did not score on that slightly extended power play, so we don’t have to get too heated about whatever all that nonsense was. But nonsense it was, indeed.
Evening out
And because the officials can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to this sort of thing — especially in the playoffs — the Phantoms spending time on the penalty kill early in that period meant that they were bound to get some time on the power play before long, and that they did. Just past the midway point of the second period, the Bears were assessed a double minor for high-sticking (Elliot Desnoyers was the unlucky party on that play), and the Phantoms got four minutes of power play time of their own to work with.
It was a big opportunity, but not one that they exactly did a lot with. Indeed, it took them just about a minute to to even get set up in the offensive zone after an initial quick clear, and even when they were in the zone, they didn’t look overly threatening. They were able to get a little bit of passing motion going in-zone, but more often found themselves chased out and into the neutral zone to regroup, and they came out of the attempt with just one shot on goal (and a clear takeaway of what their next area of play in need of fixing is).
Breaking through
With all of this time spent on the man-advantage for both teams and so little to show for it, it was beginning to feel like we might not see any scoring ever again in this matchup. Neither side was exactly piling up the shots either — by the end of the second period, the Phantoms had 11 shots while the Bears had 13 — but still, the Phantoms were beginning to find their footing at even strength and string together some threatening shifts in succession.
What a pass from the Birthday boy! #RallyTheValley | #LVvsHER | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/EClLltP4A1
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) May 3, 2025
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No longer was it feeling like any goal we might get was going to be an ugly, garbage time goal, and indeed, the Phantoms’ third line delivered a huge goal — a nifty quick-up pass from the goal line up to Anthony Richard in motion, crashing towards the net. It was the Phantoms’ first goal of the series, and the weight it pulled off the collective shoulders of the team was undeniably huge as well.
Just a weird one
All in all, we cannot begin to explain what was in the air out in Hershey during this game, so strange as it was. The Phantoms were able to hold on to their lead in the third period, but it was not going to be easy or without stress, but somehow, still, it all worked out. That is, they kicked things off by sending themselves back on the penalty kill not even two minutes into the frame, but they managed to at least lessen that blow by scoring shorthanded (this one from Zayde Wisdom) just seven seconds into that power play attempt for Hershey (and that goal turned out to be much needed insulation, as the Bears came back and scored on that same power play). And things went back and forth for a while — the Phantoms drew a penalty but did not score, the Bears drew a penalty and the Phantoms scored again shorthanded (Wisdom again), and even through two more Bears power plays, the Phantoms were able to keep them contained (or, perhaps, the Bears were able to keep the Phantoms contained).
The door remained open for the Bears to pull themselves back into this game, but the Phantoms kept finding ways to do just enough to keep them from really taking advantage of those opportunities. It wasn’t the prettiest of efforts, but it sure did work.