GAME 1 Observations: Lehigh Valley - 2 at Hershey - 1 (OT) 2/6/21

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HERSHEY, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-0-0) kicked off the 2020-21 regular season on the road against familiar foe, and in-state rival, Hershey Bears (0-1-0) Saturday afternoon in what was the opening game for both teams.

While it took the Phantoms over 59 minutes to find their first goal of the season, it couldn't have come at a more crucial time.

With goaltender Zane McIntyre pulled for the extra attacker in the waning moments of regulation, Chris Mueller won an offensive zone face-off back to the blue line and rookie defender Wyatte Wylie did the rest. Wylie stepped into one and blasted the puck past Bears netminder Phoenix Copley to tie the game at 1-1 with just under 45 seconds left to play.

Wylie's first career pro goal forced overtime, where newcomer Ryan Fitzgerald was able to play the role of hero, taking a feed from Wylie and zipping up the middle during the 3-on-3 before sniping Copley to complete the Phantoms' stunning come-from-behind season opening win.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Lines/Pairings, though they got mixed a bit as the Phantoms' offense struggled to score and changes were made..

Ryan Fitzgerald - Cal O'Reilly - Zayde Wisdom Maksim Sushko - Tanner Laczynski - Linus Sandin Garrett Wilson - David Kase - Tyson Foerster Sam Morin - Chris Mueller - Max Willman

Egor Zamula - Tyler Wotherspoon Linus Hogberg - Derrick Pouliot Chris Bigras - Wyatte Wylie

Felix Sandstrom - Zane McIntyre

Scratches: Eamon McAdam, Tanner McMaster, Mason Millman, Matt Strome, Logan Day, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier and Pascal Laberge

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:09: LV - (PP) Wylie, minor (delay of game) 10:31: HER - (PP) Gerisch, minor (interference) 14:25: HER - (PP) O'Gara, minor (slashing) 17:43: HER - (PP) Riat, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

0:17: LV - (PP) Morin, minor (tripping) 9:08: LV - (PP) Zamula, minor (hooking) 13:02: HER - Clark (1) - Wittchow 16:45: HER - (PP) Clark, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

4:22: HER - (PP) Riat, minor (boarding) 10:02: LV - Morin, major (fighting) 10:02: HER - Kessy, major (fighting) 19:15: LV - Wylie (1) - Mueller

Overtime

1:59: LV - Fitzgerald (1) - Wylie

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   0 - 0 - 1 - 1 = 2 Hershey Bears 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 1

Shots

Lehigh Valley   7 - 8 - 8 - 5 = 28 Hershey Bears 8 - 14 - 13 - 0 = 35

Goalies

LV: Zane McIntyre (34 saves - 35 shots) HER: Pheonix Copley (26 saves - 28 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-5 HER: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

LV: 3-for-3 HER: 5-for-5

Tony's Ten Thoughts

1. Wyatte Wylie's big debut.

Yes, he scored the big goal late in the third period and yes, he assisted on the OT winner - playing the 3-on-3 on Phantoms' opening night as a rookie blueliner out of the WHL.

But he was impressive to watch all game long, a really smooth skating defenseman on a pairing with veteran Chris Bigras.

I asked Bigras after Thursday's preseason game about his new D-partner.

"He's a great guy and a good player for sure. Communication is huge, especially when it's a younger kid just trying to talk to him as much as I can. But he was great out there [Thursday] for his first taste of pro. Looking forward to playing with him here."

That pairing looked really good.

2. Zane McIntyre was arguably the best player on the ice Saturday.

It was a pretty evenly played game overall, but there were stretches where the Phantoms were hemmed in their own end or they went lengths of time without a shot on goal. Whenever that happened, and it was more frequent in the middle frame, McIntyre bailed his team out.

His only goal against came after rookie defenseman Linus Hogberg made a nice move at the offensive zone blue line to keep a puck in. Hogberg kept it away from a Bears player at the right point, before taking the puck down low and attempting a wrap around. Unfortunately, it never materialized and the puck was taken right off Hogberg's stick and Hershey scored on a 2-on-1 in transition.

McIntyre finished the game with 34 saves on 35 shots against, and really kept the Phantoms in it as it remained a 1-0 game into the final minute of regulation.

3. Tyson Foerster leaves game late in 3rd period and it didn't look good.

Foerster, the Flyers' 1st round pick (23rd overall) in 2020, was having himself a decent pro debut, moving up the lineup during the game and playing on the top line with Cal O'Reilly and Ryan Fitzgerald before an unfortunate play saw him fall hard to the ice. A Bears' forward lost an edge and wiped out as he was skating toward Foerster, clipping the Phantoms rookie's legs out from under him. A clip of the play can be found here.

Play was stopped and Foerster had to be helped off by Phantoms head athletic trainer Brian Grogesky and one of his Phantoms' teammates. He wasn't putting any weight on one of his legs (not specifying in case it's not serious so he's not targeted in future games) as he was heading to the locker room.

He certainly looked to be in some serious pain/discomfort as he was leaving the ice, and we certainly hope it's not as serious as it looked.

4. A scare for Zayde Wisdom in the second period of his pro debut.

I don't mean to cause a panic amongst the fanbase on Phantoms' opening night, because you all are more than capable of doing that on your own, but a Bears player came flying to the net in the middle frame was was tripped - actually flipping nearly head over skates and catching Wisdom up high with what appeared to be his skate.

Wisdom headed to the bench and later the locker room for repairs, but did return and by as far as could be seen from AHLTV he did finish the game.

5. Sam Morin was in the Phantoms' lineup again on Saturday.

Morin is still adjusting to the forward position, and he did take a tripping minor to start the 2nd period that started the Phantoms' mid-game lull, but honestly it looked like the player he "tripped" actually lost his footing and tripped over the back of the net as he was heading behind it.

He received some more shifts on defense while the Phantoms were on the PK, but played exclusively at forward while at 5-on-5.

Morin tried to spark the Phantoms midway through the third period, dropping the gloves with Bears enforcer Kale Kessy but it wasn't much of a fight. Kessy couldn't reach the lanky Morin to land any of his punches and it quickly became a defensive bout and a merry-go-round.

6. Ryan Fitzgerald could prove to be a regular difference maker for Lehigh Valley this season.

Yeah, easy for me to say after he scores an OT game-winner in the first game of the season.

But I distinctly remember Fitzgerald coming in hot upon his arrival to the AHL, where he tallied 21 goals in 65 games for Providence in his rookie season in 2017-18.

A former Boston College standout, Fitzgerald is a smaller guy but what he lacks in height he more than makes up for with his speed, skating and offensive abilities. He's going to be a fun player to watch, and certainly a guy to keep an eye on in the offensive zone.

His OT winner was an absolute snipe to the far side top corner.

Fitzgerald wears the same #13 that his cousin on the NHL club, Kevin Hayes, does in Philadelphia.

7. Max Willman stood out again.

I asked around with some of my colleagues watching today's game and we're in agreement that Willman was absolutely flying out there today in Hershey. I thought he also had a strong performance in the Phantoms' preseason game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday.

He was out there killing penalties, getting to the net and creating while at 5-on-5. I'll have to confirm with Phantoms advanced stats expert Brad Keffer (@brad_keffer), but I'm sure his metrics will match up with the eye test. He looked really good.

He was another player who seemed to get more ice time when the lines were juggled during the 2nd period, and he and Chris Mueller saw an early shift in the 3-on-3 overtime period where the two almost teamed up to win it the shift before Fitzgerald ended up netting the game winner.

8. Special teams were a mixed bag.

The penalty kill had a good night, and McIntyre was a big part of that as well as Willman (mentioned above) and the other PK'ers. They were perfect tonight (3-for-3) and were also perfect in Thursday's preseason game. Head coach Scott Gordon said after Thursday's game they had simplified things on the PK a little bit and so far it seems like subtle changes are working out well.

The power play units, however, were a little inconsistent.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes they showed good puck movement and were creating chances. Other times, they had trouble getting things set up. It is only the first game of the regular season, and just the second game in almost the last 11 months for a lot of these players. Time will tell if they can get the chemistry formed and begin capitalizing.

The power play guys never like seeing an 0-for in their column. And it was 0-for-5 tonight. In a game that was 1-0 going into the final minute of regulation, the power play could have taken the game over for Lehigh Valley and really changed the complexion of the game if they had converted on some of their chances.

*9. Hershey Bears defenseman Reece Willcox?!

Willcox appeared in 232 career AHL games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms from the tail end of the 2015-16 season all the way through the end of 2019-20, good for fourth all-time for games played in Lehigh Valley franchise history. His 232 career games are the most by a Lehigh Valley Phantoms defenseman.

Unfortunately for Phantoms fans, Willcox wasn't re-signed in the offseason. He landed an ECHL deal with Florida Everblades before getting a PTO with Hershey to join their training camp some two weeks ago.

It was certainly strange seeing Willcox in a Hershey Bears uniform. He's wearing #4 this season, and we'll have to get used to seeing him in Chocolate and White since the Phantoms and Bears have more meetings scheduled on the season.

10. Captain Cal O'Reilly

Cal O'Reilly was sporting the captain's C today in Hershey, and is the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' new team captain. The team did not have one last season after Colin McDonald had previously been the team's captain for several years prior to the 2019-20 season.

For reasons unknown, there weren't any Phantoms' players wearing the alternate captain A's. It's possible those are to be determined, since it's a relatively new group of veterans who just joined the team last week outside of O'Reilly.

Garrett Wilson has previously served as an AHL captain, and Chris Mueller is a long-time pro.