GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 2 at Binghamton - 1 (5/12/21)

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NEWARK, NJ. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-7-4) found a way to keep their slim hopes of a North Division regular season title alive Wednesday night in Newark, defeating the Binghamton Devils (6-19-7) by a 2-1 score in regulation.

The Phantoms must win their final two games of the season while also having the Hershey Bears lose their remaining games in regulation in order to win the Teddy Oke Trophy, given to the AHL's North Division regular season champions. Otherwise, the Bears take the division crown.

David Kase gave the Phantoms a 1-0 lead with 1:04 left in the 2nd period, and after Brett Seney tied things up 7:02 into the third period Chris Mueller scored the eventual game-winner with 7:45 left to play. Zayde Wisdom tallied the primary assist on both Phantoms' goals.

Felix Sandstrom got the start, stopping 16 shots before leaving the game with 7:34 left in the 2nd period. Zane McIntyre came on in relief stopping the only two shots he faced in that 7:34 of game action. Sandstrom later returned for the start of the third - finishing with 27 saves on 28 shots and improving to 3-1-1 in his last five starts while allowing two or fewer goals in all but one of those five games.

Tyson Foerster appeared to be seriously injured 1:59 into the first period. He left the game and did not return after flying head-first into the endboards behind the Devils net after what looked like incidental contact from Devils defenseman Matthew Hellickson.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Lines/Pairings:

Ryan Fitzgerald - Cal O'Reilly - Tyson Foerster Max Willman - Chris Mueller - Linus Sandin Garrett Wilson - Connor Bunnaman - David Kase Brennan Saulnier - Tanner MacMaster - Zayde Wisdom

Tyler Wotherspoon - Linus Hogberg Egor Zamula - Logan Day Derrick Pouliot - Chris Bigras

Felix Sandstrom - Zane McIntyre

Phantoms' Scratches: Eamon McAdam, Mason Millman, Wade Allison Maksim Sushko, Isaac Ratcliffe, Ralph Cuddemi, Wyatte Wylie, Pascal Laberge and Cam York

GAME RECAP

1st Period

A scary start to the contest, as 1:59 into the game Devils defender Matthew Hellickson leaned and gave a nudge into Tyson Foerster as the two were after a loose puck along the end boards. It appeared like Foerster was also starting to lose an edge, and the end result was the Phantoms' forward flying headfirst into the endboards.

Foerster was helped off the ice with help from teammates and the team's medical trainer, with on-site reporter Mike Ashmore (@mashmore98 on Twitter) reporting that the rookie forward appeared to be badly cut and left the ice quite unbalanced.

The shock of a serious injury seemed to result in the two teams playing a timid, uneventful and scoreless opening 20 minutes that only took 33 minutes in real time to complete.

It certainly has to be unnerving to see a teammate hurt like that and be able to get right back to that same game intensity - especially so in a meaningless AHL regular season game with no Calder Cup Playoffs to aim for.

2nd Period

The Phantoms took back to back penalties in the opening 2:13 of the middle frame, but were able to kill of the 5-on-3 power play thanks in large part to the strong play of Sandstrom.

A bit of a strange sequence later in the period, as with a whistle for a stoppage with 7:34 left before the second intermission Felix Sandstrom took himself out of the game.

Zane McIntyre came on in relief, stopping the only two shots he faced in the period.

Lehigh Valley broke the scoreless tie with just over a minute left in the period after Zayde Wisdom got a loose puck out from the corner.

Wisdom stickhandled between two Devils players before slipping a backhand pass to David Kase inside the left-wing circle for a knee-drop one-timer that beat Devils goalie Gilles Senn.

3rd Period

Sandstrom later returned to the game, leading the Phantoms onto the ice for the final frame.

The late period goal from Kase - and the 1-0 deficit the Devils entered the final frame with - saw Binghamton open up the third with a commanding 7-3 edge in shots and in large control of the play, getting a game-tying goal from Brett Seney 7:02 into the stanza to make it a 1-1 game.

Chris Mueller drew an interference minor on Josh Jacobs just past the midway mark of the period, and the Phantoms re-gained the 2-1 lead just seconds before Jacobs was set to be released from the penalty box.

Egor Zamula got the puck at the center point and sent a pass to Zayde Wisdom at the top of the left wing circle, and it appeared Mueller got a piece of Wisdom's one-timer before later pushing the loose puck in the crease past the goal line.

The Devils pressured in the final minutes, pulling Senn for the extra attacker, but it was Sandstrom and the Phantoms holding on for the 2-1 win.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:59: BNG - Hellickson, major (boarding) 1:59: BNG - Hellickson, game misconduct

2nd Period

0:53: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (roughing) 2:13: LV - (PP) Wotherspoon, minor (tripping) 8:36: BNG - (PP) Schnarr, minor (high-sticking) 14:20: LV - Wilson, minor (roughing) 14:20: BNG - Okhotiuk, minor (roughing) 16:42: BNG - Okhotiuk, minor (tripping) 18:56: LV - Kase (3) - Wisdom, Day

3rd Period

3:18: LV - (PP) Fitzgerald, minor (holding the stick) 7:02: BNG - Seney (5) - unassisted 10:19: BNG - (PP) Jacobs, minor (interference) 12:15: LV - PPG Mueller (6) - Wisdom, Zamula 14:02: BNG - (PP) Jacobs, minor (tripping)

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  0 - 1 - 1 = 2 Binghamton  0 - 0 - 1 = 1

Shots

Lehigh Valley   11 - 13 - 7 = 31 Binghamton  9 - 9 - 12 = 30

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (27 saves - 28 shots in 52:26) and Zane McIntyre (2 saves - 2 shots in 7:34) BNG: Gilles Senn (29 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-5 BNG: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

LV: 3-for-3 BNG: 4-for-5

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