December 7, 2024
Allentown, PA – It was the longest we ever had to wait for the Crazy Plushie Chaos. Jacob Gaucher finally broke through with a shorthanded goal almost 40 minutes into the game to trigger the fun from the sellout crowd of 8,452 on Lehigh Valley’s 10th Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s. With just 29.9 seconds left in the second period, Gaucher (8th) buried the big goal to the upper-right corner following a lead pass from Hunter McDonald after Adam Ginning steered the puck over in the neutral zone. Last year’s Lehigh Valley record of 10,869 teddy bears is definitely in jeopardy if the eyeball test is to be trusted. All of the bears will be delivered to our friends at Valley Youth House in Bethlehem.
After the chaos of flying stuffed animals everywhere came the chaotic ending of a wild game which Hershey won in overtime 3-2. Lehigh Valley (9-7-5) was looking good when Helge Grans (3rd) broke a 1-1 tie with his wraparound goal with just 3:39 left. But Hershey kept pushing and found a way to equalize with just 2.9 seconds left on a goal by Henrik Rybinski (6th) followed by Chase Priskie’s overtime winner with 21 seconds remaining in the extra stanza shortly after Olle Lycksell was denied on an overtime breakaway.
The Phantoms secured a standings point in their league-leading 10th overtime game of the season in just 21 outings but it was a heartbreaking finish for a team that was on the verge of improving to 3-1 against their I-78 rivals. Lehigh Valley and Hershey will rematch on Sunday at 5:00 at GIANT Center.
Cal Petersen and Clay Stevenson were both dialed in from their respective cages, especially for the first 40 minutes, in a tremendous and intense goaltenders’ duel. Petersen had breakaway denials on Matt Strome, Ethan Frank and Bogdan Trineyev in the first two periods while also performing acrobatic saves against Frank on the backdoor in the first period off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence and Sgarbossa in the second period with the right pad on a jab at the puck from the low slot.
Stevenson was on top of his game as well between the pipes for Hershey. Oscar Eklind and Brendan Furry and Ethan Samson all offered promising shots on Lehigh Valley’s counter-attacks.
The drama was building. The packed house of Phantoms fans were ready to throw their stuffed animal donations onto the ice but they had to wait longer than any previous Teddy Bear Toss. Fans were getting itchy and it looked like we would have to wait until the third period for the Teddy Bear Toss goal when Hershey went on a power play in the last minute of the second period.
But the Phantoms and Jacob Gaucher had other ideas. Gaucher moved into a tie for the team lead in goals with his eighth of the season when he converted on the team’s first shorthanded goal off the Hunter McDonald connection to trigger the main event of the evening with the massive fury of furries. His goal also pushed Lehigh Valley’s total to well over 60,000 teddy bears collected in the annual fun and heartwarming event although the official total will not be made available until later.
The Phantoms were Bear hunting again as they usually do when playing against Hershey. But it was the Hunt to Bear combo that equalized for the Chocolate and White when Ethan Bear (5th) received a backdoor connection from veteran defenseman Brad Hunt with 7:49 remaining in the third period to finally break through for the visitors and equalize at 1-1.
An activated Helge Grans was feeling it on a drive behind the cage after Rhett Gardner fought for the puck in the corner. The Phantoms defenseman pushed through a wrap-around goal between the skates of Stevenson with just 3:39 left to put the Phantoms ahead again at 2-1. J.R. Avon also assisted on the play. Grans has now scored goals in back-to-back games since his return to the Phantoms following a two-week recall to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Olle Lycksell and Rhett Gardner connected through center and scored what they thought was going to be an empty-net goal but, unfortunately for the Phantoms, the goal was disallowed due to an offside. That extra rope for the Bears would prove pivotal as Hershey (16-5-3) was let off the hook and kept pushing and pressing. Spencer Smallman in the corner found Rybinski at the net-front who chipped in the tying goal with just 2.9 seconds remaining for a tying 6-on-5 goal to force overtime.
Lycksell had a golden chance to win the game in overtime but Stevenson got a piece of the clean breakaway effort to keep the Bears alive. Former Phantom Mike Vecchione found Mike Sgarbossa up the left wing who connected with Priskie busting for the net who knocked home his second career overtime goal against the Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley moves to 4-4 in overtime games and is 1-1 in shootouts. The Phantoms are 2-1-1 against Hershey this season ahead of the rematch Sunday at 5:00 in Chocolatetown which opens a four-game road-swing.
SCORING SUMMARY
2nd 19:30 – LV, J. Gaucher (8) (H. McDonald, A. Ginning) (SH) (1-0)
3rd 12:11 – HER, E. Bear (5) (B. Hunt, S. Smallman) (1-1)
3rd 16:21 – LV, H. Grans (3) (R. Gardner, J. Avon) (2-1)
3rd 19:57 – HER, H. Rybinski (6) (S. Smallman, R. Sutter) (6×5) (2-2)
OT 4:39 – HER, C. Priskie (6) (M. Sgarbossa, M. Vecchione) (2-3)
Shots:
LV 23 – HER 25
PP:
LV 0/2, HER 0/3
Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (OTL) (4-5-2) (2/25)
HER – C. Stevenson (W) (3-2-2) (21/23)
Records:
Lehigh Valley (9-7-5)
Hershey (15-5-4)
UPCOMING
Sunday, December 8 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Tuesday, December 10 (6:00) – Phantoms at Toronto Marlies
Thursday, December 12 (7:00) – Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters
Saturday, December 14 (7:30) – Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters
Wednesday, December 18 (7:05) – Providence Bruins at Phantoms – Pregame Happy Hour, $2 Draft Beers
Friday, December 20 (7:05) – Toronto Marlies at Phantoms – meLVin Youth Winter Knit Cap presented by Reily Children’s Hospital
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