December 14, 2024
Cleveland, OH – Louie Belpedio (3rd) scored his fourth overtime goal in three seasons with the Phantoms immediately after a spectacular breakaway save by Cal Petersen on Trey Fix-Wolansky as the Phantoms won their league-leading fifth overtime game of the season 3-2 at the first-place Cleveland Monsters on Saturday night.
It was also the second time Belpedio scored an overtime winner for the Phantoms in Cleveland having also burned the Monsters in this building on January 18, 2023.
Lehigh Valley (10-10-5) leads the league with 11 total overtime games and improved to 5-4 in overtimes as well as 1-1 in shootouts. Cleveland (16-6-3) is tied for the most overtime wins with the Phantoms but suffered an overtime loss for the first time this season to move to 5-1 in extra-period decisions.
Rodrigo Abols (5th) and Jacob Gaucher (11th) also scored for Lehigh Valley who earned a split in the two-game series in Cleveland in the final game of their four-game road trip.
Abols and Belpedio were welcome additions to the lineup. Both had recently been out of action due to illness or injury. Abols had missed five games and Belpedio had missed the last three prior to their return to game-action this evening in which they scored the first and last goals of the night.
Abols opened the scoring with the fastest goal of the season for Lehigh Valley taking advantage of a Cleveland turnover that popped right onto his stick around the left dot. The big Latvian center was ready to unload a blast to the upper-right corner just 41 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Samu Tuomaala’s one-timer from the left circle almost made it 2-0 but it found iron to the far corner of the cage past the glove of golatender Zach Sawchenko.
Petersen saw an opening to fire the pass down ice and, with a little from Oscar Eklind, connected with Jacob Gaucher on the opposite blueline. Gaucher converted five-hole less than two minutes into the second period for his team-leading 11th goal of the season for the center who had just been signed to an NHL contract on Thursday.
The Monsters weren’t going to go away easily. Boosted by their huge crowd of over 11,500, Cleveland surged back and almost broke through with 6:03 left in the second period when Dylan Gambrell’s shot was speared in a spectacular sprawling glove save by Petersen.
Gambrell (2nd) would have another chance with 2:12 left in the second period when he deflected a bar-down tally off a point-shot by Rocco Grimaldi to get the Monsters on the board at 2-1.
Trey Fix-Wolansky (14th) equalized for the Monsters at 8:42 with his center-point bomb to the upper-left corner past a screened Petersen to make it 2-2 on a goal assisted by AHL-leading scorer Luca Del Bel Balluz.
The Phantoms grinded through a hard penalty kill to keep the game tied at 2-2. Zayde Wisdom was smarting off a blocked shot and a scramble at the net-front looked particularly perilous but Petersen butterflied his legs across the goalline and found the puck through traffic to earn the cover.
Both teams traded possessions and reloads in the 3-on-3 overtime. A dig in the corner for the Phantoms went awry and a connection all the way you to a wide open Fix-Wolansky for a breakaway had Monsters fans salivating for the finish of another great comeback win. But Petersen said “No” with yet another spectacular save getting a right pad on Fix-Wolansky’s backhand effort.
Petersen found Alexis Gendron who drove to the left of the cage before dropping to a perfectly trailing Louie Belpedio who blasted home the winner strike.
Belpedio has one overtime goal in each of his three seasons with the Phantoms including two times winning it in Cleveland.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms return to PPL Center with two home games before the Holiday Break including a Wednesday, December 18 matchup against the Providence Bruins and a Friday, December 20 showdown with the Toronto Marlies featuring a Holiday Extravaganza including pictures wth Santa, ornament painting, and also meLVin Youth Winter Knit Caps from Reilly Children’s Hospital.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st 0:41 – LV, R. Abols (5th) (Unassisted) (1-0)
2nd 1:38 – LV, J. Gaucher (11) (O. Eklind, C. Petersen) (2-0)
2nd 17:48 – CLE, D. Gambrell (2) (R. Grimaldi, C. Clayton (2-1)
3rd 8:42 – CLE, T. Fix-Wolansky (14) (L. Del Bel Balluz, D. Hunt) (2-2)
OT 2:19 – LV, L. Belpedio (3) (A. Gendron, C. Petersen) (3-2)
Shots:
LV 23 – CLE 25
PP:
LV 0/2, CLE 0/3
Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (W) (23/25) (5-8-2)
CLE – Z. Sawchenko (OTL) (20/23) (7-2-1)
Records:
Lehigh Valley (10-10-5)
Cleveland (16-6-3)
UPCOMING
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 Reilly Children’s Hospital
Saturday, December 21 (6:05) – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Friday, December 27 (7:05) – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Saturday, December 28 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms – Postgame Photographs with the Phantoms players presented by NJM Insurance
Tuesday, December 31 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms – Light-up glow sticks from Penn Community Bank. World’s Largest Puck-Drop at Midnight!
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