Jiricek Tying Goal in Deubt in Stunning Rally

Phantoms Rally from 4-0 to Earn Standings Point

March 7, 2026

Allentown, PA – Trailing 4-0 in the first period, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms put together a frenetic and furious rally to earn a valuable overtime standings point but the Charlotte Checkers ended up pulling it off for a 5-4 win at PPL Center on Saturday night.

Falling behind 4-0 in the first period is not ideal. But the Phantoms stuck with it and turned their game around to provide a large crowd at PPL Center with an electrifying comeback. David Jiricek made his Phantoms’ debut a memorable one with his tying blast on the power play with just 4:20 left in the third period to bring the crowd to a deafening roar. Adam Ginning (2nd), Jacob Gaucher (13th) and Anthony Richard (16th) also scored in the crazed comeback effort.

And Aleksei Kolosov backstopped a perfect relief effort through regulation coming on in relief of Carson Bjarnason to make the incredible rally a possibility.

Charlotte (33-18-5) raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first including a goal on the first shot of the game by Sandis Vilmanis (9th, 10th) just 1:13 in. Jack Devine (14th) doubled the margin to 2-0 at 5:35. At Nate Smith (12th) rocked home a pinballing puck that caromed off the endboards.

Timeout Phantoms. John Snowden tried to settle the crew but the conversation had limited effect. Mitch Vanne Sompel (2nd) squeaked one through from the point at 14:12 to make it 4-0. Enter Kolosov.

“Obviously, the start is far from what we wanted,” Snowden said. “Something we’re still trying to figure out. Today was very poor. But what I liked is we won a 40-minute hockey game. That was our conversation between periods. The first 20 minutes is done with. We didn’t do what we needed to do. We have to win 40 minutes and see what happens. So I’m proud of that. Where we were in a spot where we (could be) just like, ‘here we go,’ and we could just quit playing. And we didn’t. We stuck all the way through it.”

Lehigh Valley (24-25-6) methodically started to turn its game around and eventually broke through almost midway through the game with Adam Ginning cranking one home from the point on a tap back by newcomer Boris Katchouk whose assist was good for his first point with Lehigh Valley since arriving from the Iowa Wild in a trade one week ago.

The Checkers might have been ready for the intermission but the Phantoms weren’t going to stop playing. A point-shot with mere seconds left led to a net-front scramble and Gaucher was able to get a knock on it to get another one back with just 12.2 seconds remaining in the second period. A huge momentum lift into the locker room had the Phantoms suddenly back in the game at 4-2.

Lehigh Valley kept it up in the third period with Oscar Eklind extending his point-streak to five games with an intercept on the blueline as Charlotte failed to clear. Eklind pushed one down low that almost caught goaltender Cooper Black off-guard but it was Anthony Richard who was in the right spot to slip it through at 49 seconds into the frame pulling the Phantoms to within a goal at 4-3.

The only power play and only penalty of the game would lead to the late equalizer as former Columbus first-rounder David Jiricek made his Phantoms’ debut a memorable and historic one with his powerful blast from the top of the right circle to the far post past Black evening the count at 4-4.

It’s certainly been an interesting stretch for Jiricek who hustlewd to Allentown to join his new team.

“Like, I’m all over the place here,” Jiricek said. “It was a tough few hours. It’s going to be because I have to go back (to Iowa) to get my stuff. But I’m excited to be here and for this opportunity.”

Robert Mastrisimone picked off a puck in the Charlotte end and connected with an onrushing Vilmanis to bury the winner in overtime for the Checkers. It was the only goal that Kolosov had allowed. The Phantoms are 4-3 in overtimes and sustained their first OT loss since December 29 which was also against Charlotte and which also featured an incredible comeback (two goals in the final 32 seconds).

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms return to action on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at the Bridgeport Islanders in the opener of three straight away games. The next home games are Sunday, March 15 at 3:05 p.m. against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Wednesday, March 18 against the Providence Bruins.

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