PUT A BOW ON IT!

4-1 Win in Finale Launches Phantoms into Calder Cup Playoffs

April 21, 2024

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms again found their mojo on the power play with a pair of man-advantage markers while Felix Sandstrom’s 23-save performance backstopped a 4-1 victory over the Charlotte Checkers in the finale of the 10th season of “Phantoms in the Valley” presented by Service Electric.

Tanner Laczynski (17th), Zayde Wisdom (2nd), Cooper Marody (19th) and Elliot Desnoyers (6th) provided the offense for the Phantoms while Charlotte’s Wilmer Skoog scored late in the third to break Sandstrom’s shutout bid.

The best is still to come for the Phantoms though. This one was just a momentum-builder for the Calder Cup Playoffs which begin on Wednesday with Game 1 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

After that, it’s a big showdown in downtown Allentown for Game 2 of the Best-of-3 series.

But first came the finishing touches on the regular season in a game that had no meaning in the standings for either side. And the fans were ready to celebrate as well in a special tribute on “Our Valley, Our Home” Day at PPL Center that culminated with Phantoms players launching t-shirts into the crowd in appreciation of the support they have received all season long. After that, Phantoms Premier Members enjoyed the opportunity to head down to the ice for our annual Paint the Ice event which included hundreds of loyal Phantoms fanatics directly inscribing their best-wishes for the team ahead of the big games upcoming against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Before the contest, Adam Brooks was honored with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Community Spirit Award in a presentation at center ice. Then Brooks returned to present a check for $13,500 to Phantoms Charities via the goal-donation program that the started which included matching contributions from the Phantoms and our friends at Velaspan.

For the game itself, Lehigh Valley (32-31-9) still wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to end the campaign on a positive note and build that momentum into the more intense rivalry postseason series coming up in a few days.

Laczynski struck with 2:21 remaining in the first period on a drive from the left circle beating debuting goaltender Cooper Black in the Charlotte crease. Laczynski’s goal, assisted by Cooper Marody and Victor Mete, broke a month-long drought for the team on the man-advantage. But now the full complement of offensive prowess is back together and showed they are ready to thrive in the upcoming games this week.

Three goals in the second period had the Phantoms comfortably ahead and coasting to the finish line of the 2023-24 campaign.

Zayde Wisdom advanced the advantage to 2-0 at 9:53 into the second period as he carried the puck from down low up to the top of the left circle before quickly turning a snapping a shot through on the short-side past the stick of the Checkers’ netminder for his second point of the weekend.

Marody moved into a tie for the team-lead in goals with his five-on-three power-play strike from the left circle after Tanner Laczynski’s shot from the other side perfectly caromed out to him off the end-boards. Marody led the team this season with 56 points and also tied for the most goals on the Phantoms at 19 along with Olle Lycksell.

Desnoyers scored his second goal of the weekend in the concluding seconds of the period after some zippy and impressive passing from recently returned blueliners Adam Ginning and Ronnie Attard. When Attard at the right boards connected with Desnoyers on the backdoor it was a slam-dunk for the second-year pro to score his second goal of the weekend just two days after he had snapped a long goal-scoring drought.

Wilmer Skoog’s backhander off the crossbar somehow also made it into the cage top-shelf with just 4:07 remaining to break Sandstrom’s chance for a shutout but that was about the only damper on the day for the Lehigh Valley goaltender or for the Phantoms team as a whole.

Next up, it’s time to Rally the Valley. Get ready for a rivalry showdown playoff series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beginning Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre and then continuing on Friday night in Allentown.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 17:39 – LV, T. Laczynski (17) (C. Marody, V. Mete) (PP) (1-0)

2nd 9:52 – LV, Z. Wisdom (2) (A. Ginning, R. Attard) (2-0)
2nd 14:34 – LV, C. Marody (19) (B. Brink, T. Laczynski) (PP, 5×3) (3-0)
2nd 19:42 – LV, E. Desnoyers (6) (R. Attard, A. Ginning (4-0)

3d 15:53 – CLT, W. Skoog (22) (J. Sourdif, M. Vande Sompel (4-1)

Shots:
LV 23 – CLT 24

PP:
LV 2/5, CLT 1/5

Goaltenders:
LV – F. Sandstrom (W) (13-7-3) (23/24)
CLT – C. Black (L) (0-1-0) (15/19)
CLT – M. Hellburg (ND) (4/4)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (32-31-9)
Charlotte (39-26-7)

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