Phantoms Win Wil 6-5 Goal-Fest at Devils
April 26, 2021
Newark, NJ – Cam York scored his first career pro goal in a night filled with historic achievements as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hung on for a wild 6-5 win at the Binghamton Devils on Monday night in Newark, NJ. York finished with three points on one goal and two assists.
Cal O’Reilly racked up three assists in the game to become just the tenth player ever in AHL history to reach the 500 Assist Milestone.
Pascal Laberge scored just 10 seconds into the game for the fastest goal in Lehigh Valley history and the second-fastest in Phantoms’ franchise history. And Lehigh Valley scored five goals in the first period for the most goals Lehigh Valley had ever scored in a single frame.
After enjoying a 5-1 lead in the opening 20 minutes, the ever-feisty Devils rallied back to forge a 5-5 tie before Linus Sandin won the game midway through the third period with his second goal of the game. His power-play tally for the 6-5 lead was set up for O’Reilly’s historic 500th assist.
Lehigh Valley (15-4-3) improved to 7-0-2 against the Binghamton Devils in the season series and swept this recent stretch of three games against the Devils in the last four days.
Pascal Laberge started the scoring bonanza quickly just 10 seconds into the game on an intercept and a quick strike from the right circle for a 1-0 lead. The fastest goal in Lehigh Valley history beat the old record held by Petr Straka who scored 15 seconds into a game on December 14, 2014 against the Binghamton Devils. The franchise record is held by Tye McGinn who scored nine seconds into a game on March 24, 2013 for the Adirondack Phantoms against the Portland Pirates.
Connor Bunnaman scored a few minutes later after an intercept by Laberge in his own end for a 2-0 lead.
Cal O’Reilly attempted to find Tyson Foerster on the backdoor but his pass was tipped off a Devils’ stick to Cam York near the top of the left circle who was ready to unload for his first of his pro career.
Binghamton struck back with a goal by Travis St. Denis on a 2-on-1 chip to get on the board.
But the Phantoms surged back with goals by Chris Bigras from the point and Linus Sandin in the slot for a 5-1 advantage after one. Cam York assisted on the Bigras and Sandin goals to complete his three-point night.
The Devils responded with goals in the second period to cut the margin to 5-3 on tallies by Ben Thomson and a sharp-angle gla by Fabian Zetterlund.
Then the Devils came all the way back to tie it with two early goals in the third period by Travis St. Denis from below the goal-line for a 5-4 game and then a tying tally by rookie defenseman Reilly Walsh who impressively dangled his way in to score the equalizer at 6:49 into the third.
But Cal O’Reilly took a sharp-angle shot from Logan Day and spotted Sandin in the slot at 10:45 into the third period for the winning goal and his historic 500th career assist to complete the scoring and put the Phantoms back on top at 6-5 for the exciting victory.
The Phantoms next play on Wednesday night at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Lehigh Valley’s next home game is Saturday, May 1 against the Binghamton Devils. Tickets are available and on sale for all remaining five home games in the 2021 season at phantomshockey.com
Scoring:
1st 0:10 – LV, P. Laberge (3) 1-0
1st 7:43 – LV, C. Bunnaman (1) (P. Laberge) 2-0
1st 11:58 – LV, C. York (1) (C. O’Reilly, C. Bigras) 3-0
1st 12:48 – BNG, T. St. Denis (3) (G. Clarke, A. Greer) 3-1
1st 15:59 – LV, C. Bigras (2) (C. York, C. Mueller) 4-1
1st 17:12 – LV, L. Sanidn (3) (C. O’Reilly, C. York) (PP) 5-1
2nd 1:56 – BNG, B. Thomson (6) (G. Clarke, N. Okhotiuk) 5-2
2nd 15:50 – BNG, F. Zetterlund (5) (K. Bahl, N. Schnarr) 5-3
3rd 0:31 – BNG, T. St. Denis (4) (J. Jacobs, A. Greer) 5-4
3rd 6:49 – BNG, R. Walsh (4) (F. Zetterlund, M. Jobst) 5-5
3rd 10:45 – LV, L. Sandin (4) (L. Day, C. O’Reilly) (PP) 6-5
Shots:
LV 37 – BNG 21
PP:
LV 2/6, BNG 1/4
Goalies:
LV – Zane McIntyre (16/21) (W, 10-1-2)
BNG – Gilles Senn (9/14) ND / Mareks Mitterns (22/23) (L, 1-3-0)
Records:
LV 15-4-3
BNG 5-14-6
