Eight Is Great. Blowout in Belleville
November 18, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms News Release
Lehigh Valley Phantoms' Ronnie Attard battles Belleville Senators' Bokondji Imama
(Lehigh Valley Phantoms)
Belleville, ON - Once the Phantoms started scoring, they couldn't stop. Nor did they want to. Lehigh Valley set a new team record for largest margin of victory as 15 players got their names on the scoresheet in an 8-1 rout at the Belleville Senators on Saturday night.
Ronnie Attard (2nd, 3rd) led the attack with two goals and one assist while Tanner Laczynski (3rd, 4th) added two more goals to his massive five-point weekend north of the border. Samu Tuomaala (3rd) had a goal and an assist and also is enjoying a five-goal weekend. Emil Andrae (1st), Wade Allison (2nd) and Cooper Marody (5th) all found the back of the net as well.
Rookie J.R. Avon enjoyed his return to his home area with a pair of solid assists. The Peterborough, Ontario native had a large turnout of friends and fans who traveled one hour over to Belleville for the game.
Lehigh Valley had previously won twice by a six-goal margin but had never won by seven. The night also established a franchise record for largest margin of road victory and fell just shy of the Philadelphia Phantoms overall record eight-goal win most recently accomplished in 1999.
More history in this one. Samu Tuomaala's deflection at the net-front of a Ronnie Attard shot put the Phantoms ahead at 2-0 just 10 seconds into the second period. That tied the Lehigh Valley record for fastest goal in a period also achieved by Pascal Laberge at the Binghamton Devils three seasons ago.
Lehigh Valley (7-6-2) has won three straight and also scored eight goals in a game for the first time since a franchise-record 10 goals on April 7, 2019, against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 10-6 win.
The game started innocently enough with a 0-0 deadlock through the first 19 minutes. But some zippy passing on the move into the Belleville zone eventually dragged goaltender Leevi Merilainen out of his crease to cover Tuomaala at the bottom of the right circle. But Tuomaala spotted an open Laczynski racing into the slot who buried his opportunity into a wide-open net for a 1-0 lead.
Tuomaala was right there in the very first moments of the second period to double that lead when he got a piece of an Attard blast from right point just 10 seconds into the frame for a 2-0 lead. That was the first of four goals in the second period for the Phantoms, also a season high.
J.R. Avon hustled in behind the goal to take the puck away from Merilainen eventually getting up Marody with the chip upstairs out in front for a 3-0 lead.
Belleville got on the board on an Angue Crooshank drive from the right of the cage that was initially ruled to have gone off the crossbar but was confirmed to be in the goal on the video review.
The Sens had cut the lead to 3-1 but there was nothing to be concerned about for the Phantoms.
Emil Andrae rocketed a power-play drive off the underside of the crossbar to make it 4-1 and Tanner Laczynski dangled around the Belleville goalie on a partial breakaway with an impressive backhand stuff five-hole to make it a 5-1 game on a highlight-reel caliber goal to cap the massive four-goal stanza.
Eventually, the Phantoms found a way to break through with all the hard work eventually paying off with something of a lucky break and accidental goal. Tanner Laczynski's power-play across across the slot hit off the skate of Laval defender William Trudeau who was covering Olle Lycksell in the middle. The friendly deflection bounded right through goaltender Jakub Dobes with 4:41 remaining to finally break the scoreless deadlock and give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead.
Laval surged back in the third period with the first three shots of the frame including an early breakaway for Brandon Gignac that Petersen denied.
The Phantoms rushed back in with Tuomaala on the right boards smartly connecting with Laczynski in the high slot whose drive off the left pad of Dobes was right there for Lycksell to have a couple tries for the putback. His conversion at 2:59 into the third period doubled Lehigh Valley's advantage to 2-0.
The Phantoms held onto that 2-0 lead until the closing minutes with the frenetic and chaotic finish. Laval pulled their goaltender with over four minutes to go and Lycksell nailed an empty-netter from behind the Phantoms blue-line with 3:49 remaining to seemingly salt the game away.
But looks can be deceiving. Garnder was assessed a five-minute major for clipping the goalie while Garrett Wilson and Wade Allison were both assessed misconducts for the rest of the game in the ensuing altercation. That provided Laval the opening to break through.
Gignac deflected a point shot upstairs with 2:#2 left for a 6-on-4 goal to get the Rocket on the board at 3-1.
Lehigh Valley's penalty kill came through the rest of the way though with several big denials and blocks. Helge Grans, Tanner Laczynski and Adam Ginning all had key plays while precious time ticked away from the Rocket.
Eventually, Riley Kidney scored on the backdoor of a rebound to make it 3-2 but there were just 5.8 seconds remaining.
Laval got off one more chance in the closing seconds off the center faceoff win and the rebound out to Joel Armia bounced over his stick for the last play of the game as the Phantoms celebrated the hard-earned win.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are back in action Saturday night at the Belleville Senators and then conclude the road-trip on Tuesday at the Toronto Marlies.
The next home games for the Phantoms are next Friday and Saturday with a pair of Thanksgiving showdowns at PPL Center against the Providence Bruins and Rochester Americans with weekend promotions including Phantoms Ballcaps from Service Electric, Flyers Night featuring GRITTY, and Postgame Photos with the Phantoms players.
SCORING SUMMARY
2nd 15:19 - LV, T. Laczynski (2) (S. Tuomaala, C. Marody) (PP) (1-0)
3rd 2:59 - LV, O. Lycksell (9) (T. Laczynski, S. Tuomaala) (2-0)
3rd 16:11 - LV, O. Lycksell (10) (T. Laczynski, S. Tuomaala (EN) (3-0)
3rd 17:28 - LAV, B. Gignac (5) (S. Farrell, J. Roy) (PP, 6×4) (3-1)
3rd 19:55 - LAV, R. Kidney (1) (W. Trudeau, L. Mailloux) (PP, 6×4) (3-2)
Shots:
LV 32 - LAV 26
PP:
LV 1/3, LAV 2/8
Goalies:
LV, C. Petersen (26/28) (W) (2-3-0)
LAV, Jakub Dobes (29/31) (L) (3-5-0)
Records:
Lehigh Valley (6-6-2)
Laval (5-8-1)
UPCOMING
Tuesday, November 21 (7:00) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Toronto Marlies
Friday, November 24 (7:05) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. Providence Bruins
Saturday, November 25 (7:05) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. Rochester Americans
Friday, December 1 (7:00) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Saturday, December 2 (7:05) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Sunday, November 3 (3:05) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Providence Bruins
Stay current with the latest Phantoms news with the Phantoms 365 app available for Apple and Android devices and at www.phantomshockey.com.
Follow the team on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lehighvalleyphantoms), Twitter (@lvphantoms), and Instagram (@lehighvalleyphantoms).
Images from this story
 Lehigh Valley Phantoms' Tanner Laczynski congratulated by team |
 Lehigh Valley Phantoms' Ronnie Attard battles Belleville Senators' Bokondji Imama |
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