Abols Scores Again but Griffins Take Series Opener

Rematch Sunday Afternoon During “Haunted on Hamilton”

October 26, 2024

Allentown, PA – Rodrigo Abols (2nd) and Anthony Richard (2nd) both pulled the Phantoms to within one goal in the second period but the Grand Rapids Griffins pulled away for a 5-2 win at PPL Center on Saturday night.

It was the first-ever visit for the Detroit Red Wings farm club to PPL Center and was the first matchup between the two teams in 15 years since a March 2009 two-game sweep for the Philadelphia Phantoms at Spectrum.

Grand Rapids (4-1-0) received a 31-save effort from first-rounder Sebastian Cossa to hold off the Phantoms while Amadeus Lombardi (3rd, 4th) produced a three-point effort including two goals to pace the Griffs.

The Phantoms will rematch with the Griffins on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. for the team’s Haunted on Hamilton game featuring a Kids Costume parade on the ice as well as trick-or-treating and pumpkin painting.

Grand Rapids broke open a scoreless first period with a pair of goals just 71 seconds apart. A Joe Snively power-play shot from the left circle was blocked just in front of goaltender Cal Petersen but Dominik Shine (2nd) was there for the quick putback on the rebound at 16:14 to give the Griffs the initial lead.

Just 1:11 later, it was Cross Hanas (1st) on the backdoor on a nice cross-ice feed from the right boards by Tory Dello on a shot-pass to make it 2-0.

Lehigh Valley (1-3-1) came out strong to open the second period and Abols scored for a second consecutive game when he got a piece of an Ethan Samson point-shot at 1:16 to cut the margin to 2-1. The 28-year-old Latvia product is playing in North America for the first time in five years since suiting up for the Springfield Thunderbirds in the 2019-20 season and is quickly finding his way at the American Hockey League level.

The Phantoms continued to press but got burned the other way with some quick transition leading to Lombardi’s first goal on an odd-man rush for a 3-1 game at 9:12 into the middle frame.

Lehigh Valley’s top line would pull the Phantoms to within a goal at 16:23 into the second period when Olle Lycksell tracked down Anthony Richard’s cross-ice pass that was deflected away. Lycksell’s hustle on the retrieval set up Richard from the bottom of the left circle for the quick snipe past the right hip of Cossa to make it a 3-2 game.

But just 39 seconds later the Phantoms were unable to clear the zone and William Laesson from the left point took advantage of traffic at the net front to connect to the upper-right corner for his first of the season and suddenly the Phantoms were down by two again.

Lehigh Valley’s efforts to forge a third-period comeback were hampered by three penalties early in the frame keeping the Griffins with the man advantage for a large chunk of the early minutes of the frame.

Lombardi scored his second of the game on the first of those power plays after the Phantoms thought the puck had gone out of the zone and should have been whistled down for an offside. But play continued and Lombardi took advantage to strike from the left circle off the far post at 3:34 for the last goal of the night and a 5-2 final.

The Phantoms and Griffins will meet again Sunday at 3:05 p.m. for Haunted on Hamilton at PPL Center. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms embark on three consecutive road games after that beginning with a Wednesday night rivalry matchup at the two-time defending Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 16:14 – GR, D. Shine (2) (A. Lombardi, J. Snively) (PP) (0-1)
1st 17:25 – GR, C. Hanas (1) (T. Dello, S. Buium) (0-2)

2nd 1:16 – LV, R. Abols (2) (E. Samson, S. Tuomaala) (1-2)
2nd 9:12 – GR, A. Lobardi (3) (D. Shine, J. Snively) (1-3)
2nd 16:23 – LV, A. Richard (2) (O. Lycksell, R. Gardner) (2-3)
2nd 17:02 – GR, W. Lagesson (1) (A. Watson, N. Danielson) (2-4)

3rd 3:34 – GR, A. Lombardi (4) (A. Tuomisto, D. Shine) (PP) (2-5)

Shots: 
LV 33 – GR 22

PP:
LV 0/1, GR 2/6

Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (L) (0-1-0) (17/22)
GR – S. Cossa (W) (4-1-0) (31/33)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (1-3-1)
Grand Rapids (5-1-0)

UPCOMING

Sunday, October 27 (3:05) – Grand Rapids Griffins at Phantoms – Haunted on Hamilton, Spooky Fun!

Wednesday, October 30 – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

Saturday, November 2 – Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds

Wednesday, November 6 – Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

 

 

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