Recap: Islanders 4, Phantoms 3 (OT)
Jan 13, 2023Aatu Raty scored the game-winning goal at 2:36 of overtime on Friday, as the Bridgeport Islanders (15-14-6-1), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, got back on track with a 4-3 victory against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-13-3-2) at PPL Center.
Raty received William Dufour’s stretch pass following a pad save by Cory Schneider (11-3-2) and buried his second overtime winner of the season underneath Felix Sandstrom. Andy Andreoff, Jeff Kubiak and Otto Koivula also scored for Bridgeport, while Schneider made 25 saves in his first start since Dec. 16th.
With the win, the Islanders snapped their 11-game slide and improved to 2-1-0-1 against the Phantoms this season.
Tyson Foerster scored twice for Lehigh Valley, including the opening goal at 12:06 of the first period. Olle Lycksell circled behind the Islanders’ net and found Foerster unmarked between the circles, where he snapped a quick shot over Schneider’s glove to make it 1-0.
Both teams traded two goals in the second period to make it 3-2 Phantoms after 40 minutes. The Islanders grabbed their first lead of the night with two quick ones against Sandstrom in the first four minutes, beginning with Andreoff’s team-leading 19th goal of the season at 1:18. Arnaud Durandeau charged through center ice and towards the right circle while Andreoff drove the net from the left side. Durandeau guided a cross-ice pass that Andreoff buried top shelf. Kubiak followed up at the 3:35 mark with his fifth goal of the season from the right circle.
Chris Terry recorded the second assist on Andreoff’s goal to extend his season-long point streak to 10 games (five goals, seven assists). Cole Bardreau and Seth Helgeson set up Kubiak’s go-ahead tally.
The Phantoms bounced back 7:48 into the second when Foerster settled Lycksell’s homerun pass and converted on a breakaway for his 11th goal of the season. Jackson Cates made it 3-2 at the 15:50 mark on a forehand shot between the hashmarks.
Koivula forced overtime with the night’s only power-play goal at 6:43 of the third, his eighth goal of the season and fifth on the man advantage. With Wyatt Wylie in the box for tripping, Dennis Cholowski rifled a shot through traffic that Sandstrom blocked down but Koivula sent home the rebound to knot the score 3-3.
In overtime, Schneider got just enough of Kevin Connauton’s chance near the right post and Robin Salo found Dufour on the ensuing breakout. Dufour advanced the puck to Raty in alone, who closed in on Sandstrom and scored his sixth goal in the AHL this season.
The Islanders went 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Lehigh Valley led in shots 28-27.