The weather was cold outside on Friday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, but the action was hot inside as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (6-5-1) took on their divisional rivals the Providence Bruins (10-2-1), who are in first place in the Atlantic Division.
Both teams came into this game on winning streaks with the Phantoms having won three straight and the Bruins winning five straight. This was the first meeting between these two teams.
Sam Ersson started in goal looking for his fourth win of the season. Meanwhile, there were some lineup changes as Artem Anisimov was on the second line with Alex Kile and Cooper Marody, and Tanner Laczynski made his Phantoms season debut.
Meanwhile, Olle Lycksell missed his second game with an injury. He joined Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Linus Hogberg, Evan Barratt, Adam Brooks, and Hayden Hodgson as the other scratches for the game.
In the first period, the Phantoms made a couple of bad turnovers that almost led to goals but Sam Ersson was right there to stop them. For most of the first period, the Phantoms were not in-sync with each other.
However, as the period went along, the Phantoms started to play better on both sides of the puck, winning the puck battles on faceoffs and making some good hits on the endboards. They had an opportunity on the power play to take the lead but only got one shot off by Ronnie Attard, and were 0/1.
Unfortunately, Providence struck first with 4:16 left when Mike Reilly (1) made a good pass with two Phantoms players there and Oskar Steen (4) chipped it into the net past Ersson’s glove for a 1-0 lead. John Beecher (2) got the secondary assist.
Late in the first period, the Bruins went on their first power play after Ronnie Attard got called for holding. The Bruins almost added another goal by Justin Brazeau, but time had expired. Providence had a minute and 36-seconds left on the power play to begin the second period up 1-0. Despite the lead, the Phantoms led the shots 16-12.
In the second period, the Phantoms killed the Bruins’ power play. In addition to winning the faceoffs and hits, the Phantoms were creating shot opportunities and playing a well-balanced game. After Josiah Didier went to the penalty box for interference, the Phantoms tied the game 1-1 with 14:59 left after Tanner Laczynski (1) passed the puck to Tyson Foerster (3) before he shot the puck under the right pad of Keith Kinkaid for the power play goal.
Later in the second period, the Phantoms struck again. This time, it was Isaac Ratcliffe as he re-directed Wyatte Wylie’s (2) shot through the five-hole for a 2-1 lead with 5:52 left. Wylie shot the puck from the right endboards and Ratcliffe got in front of Keith Kinkaid to make the play. It was his first goal of the season and Jordy Bellerive (3) picked up the secondary assist.
The Phantoms ran into trouble twice as Cam York (holding) and Kevin Connauton (cross-checking) were sent to the penalty box and Providence had a five-on-three power play for a minute and two seconds. They capitalized when they were setting up a shot and Vinni Lettieri (7) found Mike Reilly (1) for a one-time blast past Ersson’s left skate, tying the game 2-2 with 3:06 left. Jack Ahcan (4) picked up the secondary assist.
Late in the second period, Jackson Cates got off one more shot as time ran out. Sam Ersson made a couple of nice saves to keep the game tied 2-2 after two periods. Meanwhile, the Phantoms continued to lead the shots 23-22.
Early in the third period, Sam Ersson made a terrific diving save to block Jakub Lauko’s shot. Then, the Phantoms broke the tie with 11:48 left after Isaac Ratcliffe (2) scored his second goal from the right slot through the five-hole. Ronnie Attard (4) did a tremendous job to draw a couple of Bruins players away from Ratcliffe to set up his goal for a 3-2 lead.
The Phantoms put the game away late in the third period when Garrett Wilson (5) fought Victor Berglund from the endboards to find Elliot Desnoyers (5) in front of Kinkaid and passed the puck to him which Desnoyers put it through the five-hole for a 4-2 lead with 4:04 left.
After Cam York was called for slashing with under three minutes left, the Bruins pulled Kinkaid with the hopes of getting back into the game, but the Phantoms held them off for a 4-2 win. The Phantoms extended their winning streak to four games and ended the Bruins’ five-game winning streak. They did a terrific job all around to earn this hard-fought win.
Lehigh Valley finished the night with 35 shots, 1/4 on the power play, and Sam Ersson saved 25 shots. Meanwhile, Providence had 27 shots, 1/6 on the power play, and Keith Kinkaid made 31 saves.
The Phantoms and Bruins will play again tonight at 7:05 pm on AHL.TV. Tickets for the game can be purchased on StubHub.
