On Wednesday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-21-7-3) started a three-game homestand at the PPL Center against the Providence Bruins (25-14-3-3). This was the third meeting between these two teams, with the season series tied 1-1.
The Phantoms entered the game six points behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Pat Nagle started in goal with Kirill Ustimenko, the backup. The scratches for the game were Cooper Zech, German Rubtsov, Linus Sandin, Brennan Saulnier, Nick Lappin, Alex Kile, Tyson Foerster, Sam Ersson, and Felix Sandstrom.
The Phantoms released goalie Garrett Metcalf from his PTO contract earlier today, and Ryan MacKinnon was loaned to the Reading Royals.
The Phantoms went on the power-play a minute into the first period after Providence center Chris Wagner was called for holding Charlie Gerard’s stick. The Phantoms had several chances to score but couldn’t capitalize on the power-play.
With 14:28 left, the Bruins had not registered a shot until Matt Filipe (9) found Zach Senyshyn (15) on the breakaway and scored past the left glove of Pat Nagle for a 1-0 lead. Steven Fogarty (21) got the secondary assists.
The Bruins were attacking the Phantoms zone looking to take the lead. Every time the Phantoms got the puck, the Bruins were right there to take it back. The Bruins have one of the best defenses in the AHL, and it showed.
With 11:58 left, The Bruins were back in the Phantoms zone. Wyatte Wylie got his stick caught up after Garrett Wilson hit Cameron Hughes and tripped on the sake of Oskar Steen and went headfirst into the boards and was down for several minutes. Luckily, Wylie returned a few minutes later.
With 2:45 left, The Phantoms figured out how to disrupt Providence’s defense. They were in the Bruins zone when Wyatte Wylie (11) found Cam York (2) all by himself and shot top shelf over the right shoulder of Troy Grosenick, cutting the Bruins lead 2-1. Maksim Sushko (6) earned the secondary assist. Cam York’s last goal came on November 7th.
At 19:43, Cam York got caught hooking, and the Bruins were on the power-play. With 40-seconds left, the Bruins made one last attempt to get a goal by Zach Senyshyn, but the horn sounded to end the first period. The Phantoms trailed 2-1 and led the shots 8-5. The Bruins had 1:45 left on the power-play.
In the second period, the Phantoms killed the power-play. With 16:20 left, Troy Grosenick got hurt after Charlie Gerard’s left skate hit his groin, and was down for a few minutes. He came out of the game, and Kyle Keyser replaced him.
The Phantoms were finding ways to beat the Bruins defense. With 14:30 left, Garrett Wilson (14) found Hayden Hodgson (16) for a turnaround shot past the left side of Keyser that tied the game 2-2.
Not long after the goal, Egor Zamula (16) took a shot that went off the right shoulder of Keyser before Matthew Strome (3) rebounded the puck and scored that gave the Phantoms a 3-2 lead with 13:26 left. At 7:16, Cam York got called for a delay of game, and the Bruins were going on the power-play.
With 10:55 left, Victor Berglund’s (8) shot was tipped in by Zach Senyshyn (16) for his second goal, which tied it 3-3. Samuel Asselin (18) got the secondary assist.
After the goal, both teams went back and forth with chances, and neither could break the tie. With 2:18 left, Samuel Asselin’s shot was stopped by Pat Nagle. However, Adam Clendening roughed Asselin up, and tensions rose after that. The Bruins went on the power-play.
Luckily for the Phantoms, they killed off the penalty. With 49-seconds left, Tanner Laczynski almost broke the tie, but Kyle Keyser shut the door with a left pad save. Hayden Hodgson had a chance to break the deadlock with 45-seconds left, but Kyle Keyser stopped his shot. The game was tied 3-3 after two periods with the shots 15-13 Phantoms.
Hayden Hodgson clobbered Josiah Didier in the third period, and the two went bell to bell. However, Hodgson was issued a five-minute interference, served by Alexis D’Aoust, a five-minute fighting major, and ten-minute game misconduct, taking him out of the game.
Eleven seconds later, Oskar Steen’s (11) shot was tipped in by Justin Brazeau (10), giving the Bruins a 4-3 lead. Steven Fogarty (22) earned the secondary assist.
With 17:16 left, Victor Berglund’s shot hit the right cheek of Cam York, and he was down for several minutes before heading to the locker. Luckily for the Phantoms, York was back on the ice minutes later.
Lehigh Valley’s offense was getting chances, but Kyle Keyser denied their shots. Meanwhile, Pat Nagle made several nice saves to keep it a one-goal game. With 11:11 left, Morgan Frost nearly had a breakaway and took a shot that hit the left pad of Keyser.
The Phantoms were giving everything they had to try and tie the game. However, head coach Ian Laperriere pulled Pat Nagle with a minute left in the game, and the Bruins put the game away with an empty-net goal by Joona Koppanen (10) for a 5-3 win. Chris Wagner (7) and Tyler Lewington (5) assisted Koppanen’s goal.
The Phantoms finished the night with 24 shots, 0/3 on the power-play, and Pat Nagle made 15 of 19 saves.
The Phantoms continue their three-game homestand with back-to-back nights against the Charlotte Checkers starting Friday at 7:05 pm.
