Game 74 Recap: Phantoms Pull Past Providence, Clinch Atlantic Division Title
PROVIDENCE - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (45-19-10) used a dominant start in Providence Sunday to wrap up their first Atlantic Division title as the Philadelphia Flyers AHL affiliate in 14 years (2003-04 season) with a 6-3 victory over the Bruins.
A 20-shot, four-goal first period highlighed the afternoon for Lehigh Valley, who ended up getting goals from six different skaters - Carsen Twarynski, Greg Carey, T.J. Brennan, Colin McDonald, Phil Varone and Cole Bardreau.
While head coach Scott Gordon said he was pleased with being able to wrap up the regular season division title, it's not the ultimate goal and the team's eyes are on the real prize awarded annually in mid-June.
Playoff Update: The Phantoms' win clinched the Atlantic Division, where they will have the number one seed. All that's left in the final week of the season is determining seeding for the first round where the Phantoms will face whoever finishes fourth in the division. It's down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Charlotte or Providence.
Looking Ahead: Just two games left in the regular season for Lehigh Valley, who finishes the 2017-18 season with home contests Friday vs. Bridgeport and Saturday vs. W-B/Scranton.
Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Tyrell GoulbourneColin McDonald - Cole Bardreau - Carsen Twarynski Danick Martel - Mikhail Vorobyev - Radel Fazleev Alex Krushelnyski - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman David Drake - Max Lamarche Reece Willcox - Frank Hora
John Muse - Dustin Tokarski
Scratches: Alex Lyon (minor injury), Anthony Stolarz (injured), Sam Morin (injured), Phil Myers (injured), Chris Conner (injured), Will O'Neill (healthy) and James de Haas (injured)
POST-GAME REACTION
POST-GAME RECAP
The Phantoms were all over Providence in the first period Sunday, throwing 20 shots on net in the opening 20 minutes and putting four pucks past Providence goaltender Zane McIntyre to jump out to a 4-1 lead.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel jumpstarted the Phantoms' attack, flying down the right wing and firing a hard shot on McIntyre. The Bruins' goalie made the stop, but the rebound popped out into the slot right onto the tape of Carsen Twarynski's stick and the newcomer made no mistake - burying it for his first career pro goal and a 1-0 lead for the Phantoms 7:33 into the contest.
Lehigh Valley extended the lead to 2-0 moments later while on their first power play of the afternoon. Phil Varone got a puck down low to Mikhail Vorobyev, who after getting knocked down in the corner was able to slide a puck from his knees to Colin McDonald in front. McDonald got it to far side for Greg Carey for a quick shot past McIntyre to make it 2-0. Carey's 31st of the season.
Aube-Kubel drew the ire of the Bruins when he ran into the Bruins' goalie, starting a giant scrum late in the period. Providence converted in the final seconds of the ensuing man advantage to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Lehigh Valley got right back to it and added another pair of goals to further bolster their lead heading into the middle frame.
First, it was T.J. Brennan picking a corner on McIntyre from the top of the left circle on a feed from Phil Varone with 3:26 left in the period. Then, Vorobyev stole a puck on a forecheck behind the Bruins' net and found McDonald all alone in front for a quick shot past McIntyre with 1:50 left before the first intermission.
Just like that, it was 4-1 Phantoms. A totally different looking team than during the first three games of this final road trip of the regular season.
The Phantoms added to their late seconds after a power play ended early in middle frame to extend the lead to 5-1.
Mark Friedman got a puck to Varone and he did the rest, sniping one past McIntyre for his 23rd of the season and 70th point of the 2017-18 campaign at the 4:42 mark.
Tempers flared the rest of the middle frame, as a frustrated Bruins team started taking extra liberties at Phantoms' players away from the play.
Aube-Kubel was challenged by, and accepted, Trent Frederic to a bout 7:05 into the period. Tyrell Goulbourne got himself a 10-minute misconduct for a scrum that erupted after a Danick Martel tripping penalty.
Providence pushed back in the third period, out-shooting the Phantoms 23-5 in an all out effort to climb back into the game. They scored a pair of goals to cut the Phantoms' lead to 5-3 but Cole Bardreau tallied an empty net goal as time expired to complete the 6-3 win.
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
7:33: LV - Twarynski (1) - Aube-Kubel, Muse 10:59: PRO - (PP) Zboril, minor (high-sticking) 11:51: LV - PPG Carey (31) - McDonald, Vorobyev 13:04: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (goalie interference) 15:00: PRO - PPG Frederic (4) - Hargrove, Zboril 15:53: PRO - (PP) Porter, minor (slashing) 16:34: LV - PPG Brennan (14) - Varone 18:10: LV - McDonald (8) - Vorobyev
2nd Period
0:05: PRO - (PP) Payerl, minor (holding) 2:38: PRO - (PP) Sherman, minor (delay of game) 4:42: LV - Varone (23) - Friedman, McDonald 7:05: LV - Aube-Kubel, major (fighting) 7:05: PRO - Frederic, major (fighting) 10:31: LV - Goulbourne, ten-minute misconduct 10:31: LV - (PP) Martel, minor (tripping) 16:51: PRO - (PP) Payerl, minor (tripping) 18:10: PRO - (PP) Zboril, minor (interference)
3rd Period
0:34: PRO - Senyshyn (10) - Porter 2:36: LV - (PP) Willcox, minor (interference) 13:38: PRO - Zboril (4) - Studnicka, Clifton 16:33: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (delay of game) 19:30: LV - (PP) Lamarche, minor (interference) 19:59: LV - ENG Bardreau (11) - unassisted
BOXSCORE
Lehigh Valley 4 - 1 - 1 = 6 Providence 1 - 0 - 2 = 3
Shots
Lehigh Valley 20 - 13 - 5 = 38 Providence 8 - 4 - 23 =35
Goalies
LV - John Muse (32 saves - 35 shots) PRO - Zane McIntyre (32 saves - 37 shots)
Power Play
LV: 2-for-6 PRO: 1-for-5
Penalty Kill
LV: 4-for-5 PRO: 4-for-6
Attendance: 8,521
