Instant Classic - Phantoms Finish Providence, Advance To Second Round

ALLENTOWN - It wasn't pretty by any means. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms blew a 3-0 lead to the Providence Bruins and saw themselves playing in overtime.

After a grueling 18 and a half minutes in the extra session - spent almost entirely in the Phantoms' defensive zone - Max Lamarche skated into the offensive zone on the left wing, puck on his stick. The seemingly harmless shot eluded Bruins' goaltender Zane McIntyre and sent the PPL Center into a frenzy.

The 4-3 Game 4 win sees Lehigh Valley advance to the Atlantic Division Finals, where they will have home ice advantage in a best-of-seven series against the Charlotte Checkers beginning next Friday and Saturday night in downtown Allentown. It also marks the first time a Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate has advanced to the second round in exactly 10 years when the then-Philadelphia Phantoms defeated the Albany River Rats and won that series on April 29th, 2008.

Fans in attendance certainly got their money’s worth as the Phantoms jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but those goals took a back-seat to the line brawl that erupted near the midway point of the opening period.

However, with Lehigh Valley on cruise control, the Bruins started chipping away at the lead, scoring a goal late in the second and a pair in the third to force the game into overtime.

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Greg Carey - Corban Knight - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Chris Conner Oskar Lindblom - Cole Bardreau - Alex Krushelnyski Tyrell Goulbourne - Radel Fazleev - Colin McDonald

T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman Travis Sanheim - Phil MyersReece Willcox - Max Lamarche

Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski

Scratches: John Muse, Anthony Stolarz, Sam Morin, Will O'Neill, Steven Swavely, Mikhail Vorobyev, Radel Fazleev, Carsen Twarynski, Pascal Laberge, David Drake, James de Haas and Isaac Ratcliffe

GAME RECAP

After a relatively tentative start by both teams, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms struck twice within a span of 33 seconds to take a 2-0 lead. First Greg Carey battled along the boards and moved the puck to T.J. Brennan who connected from the left point for a 1-0 lead. Before the goal could even be fully announced in the arena, Chris Conner scored from point-blank range after a terrific drop by Reece Willcox. Seconds later bedlam erupted as deep in Lehigh Valley’s zone that resulted in four misconduct penalties.

Phil Myers was hit by Jordan Szwarz in the corner. Travis Sanheim skated in, and very quickly all of the remaining skaters followed. Jordan Binnington, who had just allowed a pair of goals, skated towards center ice, but Alex Lyon refused to come out of the crease. After the dust settled, misconducts were handed out to Providence’s Tommy Cross and Szwarz and Lehigh Valley’s Cole Bardreau and Tyrell Goulbourne.

Things calmed down a bit between the two teams, but Chris Conner kept the crowd rocking with a breakaway goal, giving the Phantoms a 3-0 lead with his second goal of the game. The goal was set up by a nifty stretch pass by Carey. But the fireworks came close to reignighting when Binnington took a swipe at Danick Martel’s head, earning a two-minute minor and spelling his early exit from the game as Jay Leach opted to replace him with Zane McIntyre for the second period.

In the second, both teams had a handful of chances, but it was Providence’s Tommy Cross who finally managed to get a puck past Alex Lyon with just over two minutes left in the period, cutting the Lehigh Valley lead to 3-1 heading into the second intermission. But once again, things got a bit testy as the two teams crossed paths heading to their respective locker rooms.

In the third, the Phantoms Anton Blidh made it a one-goal game with just 8:00 left on the clock. Less than three minutes later, Austin Czarnik tied things up as the Phantoms were outshot 18-4 in the final period of regulation.

Down a forward after Tyrell Goulbourne got sandwiched between two Bruins late in the third period, the Phantoms and Alex Lyon did all they could to stave off a furious Providence rally in overtime. With tired legs, Maxim Lamarche sent the 6,739 in attendance home with Lehigh Valley’s first playoff series victory at PPL Center in Allentown.

Alex Lyon turned in a herculean effort with 49 saves on 52 shots. The Phantoms were 0-for-4 on the powerplay, but they shut down all three of Providence’s chances.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:27: LV - Brennan (1) - Carey, Krushelnyski 8:04: LV - Conner (1) - Willcox, Lindblom 9:16: PRO - Cross, 10-minute misconduct 9:16: PRO - Szwarz, 10-minute misconduct 9:16: PRO - (PP) Szwarz, minor (roughing) 9:16: LV - Bardreau, 10-minute misconduct 9:16: LV - Goulbourne, 10-minute misconduct 10:40: PRO - (PP) Blidh, minor (slashing) 16:26: LV - Conner (2) - Carey 20:00: PRO - (PP) Binnington, minor (roughing)

2nd Period

10:45: LV - (PP) Sanheim, minor (holding) 12:06: PRO - (PP) Zboril, minor (high-sticking) 17:34: PRO - Cross (1) - Agostino, Szwarz

3rd Period

0:43: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (cross-checking) 8:47: LV - (PP) Fazleev, minor (interference) 12:00: PRO - Blidh (2) - Breen, Kuhlman

Overtime #1

18:36: LV - Lamarche (1) - Conner

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  3 - 0 - 0 - 1 = 4 Providence  0 - 1 - 2 - 0 = 3

Shots

Lehigh Valley  14 - 6 - 4 - 4 = 28 Providence  6 - 14 - 18 - 14 = 52

Goalies

LV - Alex Lyon (49 saves - 52 shots) PRO - Jordan Binnington (11 saves - 14 shots in 20:00) and Zane McIntyre (13 saves - 14 shots in 58:31)

Power Play

LV:  0-for-4 PRO: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

LV:  3-for-3 PRO: 4-for-4

Attendance: 6,739