Phantoms/Providence Await Friday's Pivotal Game Three
ALLENTOWN - The Atlantic Division Semifinals series between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Providence Bruins shifts to downtown Allentown, Pa beginning Friday night with a pivotal Game Three in a best-of-five series that saw the two teams split a pair of games in Rhode Island last weekend.
According to head coach Scott Gordon, coming back home with a split was a 'worst-case scenario' for Lehigh Valley.
"We went through last year being down 0-2 starting at home, and that certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to go about it," Gordon said after practice earlier this week. "When you look at the big picture - knowing you have the last three at home - that obviously gives you an advantage, but now it’s on us to make sure we take advantage of it."
It's a tale of two stories for the Phantoms' track record at home. On one hand, Lehigh Valley went a league's best 27-6-5 on home ice at PPL Center during the 2017-18 regular season. On the other, the franchise is 0-3 all-time at PPL Center in the postseason - dropping all three of their first-round games at home in last year's first round exit at the hands of rival Hershey.
"Just because you’re playing at home doesn’t mean that it’s going to be wrapped up and packaged nice for you,” Gordon said of having home ice for the remainder of the series. “You still have to go out and work the right way and play the right way."
For the Phantoms, it will mean playing with speed - something they weren't able to sustain with much consistency in the first two games of the series last weekend.
When asked about the first period starts being a concern moving forward, Gordon said it had less to do with being ready to play or coming into the games with the right focus or mindset. He noted something as simple as winning the opening face-off - and winning more face-offs in general - beginning play with the puck can be a deciding factor in getting in on the forecheck versus being hemmed in their own zone attempting to beat the Bruins' forecheck.
A big part of having home-ice advantage is getting the last change, meaning Gordon and the Phantoms can play the matchups if/how they want to - playing the 'shutdown line' against the Bruins' top line or getting their own top scoring line with Phil Varone and Greg Carey out on the ice in favorable situations.
Helping the Phantoms create some possible mismatches will be the addition of defenseman Travis Sanheim and forward Oskar Lindblom, who joined Lehigh Valley following the Philadelphia Flyers' season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Six Sunday. Both Sanheim and Lindblom began the week practicing with the Phantoms on Tuesday.
While both appeared in four Stanley Cup playoff games, Gordon also made mention of the fact that both were not in the Flyers' lineup in the end of the series - hinting that while two are obviously disappointed in that regard that they also are excited to be back with the Phantoms playing meaningful hockey. How much of an impact Sanheim and Lindblom will make in changing the dynamic of the series remains to be seen.
Projected Game Three Lineup
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Chris Conner Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Oskar Lindblom - Corban Knight - Alex Krushelnyski Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonald
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman Travis Sanheim - Phil Myers Reece Willcox - Max Lamarche
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
Expected 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
