Allentown, PA – The Providence Bruins fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Wednesday night 3-2 in the first matchup of the season between the division rivals. The P-Bruins got goals from Kenny Agostino and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson while Zane McIntyre made his 25th start of the season in net.
The Phantoms got off to a quick start, scoring just 5:58 into the opening period. Colin McDonald took a shot that hit off the bottom of the left post and ricocheted out to Alex Krushelnyski. He was able to take the rebound and beat McIntyre for his third goal of the season as Lehigh Valley went up 1-0. At 11:50 they doubled that lead on a goal from Greg Carey that McIntyre wanted disallowed. Nicolas Aube-Kubel sent the puck out to Maxim Lamarche, who quickly found Carey in the right slot. The puck bounced off his skate and in for Carey’s 18th goal of the season, and after a quick review Lehigh Valley took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
After a scoreless second period, the Phantoms went up by three goals 9:08 into the final period. Lamarche fired a shot from the right point that flew past McIntyre to the glass. Chris Connor gathered the puck behind the net and centered it out to Mike Vecchione at the right dot. His wrister beat McIntyre for his ninth goal of the season and Lehigh Valley seemingly had a comfortable 3-0 lead.
That would stay the score until the final minutes of the game, when the Providence offense woke up in a major way. With the goalie pulled, Agostino broke up Alex Lyon’s shutout with his 11th goal of the season. After Peter Cehlarik fought for the puck in the right wing corner, Austin Czarnik fed Agostino at the left dot. With Jordan Szwarz screening in front, his wrist-shot went off the post and in to make it a 3-1 game. Still with the goalie pulled, the Phantoms had a chance to seal the win with an empty netter, but came up empty on multiple attempts. Forsbacka Karlsson made it 3-2 on his 13th goal of the season, starting transition from his own zone and eventually finishing the play on a one-timer off a pass from Szwarz with 29 seconds left. That would be where the comeback ended, as the Phantoms held on for a 3-2 win.
McIntyre stopped 20 of 23 shots while Lyon stopped 30 of 32. Providence was 0-1 on the power play and did not need to use their penalty kill once.
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