LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa – A crowd of over 8,200 packed in to the PPL Center to see the Phantoms win by a score of 3-1. Saturday night was the second home game of the year for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Their two week road trip left them with a 1-3 record to start the season and many questions on special teams. The Power Play and Penalty Kill had been inconsistent to this point, going 0 for 10 in a game against Wilkes-Barre last week. Combine all that with one of their worst games on this young season against this same Providence team on Friday night, and you could imagine the worry going in to Saturdays contest. While the Phantoms did go one for one on the Power Play in 
Providence, the allowed the number one man advantage to go three for four and pad their stats. Despite all that, however, Saturdays match up would pan out much different.
The first period started out like most games do, a feeling out process between the two teams. The phantoms, much like they did the night before, controlled the fore check for a large part of the opening minutes. Lehigh held the offensive edge, and had Providence trapped in their own end. Pavel Padakin wound up throwing a puck toward the net that, while missing, blasted back of the boards out the other side behind Bruins goalie Zane McIntyre. Tyrell Goulbourne happened to be in the right place at the right time to put the puck behind McIntyre to give the Phantoms a one to nothing lead just 5:45 into the frame. That marker would be Goulbournes second professional goal, but his night was not done just yet. The rest of the first would be mostly uneventful, with both teams Power Plays failing to capitalize on one chance each. The second, however, would be when things got really interesting.
The Second period would be host to a combined 22 minutes in penalties between the two rivals, with only one resulting in a Power Play goal. The Bruins would tie the score just over two minutes into the period, when Seth Griffith and Alexander Kohokhlachev would capitalize on a two on one. Andrew MacDonald was the only Phantom back on the play, and he tried to slide across to take a shot attempt a way from Griffith. Seth toe dragged around a sliding Andy Mac, and snapped a shot past Anthony Stolarz to make it 1-1. Petr Straka would capitalize on a partial break away entering the zone on a Power Play to put the Phantoms back on top eight minutes later. The period would break down from there, with each team getting a chance on the man advantage within six minutes from the goal. Both teams would kill off each penalty, and just five minutes later Goulbourne would step back in to the spot light. After a scrum in front of Stolarz broke down to pushing and shoving, Goulbourne and Providences Anthony Camara would lock up in the corner. The refs tried to separate the two, but they broke away and decided to drop the gloves. Camara thought they would lock up again to start the brawl, but the man they call “Gillz” had other ideas. He landed a quick, hard right jab that seemed to knock Camara out and send the crowd into a frenzy. That atmosphere would carry over for the rest of the period, with eight more minutes of penalties resulting in the next five minutes. All penalties from this point on would be killed off, which had to feel good for the last placed PK of the Phantoms, but a set back for the first ranked Power Play of the Bruins.
The third period would be much like the first. Back and forth up the ice action, with each team killing off a penalty and only one goal being scored. That goal would come off the stick of Aaron Palushaj in to an empty net with just under half a minute left in the game to seal the win for Lehigh. Injuries have plagued the Phantoms over the last week, especially to top penalty killers Cole Bardreau and Danick Martel, and the special teams have shown signs of weakness in their absence. Holding off the top Power Play in the league in the Bruins tonight would definitely be a huge confidence booster for the team. They also managed to capitalize on a power play themselves for the second night in a row, which also has to feel really good. The Phantoms finish up their three game weekend against the Toronto Marlies at home today, and things are not getting any easier. While it will be a sight for sore eyes for the penalty killers to see a man advantage that ranked in the bottom half of the league, the Marlies penalty kill itself ranks sixth among all teams and will be a tough challenge for the Phantoms struggling power play. Playing three games in a row is hard enough, but having the opportunity to bring your record back to 500 before the end of the weekend is a great incentive to get up for those games, especially when two of them are in front of your fans.
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