Providence, RI – Tanner Laczynski (1st) sparked the Lehigh Valley Phantoms offense with his first goal of the regular season, and tallied once more in the shootout to help the Phantoms to a 3-2 win at the Providence Bruins on Saturday night. Sam Ersson stood tall in net with 30 saves on 32 shots, and followed with a perfect three-for-three performance in the game’s decisive shootout.
One night after seeing their five-game winning streak and eight-game point streak snapped by Lehigh Valley, the Atlantic Division-leading Providence Bruins (10-2-3) dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
Lehigh Valley (7-5-1) set a new season-high for shots on goal with 46, topping their previous mark of 39 set twice earlier this month in Belleville and Laval.
Lehigh Valley outchanced Providence in the opening stanza, and for the second consecutive night, the Orange and Black erased an early 1-0 deficit. Marc McLaughin started the scoring for the Bruins at the 6:01 mark for his first goal as a member of the P-Bruins. The local Boston College product buried a cross-ice feed from Jakub Lauko to beat a sprawling Samuel Ersson to his right.
Lehigh Valley’s opening frame persistence paid dividends on Tanner Laczynski’s first goal of the regular season at 16:26. Following a steal near the Phantoms blue line, Laczynski turned on his jets and went coast-to-coast for a breakaway chance. Despite Bussi getting a piece of the shot, the puck bounced into the cage to knot the score at 1-1. Shots after 20 minutes were 11-5 Phantoms, reflecting a tilted period of action in favor of Lehigh Valley.
The Phantoms continued to show poise and generated quick counterattacks after forcing turnovers in neutral ice. At 8:15 of the second period, Lehigh Valley salvaged a 2-1 lead with another breakaway goal. After a steal in the neutral zone by Laczynski, Tyson Foerster up the right boards fed Jackson Cates on a headman pass behind the defense. Cates buried his third goal of the season to hand his club a 2-1 lead at the second intermission.
Laczynski was tremendous in his second game back with the Phantoms. He later cranked a shot off the post and also almost scored a shorthanded breakaway late in the third period when Bussi got just enough of his shot to nudge it barely wide of the far post behind him.
Ersson kept Lehigh Valley in the driver’s seat late in the second period after making a multitude of ten-bell saves. On the penalty kill, Ersson turned aside a late Providence squall. Shots after 40 minutes were 23-17 Phantoms.
Both sides traded glorious chances through some wild stretches of the third period and into the overtime. Providence eventually came up with the equalizer with 6:43 left on Vinni Letteri’s team-leading eighth of the year on the put-back of a point shot by Jack Ahcan that glanced off the edge of Ersson’s glove.
Laczynski went top-shelf in the first of the shootout to beat the lefty-style goalie Brandon Bussi to the stick side.
Lettieri’s try in the second round got through Ersson and dribbled behind him but hit off the post and stayed on the blue-paint side of the line. Ersson’s kick-stop with the left pad on Marc McLaughlin in the third round secured the first shootout win of the season for the Phantoms.
The Phantoms continue their busy road weekend on Sunday afternoon with a 3:05 p.m. clash at the Springfield Thunderbirds. The next home game for the Phantoms is Saturday, November 26 against the Rochester Americans featuring a postgame skate with the Phantoms players.
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