Allentown, PA – The Providence Bruins’ comeback effort was thwarted by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as they fell 6-3 on Wednesday night at the PPL Center. Joey Abate recorded a goal and an assist, while Alexis Gendron notched two assists. Matthew Poitras and Riley Duran also found the back of the net. 
How It Happened
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Lane Pederson hammered a one-timer from the left circle that snuck past the diving goaltender to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead with 3:39 remaining in the first period.
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David Jiricek’s wrist shot from the right circle found the upper-right corner of the net for a power play goal to extend the Lehigh Valley lead to 2-0 with 13:03 to play in the second frame.
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Brett Harrison received a pass above the crease and redirected it into the back of the net to give the Phantoms a 3-0 lead just 11 seconds after the previous tally.
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While on a breakaway, Christian Kyrou fired a shot under the goaltender’s pads to extend the Lehigh Valley lead to 4-0 with 9:58 left in the second period.
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Gendron danced his way past a defender in the left circle and dished the puck to Abate cutting towards the right post, where he redirected it into the back of the net for a power play goal to cut the Phantoms’ lead to 4-1 with 17 seconds remaining in the second period. Goaltender Michael DiPietro received a secondary assist.
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Gendron snapped a cross-ice feed to Poitras on a 3-on-1, before he fired a shot from the bottom of the left circle off the crossbar and across the goal line to shrink the Lehigh Valley lead to 4-2 just 38 seconds into the third period. Georgii Merkulov was credited with a secondary assist.
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Abate sent the puck to Jake Schmaltz in the left corner, where he slipped a pass across the crease to Duran at the right post for a redirection goal to cut the Phantoms’ lead to 4-3 with 13:59 to play in the third frame.
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Oskar Eklind collected the puck in the low slot and slung a wrist shot inside the left post to give Lehigh Valley a 5-3 lead with 12:14 left in the third period.
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With 24 seconds to play, Anthony Richard found the empty net to make it 6-3.
Stats
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Gendron’s assists were his first points in a Providence uniform.
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Abate posted his second multi-point game of the season.
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DiPietro stopped 15 of 20 shots faced. The P-Bruins totaled 31 shots.
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The power play went 1-for-4 and the penalty kill was 2-for-3.
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The P-Bruins fall to 45-13-1-0.
Up Next
The Providence Bruins travel to the Utica Comets on Friday, March 20 at the Adirondack Bank Center. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.
