( Photo Credit: PPL Center / Lehigh Valley Phantoms )

By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277

Last night the American Hockey League Providence Bruins were on the road in the state of Pennsylvania to play the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The game against the Phantoms at the PPL Center was the fifth of the current six-game road trip. The Providence team continues to struggle on this recent road trip as the top minor-pro affiliate of the Boston Bruins only has one regulation victory when they beat the Bridgeport Islanders 5-3 at the Webster Bank Arena back on January 22nd, 2021.

Against the host Lehigh Valley team on Friday night, the Providence Bruins dug themselves in a hole early, going down 3-0 in the first period. The B’s got on the board at the 4:16 mark of the second period on a goal from forward Jesper Froden, who scored his ninth of the season assisted by defenseman Victor Berglund and forward Jack Studnicka. The Froden goal would be the last scoresheet contribution of the night as the host Phantoms team scored two more goals in the third period to give Lehigh the 5-1 home victory.

Veteran goaltender Troy Grosenick got the start against Lehigh Valley, giving up all five goals while stopping 30 of 35 Phantoms shots. The 32-year-old Grosenick suffered his fourth loss of the season when giving up four or more goals. Troy now has a regular-season record of 8-3-1-1 with a goals-against-average of 2.49 and a .911 save percentage.

The Providence Bruins now have a regular-season record of 17-12-3-3 and have slid from a top-three Atlantic Division team down to the fifth position in the standings with 40 points in 35 games played. Providence has an away record of 9-6-2-3 and look to improve on that tonight as the B’s play the final game of this six-game road trip.

Providence will be in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania, this evening at 6:05pm to play the 18-17-1-3 Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. The Penguins have a home record of 11-9-1-0 and are currently on a four-game winning streak and 8-2-0-0 in their last ten games. Providence is 0-2-0-2 recently and 4-4-0-2 in their previous ten games.