By: Jake Ferraro | Follow me on Twitter/X @18Jxxx18
After defeating the Belleville Senators 5-2 this past Friday to extend their winning streak to a franchise record 13 games, the Providence Bruins lost their next two games against the Springfield Thunderbirds and Hartford Wolf Pack to end the weekend without momentum. However, a new opportunity to get hot awaited in Allentown, Pennsylvania, against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where Providence led wire-to-wire.
Providence defeated Lehigh Valley 6-4 at PPL Center to improve its record to 39-10-1-0 on the season. The win also gave Providence its 20th road win of the season. While Lehigh Valley did make it a close game in the third period, Providence found the momentum it had lost over the past two games.
First period
Providence was granted an early powerplay opportunity. Matej Blumel capitalized on the powerplay opportunity to give Providence a 1-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Blumel’s powerplay goal was the start of an offensive attack in the period, outshooting Lehigh Valley 14-5.
Georgii Merkulov recorded the primary assist on Blumel’s goal and would make an impact later in the period. While it wasn’t called a goal at the time, a replay review gave Merkulov a goal to extend Providence’s lead to 2-0.
Providence led 2-0 after the first period in a dominant period.
Second period
The second period saw the Patrick Brown show. At 9:25 of the period, Brown scored to extend Providence’s lead to 3-0. Lehigh Valley would get one back after Oliver Bonk scored a powerplay goal to cut the lead to 3-1, but Providence would get it back from Brown.
Just 2:32 after Bonk’s goal, Brown scored his second goal of the game to re-establish a three-goal lead for Providence. Blumel and Riley Tufte each recorded an assist on both of Brown’s goals.
While Lehigh Valley did record 12 shots in the period, Providence still dominated with another two-goal period to take a 4-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
Third period
Lehigh Valley started the third period hot, scoring two goals in the opening 2:32 of the period. However, Providence wouldn’t panic and answered back with vengeance.
John Farinacci and Joey Abate each scored a goal in a span of 1:36 to put Providence back up by three goals. Jacob Gaucher scored a goal with under 15 seconds to play to make it a two-goal game, but it was too little too late for a Lehigh Valley rally. Eleven different Providence players recorded at least one point, highlighted by Blumel’s three-point game, and Brown and Merkulov each scored their 17th goals of the season.
Luke Cavallin got the start in goal for Providence and earned his sixth win of the season. While he allowed Lehigh Valley to score two goals early in the third period, Cavallin stood tall and finished with 27 saves.
Back to work this weekend at home
Providence will return to action in a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday when it hosts the Bridgeport Islanders at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Puck drop for Saturday is 7:05 p.m. ET, and Sunday’s puck drop is 3:05 p.m. ET. Providence recently swept a back-to-back against Bridgeport on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 in a home-and-home.
Leave a Reply