By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms finally got their magic number to one point from clinching a playoff spot with a 4-2 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday night.
They could have clinched the spot on Saturday, but needed Hershey to lose in regulation in Toronto. The Bears ended up scoring with nine seconds left to win, but that didn't discourage the Phantoms from getting that much closer to the postseason.
Lehigh Valley came out looking to just get on the board early, but it would be the Thunderbirds that jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Matt Buckles picked a loose puck off the side of the cage that he sent to the slot, where Paul Thompson sent it home to open the scoring.
The Phantoms came right back and tied the game, then took the lead on goals from Corban Knight and T.J. Brennan. Knight's goal came from batting the puck in at the side of the net, off a shot from Mark Alt that was tipped in front by Cole Bardreau. The goal was Knight's 10th of the year.
Brennan's came on the power play, as he one-timed a drop pass from Andy Miele top shelf on Mike McKenna. The puck caught iron, but then caught twine to give the Phantoms the lead. The goal was Brennan's 21st on the year, and league-leading 12th on the man advantage by a defenceman.
The second period tightened up and turned into a penalty-filled affair. 16 penalty minutes ended up being racked up by the two clubs, but there was some offense as well. Chase Balisy scored of a cross-crease feed from Dryden Hunt to tie the score at two just 34 seconds into the period. Hunt used a wraparound play to create the chance, and Balisy finished it off with his 16th of the campaign.
Lehigh Valley answered back with a goal to retake the lead, started off by a beautiful cross-ice pass by Danick Martel. Martel found Miele across the top of the Springfield zone, and Miele drifted with the puck. He waited as long as he could, and then blasted a slap shot through McKenna to give himself two points on the night.
Springfield came out with a purpose in the third, outshooting Lehigh Valley, 16-0, with eight minutes having ticked off the clock. The Phantoms did not have a shot until more than halfway through the period, but their first shot on goal during the third would end up being big.
Travis Sanheim skated from the far-side boards to the slot to draw McKenna's attention, opening up a play to the back-side post. That's where he found Scott Laughton, who was wide open with a yawning cage to pot his 17th goal of the season and extend the Lehigh Valley lead to two.
Springfield got a too little, too late chance to get back in the game, with Laughton going off for an interference minor with a minute left in the game. The Thunderbirds pulled McKenna, trying to mount a late comeback to play spoiler. Alex Lyon held strong, making 23 saves over the entire frame and 44 saves in the game to get the win for the Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley got outshot 23-3 during the third, but got the only goal and sealed a victory that drops their magic number of points needed to make the playoffs to one. The Phantoms return to action on Wednesday, as they travel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to battle the Penguins in another important game.
The Phantoms can actually clinch their playoff spot on Sunday if Bridgeport fails to gain two points in their game against the Hartford Wolf Pack. If that happens, the seven-year drought for the Phantoms of not making the postseason would finally be over.
Notes
- Head coach Scott Gordon picked up his 300th career victory as an AHL head coach with the win over Springfield.
Quotes
- Alex Lyon on his huge performance tonight: "I think a great attribute of a great goalie is to make timely saves. I try to make as many as I can, I don't try to let any in. I made timely saves, and sometimes you don't make those, but it definitely felt nice to put that one home."
- Andy Miele on the mood in the locker room after getting the magic number to one: "We've been struggling a bit lately, so to squeak one out like that was nice. Obviously we scored more goals than them but they took it to us a lot of that game. So we need to clean some things up moving forward. Al was great in net, and that gives us a lot of confidence going forward."
- Head coach Scott Gordon on his 300th victory, and how 301 could be that much sweeter: "All that means is that I'm old. 301 will be nice, I think that one will be a lot more significant."
