(Tommy Hendricks/Sports Talk Philly)
By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms ended their stretch of games before the holiday break with a huge blowout win of the Providence Bruins, 7-1, at PPL Center on Friday night.
The win gave the Phantoms their 20th of the season, the first team in the AHL to that mark.
Lehigh Valley dominated the play for the first half of the opening frame. Keeping Providence pinned in their own zone, the Phantoms jumped out to an 8-2 shot advantage by the halfway point. 43 seconds later, they would break through.
Will O'Neill took a shot from the point that Danick Martel got a stick on in the slot. The puck deflected off Martel's stick and toward the net, catching Malcolm Subban off guard. The puck banged off the crossbar, off Subban and in to give the Phantoms the 1-0 lead.
Providence got a push back of their own, bring the shot total to 11-8 Phantoms before the end of the period, but could not solve Alex Lyon to tie the contest.
The Phantoms gave the Bruins an early power-play chance in the second and an opportunity to tie the game, but Providence could not solve Lyon. Following the kill, former Phantom Zac Rinaldo got called for interference and the Phantoms power play went to work.
Martel ended up with his second goal of the night, off a pass from below the goal line that he popped top shelf point blank on Subban five seconds after the man advantage expired. Providence could not stay out of the box in the second, giving the Phantoms three more opportunities on the power play.
Chris Conner scored his seventh of the season 22 seconds after the third minor expired, putting the Phantoms up 3-0.
The Bruins responded right back nine seconds later, as breakout rookie Peter Cehlarik notched his 13th of the season off a snap shot in the slot. The goal tied him for second in the league amongst all skaters, and first among rookies.
Also tied for second was Phantoms forward Greg Carey, but he would change that quickly. Carey put a rebound back toward the net that deflected in off a Bruin to give him 14 goals on season, good enough for a tie for first in the league.
Lehigh Valley was not done scoring however, adding to their lead 12 seconds into the third. Scott Laughton skated all the way around the far side circle and wristed a shot that got through Subban to make it 5-1. This goal actually became the first goal of the game that O'Neill did not have an assist on.
The Phantoms scored again at the 8:44 mark, getting more production from their blue line. This time it was Travis Sanheim who got the goal, finishing off his own rebound in the slot and taking a hard check afterward. Sanheim got up and celebrated his fourth goal of his rookie season, helping the Phantoms keep pouring it on.
Colin McDonald, the team's captain, decided he wanted to get in on the action and added a marker of his own. His came off a point shot that whizzed it's way passed Subban from long range to give the Phantoms a PAT to go along with their touchdown.
Even though the Phantoms out-played the Bruins every step of the way, Lyon still had to make 33 saves to preserve his league-leading 13th win of the season. The Phantoms exploded for seven goals, effectively emptying their tanks going into the nine-day holiday break.
The Phantoms return to action on Dec. 26 against Hershey at home.
Notes
- The Phantoms are now 7-0 when Scott Laughton tallies a point.
- Lehigh Valley is now 30-13-2 all time against Providence.
Quotes
Will O'Neill on the team's recent success and the win tonight: "It feels good, it's a great quarter of the season. We're playing really good hockey, but that's a great team over there in Providence. They've shown it in their last 13 or so games. We had a great game tonight, had a good game plan and executed."
Danick Martel on his goal drought and his game tonight: "I've scored one goal in the last 20 games, so I didn't think I'd score anymore. But we played a great game today, last game before the Christmas break, and we win 7-1. What more could we ask?"
Head coach Scott Gordon on his team's play during this homestand: "The best part is the way we played. Nobody took a shift off, it was a relentless mindset. I can't say enough about how well we played. We got better toward the end of the five. Of the five, the last two were our best games. It's good to see."
3 Stars
1. Danick Martel (LV) – 2 Goals, 1 Assist, +4
2. Will O'Neill (LV) – 4 Assists, +5
3. Alex Lyon (LV) – 33 saves on 34 shots, league-leading 13th win
