By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
The comeback kids were at it again on Friday night as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms came back from down two goals twice to beat the Providence Bruins, 4-3, in overtime in Providence.
The power play stayed red hot for Lehigh Valley, going 3-for-4 on the night. However, being down a man got them into trouble early.
Lehigh Valley's penalty kill had been good of late. Killing off 21 of the last 22 man advantages against them, they came into Friday night's game red hot. On the other side, Providence's power play entered Friday ranked 27th in the league.
Something had to give, and unfortunately for the Phantoms, it was their PK. Two early penalties against the Phantoms, a hooking call on Maxim Lamarche at 2:32, and a slashing call on Cole Bardreau at 5:17, cost them greatly at trying to set a tone for the game.
The first power play for Providence lasted just over a minute, when Tommy Cross buried his second of the year to get things started. Matt Grzelcyk and Colby Cave added the helpers on the goal, and the P-Bruins were off and running.
Wayne Simpson added the second power-play goal at 6:49 from Jordan Szwarz and Cross to keep the momentum in the Bruins favor.
The Phantoms got a late sign of hope when Szwarz took a hooking call at 16:06. It took the Phantoms power play a while to get the shot they wanted, but Lamarche blasted one home with four seconds left on the man advantage to give Lehigh Valley life. Taylor Leier and Danick Martel had the assists, and despite being outshot heavily, 15-8, the Phantoms escaped the first down only one.
The undisciplined play continued in the second for the Phantoms, with Providence getting three more chances on the man advantage, including one only 43 seconds into the period. They killed off the holding call placed on Reece Willcox, but Providence kept coming.
It took until just past the halfway point of the period, but Cave re-established the two-goal lead for the Bruins at 10:58. Simpson matched Cross with two points adding an assist on the goal. Matt Bartkowski had the other.
Providence got their best chance to push ahead late in the period. Nicolas Aube-Kubel took a hooking call at 17:47, and then Travis Sanheim took a very well-earned holding call at 18:36. The two penalties gave the Bruins 1:12 of 5-on-3 time, and with the odds stacked up against them, Lehigh Valley's penalty kill returned to form. Aube-Kubel even got a shorthanded breakaway chance, but was denied by Malcolm Subban to end the second.
Providence took control early in the third, using their 36 seconds of carry over power-play time to protect their two-goal lead. They held the Phantoms in their own zone for an extended period, but Lehigh Valley fought back. They started to get chance after chance up ice, and it finally paid off halfway through the period.
Already outshooting the Bruins, 10-4 to this point, Szwarz took another hooking call and the Phantoms made him pay again. Once again, it took almost the entire two minutes, but Greg Carey buried his ninth of the year, and league leading seventh on the power play, to cut the lead to one. Chris Conner and Martel added the helpers.
The Phantoms extended their shot lead to 15-4 in the period, and Providence's frustration started to show and Leier was slashed by Rob O'Gara to put Lehigh Valley back on the power play.
Carey went to work again, burying his second goal of the game and 10th of the season to tie the game. Will O'Neill got the assist to help bring the Phantoms to 3-for-4 on the power play on the night. Despite trailing by two twice in the game, the Phantoms were able to force overtime thanks to the power play success.
A back-and-forth overtime saw plenty of chances for both sides with both Alex Lyon and Subban making great saves to try to give their teams opportunities to win. Providence ended up making the mistakes this time, however, as Leier was able to steal the puck twice to create great chances. While the first attempt didn't work, the second attempt ended the night at Dunkin Donuts Center.
Leier stole the puck and got it across to Travis Sanheim. Sanheim sent the puck right back to Leier, who instead of taking the shot himself, he slid the puck to Scott Laughton, who scored his second of the year for Lehigh Valley and capped off the comeback for their eighth straight win. Laughton's other goal was an empty netter that ended the Phantoms last game in Providence.
Lehigh Valley heads off to Bridgeport tomorrow night to try to extend their win streak to nine straight against the Sound Tigers.
Notes
- Lyon had only given up a goal apiece in his last three games, winning all three. He ended up giving up three tonight, but was able to come with the win.
- The eight-game win streak is the longest for the Phantoms since the 2004-2005 season. The Phantoms ended up winning 17 straight during that season, and claimed the Calder Cup at the end of it.
