Just 24 hours earlier, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms played one of their best games of the season, beating the top team in the league, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
On Saturday night, the Phantoms played arguably their worst game of the year, getting blown out by the Providence Bruins, 9-1.
Providence used two first-period goals to take control of the game early. They outshot the Phantoms, 12-9, through the first 20 minutes and killed off two Lehigh Valley power plays.
The Bruins first goal came off a strong kill of the Phantoms first power play. After the penalty expired, Providence pushed back up ice into the Phantoms end. A wraparound chance at the far side of the net came through the blue paint and off the back of the skate of Robert Hagg. The puck ricocheted into the slot, where Colby Cave found it a popped it past Alex Lyon to make it 1-0.
Providence tallied again at the 16:40 mark of the first, with Sean Kuraly one-timing a cross ice pass from Danton Heinen behind a sprawling Lyon to make it 2-0.
Even with two power plays early, the Phantoms sloppy play cost them, resulting in about several turnovers and ultimately a two-goal deficit going into the second.
The Bruins onslaught did not let up, scoring another five goals in the second period.
The first of the five came just 2:05 into the frame, with Peter Cehlarik scoring the goal off a nice play by his line. Jordan Szwarz got it started with a nice play below the goal line to get the puck to Wayne Simpson. Simpson sent it across ice to Cehlarik for an easy tap in.
That same line would score again just five minutes later, with Cehlarik again picking up the tally. He scored his second of the night, and 17th of the season from the near-side dot. The puck snuck into the top corner past Lyon, and after making just 12 saves on 16 shots, his night was over.
Mark Dekanich came in with 12:58 to go in the period, but could not stop the bleeding. The Bruins scored three more goals on 13 shots against Dekanich, with those markers coming from Chris Porter, Jake DeBrusk and Ben Marshall. Everything that could go wrong in a game for the Phantoms did go wrong, and there was still 20 minutes to play.
Szwarz made it a three-point night for himself with a goal early in the third, as Providence continued to run away with the game. Simpson added his third point of the night by beating Dekanich to make it 9-0. Szwarz added another assist to bring his point total to four, and Cehlarik added the other helper to give himself his third point.
The Phantoms broke up the shutout for Malcolm Subban with 1:19 to go, as Colin McDonald poked home his 15th goal of the season. That would all the Phantoms could muster with Subban making 28 saves and the Cehlarik-Simpson-Szwarz line leading Providence to the 9-1 win.
The Phantoms weekend does not get any easier with the rival Hershey Bears waiting Sunday afternoon in Hershey. The Bears were defeated, 5-1, in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, so Sunday's game could be a very heated affair.
Notes
- Both Jordan Weal and Anthony Stolarz were scratched from tonight's Phantoms lineup. Head coach Scott Gordon said post game that Weal is expected to play on Sunday against Hershey, while Stolarz is being evaluated by doctors and his condition is expected to be updated Sunday.
Quotes
Cole Bardreau on the tough loss tonight after the big win last night, and looking ahead to tomorrow: "Obviously the score tells the story there. We didn't come ready to play. There's not much to say, we just have to put that one behind us. It's a long season, it's gonna happen. We just have to go to work tomorrow.
"We've had some good battles with Hershey. I think they're a team that we matchup well against. We're both physical and hard-working teams. Especially with where we are in the standings, it's gonna be another two huge points on the line."
Mark Dekanich on being thrown into the fire tonight, and trying to put the game behind him: "It's never fun getting shelled like that. I've played 10 minutes of game action the last five weeks, so it's a tough one for me, and I think it's frustrating all around.
"I think if I thought too much about it, I'd wanna quit hockey. It's frustrating, but the sun will come up tomorrow and it's another day."
