Phantoms Trounce Bruins, 6-3

Takedown of AHL’s Top Team and Goalie

March 18, 2026

Allentown, PA – The best team in the AHL and the top goaltender in the circuit were no match for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a midweek clash at PPL Center as the Providence Bruins surrendered a season-high for goals in a 6-3 victory for the Orange and Black on Wednesday night. Lane Pederson (22nd) led the way with three points (1G, 2A) while David Jiricek (2nd with LV) also had a multi-point game and Brett Harrison (2nd with LV) rushed in to score a goal against his former team in an 11-second sequence that boosted a 1-0 lead up to 3-0. And Christian Kyrou (9th) made his debut at forward a memorable one with a breakaway goal.

Aleksei Kolosov (28/31) had another strong performance in net while putting up five goals against Providence netminder Michael DiPietro who entered the contest with a league-best 1.80 GAA and .936 save percentage. But the reigning Baz Bastien Memorial Award winner for AHL Goaltender of the Year didn’t have the answers against the Phantoms’ snipers.

Lehigh Valley (27-27-6) trimmed its Magic Number to 23 points in its efforts to clinch a fourth consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs. And the fifth-place Phantoms also pulled to within two points of fourth-place Hershey in the team’s drive to secure home-ice advantage in the first round.

And former Philadelphia Phantoms’ Calder Cup winner Patrick Sharp enjoyed his first official game at the bench with a win. Sharp was stepping in as an assistant coach in the absence of Terrence Wallin who was unavailable.

“I thought we played, I’d say 57-58 solid minutes,” head coach John Snowden said. “I thought, for the most part, the first period, we were excellent. We’re on top of them. We made it hard for him. I thought we got some good sequences in the O-Zone against a very, very, very good defensive team. I thought we were just above them everywhere. We didn’t really get them, let them get their speed going up the rink. Second period, we did a lot of the same thing.”

Providence (45-13-1) may have the best record in the AHL. But the Bruins were largely helpless to slow down the Phantoms’ offense once it got rolling.

Some transition for Providence led to a big scoring try early in the game with Kolosov making a strong save and then Hunter McDonald appearing to get a piece of a big blast by Frederic Brunet when the long rebound came out to him. Somehow, the Phantoms kept it scoreless.

Pederson opened the scoring with a snipe from the left dot at 16:21 into the game, pretty much his office now, with Jiricek and Phil Tomasino working the puck quickly across the rink to set up the big one-timer. Tomasino finished with two helpers and is on a five-game point streak (1-5-6).

Then came the second period and three rapid-fire goals back-to-back-to-back as Lehigh Valley took command at 4-0.

David Jiricek (4th) carried into the right circle on the power play and used the defender as a screen to snap one upstairs at 6:57 for his second goal with Lehigh Valley. Jiricek’s two-point game now gives the big defenseman 2-4-6 in just five games since joining Lehigh Valley from the Iowa Wild via a trade for Bobby Brink.

Just 11 seconds later, Lehigh Valley struck again for the team’s fastest consecutive goals of the season. Karsen Dorwart pounced all over a bobbled puck to the side of the Providence net and didn’t give the Bruins a chance to find a way out. Former Providence Bruins Brett Harrison was hustling up the ice to provide an option as a trailer, where he slammed home his second goal in four games since joining the Phantoms and his 10th goal overall this season. The former Boston Bruins’ third-rounder was acquired for Alexis Gendron trade at the deadline.

“He’s obviously an unbelievable goalie,” Harrison said of former teammate, DiPietro. “AHL goalie the year, last year, and another all-star this year with the best numbers (in the league). Yeah, he’s definitely tough to beat. But we had his number tonight. I had trouble scoring on him in practice in Providence, so it’s nice to get one by him in the game today!”

For his part, Gendron also thrived against his former team. Following a nice tribute on the video board and strong ovation for the former Phantom of the past three seasons, Gendron recorded a pair of assists with his new team, his first points as a member of the Bruins.

Christian Kyrou was trying his hand at forward for the first time. And it worked. Tucker Robertson picked off a puck in the neutral zone and connected with Kyrou ahead of him as the team’s AHL All-Star Classic representative buried his breakaway blast past DiPietro at 10:02 to make it 4-0.

“Christian, yeah, he looked pretty good,” Snowden said of his converted defenseman-to-forward. “He was really good. He’s obviously got an incredibly offensive brain. He sees plays, makes plays, scores a big goal for us. You know, it’s not an easy thing to do, but just with the lineup that we put out there tonight, and we had a conversation before the game. And he was all about it. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m all in.’ And I thought he was excellent tonight. It was really impressive, smart above the puck, made really smart puck decisions the whole game, and then pounced when he had an opportunity (on the breakaway goal).”

The Phantoms might have been justified in feeling somewhat comfortable at 4-0. But the top team in the league wasn’t going to roll over and make it easy for them.

Gendron sped up the left wing on the power play late in the second period and connected with an onrushing Joey Abate (5th) at the net-front with just 18 seconds left in the middle frame to give Providence a boost heading into the locker room at 4-1.

Early in the third period, it was Gendsron again. This time accepting a left-to-right feed from Georgii Merkulov in transition and whipping a pass back to prospect Matthew Poitras (13th) who made it 4-2 just 0:38 into the third period.

When Riley Duran (4th) drove to the net-front to bury a Jake Schmaltz centering pass at 6:01 and make it 4-3, things got considerably more interesting. Providence was humming. But the Phantoms quieted the Bruins’ comeback bid.

A bouncing puck between the circles skipped awkwardly on a pair of defenseman but Oscar Eklind (7th) was ready to snap home a pivotal goal past DiPietro at 7:46 to regain momentum at 5-3.

Providence really never threatened at 6-on-5 in the final three minutes of the contest and, eventually, Anthony Richard (17th) landed an empty-netter with just 24 seconds left to make it a half-dozen against the P-Bruins, surpassing the most they had allowed all season.

The Phantoms return to action this weekend in North Carolina with a pair of afternoon matchups against the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Friday, March 27 taking on the Springfield Thunderbirds on Hockey is for Everyone Night. The weekend homestand continues on Saturday, March 28 against the rival Hershey Bears.

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