Bruins Hold Off Phantoms 3-1

Gendron’s 18th Breaks Shutout

March 22, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms blasted away with a plethora of strong chances but Providence goaltender Michael DiPietro (28/29) was a brick wall in a 3-1 victory for the Bruins on Saturday night at PPL Center.

Young prospect Matthew Poitras (11th, 12th) scored twice for the Bruins and Brett Harrison (5th) also lit the lamp in the hard-fought goaltenders’ duel. Alexis Kolosov (22/24) was very strong between the pipes for the Phantoms as well with impressive denials on breakaways and odd-man rushes.

Phantoms fans enjoyed the team’s first Phan-Con event in conjunction with Lehigh Valley Comic-Con and DiPietro also got into the spirit of the event with his own superhero-like performance complete with a seemingly forcefield type presence around his crease. Givani Smith had multiple close-range chances right on the doorstep as did other Phantoms. But Gendron’s late-game strike from Nikita Grebenkin to break a 3-0 shutout bit was DiPietro’s only blemish as he showed why he’s perhaps the best goaltender in the AHL this season with a league-leading .928 save percentage.

Lehigh Valley (31-25-7) had a huge opportunity to take early control of the game when the Bruins were assessed three consecutive penalties. But the Phantoms had a difficult time generating chances with their multiple power plays. Nikita Grebenkin’s bid on the backdoor on a cross-ice pass from Jacob Gaucher was killed by the stick of defenseman Billy Sweezey. Gendron had a blast from the high slot that DiPietro fought off on his blocker side.

Providence (35-19-7) received its own chance to go on the man-advantage and made quick work of its abbreviated man-advantage effort with Poitras on a snappy putback rebound of his own blocked shot burying it from the right circle from Oliver Wahlstrom and Frede3ric Brunet at 11:13 to forge a 1-0 lead. The P-Bruins outshot the Phantoms in the first period 9-5 despite Lehigh Valley’s three power plays. The best chance for Lehigh Valley in the first came at 5-on-5 when defenseman Xavier Bernard cranked it up from the left dot only to find iron on the short side.

Kolosov was especially strong in the second period on some of the best Bruins’ chances of the night including a Georgii Merkulov breakaway that he kicked away with the right pad. A 2-on-0 fizzled out when Wahlstrom couldn’t beat Kolosov to the glove side and missed wide. Another chance for Riley Duran on an odd-man rush resulted in a blast from close range that was right into the glove of Kolosov.

Lehigh Valley had it own strong opportunities in the second period including some efforts in the crease for Givani Smith that somehow DiPietro kept out.

The Phantoms were coming even harder in the third period but a hard hit on Zayde Wisdom in the slot taking him off a potential shot resulted in numbers the other way for the Bruins with a trailing Brett Harrison burying it from Max Wanner at 8:16 for a 2-0 lead.

Poitras buried an empty-netter with a backhander from the left boards at 16:50 into the third to make it 3-0. Ethan Samson rocked into Wanner on the play drawing a crowd and resulting in a skirmish.

With both sides down a man late in the third, the Phantoms again pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker to set up a 5-on-4 and Grebenkin set up Gendron to rifle home his 18th of the season with 1:42 left with Louis Belpedio also assisting on the play. Lehigh Valley pulled Kolosov again but was unable to dent into the deficit any further.

The Phantoms went 2-3-0 on its five-game homestand. Lehigh Valley’s Magic Number to clinch a third consecutive Calder Cup Playoff berth remains at 11 points with nine games remaining.

The Phantoms embark on a three-game road swing beginning with a pair of contests in Canada next weekend including a Friday night matchup at the Belleville Senators and then a Saturday night clash at the Laval Rocket.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 11:13 – PRO, M. Poitras (11) (O. Wahlstrom, F. Brunet) (PP) (0-1)

3rd 8:16 – PRO, B. Harrison (5) (M. Wanner) (0-2)
3rd 16:50 – PRO, M. Poitras (12) (C. Ortiz) (EN) (0-3)
3rd 18:18 – LV, A. Gendron (18) (N. Grebenkin, L. Belpedio) (5×4) (3-1)

Shots:
LV 29 – PRO 25

PP:
LV 0/4, PRO 1/2

Goaltenders:
LV – A. Kolosov (L) (5-6-1) (22/24)
PRO – M. DiPietro (W) (23-8-6) (28/29)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (31-25-7)
Providence (35-19-7)

UPCOMING

Friday, March 28 and Sunday, March 30 – NCAA Hockey Allentown Regional hosted by Penn State Nittany Lions

Friday, March 28 (7:00) – Phantoms at Belleville Senators
Saturday, March 29 (7:00) – Phantoms at Laval Rocket
Wednesday, April 2 (10:30 am) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders

Friday, April 4 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears. Berks $1 Hot Dogs

Saturday, April 5 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds. Los Fantasmas!

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