The Springfield Thunderbirds traded places in the standings with Lehigh Valley after the Phantoms posted a 3-1 win last night in Allentown, PA.
Springfield dropped to fourth place while Lehigh Valley climbed into the three hole in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
The Phantoms got a first period goal from Taylor Leier and added two more in the second from Connor Bunnaman and Mike Vecchione to chase Samuel Montembeault (13 saves on 16 shots) at the 6:32 mark.
The change to Chris Driedger, who stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief, sparked the the T-Birds to its only goal 7:12 later when Jacob MacDonald (remember him?) potted a rebound from in close with the assists going to Ryan Horvat and Anthony Greco. The goal was MacDonald 9th of the season, tops among the club’s defensemen.
Alex Lyon stopped all 12 Springfield shots in the third period to slam the door shut as the Thunderbirds fell to 18-14-5-3 and failed to build on Sunday’s exciting 3-2 win over the P-Bruins that featured a last second Dryden Hunt goal in overtime.
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The Florida Panthers are off today as they prepare to return to BB&T ice against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night.
Florida is currently 14 points off the pace for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, currently held by the Pittsburgh Penguins, which ain’t happening.
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