The Springfield Thunderbirds skated to 3-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a key game last night at MassMutual Center,
Had the Thunderbirds lost, Lehigh Valley would have leap-frogged over them into fourth place in the AHL’s Atlantic Division, knocking Springfield out of a playoff spot.
Philippe Desrosiers was unbelievable in this one, setting a franchise record with 62 saves.
The Phantoms opened the scoring midway through the first period when Connor Bunnaman beat Desrosiers shorthanded after a faceoff.
Dryden Hunt evened things up 6:25 into the second period with his first AHL goal of the season. The marker came with the teams skating 4-on-4 and the assists went to Henrik Borgstrom and Brady Keeper.
Keeper banged a slap shot off the post and in during a Springfield power play with 5:13 remaining to give the T-Birds the lead. The assists on the goal were collected by Tommy Cross and Jonathan Ang.
Sebastian Repo completed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:20. The goal was Repo’s third, with the helpers going to Borgstrom and Riley Stillman.
Borgstrom’s two assists gave 12 points (6G/6A) in 18 games.
The Thunderbirds (14-11) will host the Hartford Wolf Pack and Laval Rocket this weekend.