Phantoms lose 6-4 in Game Five of Eastern Conference Finals
May 27, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) - Brad Boyes scored the winning goal with 70 seconds remaining to spoil Philadelphia's three-goal third-period comeback as the Providence Bruins posted a 6-4 win over the Phantoms in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Philadelphia still holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game Six set for Sunday at 7:05 p.m. at the Wachovia Center. Game Seven, if necessary, will also be played in Philadelphia at the Wachovia Spectrum on Tuesday night.
Trailing 4-1 through two periods of play, Philadelphia scored three times in a span of 4:43 to knot things up at 4-4 with 4:25 remaining. But Boyes registered his eighth playoff goal at 18:50 as Providence re-took the lead and Pat Leahy sealed the win with an empty-netter with 55.2 seconds left.
Hannu Toivonen posted the win by making 34 saves, while Antero Niittymaki stopped 19-of-24 shots to suffer the loss.
Facing an end to their season, the Bruins came out strong and took 10 of the first 12 shots of the game to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Niittymaki stopped Jayme Filipowicz's initial shot from the near circle, but the puck went straight to Patrice Bergeron, who slammed it in at the 6:01 mark.
Bergeron's fifth postseason goal was the first allowed by the Phantoms during the opening period in this series.
Philadelphia regrouped during the latter half of the first and evened the score at 13:27 when Eric Meloche followed in a blocked shot by Dennis Seidenberg. Boyd Kane also set up Meloche's third goal of the playoffs.
The Bruins began the second stanza on a power play and scored seven seconds in to assume a 2-1 lead. Keith Aucoin and Kevin Dallman fed Andy Hilbert for a blast from the blue line that made its way through Niittymaki.
Providence continued the pressure and widened the gap to two goals at 3:18 as Colton Orr tapped in a centering pass from Dallman. Andrew Alberts then tallied his first playoff goal at 8:55 to make it 4-1 and chase Niittymaki in favor of Neil Little.
Niittymaki returned to begin the third period and allowed just goal the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Philadelphia attempted to mount a comeback like it did when also trailing 4-1 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Game Five of the East Division Finals.
Just like in the Phantoms' 7-4 victory over the Penguins on May 13, Josh Gratton began the rally, this time scoring his third playoff goal at the 10:52 mark during a scramble in front of the Bruins crease.
Seidenberg continued the comeback by placing a low line drive past Toivonen at 14:15. Mike Richards set up the defenseman's second postseason goal.
Then, just 80 seconds later, Jeff Carter knotted the score at 4-4 with his team-leading 11th goal, with the assist going to backliner Randy Jones.
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