Saturday's Morning Skate 11/19

Scott Laughton extended the Phantoms' win streak to eight games Friday night in Providence. Photo: Nina Weiss/Highland Park Hockey

Written by: Tony Androckitis - Twitter/Facebook

Thrilling comebacks were the theme of Friday night's action, as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Utica Comets and St. John's IceCaps all overcame multi-goal deficits in Eastern Conference games last night.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are back at it tonight at 7:05 p.m. ET in Bridgeport against a Sound Tigers team that has given them trouble earlier this season. We'll have full coverage of tonight's game on Highland Park Hockey, so stay tuned here and on Twitter -> @TonyAndrock.

After the jump, a look around the Atlantic Division as well as a look ahead to Saturday's games.

Atlantic Division Standings (through 11/18's games)

1. W-B/Scranton Penguins, 15 games played, 11-3-1-0 = 23 points (0.767 PCT)
2. Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 14 games played, 10-3-1-0 = 21 points (0.750 PCT)
3. Hershey Bears, 15 games played, 8-4-2-1 = 19 points (0.633 PCT)

4. Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 13 games played, 8-5-0-0 = 16 points (0.615 PCT)

5. Springfield Thunderbirds, 15 games played, 7-5-2-1 = 17 points (0.567 PCT)

6. Providence Bruins, 14 games played, 4-6-3-1 = 12 points (0.429 PCT)
7. Hartford Wolf Pack, 14 games played, 4-8-2-0 = 10 points (0.357 PCT)

Around The Atlantic

Lehigh Valley - 4 at Providence - 3

Providence, RI -  The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (10-3-1) were certainly not at their best tonight in Providence, but what separates good teams from great teams is the ability to battle through games when things aren't going well.

Down 3-1 entering the third period, the Phantoms made a miraculous comeback effort - getting a pair of power play goals from Greg Carey and outshooting the PBruins 18-5 to force overtime. Travis Sanheim and Scott Laughton teamed up to extend the Phantoms' winning streak to eight games, with Sanheim getting a puck over to Laughton in the 3-on-3 extra session.

The Phantoms take their eight-game win streak to Bridgeport, where the Sound Tigers have had some early season success in the season series. Providence heads to Springfield Saturday night.

Springfield - 4 at Utica - 5 (OT)

Utica, NY - Down 3-0 in early the second period on home ice, the Utica Comets rallied for a 5-4 win in overtime in an exciting AHL contest in eastern New York.

Sena Acolatse, Mackenzie Weegar and Dryden Hunt put the Springfield Thunderbirds up 3-0 in the first 21:02 of the game, but the Comets got two goals in the middle part of the second frame and tied things up at 3-3 early in the third period with Alexandre Grenier, Cole Cassesls and Joseph LaBate tallying goals.

Springfield took the lead back on Josh Brown's first of the season, but Curtis Valk tied things up with 2:50 left on his third point of the night (1G-2A) to force overtime. Darren Archibald completed the comeback 1:19 into overtime.

Utica remains home and hosts Rochester Saturday night, while Springfield returns home to host Providence.

Syracuse - 1 at Hershey - 5

Hershey, PA - The Hershey Bears came out ready to play, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period and never really looking back in a 5-1 rout of Syracuse Friday night.

Chris Bourque and Christian Thomas each tallied a pair of goals in the dominant win for Hershey, while Vitek Vanecek stopped 23 of 24 shots.

Tanner Richard tallied the Crunch's lone goal on the opening shift of the second period, but Syracuse was unable to mount a comeback despite outshooting the Bears 11-6 in the middle frame.

Hershey hosts W-B/Scranton in a rivalry game in the Atlantic Division Saturday night, while Syracuse returns home to host Albany.

Bridgeport -  3 at W-B/Scranton - 4

Wilkes-Barre, PA - The Penguins took care of business on home ice Friday night to remain atop the Atlantic Division.

After a scoreless first period, the flood gates opened in the middle frame as the teams traded five goals. The Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never really looked back. Every time the Sound Tigers would respond and make it a one-goal game, the Penguins would answer and push it back to a two-goal lead.

In a game that featured both team's backup goaltenders, Casey DeSmith improved to 5-0 on the season stopping 25 of 28 shots.

The Penguins head to Hershey for a Saturday night showdown against the Bears, while Bridgeport returns home to host red-hot Lehigh Valley in the midst of an eight-game win streak.

Albany - 2 at Binghamton - 6

Binghamton, NY - It's been a slow start for the BSens this season, but they turned it on from the drop of the puck Friday night on home ice in a 6-2 rout of the Albany Devils.

The BSens tallied four goals in the first 4:56 of the contest, including two goals 14 seconds apart in the opening 39 seconds of the game.

Albany cut the lead in half in the middle frame, which saw Petr Straka tally his first goal of the season for the Devils - his second game since being traded from the Philadelphia Flyers organization last weekend. Unfortunately for the Devils it was too little too late.

Binghamton hosts Hartford Saturday while Albany heads to Syracuse for a matchup against the Crunch.

Other AHL Scores

Texas - 4 at Grand Rapids - 3
St. John's - 4 at Rochester - 3 (OT)
Chicago - 2 at Iowa - 3
Charlotte - 1 at San Antonio - 3

Manitoba - 2 at Tucson - 5

San Jose - 2 at San Diego - 3 (SO)

Ontario - 1 at Stockton - 2 (OT)

Saturday's AHL Schedule

St. John's at Toronto - 5:00 p.m. ET
Milwaukee at Cleveland - 5:00 p.m. ET
Lehigh Valley at Bridgeport - 7:00 p.m. ET
W-B/Scranton at Hershey - 7:00 p.m. ET
Albany at Syracuse - 7:00 p.m. ET
Rochester at Utica - 7:00 p.m. ET
Hartford at Binghamton - 7:05 p.m. ET
Toronto at Lehigh Valley - 7:05 p.m. ET
Providence at Springfield - 7:05 p.m. ET
Iowa at Chicago - 8:00 p.m. ET
Charlotte at San Antonio - 8:00 p.m. ET
Texas at Rockford - 8:00 p.m. ET
Stockton at Bakersfield - 9:00 p.m. ET
Manitoba at Tucson - 9:05 p.m. ET
San Jose at San Diego - 10:00 p.m. ET