SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (15-20-4-2) squeezed past the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-17-2-2) by a final score of 2-1 on Friday night in a defensive-minded contest inside the MassMutual Center.

After getting blanked on 40 shot attempts last Saturday, the T-Birds wasted little time putting the memory of that shutout to bed. On their first power play of the night, the T-Birds opened the scoring at 6:32 of the first on a strange bounce as an Otto Stenberg pass caromed first off Dillon Dube, then skipped to the blue paint, where Juraj Pekarcik subtly flopped it over Aleksei Kolosov's shoulder to make it a 1-0 game. The rookie's first goal in 20 games improved the T-Birds to 5-for-10 against Lehigh Valley on the man advantage this season.

Springfield's power play only picked up more steam at 18:48, when Chris Wagner one-timed a perfect pass from Alek Kaskimaki behind Kolosov, making it a 2-0 score at the first intermission break and improving the T-Birds to 6-for-11 against the Phantoms' kill.

Vadim Zherenko and the Springfield penalty kill went 2-for-2 over the first half of the game to complement the power play's torrid start, but Lehigh Valley finally cracked the Springfield PK on their third chance at 16:53 of the second as Phil Tomasino connected for his first goal as a Phantom. 

The 5-on-5 struggle carried into the third period, and Zherenko faced a scary moment in the midpoint of the final period when Zayde Wisdom collided with the Springfield goaltender on a net-crashing play. Bloodied but not knocked out, Zherenko remained in the game, and together with a stout defense, the T-Birds goaltender fended off each of Lehigh Valley's seven third-period shots to secure his 10th victory of the season.

The T-Birds complete their five-game homestand on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. when they play host to the Hartford Wolf Pack in another Braman I-91 Rivalry contest.

Single-game tickets and ticket memberships for all remaining games in the Thunderbirds' 2025-26 season are available now - fans can order now by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625).