PORT HURON — There’s no place like home.
So, as hosts of a winner-take-all playoff game, the Port Huron Prowlers sent their opponent home for the summer.
Port Huron powered past the Blue Ridge Bobcats, 4-2, in Game 3 of the FPHL Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinal series at McMorran Arena on Saturday, April 18.
Four different players scored goals for the Prowlers, who advanced to the semifinal round against the Binghamton Black Bears.
The Bobcats struck first on a power-play goal from Demid Podrezov just 4:39 into the game. Blue Ridge took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Early in the second period, Port Huron found a rhythm and fired a flurry of shots at Blue Ridge netminder Anthony Shrum. Then, at 6:36, Prowlers forward Lukas Lacny buried a goal in front of the crease to even the score.
“It felt like there was a period of five or six minutes where we had an onslaught of pressure,” Prowlers player-coach Matt Graham said. “(The shots) just weren’t going in. Finally, to get the first one — once you get that you feel like the floodgates are going to open.”
Added Graham: “It was a great shift by Reggie (Millette), (Arttu Heikkila) and Lacny to stick with it and keep possession of the puck in the (offensive) zone well. To finally put it in the back of the net was huge.”
Roughly 12 minutes later, the Bobcats appeared to break the tie with a goal from the blue line. However, after an officials review that lasted several minutes, the score was ruled off due to goaltender interference.
The 1-1 tie lasted until the 8:57 mark of the third period, when Port Huron forward Bobby Price flicked in a loose puck from the left edge of the goal crease.
A 2-1 advantage only energized the Prowlers, who scored again less than two minutes later, at 10:35, on a goal from Ryan Alexander.
Blue Ridge wouldn’t go without a fight, though, and answered with Justin Daly’s goal at 12:43.
But as the final buzzer drew near, the Bobcats grew desperate. They pulled their goalie with just over two minutes remaining.
Port Huron quickly pounced on that desperation at 18:13, when Graham scored an empty-net goal.
“For us to have home-ice advantage — it’s something that we earned in the regular season — is huge,” Graham said. “We took care of business.”
While the Prowlers won’t have that same luxury in the next round against Binghamton — the FPHL’s two-time defending champion — the best-of-3 semifinal series will open in Port Huron. A date for Game 1 is to be determined.
“They’re an elite team,” Graham said of the Black Bears. “But we’re confident in the group that we have. We’re going to put together a gameplan that will match up really well against them and, hopefully, exploit some of their deficiencies.”
SERIES RESULTS
Game 1: Blue Ridge 4, Port Huron 3 (OT)
Game 2: Port Huron 5, Blue Ridge 1
Game 3: Port Huron 4, Blue Ridge 2
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@gannett.com. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @BrendenWelper.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Port Huron Prowlers pounce Blue Ridge, advance to FPHL semifinals
Reporting by Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
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