Down 3-0 in a do-or-die Game 4 Saturday night, the Providence Bruins furiously stormed back to force overtime and keep their hopes alive. Yet all that turned out for not, as Maxim Lamarche scored 18:36 into the extra session on a sharp-angle shot to give the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a 4-3 victory — and send the P-Bruins home for the summer.

Just like they had been doing all series long, Lehigh Valley jumped out to a 2-0 lead just seconds apart in the opening frame. T.J. Brennan got the Phantoms on the board with his first of the postseason at 7:27, with help from Greg Carey and Alex Krushelnyski. Thirty-seven seconds later, Chris Conner tapped in a rebound after Reece Wilcox was stopped by Providence goalie Jordan Binnington, doubling the hosts’ lead.

Bad blood between the division rivals spilled over at the 9:16 mark, when all ten skaters on the ice engaged in a large shoving match in the Lehigh Valley zone. The scrum resulted in 10-minute misconduct penalties to Providence’s Tommy Cross and Jordan Szwarz and Lehigh Valley’s Cole Bardreau and Tyrell Goulbourne. The P-Bruins, however, couldn’t convert that anger into energy, as Conner netted his second of the game when he moved in on a breakaway and squeezed a backhander between Binnington’s pads to push the Lehigh lead to 3-0.

After seeing his team badly outplayed and outshot (14-6) in the first period, head coach Jay Leach tried to jump start his team by making a goaltender switch, replacing Binnington with Game One starter Zane McIntyre. The move paid off early as Providence, in turn, outshot Lehigh Valley 14-6 in the next frame. But Providence couldn’t break through on Phantoms netminder Alex Lyon — who once again stood on his head with 49 saves — until late in the period, when Cross threw a shot on net with 2:36 remaining that somehow beat the Lehigh goalie to cut the deficit to two.

The P-Bruins carried the momentum into the third, outshooting Lehigh Valley 9-3 through the midway mark of the period and garnering the better of the chances — including a hit post about three minutes in. Finally, at the 12:00 mark, Anton Blidh gave Providence a jolt by tipping in a Chris Breen shot from the blueline to bring the Baby B’s to within one.

Providence, in need of one more goal, continued to mount pressure. The hard work paid off when, with just over five minutes remaining in the closing stanza, Austin Czarnik tipped a Paul Postma shot past Lyon for his second of the playoffs and knotted the game up at three; Kenny Agostino also assisting. The two teams headed back into the locker rooms with Providence holding a 38-24 shots advantage, aided by an 18-shot third period.

Overtime was similar, with Providence coming out the gate aggressive. Lyon, however, stood tall, turning aside all 14 shots he faced in the extra session. Then, with 1:24 left and on Lehigh Valley’s mere fourth shot of the frame, Lemarche notched his first of the playoffs on a spin-o-rama past McIntyre and simultaneously ended the P-Bruins’ season.

Based on final shot totals, one could argue that Providence was once again the better team, finishing with a 52-28 advantage. But the Baby B’s went lacking in other areas that ultimately doomed them in the series.

Providence went an abysmal 3 for 18 on the power play — including 0-for-3 in Game 4 — while giving up one shorthanded goal. They did, however, kill off 10 of 14 penalties while scoring a shorthanded goal themselves.

Binnington stopped 11 of 14 shots he faced in the first period, and McIntyre turned aside 13 of the 14 he saw. The latter goaltender finished the series with a 2.05 goals against average and a .895 save percentage to go with an 0-2 record. Binnington, meanwhile, concluded his postseason with a 4.39 GAA and a .865 save percentage with a 1-1 mark.

Austin Czarnik led the team with six points and tied Agostino for the top spot in assists with four. He also tied Ryan Fitzgerald and Peter Cehlarik for the team postseason lead in goals with two.