By Brian Smith
Philadelphia Phantoms Correspondent

Keith Aucoin scored twice and goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik made 41 saves as the Lowell Lock Monsters took a 4-1 win over Philadelphia at Tsongas Arena in Lowell on Wednesday night.

The Lock Monsters started out the scoring at 5:01 of the first period when they forced a turnover in the Phantoms end. Aucoin was able to skate in and beat Rejean Beauchemin over the shoulder for a 1-0 lead.

Lowell then got two more in the second period, the first coming on the power play. Danny Richmond fired the puck in on Beauchemin, who stopped the initial shot. But the rebound came right to Chad Larose, who slid it home on the backhand at 9:57.

The lead grew to 3-0 on Aucoin's second of the evening. The Lock Monsters once again forced a turnover in the Phantoms end and Aucoin was able to put the puck home at 17:23, giving Lowell the three-goal advantage at the second intermission.

The Phantoms got one back at the 6:49 mark of the third period when Pat Kavanagh scored his first goal in a Phantoms sweater. Kavanagh walked in on net along the end line from the boards and sent a puck in front that hit Kolesnik and went in, making it a 3-1 game.

But the Lock Monsters iced the win with just under a minute left while the Phantoms had Beauchemin pulled for an extra attacker. David Gove sent a puck three-quarters of the length of the ice into the empty net for the 4-1 final.

"When you get on the road and you get down it's never good," said Phantoms head coach John Stevens. "We turned the puck over for the first goal, so that kind of gave them life and gave us an uphill battle."

The 42 shots were Philadelphia's highest single-game shot total of the young season, but was not enough to make a difference.

"Quite frankly, I thought the first two periods we didn't compete hard enough," Stevens said. "It was a little better in the third. We're creating scoring chances but no second chances, and I think that's a problem right now."

The Phantoms went 0-for-7 on the power play, while the Lock Monsters were 1-for-8. Beauchemin suffered his first loss as a professional, while R.J. Umberger was held without a point for the first time this season, ending a five-game point streak. Philadelphia now goes to 4-2-0 on the season.