The Hershey Bears aren't just a rival, they're one of the teams battling for position with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the Atlantic Division.

Hershey has fallen on some tougher times recently, with just two wins in its last nine games, though three of those losses have come in overtime.With that in mind, the weekend home-and-home series between the two teams was important enough that the Phantoms would have loved a sweep. The first game - the home part of the series - went well, with Lehigh Valley getting the win, but the trip to Hershey wasn't as sweet, with the Bears picking up the win.On Friday night at the PPL Center, Lehigh Valley put an explosive power play on display, with four power play goals in a 6-2 win. The outburst was a season high for power play goals in a game and came thanks to a Hershey team high in penalty minutes, as it served 44 minutes worth of time in the box."Any time you can capitalize when the other team takes a penalty, it's obviously a good thing," said defenseman T.J. Brennan. "Scoring is huge, but just getting the flow and the momentum in our favor is a big thing, but cashing in is big for the team and gets us ahead."Brennan also came up big for his teammates when he went after and buried Liam O'Brien with a cross-check to retaliate for a hit that the Bears defenseman put on Taylor Leier during a Hershey power play. Brennan admitted that his retaliation, which drew a 10-minute game misconduct penalty, wasn't necessarily disciplined, but he thought it was important to send the message."We didn't like a couple of his hits and a couple things he was doing, so I just took an opportunity I saw to do something," explained Brennan. "It seemed like the game was kind of over at that point, especially the way they were showing."On Monday, the Phantoms and Springfield matched up in a special Martin Luther King Day afternoon game in Springfield, and things didn't look good for the Phantoms. Down 3-1 coming into the final 20 minutes of play, the Phantoms tried in vain to get on the board for the first 14 minutes of the period. Scott Laughton deflected a shot from Robert Hagg and scored with 5:31 left to play. On the ensuing face-off, Jordan Weal tipped the puck back to Brennan, who got the puck to Greg Carey in position for him to rifle a shot past goaltender Rito Berra just 27 seconds after Laughton's goal to tie the game.The game-winner came when Andy Miele took a no-look pass from Chris Conner and got just enough of the puck to slide it past Berra and give Lehigh Valley a 4-3 win.The Phantoms (25-10-2-0) have won four of their last five and are seven points behind streaking Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the top spot in the division. The Penguins had a seven-game win streak snapped at Syracuse on Monday in a 4-1 loss. Providence stands just one point behind the Phantoms in the Atlantic Division race.DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN ... The Phantoms were down by two goals coming into the final period against Springfield back on Nov. 5 and scored four unanswered goals to win that one 6-4.WHOSE TURN IS IT? ... Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon are sharing time in goal for Lehigh Valley. Since returning from the Flyers, Stolarz has started three of the six games and has gone 2-1, saving 54 of 61 shots (.884 save percentage). Lyon has also made three starts, turning aside 68 of 74 shots (.919) against him.BIG PLANS FOR THE WEEKEND ... The upcoming weekend is going to be a big one for the Phantoms. Friday night they host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, followed by a home game against Providence and a Sunday game in Hershey. The Bears and Phantoms have split their eight meetings this season, with four more still on the schedule.