2024 Preseason: Lehigh Valley - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 5 (10/6/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins closed out their preseason schedule with a dominant performance against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Sunday afternoon in a 5-1 victory.

Five different players scored for the Penguins, who scored early and often in their final tune-up before the regular season, as Tristan Broz, Joona Koppanen, Raivis Ansons, Ville Koivunen and Emil Bemstrom all found the back of the net for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the win.

Matt Brown broke Penguins goaltender Filip Larsson's (27 saves) shutout bid with an unassisted tally with 9:36 left in the third period in the Phantoms' lone tally of the afternoon.

Cal Petersen surrendered five goals on 30 shots in the loss for Lehigh Valley.

GAME STORY

It was a bit of a feeling out process for both teams in the opening six minutes, but the Penguins were able to settle in and score two quick goals 1:47 apart to take control of the game.

Scooter Brickey, who has appeared in all four of the Pens' preseason games, got a puck up ice to Jonathan Gruden in transition to start an offensive rush. Gruden entered the zone with speed and dropped it back for Sam Poulin, who used great vision to feed a cross-ice pass onto the tape of Tristan Broz atop the crease for a tap-in goal past Cal Petersen to get the Penguins off and running.

The Pens made it 2-0 shortly thereafter following some strong work on the forecheck.

Joona Koppanen was the first man in on the forecheck behind the Phantoms' net, disrupting their attempt to break the puck out of their own end. Avery Hayes followed it up by forcing a turnover and Koppanen pounced on the loose puck for a quick shot past Petersen to extend the Penguins' lead.

The Penguins were firmly in control from there, getting another tally late in the period to extend their lead to 3-0 after a heads-up play from Emil Bemstrom.

Along the left wing wall, Bemstrom floated a seam pass to an open space atop the left-wing circle for Ville Koivunen and Koivunen did the rest - skating the puck to the net and getting credit for his first goal of the preseason with Broz driving to the net-front and in position for a potential re-direct. It appears Koviunen was trying to get it to Broz atop the crease but the puck dribbled into the net anyway with 4:52 left before the first intermission.

The Penguins kept their foot on the gas to begin the middle frame, with Raivis Ansons accepting a pass in the neutral zone from Filip Kral and zooming down the left wing - taking the puck to the net and finishing it off in front on a backhander to give the Penguins a 4-0 lead 2:39 into the stanza.

On the next shift, Ansons took exception to a questionable hit from behind from Mason Primeau on Corey Andonovski. Ansons challenged Primeau, dropping the gloves and taking on the much larger Primeau and more than holding his own, catching the Phantoms forward with a right hand that knocked his helmet off his head before the two combatants called it quits and allowed the linesmen to intervene.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got the game's first power play, and despite the typical sloppiness you'd expect from the special teams in the preseason the Penguins' power play was BUZZING.

Crisp passing, great puck movement and chance creation galore allowed the Pens to eventually convert on the man advantage, with Avery Hayes hitting the crossbar and later getting the puck up top to Mac Hollowell who quickly dished it to the left-wing circle for a one-timer by Emil Bemstrom past a sliding Petersen. Bemstrom's power play tally made it 5-0 Penguins with 11:07 left in the middle frame.

From there, the Penguins took a pair of penalties in the second half of the period - allowing the Phantoms to generate some sustained offensive pressure.

Luckily for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, netminder Filip Larsson was dialed in - making the necessary saves to preserve the 5-0 Penguins' advantage heading into the third period.

Tempers flared during the opening shift of the third period, as Jon-Randall Avon blasted Poulin in the corner of the Penguins' offensive zone - resulting in Jimmy Huntington challenging Avon to drop his gloves. Avon declined the invitation, and Huntington ended up in the penalty box with the lone penalty.

Cooler heads prevailed as the two teams played out the rest of the presason finale.

Matt Brown broke Filip Larsson's shutout bid with 9:36 left to play after Filip Kral was caught up-ice in the offensive zone and his defense partner Mac Hollowell in the midst of a line change.

The result was open ice for Brown with a backpedaling forward in Huntington playing defense off the rush, and Brown made the most of the opportunity - driving to the net and switching from his backhand to forehand to snap a quick shot past Larsson.

The two teams played out the final nine minutes without any extra curricular activities, and concluded their respective preseason schedules Sunday afternoon.

The wins and losses don't mean anything moving forward, but for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 5-1 win in their preseason finale saw them win three of their four game - going 3-0-1 in the preseason this fall.

From here on out, they count, beginning with Saturday's home opener against the Charlotte Checkers at 6:05 p.m. ET

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Lines/Pairings:

Oscar Eklind - Rodrigo Abols - Alexis Gendron Elliot Desnoyers - Massimo Rizzo - Zayde Wisdom Matt Brown - Jon-Randall Avon - Matt Miller Nick Capone - Mason Primeau - Sawyer Boulton

Adam Ginning - Helge Grans Gianfranco Cassaro - Ethan Samson Xavier Bernard - Sam Sedley

Cal Petersen (Backup: Eetu Makiniemi)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Lines/Pairings:

Jonathan Gruden - Jimmy Huntington - Sam Poulin Emil Bemstrom - Tristan Broz - Ville Koivunen Avery Hayes - Joona Koppanen - Marc Johnstone Sam Houde - Raivis Ansons - Corey Andonovski

Owen Pickering - Nate Clurman Filip Kral - Mac Hollowell Dan Renouf - Scooter Brickey

Filip Larsson (Backup: Sergei Murashov)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:14: WBS - Broz (1) - Poulin, Gruden 8:57: WBS - Koppanen (1) - Hayes 15:08: WBS - Koivunen (1) - Bemstrom

2nd Period

2:39: WBS - Ansons (1) - Kral, Brickey 3:07: WBS - Ansons, major (fighting) 3:07: LV - Primeau, major (fighting) 7:44: LV - (PP) Bernard, minor (holding) 8:53: WBS - PPG Bemstrom (1) - Hollowell, Hayes 9:07: WBS - (PP) Andonovski, minor (tripping) 14:49: WBS - (PP) Koivunen, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

0:40: WBS - (PP) Huntington, minor (roughing) 10:24: LV - Brown (2) - unassisted

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  0 - 0 - 1 = 1 W-B/Scranton  3 - 2 - 0 = 5

Shots

Lehigh Valley  9 - 12 - 7 = 28 W-B/Scranton  14 - 9 - 7 = 30

Goalies

LV: Cal Petersen (saves - shots) WBS: Filip Larsson ( saves - shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-3 WBS: 1-for-1

Penalty Kill

LV: 0-for-1 WBS: 3-for-3

Post-Game EXTRA!

1-on-1 video interview with Penguins forward Tristan Broz