GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley (6-4-5) at W-B/Scranton (9-5-2) 11/16/19

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (6-4-5) look to finish their four-game road trip with a win when they face rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (9-5-2) at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Cal O'Reilly - Nicolas Aube-Kubel David Kase - Morgan Frost - Kyle Criscuolo Maksim Sushko - Gerry Fitzgerald - German Rubtsov Matthew Strome - Mikhail Vorobyev - Kurtis Gabriel

T.J. Brennan - Reece Willcox Tyler Wotherspoon - Nate Prosser James de Haas - Andy Welinski

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Scratches: Mark Friedman (injured), Isaac Ratcliffe (injured), Connor Bunnaman (injured) and Chris Bigras (injured)

GAME STORY

1st Period

Some close calls early for Lehigh Valley on some self-inflicted wounds, but luckily for the Phantoms they were able to avoid danger.

Penguins' defender Kevin Czuczman joined a rush late and was wide open for a pass across but his shot from the right-wing circle missed the net in the opening minutes of play

Later, a bad decision by Mikhail Vorobyev saw him bring the puck out in front of his net before losing possession and handing the Penguins the puck in the slot. Alex Lyon was in position to make two point-blank stops to keep the game scoreless as the period reached its midway point.

The Phantoms started to generate more consistent offensive pressure in the second half of the period, out shooting the Penguins by a 13-4 margin at one point with under six minutes left to play.

However, a late-period penalty by German Rubtsov allowed the Penguins to steal momentum -- and the game's opening goal -- before the first intermission.

After racking up four quick shots in the opening 20 seconds of the ensuing power play, Sam Miletic put home the rebound of an Adam Johnson to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead with 1:05 left in the first frame.

2nd Period

The Phantoms were ready for the start of the middle frame, particularly Vorobyev.

Off the draw, Vorobyev rushed in for a mini-breakaway but was slashed on his attempt. Though no call came, he was more than compensated for on his next shot attempt moments later.

Greg Carey got a puck in the neutral zone from Tyler Wotherspoon and caught the Penguins in the middle of a change. Carey's hard shot from the center point was stopped by Dustin Tokarski, but Vorobyev followed the shot and potted a rebound goal to tie the game 55 seconds into the period.

Lehigh Valley carried the play for large portions of the period, but some timely saves from Tokarski kept the Penguins in a 1-1 game heading to the third.

3rd Period

While it was the Phantoms getting on the board early in the 2nd period, the Penguins tallied a go-ahead goal early in the third period to take a 2-1 lead with 18:31 left in regulation.

Stefan Noesen, who leads the Penguins with 11 goals on the season, opted to assist on a goal this time as he fed a pass to David Warsofsky inside the left-wing circle for a quick shot that got past Alex Lyon to put the Penguins back in front by a 2-1 margin.

After killing off a penalty early in the third, the Phantoms got a power play chance of their own and nearly tied the game back up.

Rubtsov was first to a rebound in front of Tokarski's net and the Penguins goalie was caught sliding the wrong way, but was somehow able to get his right leg out to block down Rubtsov's backhander to keep the Pens in front as the period approached the 10:00 mark.

Late in the contest, the Phantoms had a 6-on-4 advantage with Lyon pulled for the extra attacker but Tokarski and the Penguins' defense held strong to preserve the 2-1 win.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

18:01: LV - (PP) Rubtsov, minor (high-sticking) 18:55: WBS - PPG Miletic (2) - Johnson, Warsofsky

2nd Period

0:55: LV - Vorobyev (4) - Carey, Wotherspoon 13:33: WBS - (PP) Abt, minor (hooking)

3rd Period

1:29: WBS - Warsofsky (2) - Noesen, Miletic 4:02: LV - (PP) Aube-Kubel, minor (hooking) 6:52: WBS - (PP) Palve, minor (holding) 16:56: LV - (PP) Frost, minor (hooking) 18:41: WBS - (PP) Johnson, minor (slashing)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley  14 - 8 - 10 = 32 W-B/Scranton  9 - 6 - 10 = 25

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (23 saves - 25 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski (31 saves - 32 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

LV: 2-for-3 WBS: 3-for-3