GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton 12/27/19

WILKES-BARRE, Pa - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-13-5) are back from the holiday break and right back to work, kicking off a three-in-three weekend in Wilkes-Barre to battle Atlantic Division rival W-B/Scranton Penguins (15-12-4) at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Greg Carey - Connor Bunnaman - Pascal Laberge Max Willman - German Rubtsov - David Kase Carsen Twarynski - Gerry Fitzgerald - Maksim Sushko Matthew Strome - Steven Swavely - Kurtis Gabriel

Tyler Wotherspoon - Andy Welinski Chris Bigras - Nate Prosser Mark Friedman - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - J-F Berube

Phantoms Scratches: James de Haas, Cal O'Reilly, Isaac Ratcliffe, T.J. Brennan and Kyle Criscuolo

GAME STORY

1st Period

In a game between two teams struggling to score goals, it came as a surprise that the game's first goal was scored in the opening minute of the contest.

Maksim Sushko entered the zone and fired a shot from the left wing and, although Penguins' goalie Casey DeSmith made the stop, Gerry Fitzgerald crashed the net and found the rebound bounce off the goalie's pad and onto his stick tape for a quick putback 36 seconds into the period to put Lehigh Valley ahead 1-0.

Lehigh Valley had two chances to extend the lead on power play chances toward the beginning (4:01 in) and end (4:49 left) of the period but were unable to cash in on the man advantage.

The Penguins, meanwhile, got better as the period went along - nearly scoring shorthanded when Sam Miletic struck the right post. Miletic was again on the receiving end of some bad puck luck in the final minute of the period, after his pass attempt nearly ended up counting as a goal after it went behind Phantoms' goalie Alex Lyon and forced him to make an awkward save.

The play was reviewed, and referee signaled no goal -- perhaps a break for Lehigh Valley, who took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

2nd Period

The Penguins were able to tie the game up early in the middle frame, as Andrew Agozzino set up Anthony Angello in the slot for his 10th goal of the season. Rookie defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph added a secondary assist on the goal that came 3:31 into the period.

Shortly after the goal, Penguins enforcer Jamie Devane took offense to a hit from Kurtis Gabriel on one of his Penguins' teammates and challenged the Phantoms' forward to drop his gloves. The two tangoed at center ice, with Gabriel knocking Devane's helmet off with some quick left-handed jabs before earning the takedown to conclude the scrap.

Toward the midway mark of the period, Penguins' defenseman Matt Abt was whistled for a minor penalty officially scored as 'throwing equipment' when he pushed a broken stick into the corner during a puck battle in the Penguins' offensive zone. A penalty you rarely see present itself, but nonetheless another power play opportunity that Lehigh Valley squandered.

Through 40 minutes and three failed power play chances, the Phantoms have converted on just two of their last 35 man advantage opportunities. Meanwhile, a late penalty on Nate Prosser allowed the Penguins to carry over 1:20 of power play time to the third.

3rd Period

The Pens didn't score on the carryover power play to begin the third, but it was just six seconds after the Phantoms' penalty had expired that Angello tallied his second of the night to break the 1-1 tie and give the Penguins their first lead of the contest.

Ten seconds after Angello's 11th of the season, the Phantoms were granted a power play after Fitzgerald was high-sticked by Andreas Martinsen.

With a chance to tie the game, Lehigh Valley allowed the Penguins to score shorthanded on a tap-in from Jake Lucchini 2:07 into the period to put the Phantoms in a 3-1 hole.

Matthew Strome converted on the power play just over a minute later when Pascal Laberge's shot was re-directed in by Strome's skate, drawing the Phantoms within a goal again, trailing 3-2 with 16:29 left to play.

Lehigh Valley pulled Lyon for the extra attacker with 2:24 left, but were unable to get the equalizer despite having a few great chances in the waning moments.

Angello hit the empty net to complete his hat trick and the 4-2 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:31: LV - Fitzgerald (3) - Sushko, Twarynski 4:01: WBS - (PP) Palve, minor (holding) 15:11: WBS - (PP) Lizotte, minor (hooking)

2nd Period

3:31: WBS - Angello (10) - Agozzino, Joseph 5:19: LV - Gabriel, major (fighting) 5:19: WBS - Devane, major (fighting) 11:03: WBS - (PP) Abt, minor (throwing equipment) 19:20: LV - (PP) Prosser, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

1:26: WBS - Angello (11) - Agozzino, Roy 1:36: WBS - (PP) Martinsen, minor (high-sticking) 2:07: WBS - SHG Lucchini (4) - Joseph 3:31: LV - PPG Strome (2) - Laberge, Bigras 15:33: LV - (PP) Laberge, minor (high-sticking) 19:08: WBS - ENG Angello (12) - Agozzino, Miletic

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  1 - 0 - 1 = 2 W-B/Scranton 0 - 1 - 3 = 4

Shots

Lehigh Valley  10 - 11 - 8 = 29 W-B/Scranton 10 - 8 - 9 = 27

Goalies

LV: Alex Lyon (23 saves - 26 shots) WBS: Casey DeSmith (20 saves - 21 shots in 39:52) and Dustin Tokarski (7 saves - 8 shots in 19:33)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-4 WBS: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

LV: 2-for-2 WBS: 3-for-4