GAME STORY: 2019-20 Season - Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton 2/08/20

WILKES-BARRE, Pa - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-22-6) look to make it three wins in a row and continue clawing their way back toward the Atlantic Division playoff picture. They enter Saturday night's game ten points behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (24-17-8) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Line rushes in warmup:

Andy Andreoff - Cal O'Reilly - Max Willman Greg Carey - Kyle Criscuolo - Maksim Sushko David Kase - Mikhail Vorobyev - German Rubstov Isaac Ratcliffe - Gerry Fitzgerald - Kurtis Gabriel

Tyler Wotherspoon - Reece Willcox Mark Friedman - Nate Prosser James de Haas - Andy Welinski

Kirill Ustimenko - J-F Berube

Phantoms scratches: Carsen Twarynski, Chris Bigras, T.J. Brennan, Pascal Laberge and Chris Stewart

GAME STORY

1st Period

There was a lot of energy in the building for the start of Saturday night's Phantoms-Penguins game in Wilkes-Barre.

Both teams were active early, with Lehigh Valley getting on the board first after strong work on the forecheck by the fourth line. Isaac Ratcliffe set the tone as the first man in, giving the Penguins trouble on their breakout. Gerry Fitzgerald stole a puck inside the offensive zone blue line and fed it back down low to Ratcliffe, who turned and flung a quick shot under the pads of Penguins' goaltender Emil Larmi to lift Lehigh Valley to a 1-0 lead 2:07 into the contest.

The the shift following Ratcliffe's fourth of the season, enforcers Kurtis Gabriel (Phantoms) and Jamie Devane (Penguins) dropped the gloves and the Penguins' forward held the decided edge.

In turn, the Penguins tied up the game less than a minute later after Joseph Blandisi got a puck to Kevin Roy in the right-wing circle. Roy's quick shot went top shelf on Phantoms' goaltender Kirill Ustimenko, making his AHL debut in net for Lehigh Valley.

As the period wore on, the Penguins got to their game and held the puck in the Phantoms' defensive zone for long stretches of play, racking up an early 12-5 edge in shots on goal in the opening half of the period. It wasn't until James de Haas was whistled for cross-checking in the offensive zone at the 10:26 mark that the go-ahead goal would be scored.

It came shorthanded 13 seconds into de Haas' minor as Maksim Sushko led a 2-on-1 and fired a hard shot from the left wing that beat Larmi and gave Lehigh Valley a 2-1 lead.

Sushko wasn't done there either, getting himself a second tally with 5:58 left in the period to extend Lehigh Valley's lead to 3-1. Kyle Criscuolo got a puck behind the net to Greg Carey, who spotted Sushko cutting to the slot and fed him a pass on the money for Sushko's ninth of the season.

2nd Period

The middle frame began with two scary incidents leading to stoppages in play for injured players. Two Penguins players collided in the Pens' defensive zone, with Kevin Czuczman unexpectedly taking the brunt of the collision and needing to be helped off the ice.

Moments later, German Rubtsov blocked a point shot of his teammates' up high and left the game after being cut and bleeding atop the left-wing circle.

Lehigh Valley got to their game and controlled play similarly to how the Penguins did for large portions in the first frame. Greg Carey was robbed by a blocker save from Larmi, and the Phantoms' racked up the first seven shots of the period in the opening nine minutes without allowing the Penguins their first shot on goal of the period until near the midway mark.

Kevin Roy raced in on Ustimenko on a breakaway, but the Phantoms' goaltender was able to make a big stop to keep his team ahead 3-1. Moments later, the Phantoms added to their lead to make it a 4-1 game - making Ustimenko's breakaway stop even more crucial and timely of a save.

David Kase and Kyle Criscuolo had a nice give-and-go play with Criscuolo finishing off a one-timer from the bottom of the left-wing circle for his eighth of the season with 8:01 left in the second period.

While they were held to just two shots on goal in the opening 12 minutes of the middle frame, the Penguins came in waves in the final eight minutes, registering the final seven shots on net in the period. If not for some timely saves from Ustimenko, perhaps the game would have been much closer heading to the third. Instead the Phantoms took the 4-1 edge to the final frame.

Third Period

While Ustimenko looked a little shaky in the first period, he settled in and continued making timely stops when the third period rolled around.

In the opening 90 seconds, he made a diving stop on a Penguins' point blank chance and got a whistle shortly after when a Penguins' forward was whistled for cross-checking.

There was a parade of penalties in the middle part of the period, and shortly after one of the Phantoms' power plays expired Gerry Fitzgerald flung one past Larmi to extend the Phantoms' lead to 5-1 with 15:58 left to play. Mark Friedman added the lone assist on Fitzgerald's sixth of the season.

The Penguins cut the Phantoms' lead to 5-2 with 6:53 left in the third after Myles Powell was able to reach out and re-direct a centering feed from Jake Lucchini over Ustimenko's glove.

W-B/Scranton pulled the goalie with over four minutes left and were able to get an extra attacker goal in the final 30 seconds, but it wasn't enough as the Phantoms won their third straight game - and second on the weekend - by a 5-3 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

2:07: LV - Ratcliffe (4) - Fitzgerald, Wotherspoon 2:16: WBS - Devane, major (fighting) 2:16: LV - Gabriel, major (fighting) 3:03: WBS - Roy (9) - Blandisi 10:26: LV - (PP) de Haas, minor (cross-checking) 10:39: LV - SHG Sushko (8) - unassisted 14:02: LV - Sushko (9) - Carey, Criscuolo 15:24: WBS - (PP) Powell, minor (interference) 17:40: WBS - (PP) Di Pauli, minor (slashing)

2nd Period

6:27: WBS - (PP) Cassels, minor (tripping) 11:59: LV - Criscuolo (8) - Kase, Wotherspoon

3rd Period

1:30 WBS - (PP) Di Pauli, minor (cross-checking) 4:02: LV - Fitzgerald (6) - Friedman 4:07: LV - (PP) Sushko, minor (boarding) 7:24: WBS - (PP) Nyberg, minor (tripping) 9:28: LV - (PP) Criscuolo, minor (tripping) 13:07: WBS - Powell (1) - Lucchini, Trotman 19:39: WBS - Drozg (4) - Devane, Di Pauli

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley  11 - 11 - 10 = 32 W-B/Scranton 16 - 12 - 13 = 41

Goalies

LV: Kirill Ustimenko (38 saves - 41 shots) WBS: Emil Larmi (27 saves - 32 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-4 WBS: 0-for-3

Penalty Kill

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