Game Story: Lehigh Valley - 0 at W-B/Scranton - 3 (3/13/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins put forth a solid effort for 60 minutes in their third straight match up against rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms Wednesday night, coming away with an impressive 3-0 shutout victory.

He's been close several times this season, but on Wednesday night Joel Blomqvist got his first career American Hockey League (AHL) shutout - stopping all 23 shots he faced to pick up his 19th win on the season.

Jagger Joshua tallied goals in the first and second period to pace the Penguins' attack, and Dmitri Samorukov added an empty net tally to complete the 3-0 final score.

Phantoms netminder Cal Petersen stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced in the loss.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach JD Forrest

On tonight's effort

"Yeah, I thought from start to finish, we had a pretty solid effort all throughout - including our penalty was huge for us three on five. I thought our five on five play the first period was strong too we just were in the box a lot."

On Jagger Joshua's goals

"It was nice to see Jagger get rewarded because he's been around the net quite a bit banging away, getting some chances here and there and just not able to find it."

Penguins forward Jagger Joshua

On getting a full 60-minute effort as a team tonight

"I think as a collective, we were just tired of, you know, getting off to good starts and letting teams get back in it. So, yeah, I think just finally, kind of hopefully, we learned our lesson from our past games, and looking to carry forward."

On his goals being a product of getting to the net

"100 percent. I mean, that's my area. That's where I'm gonna produce. Today, the puck found me, and I was pretty lucky."

GAME STORY

The Penguins' gameplan was on full display in the opening half of the first period, and pretty straightforward.

Get the puck in behind the Phantoms' defense, and get to work on the forecheck to apply pressure on a relatively young and inexperienced Phantoms' back end.

Despite an early period penalty putting the Penguins on the penalty kill, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton stuck to their guns - later getting rewarded with the game's opening goal.

Just moments after hitting two posts on his last shift, Joshua followed that up with another hard shot in the offensive zone on his next shift - going to the net looking for a rebound before Owen Headrick kept a puck alive at the right point and fired a shot of his own.

The rebound from Headrick's shot came up the slot and right onto Joshua's tape for his seventh of the season 8:52 into the contest.

From there, the Penguins got into a bit of penalty trouble with Ty Smith and Joshua taking minor penalties 1:14 apart - giving the Phantoms 46 seconds of five-on-three power play time with 4:57 left before the first intermission.

Blomqvist and the Penguins' penalty killers got the job done to preserve the 1-0 lead despite a 3-0 Phantoms advantage in power plays awarded.

After the successful 5-on-3 PK, Penguins head coach JD Forrest was seen during a stoppage with 2:42 left in the period voicing his displeasure with referee Jake Kamrass about some things they were letting go on the LV side.

And right on cue, in the waning moments of the period - Corey Andonovski put a legal, but hard, hit on a Phantoms' defender in the corner of the Penguins' offensive zone only to end up getting mugged by two Phantoms' players away from the play as Lehigh Valley started a rush the other way.

Forrest was seen yelling some more as the first period horn sounded, continuing to voice said displeasure.

The middle frame, oddly enough, saw the Penguins get three power plays to the Phantoms' none.

Did something change in the way the game was played by the two teams in the middle frame that led to the Phantoms committing the only penalties of the second period?

The power play opportunities gave Penguins fans their first look at new forward Vasily Ponomarev, who was a part of the team's new-look first power play unit with Sam Poulin, Radim Zohorna, Vinnie Hinostroza and Ty Smith.

It was definitely a case of things getting better as they continued to get opportunities, as the second Penguins' power play of the period resulted in sustained pressure in the offensive zone and five credited shots on goal.

Though they weren't able to convert, Joshua was able to extend the Penguins' lead with his second goal of the night - speeding down the ice past some sluggish Phantoms' backcheckers and joining Joona Koppanen on an odd man rush as they crossed the offensive zone blue line.

Koppanen got the puck over and Joshua's speed allowed him a mini-breakaway opportunity - notching his eighth of the season to extend the Pens' lead to 2-0 with 4:42 left before the second intermission.

The Penguins continued to clamp down defensively in the third period, getting a critical penalty kill early in the period before later failing to convert on a power play chance of their own.

Down 2-0 with just under three minutes left to play, the Phantoms elected to pull Petersen for the extra attacker.

Samorukov iced the game, taking a defensive zone face-off win from Poulin and hitting the empty net from the corner of his own end with 51.4 seconds left in regulation.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Cal Petersen got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre. Parker Gahagen served as the team's backup goaltender.

Tanner Laczynski returned to the Phantoms' lineup for his first game back from injury since January 20.

Phantoms Scratches: Will Zmolek, Garrett Wilson (suspension, serving game two of three), Olle Lycksell, Matthew Brown and Ryan Johansen

Lines/Pairings:

Brendan Furry - Rhett Gardner - Samu Tuomaala JR Avon - Tanner Laczynski - Cooper Marody Adam Brooks - Elliot Desnoyers - Zayde Wisdom Evan Polei - Jacob Gaucher - Adam Karashik

Adam Ginning - Louie Belpedio Emil Andrae - Helge Grans Victor Mete - Ethan Samson

Cal Petersen (Backup: Parker Gahagen)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Joel Blomqvist got the start in net for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Newly acquired goaltender Ludovic Waeber served as the team's backup in his first game in a Penguins' uniform.

Up front, newly acquired Vasily Ponomarev - celebrating his 22nd birthday Wednesday night - made his Penguins' debut centering the team's second line with Radim Zohorna and Austin Rueschhoff.

Pittsburgh reassigned Jonathan Gruden to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, while calling up defenseman Ryan Shea. Gruden was in the AHL Penguins' lineup vs. Lehigh Valley Wednesday.

With Ryan Shea called up, Xavier Ouellet returned to the Penguins' blue line.

Owen Headrick also returned to the Penguins' blue line, with captain Taylor Fedun out of the lineup.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Fedun, Marc Johnstone, Peter Abbandonato, Matt Filipe, Sam Houde and Lukas Svejkovsky

Lines/Pairings:

Jonathan Gruden - Sam Poulin - Vinnie Hinostroza Radim Zohorna - Vasily Ponomarev - Austin Rueschhoff Jagger Joshua - Joona Koppanen - Corey Andonovski Justin Addamo - Raivis Ansons - Avery Hayes

Ty Smith - Jack St. Ivany Xavier Ouellet - Dmitri Samorukov Jack Rathbone - Owen Headrick

Joel Blomqvist (Backup: Ludovic Waeber)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

4:26: WBS - (PP) Hinostroza, minor (hooking) 8:52: WBS - Joshua (7) - Headrick, Andonovski 13:49: WBS - (PP) Smith, minor (slashing) 15:03: WBS - (PP) Joshua, minor (high-sticking)

2nd Period

5:44: LV - (PP) Mete, minor (tripping) 10:19: LV - (PP) Samson, minor (hooking) 15:18: WBS - Joshua (8) - Koppanen, Andonovski 15:43: LV - (PP) Karashik, minor (high-sticking)

3rd Period

6:45: WBS - (PP) Ansons, minor (cross-checking) 11:05: LV - (PP) Gardner, minor (hooking) 19:03: LV - Andrae, ten-minute misconduct (abuse of officials) 19:08: WBS - ENG Samorukov (5) - Poulin

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   10 - 4 - 9 = 23 W-B/Scranton  11 - 10 - 11 = 32

Goalies

LV: Cal Petersen (29 saves - 31 shots) WBS: Joel Blomqvist (23 saves - 23 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

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