GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 2 (10/16/21)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -  The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened their 2021-22 regular season on the road Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena against in-state rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

In a low-scoring affair, the Penguins edged the Phantoms 2-1 despite Lehigh Valley arguably having the better of play most of the evening. They just ran into a hot goalie.

Penguins' goalie Filip Lindberg shined in his pro debut, stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced to help lead his team to victory. Valtteri Puustinen (PPG, 1st period) and Niclas Almari (GWG, 3rd period) scored for the Penguins in the win.

For Lehigh Valley, certainly no loser points in a regulation loss but they were able to sustain an attack with consistency - something they weren't able to do in their final two preseason games. Their 31 shots on goal tonight actually was one more than they had in their previous two games combined.

Tyson Foerster scored a game-tying goal late in the second period, and Felix Sandstrom stopped 20 of 22 in the loss.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Felix Sandstrom got the start in net on opening night, with Samuel Ersson serving as the backup.

Phantoms' Scratches: Maksim Sushko, Matthew Strome, Hayden Hodgson and Ryan MacKinnon

Lines/Pairings:

Garrett Wilson (A) - Morgan Frost - Tyson Foerster Isaac Ratcliffe - Cal O'Reilly (C) - Gerry Mayhew Linus Sandin - German Rubtsov - Samu Tuomaala Brennan Saulnier - Connor Bunnaman (A) - Jackson Cates

Cam York - Wyatte Wylie Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening Mason Millman - Logan Day

Felix Sandstrom - Samuel Ersson

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Roster Notes

Filip Lindberg got the start in net Saturday for the Penguins, marking his pro debut. Tommy Nappier served as the team's backup with veteran goalie Louis Domingue on the Penguins' injured list.

Penguins' scratches:

Lines/Pairings:

Filip Hallander - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen Sam Poulin - Michael Chaput (A) - Anthony Angello Kasper Bjorkvist - Jordy Bellerive (A) - Nathan Legare Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Jan Drozg

Juuso Riikola - Taylor Fedun (C) Matt Bartkowski - Cam Lee Niclas Almari - Chris Bigras

Filip Lindberg - Tommy Nappier

GAME RECAP

1st Period

I usually don't write about the opening face-off, even in a regular season opener, but it's definitely worth mentioning that a historic moment occurred at the beginning of tonight's game.

Referee Katie Guay dropped the puck  on the opening face-off, making AHL history in doing so by becoming the first female referee in American Hockey League (AHL) history.

It definitely looked like a season-opening game in the opening five or six minutes, after an initial flurry of shots from Lehigh Valley. There were quite a few missed connections on stretch passes that led to icing calls for both teams.

The Phantoms and Penguins looked to settle in toward the middle of the period, with the Phantoms getting the game's first power play. They had some looks with a new top unit of Garrett Wilson (net front), Linus Sandin (slot), Morgan Frost (left-wing), Tyson Foerster (right-wing) and Cam York (center point) but were unable to convert.

Shortly after killing off a bench minor for too many men, the Penguins got a power play chance of their own when Brennan Saulnier was whistled for elbowing just past the midway mark of the period.

The Pens made quick work of their opening man advantage opportunity, with Juuso Riikola getting a puck to Sam Poulin at the right-wing circle. Poulin spotted an open Valtteri Puustinen in the left-wing circle and sent a pass across the ice were Puustinen received it and sniped one past Felix Sandstrom to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Later in the period, Penguins enforcer Jamie Devane plastered Mason Millman into the endboards and was whistled for a boarding minor. Brennan Saulnier came to Millman's defense against the much bigger Devane, dropping his gloves and getting a few lefts in on the Penguins' enforcer before Devane got set. Once Devane was engaged and ready, all Saulnier could do was defend himself from taking any big blows.

Credit to Saulnier for sticking up for his teammate, but as head coach Ian Laperriere alluded to in Hershey after a fight against Dylan McIlrath he worries about Saulnier dropping his gloves against guys several inches taller and 50+ pounds heavier.

As the period continued, the Phantoms continued to dominate play. They ended up out-shooting the Penguins 14-6 in the opening frame but found themselves heading into the intermission trailing 1-0 where it counts.

2nd Period

The Phantoms went back to work in the middle frame, and continued to generate a majority of the game's chances.

After killing off an early period Mason Millman tripping minor, Lehigh Valley continued to take it to the Penguins - drawing three straight power plays throughout the period.

Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, they were having trouble converting on the man advantage due in large part to some impressive stops from Penguins' netminder Filip Lindberg. If not for the Penguins' goalie, the Phantoms would've certainly been ahead in the game and not in a 1-0 hole as the middle frame neared its end.

Eventually, on their fifth power play of the evening, the Phantoms hit paydirt.

Lehigh Valley caught the Penguins in the midst of a change and were able to create an odd-man rush through the neutral zone when Garrett Wilson flipped a puck up to Tyson Foerster. Cam York jumped up into the play with Linus Sandin, and combined with Foerster made a pretty display of passes entering the offensive zone - springing an open Foerster on the right-wing for a quick shot past Lindberg to tie the game at 1-1 with 2:59 left before the second intermission.

3rd Period

It seemed like the Phantoms had momentum on their side heading into the 3rd, but the Penguins responded early in the final frame to get their one-goal lead back.

Michael Chaput sent a pass from behind the Phantoms' net out to the right point for Niclas Almari, and the Penguins defenseman skated it to the top of the circle before firing a shot through traffic that eluded Sandstrom to put the Pens back in front, 2-1, just 1:09 into the period.

The early-period goal proved to be the game-winner as the Filip Lindberg stole the show, making 30 saves on 31 shots to pick up the win in his pro debut.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:26: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Drozg) 10:11: LV - (PP) Saulnier, minor (elbowing) 10:40: WBS - PPG Puustinen (1) - Poulin, Riikola 16:50: WBS - (PP) Devane, minor (boarding) 16:50: WBS - Devane, minor (roughing) 16:50: WBS - Devane, major (fighting) 16:50: LV - Saulnier, minor (instigating) 16:50: LV - Saulnier, major (fighting) 16:50: LV - Saulnier, ten-minute misconduct (instigating)

2nd Period

4:15: LV - (PP) Millman, minor (tripping) 7:19: WBS - (PP) Drozg, minor (high-sticking) 11:00: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Drozg) 15:08: WBS - (PP) Legare, minor (hooking) 17:01: LV - PPG - Foerster (1) - York, Sandin

3rd Period

1:09: WBS - Almari (1) - Chaput 6:10: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping) 19:10: LV - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Cates)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   14 - 9 - 8 = 31 W-B/Scranton  6 - 9 - 7 = 22

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (20 saves - 22 shots) WBS: Filip Lindberg (30 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-5 WBS: 1-for-4

Penalty Kill

LV: 3-for-4 WBS: 4-for-5