GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 1 at W-B/Scranton - 2 (OT) 4/28/21

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-4-4) nearly completed a gutsy effort Wednesday night - their fifth game in eight days in their return from a COVID-related hiatus that saw them play no games the previous 16 days.

Holding on to a 1-0 lead in the third period, a pair of questionable penalties against the Phantoms 21 seconds apart gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a prime chance to even the score - and they did, later forcing overtime and completing the comeback during the 3-on-3.

The goaltenders were the best two players on the ice. Felix Sandstrom stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced in the loss for the Phantoms, while Penguins' goaltender Alex D'Orio stopped 41 of 42 - including 18 in the third period - to pick up the win for the Penguins.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Prior to Wednesday night's game, the Philadelphia Flyers assigned goaltender Felix Sandstrom and defenseman Derrick Pouliot to Lehigh Valley (AHL), and called up forward Andy Andreoff to the Flyers' taxi squad.

Sandstrom got the start in net, while Pouliot was just one of many returning to the Phantoms' lineup after a long absence from game action.

Forwards Garrett Wilson and Zayde Wisdom returned to the Phantoms' lineup. Ralph Cuddemi was back to being the 13th forward, a presumed healthy scratch.

Cam York missed Wednesday night's game with an undisclosed injury.

Phantoms' Lines/Pairings:

Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Tyson Foerster Brennan Saulnier - Chris Mueller - Linus Sandin Isaac Ratcliffe - Connor Bunnaman - Pascal Laberge Garrett Wilson - Tanner MacMaster - Zayde Wisdom

Tyler Wotherspoon - Wyatte Wylie Derrick Pouliot - Chris Bigras Mason Millman - Logan Day

Felix Sandstrom - Zane McIntyre

Phantoms' Scratches: Eamon McAdam, Linus Hogberg, Ryan Fitzgerald, Maksim Sushko, Ralph Cuddemi, David Kase and Cam York

GAME RECAP

1st Period

It was kind of a sloppy start for both teams.

The Phantoms seemed to be able to force turnovers on the Penguins' breakouts with some regularity, but were seemingly unable to finish those chances in the opening half of the period.

Garrett Wilson had a great chance on a mini-breakaway from the slot in, but his backhand attempt was stopped by Penguins goalie Alex D'Orio.

It wasn't until the second half of the period that the Phantoms were able to finish off one of the turnovers they created.

Chris Mueller won a puck battle in front of the penalty boxes, sealing off the Penguins' attempted breakout pass and turning it into an odd man rush with Brennan Saulnier and Linus Sandin. Saulnier got the puck from Mueller and entered the offensive zone on the left wing before floating a pass across to Sandin for the finish to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead with 8:43 left in the 1st.

Despite not playing against each other since March 8th, things got heated after Penguins defenseman Will Reilly clocked Brennan Saulnier with an open ice hit in the neutral zone. Saulnier remained down until play was stopped. He was tended to on the ice, but later skated off on his own accord to head to the locker room to get checked out.

The officials gathered and eventually assessed a checking to the head minor on Reilly.

The Phantoms didn't score on the ensuing power play, and when Saulnier returned for his first shift since the hit it just so happened that Reilly was also on the ice. What ensued was one of the most emphatic beat downs I've seen in quite some time.

Saulnier was assessed the instigation minor in addition to the fighting major, which carries an automatic 10-minute misconduct, but also received a game misconduct for continuing the altercation.

2nd Period

The two teams continued to play a sloppy game in the middle frame. However, the turnovers, missed passes and misreads were being nullified by the goalies - Felix Sandstrom for Lehigh Valley and Alex D'Orio for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Phantoms out shot the Penguins 12-10 in the period, but neither team was able to light the lamp so the game headed to the third with the same 1-0 Phantoms lead.

3rd Period

Things really opened up for both teams in the third period, and both goaltenders made several 5-star stops. In all, Sandstrom and D'Orio faced a combined 32 shots in the final frame.

The Penguins were able to tie the game early in the period, the beneficiary of two Phantoms' penalties 21 seconds apart. Anthony Angello evened the score at 1-1 just seven seconds into the two-man advantage.

Lehigh Valley racked up 18 shots in the third, and had several shifts where they spent long stretches of time in the offensive zone.

D'Orio, on his birthday no less, was equal to the task on all 18 of those attempts - getting the Penguins to overtime.

Overtime

Max Willman dangled through the Penguins 1-on-3 on the opening shift of OT, but was unable to maintain possession of the puck when it came time to shoot in-close on D'Orio.

Tim Schaller was able to finish off an odd-man chance at the other end on the next shift, ending the 3-on-3 just 1:36 into the extra session and giving the Penguins the 2-1 win.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

11:21: LV - Sandin (5) - Saulnier, Mueller 13:51: WBS - (PP) Reilly, minor (checking to the head) 17:51: LV - (PP) Saulnier, minor (instigating) 17:51: LV - Saulnier, major (fighting) 17:51: LV - Saulnier, 10-minute misconduct (instigating) 17:51: LV - Saulnier, game misconduct (continuing altercation)

2nd Period

4:37: WBS - (PP) Joseph, minor (holding) 18:49: LV - (PP) Bigras, minor (interference)

3rd Period

3:00: LV - (PP) Millman, minor (tripping) 3:21: LV - (PP) Willman, minor (slashing) 3:28: WBS - PPG Angello (3) - Joseph, Currie 6:17: WBS - (PP) Berger, minor (slashing)

Overtime

1:36: WBS - Schaller (9) - Currie, Joseph

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   11 - 12 - 18 - 1 = 42 W-B/Scranton  8 - 10 - 14 - 2 = 34

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (32 saves -  34 shots) WBS: Alex D'Orio (41 saves -  42 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-3 WBS: 1-for-4

Penalty Kill

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