GAME STORY: Lehigh Valley - 3 at W-B/Scranton - 1 (1/19/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (11-12-8) were back in action Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre for another matchup against their rival Penguins after having two days to regroup following a three-in-three weekend fresh off the team's nine-day COVID hiatus.

The team's ability to regroup and reset after being tasked with three games in 48 hours short staffed on the bench and on the roster due to positive COVID cases paid big dividends Wednesday night as the Phantoms were able to play a solid road game in route to breaking a scoreless tie in the period and holding on for a 3-1 win.

Wade Allison tallied a goal for a third straight game to break the 0-0 score on an early third period power play, while Linus Sandin also tallied on the man advantage to re-gain the Phantoms' lead after Jordy Bellerive had briefly tied the game up at 1-1.

Maksim Sushko tallied an empty net goal in the win for Lehigh Valley while Felix Sandstrom stopped all but one of the 29 shots he faced for the Phantoms, who now have points in 11 of their last 12 games (8-1-3) after just three wins in their opening 19 games.

Post-Game With Assistant Coach Jason Smith

Smith's thoughts on how tonight's game was played:

"We started the game off just playing a real simple, hard working road game and kept ourselves in the game and didn't give up an early goal or too many real opportunities early on. And then you give yourself a chance on the road, and you're close in the game, and we score power play goal and get things going. We have some momentum and just played an all around solid road game."

On the low-scoring game playing into the team's identity and the way they want to play:

"Yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously, Lappiy not being here tonight, but he's talked about it all year - trust in the system and playing with structure. And tonight's an example of that, you know, we created enough opportunities to give ourselves to win the game. We didn't give up a lot of great a scoring chances against, especially five on five."

On special teams playing a big part in tonight's outcome (Phantoms 2-for-3 on power play, Penguins 0-for-4):

"They got they got some opportunities on the power play, but we got big saves when we needed that. When you're playing an even game five-on-five on the road, and score [two] power play goals, you really give yourself a chance to have success."

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Goalie Pat Nagle, defenseman Logan Day and forward Hayden Hodgson all returned to COVID protocol, but unfortunately head coach Ian Laperriere and  entered enhanced protocols at the direction of the league and team's medical staff.

With Laperriere in COVID protocol, assistant coaches Jason Smith and Riley Armstrong split coaching duties behind the bench Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.

Defenseman Egor Zamula and forward Brennan Saulnier also missed Wednesday night's game, though assistant coach Smith neither confirmed nor denied their absences were COVID-related when reached via phone after the game.

Jackson Cates returned to the Phantoms' lineup for the first time since in almost a month after being reassigned by the Flyers earlier this week.

The Phantoms dressed an 11-forward, seven defensemen lineup with forward German Rubtsov taking warmups before being the final (healthy) scratch.

Phantoms Scratches: Samuel Ersson (injured), Garrett Metcalf, Egor Zamula (COVID protocol?), German Rubtsov, Brennan Saulnier (COVID protocol?), Garrett Wilson (injured) and Tyson Foerster (injured)

Lines/Pairings

Maksim Sushko - Cal O'Reilly - Wade Allison Charlie Gerard - Jackson Cates - Linus Sandin Isaac Ratcliffe - Matthew Strome - Hayden Hodgson Alex Kile - No One - Nick Lappin

Linus Hogberg - Adam Clendening Cooper Zech - Wyatte Wylie Mason Millman - Logan Day Ryan MacKinnon

Felix Sandstrom - Pat Nagle

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Roster Notes

Alex D'Orio got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night at home. With Filip Lindberg and Tommy Nappier unavailable to back up D'Orio, the Penguins signed Tristan Cote-Cazenave to a PTO for Wednesday night's game. Cote-Czaenave was most recently in the ECHL with nearby Reading Royals.

The AHL Penguins got quite a trio of reinforcements from Pittsburgh prior to Wednesday's game, with forwards Anthony Angello, Kasper Bjorkvist and Filip Hallander reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Scratches: Filip Lindberg, Tommy Nappier, Taylor Fedun, Jan Drozg, Cam Lee, Niclas Almari, Michael Chaput and Sam Houde

Lines/Pairings

Filip Hallander - Felix Robert - Valtteri Puustinen Alex Nylander - Sam Poulin - Anthony Angello Kasper Bjorkvist - Jordy Bellerive - Nathan Legare Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson

P.O. Joseph - Mitch Reinke Juuso Riikola - Matt Bartkowski Chris Bigras - Will Reilly

Alex D'Orio - Tristan Cote-Cazenave

GAME RECAP

1st Period

Unsurprisingly, the Phantoms looked like a much better team in the first period Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre than they did in their last visit to Mohegan Sun Arena this past Friday, coming in cold after not being able to practice in the days leading up to what was a 3-in-3 weekend for Lehigh Valley coming off their COVID-related stoppage.

After the two teams exchanged a few shots on net in the opening minutes, the Phantoms seemed to get the better of the chances in the period - including a pair of mini-breakaways from Wade Allison and Alex Kile.

Fortunately for the Penguins, netminder Alex D'Orio was sharp and equal to the task to keep the game scoreless heading into the waning moments of the period.

Lehigh Valley got the game's first power play with 1:54 left before the first intermission, but it was short-lived as a turnover at the offensive zone blue line resulted in Adam Clendening being forced into tripping up Anthony Angello to prevent the Penguins' forward from a shorthanded breakaway attempt.

2nd Period

The Penguins got an abbreviated power play shortly after the opening face-off of the middle frame, as the Penguins' minor penalty from late in the 1st period expired, though they were unable to convert on their first crack at the man advantage.

After a scuffle at the bench between Penguins' forward Jordy Bellerive and Phantoms' defenseman Ryan MacKinnon, the Phantoms went right back to the PK.

Once the Phantoms returned to five-on-five hockey, a tight-checking and low-event period ensued.

Later in the period, the Penguins got the Phantoms to take an extra penalty for the second time after a Penguins' forward sent Linus Hogberg flying through the team's bench door. Hogberg retaliated and took a roughing penalty with 5:46 left, sending the Phantoms back to the PK for the third time in the middle frame.

The Phantoms' PK held, and the two teams headed to the third in a scoreless tie.

Third Period

The proverbial flood gates opened in the final frame after the Phantoms killed off an early-period penalty and Isaac Ratcliffe drew the Phantoms a power play of their own.

Wade Allison got a puck from Adam Clendening at the right-wing circle and stepped into a hard snap shot the beat D'Orio to the far side post on the ensuing power play to break the scoreless tie with 16:03 left in regulation. It marked goals in three straight games for Allison, in his fourth game back from an elbow injury.

The Penguins responded with a goal of their own 3:07 later to tie things up at 1-1, with Jordy Bellerive re-directing a hard point shot from Juuso Riikola that eluded Felix Sandstrom.

Near the midway mark of the period, Lehigh Valley had a surge of momentum and extended offensive zone time - drawing their second power play of the period.

On the resulting man advantage, Cal O'Reilly won a face-off back to Clendening and floated to the left point - getting the puck back from Clendening before turning and putting one to the net that Linus Sandin was able to get a piece of a re-direct past D'Orio to put the Phantoms back in front with 9:19 left to play.

The Phantoms held on from there, with Sandin setting up Maksim Sushko for an empty net goal with 39.5 seconds left to complete the 3-1 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

18:06: WBS - (PP) Bellerive, minor (interference) 19:08: LV - (PP) Clendening, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

2:36: LV - MacKinnon, minor (roughing) 2:36: LV - (PP) MacKinnon, minor (roughing) 2:36: WBS - Bellerive, minor (roughing) 14:14: LV - (PP) Hogberg, minor (roughing)

3rd Period

0:56: LV - (PP) Clendening, minor (delay of game) 3:50: WBS - (PP) Devane, minor (interference) 3:57: LV - PPG Allison (3) - Clendening, Kile 7:04: WBS - Bellerive (5) - Riikola, Martkowski 9:43: WBS - (PP) Gruden, minor (boarding) 10:41: LV - PPG Sandin (4) - O'Reilly, Clendening 19:21: LV - ENG Sushko (5) - Sandin, O'Reilly

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   7 - 10 - 7 = 24 W-B/Scranton   10 - 8 - 11 = 29

Goalies

LV: Felix Sandstrom (28 saves - 29 shots) WBS: Alex D'Orio (21 saves - 23 shots)

Power Play

LV: 2-for-3 WBS: 0-for-4

Penalty Kill

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