Game Story: Lehigh Valley - 3 at W-B/Scranton - 4 (10/18/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins used a hot start to their advantage and ended up needing every bit of it.

The Penguins opened the game with four first period goals and were able to hold off the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' late third period comeback bid on their way to preserve a 4-3 win to start the home-and-home series between the two in-state rivals.

Boris Katchouk tallied the first two goals of the hockey game, Tristan Broz added a power play rebound goal and Boko Imama hit an empty net after a misplayed puck from Phantoms goaltender Alexei Kolosov (29 saves) to give the Penguins a 4-0 first period lead in what proved to be all the offense the Penguins would need Friday night.

Oscar Eklind and Jacob Gaucher tallied goals 16 seconds apart in the opening two minutes of the second period and Ethan Samson made the final minute of the third period interesting after tallying a 6-on-4 power play goal, but it ended up being a too-little, too-late performance by the Phantoms.

Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, on a conditioning loan from Pittsburgh, made his first start of the 2024-25 season and looked sharp - stopping 33 of the 36 shots he faced to pick up the win for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins and Phantoms rematch Saturday night at PPL Center in downtown Allentown, Pa. at 7:15 p.m. ET.

GAME STORY

Enforcers Boko Imama (Penguins) and Garrett Wilson (Phantoms) attempted to set the tone Friday night, dropping the gloves 21 seconds into the contest.

Unfortunately, after they grappled and spun in circles they fell to the ice and the linesmen quickly stepped in to end the fight before it ever began - much to the dismay of Imama who was seen visibly upset with the linesmen for intervening before the two willing combatants were finished.

The Penguins, led by Boris Katchouk, stole momentum early and didn't let up in the opening 20 minutes - putting up a four-spot on the Phantoms on 12 shots.

First, on their first power play of the night, Filip Kral possessed the puck at center point and got it to the top of the left-wing circle for Ville Koivunen. Koivunen made a great cross-ice pass to Katchouk in the right-wing circle and Katchouk sniped Phantoms goaltender Alexei Kolosov high to the short side top corner of the net, giving the Penguins a 1-0 lead just under eight minutes into the contest.

Katchouk made it 2-0 roughly five minutes later, after the Penguins killed off a Phantoms' power play and after Sam Poulin made a terrific steal on a Phantoms' breakout.

Poulin picked the pocket of a Phantoms' defender breaking the puck out from the Lehigh Valley defensive zone and sent the puck behind the Phantoms' net, where Jimmy Huntington was first to the puck. Huntington fed it out to Katchouk just inside the left-wing circle for a quick knee-drop one-touch shot that eluded Kolosov to make it 2-0 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton made it 2-for-2 on the man advantage and 3-0 on the scoreboard with 5:08 left in the opening frame.

Mac Hollowell started a rush up ice and weaved his way into the offensive zone, getting the puck to Emil Bemstrom. Bemstrom's shot was stopped by Kolosov, but the rebound bounced right into the slot for a quick rebound goal by Tristan Broz.

Down 3-0 and out-shot 11-4 at that point, Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere opted to take his timeout to settle things down.

Instead, just over a minute later - the Penguins extended their lead to 4-0 after Kolosov left his net and attempted to make a pass to a Phantoms' defenseman along the right-wing wall. Kolosov's pass was intercepted by Imama and fired into the empty net with 4:02 left before the first intermission.

Lehigh Valley was down, but not out entering the second period.

They tallied a pair of goals 16 seconds apart to begin the middle frame to quickly cut their deficit to 4-2.

Oscar Eklind finished off a feed in front after Elliot Desnoyers stormed down the right wing with speed, and on the following shift Zayde Wisdom forced a turnover just inside the Penguins' defensive zone blue line and Jacob Gaucher was the beneficiary - corralling the loose puck and flinging one to the net, getting a fortuitous bounce off a Penguins' defender's skate atop the crease and into the net.

The teams continued to exchange chances as the period wore on, but both goaltenders - Alex Nedeljkovic for the Penguins and Alexei Kolosov for the Phantoms - made the necessary stops to get the 4-2 game to the third period.

The Penguins had an opportunity to extend their lead early in the third period on a four-minute power play, but were unable to do so.

Lehigh Valley began to take chances and create more offensive pressure as the third period wore on, much as you'd expect a team trailing 4-2 would, but Nedeljkovic shut the door.

The Phantoms got a power in the final 2:29 of play and pulled Kolosov for the extra attacker to make it a 6-on-4, giving Nedeljkovic a chance at the empty net. The Penguins goaltender gloved one down during the Phantoms' power play and tried for the goalie goal, but his bid was gloved down in the neutral zone.

Lehigh Valley was able to convert on the power play with 51.8 seconds left to draw themselves within a goal, and they pressured the Penguins' net all the way to the final buzzer, but that's as close as they would get as the Penguins held on for the 4-3 win.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Alexei Kolosov got the start in net for the Phantoms Friday in Wilkes-Barre. Cal Petersen served as Kolosov's backup.

Phantoms Scratches: Eetu Makiniemi, Matt Brown, Cooper Marody, Sawyer Boulton, Xavier Bernard, Mason Primeau, Alexis Gendron and Massimo Rizzo

Lines/Pairings:

Anthony Richard - Rodrigo Abols - Olle Lycksell Brendan Furry - Rhett Gardner - Samu Tuomaala Oscar Eklind - JR Avon - Elliot Desnoyers Garrett Wilson - Jacob Gaucher - Zayde Wisdom

Hunter McDonald - Louis Belpedio Adam Ginning - Ethan Samson Helge Grans - Ronnie Attard

Alexei Kolosov (Backup: Cal Petersen)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Alex Nedeljkovic, reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan Thursday, got the start in net for the Penguins Friday night against Lehigh Valley.

Rutger McGroarty, loaned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from Pittsburgh Thursday, made his AHL debut.

Penguins scratches: Sergei Murashov, Nate Clurman (day-to-day, upper body), Dan Renouf (week-to-week, lower body), Marc Johnstone, Corey Andonovski, Jagger Joshua (week-to-week, upper body), Isaac Belliveau (day-to-day, lower body)

Lines/Pairings:

Boris Katchouk - Jimmy Huntington - Sam Poulin Emil Bemstrom - Tristan Broz - Ville Koivunen Avery Hayes - Jonathan Gruden - Rutger McGroarty Bokondji Imama - Joona Koppanen - Raivis Ansons

Owen Pickering - Sebastian Aho Filip Kral - Mac Hollowell Justin Lee - Scooter Brickey

Alex Nedeljkovic (Backup: Filip Larsson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:21: LV - Wilson, major (fighting) 0:21: WBS - Imama, major (fighting) 7:24: LV - (PP) Belpedio, minor (interference) 7:43: WBS - PPG Katchouk (2) - Koivunen, Kral 9:50: WBS - (PP) Imama, minor (interference) 12:36: WBS - Katchouk (3) - Huntington, Poulin 13:27: LV - (PP) Wisdom, minor (tripping) 14:52: WBS - PPG Broz (2) - Bemstrom, Hollowell 15:58: WBS - Imama (1) - unassisted 18:46: WBS - (PP) Koivunen, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

1:27: LV - Eklind (1) - Desnoyers, Kolosov 1:43: LV - Gaucher (2) - Wisdom 5:31: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (slashing) 8:53: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (tripping) 13:39: LV - (PP) Attard, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

1:13: LV - (PP) Tuomaala, double-minor (high-sticking) 3:34: LV - Belpedio, minor (slashing) 3:34: WBS - McGroarty, minor (slashing) 9:41: LV - (PP) Samson, minor (slashing) 17:31: WBS - (PP) Lee, minor (boarding) 19:08: LV - PPG Samson (1) - Wilson, Tuomaala

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley  0 - 2 - 1 = 3 W-B/Scranton  4 - 0 - 0 = 4

Shots

Lehigh Valley  8 - 15 - 13 = 36 W-B/Scranton  12 - 12 - 9 = 33

Goalies

LV: Alexei Kolosov (29 saves - 33 shots) WBS: Alex Nedeljkovic (33 saves - 36 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-4 WBS: 2-for-7

Penalty Kill

LV: 5-for-7 WBS: 3-for-4

Post-Game EXTRA!

WBS Penguins Head Coach Kirk MacDonald

On the fast start in the 1st period, slow start to the 2nd period.

"Yeah, great start. And then, you know, power play with a couple big ones, two different looks, two different ways. I don't think we were necessarily bad in the second couple turnovers, where we got to take care of the puck better, you know, but I just kind of, I think, always nice to win, but I think there's a lot of things we can improve on. When you're up 4-0 after the first  I think sometimes you almost go into autopilot and take your foot off the gas. You knew they were going to come out hard at the start of the second. I'm sure that it wasn't a pleasant place to be in their dressing room, right? They did. They came out with a way better effort. At the end of the day, we faced a little adversity, and it's good for the group."

Video interviews with goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and forward Boris Katchouk.