Game Story: Lehigh Valley - 3 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - 2 (OT) 10/15/22

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins opened their 2022-23 regular season Saturday night, hosting rival Lehigh Valley. In a back-and-forth game that saw the Penguins force overtime with an extra attacker goal in the final minute of regulation, it was the Phantoms securing the win in the final seconds of overtime to spoil the Pens' home opener in a 3-2 decision.

Phantoms goaltender Troy Grosenick (38 saves - 40 shots) stymied the Penguins' offensive attack before the home team pulled goaltender Dustin Tokarski for the extra attacker in the final two minutes of regulation. Ty Smith made a patient play at the center point, out-waiting a sliding defender before hurling one to the net from the top of the left-wing circle that hit off the far post and crossbar before bouncing back out to the left side of the net where Sam Poulin batted the rebound out of mid-air into the net to tie the game up and force overtime.

But in the overtime, it was the Phantoms sealing the deal with 1.4 seconds left before an upcoming shootout would have decided a winner. Tokarski made an initial game-saving stop, but Max Willman controlled the rebound behind the Penguins' net and kicked it out to defenseman Louis Belpedio for a quick shot past Tokarski before overtime expired.

The Penguins controlled much of the opening 14 minutes of the contest, having at one point a 9-1 edge in shots on goal, but it was the Phantoms taking a 1-0 lead after Zack MacEwen and Garrett Wilson combined to force a turnover behind the Penguins net. The loose puck darted up the middle right to Elliot Desnoyers in the slot for a quick shot past Tokarski for Desnoyers' first career pro goal.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton stuck with in the middle frame, getting a power play and converting to tie the game at 1-1 5:35 into the stanza. Xavier Ouellet, who drew the power play, got a puck to the left wing wall for Valtteri Puustinen before Puustinen fired a hard cross-ice pass atop the circles to Alex Nylander. Nylander skated into a snipe that beat Grosenick to the top shelf to even things up.

The middle frame was more evenly played than the opening period, and the Phantoms responded with a power play goal of their own to regain the one-goal lead just prior to the midway mark of regulation. Tyson Foerster got a puck up to the point for Cam York, and York's shot ended up getting re-directed at the top of the left-wing circle by Zack MacEwen - changing directions and bouncing past Tokarski.

The Penguins continued to push for the equalizer in the third period before finally getting the extra attacker goal from Poulin to get the game to overtime and secure one point on opening night.

Penguins Post-Game EXTRA!

Head coach JD Forrest

On no shortage of chances, but running into a hot goalie in Troy Grosenick

"Grosenick played well, but our guys stuck to it. I mean, those things can get frustrating and change the way you go about business and we didn't. We just kept going, kept going and are able to grind out that last goal with the extra attacker to send it to overtime."

"When you run into a goalie that's making saves the way he was, and you're able to find that ugly one at the end to, to at least get a point. I mean, we're never happy with just one point, but I was just proud of the way that the guys went about it. Sticking to the plan from start to finish. And unfortunately, we didn't get that in overtime. Even though I thought we we had our we had our looks there as well. But yeah, I mean, sometimes it goes that way."

On the power play tonight generating lots of good looks, scoring chances

"I thought both units were pretty dangerous. Smith's unit there, they were hard to even get off the ice for Lehigh tonight, they had that great look."

"So it's good to see the puck movement. You know, of course, you would love to see a couple more on the back of the net, but it's the same kind of story with the game. If we go about things in that way, the next time we have a game we'll get some results. That's the that's the encouraging part is what we were able to do. The results will come."

On Ty Smith's game, and what he's hoping to see from him while he's in the AHL

"Yeah, I mean, a lot of poise with the puck. (It's) hard (for the opposing team) to read where he's going to go with it."

"He's really good on the power play. He's not afraid to use that shot, either, which is nice because he's a threat up there he doesn't just dish (the puck)."

"Then, I was really happy with how he just competed and defended well tonight. That's one of the areas we want to make sure we're focused on. I thought he was dialed in in that area."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Saturday night. Filip Lindberg served as the team's backup while rookie Taylor Gauthier was the third goalie and a healthy scratch.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Gauthier, Jack St. Ivany, Chris Ortiz, Jordan Frasca, Colin Swoyer, Lukas Svejkovsky, Jamie Devane, Jonathan Gruden and Ty Glover

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Drew O'Connor - Alex Nylander Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Valtteri Puustinen Kyle Olson - Tyler Sikura - Corey Andonovski Raivis Ansons - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare

Ty Smith - Mark Friedman Xavier Ouellet - Mitch Reinke Jon Lizotte - Taylor Fedun

Dustin Tokarski - Filip Lindberg

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Troy Grosenick got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday night, with Pat Nagle serving as the team's backup.

Phantoms Scratches: Adam Karashik, Cooper Zech, Ryan Fitzgerald, Charlie Gerard and Kevin Connauton

Lines/Pairings:

Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Tyson Foerster Cooper Marody - Adam Brooks - Hayden Hodgson Garrett Wilson - Elliot Desnoyers - Zack MacEwen Isaac Ratcliffe - Jordy Bellerive - Zayde Wisdom

Cam York - Louis Belpedio Linus Hogberg - Ronnie Attard Adam Ginning - Wyatte Wylie

Troy Grosenick - Pat Nagle

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

4:55: LV - (PP) Marody, minor (tripping) 13:41: LV - Desnoyers (1) - Wilson 19:01: LV - (PP) Brooks, minor (high-sticking)

2nd Period

4:40: LV - (PP) Attard, minor (tripping) 5:35: WBS - PPG Nylander (1) - Puustinen, Ouellet 9:14: WBS - (PP) Olson, minor (interference) 9:52: LV - PPG MacEwen (1) - York, Foerster 13:52: LV - (PP) Brooks, minor (high-sticking) 17:31: WBS - (PP) Tokarski, minor (tripping, served by Puustinen)

3rd Period

5:26: LV - (PP) Hodgson, minor (tripping) 14:40: WBS - (PP) Houde, minor (tripping, served by Legare)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   6 - 8 - 6 - 2 = 22 W-B/Scranton  11 - 15 - 12 - 2 = 40

Goalies

LV: Troy Grosenick (38 saves - 40 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski (19 saves - 22 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-3 WBS: 1-for-5

Penalty Kill

LV: 4-for-5 WBS: 2-for-3

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