Game Story: Lehigh Valley - 4 at W-B/Scranton - 2 (3/9/24)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms reconvened at Mohegan Sun Arena for the rematch of Friday night's hard-fought affair.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead to the third period thanks to a lone tally from Ryan Shea in the middle frame, but things unraveled on them in the third period to the tune of four straight Phantoms' tallies as Lehigh Valley returned the favor in defeating the Penguins in regulation Saturday night.

Samu Tuomaala, Brendan Furry, Adam Brooks and Evan Polei all recorded goals for the Phantoms in the final frame, breaking open what once was a low-scoring,one-goal affair on their way to a crucial two points as they battle for their playoff lives.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins head coach JD Forrest

On things coming apart in the third period.

"Oh, yeah, we blew it. I mean, we talked in between the periods about not taking stick penalties because we had three tripping [penalties]. We went out, we took a stick penalty. We had a five minute power play and could have done something about it and it went the opposite way. So, not great."

Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere

On things opening up in the third period after a 1-0 game through 40 minutes.

"I don't think it was an ugly one. I thought the guys were working, just we couldn't score. Those five on five goals are hard to come by right now. But the guys stayed with it. It was just like yesterday, it was both teams, they don't want to make a mistake to cost the game and unfortunately yesterday we did and tonight, we just stayed with it. And we didn't make the mistakes."

GAME STORY

It was a bit of a sloppy start for both teams to start Saturday's rematch.

There weren't a lot of crisp passes, and it seemed like tape-to-tape passes were limited to one or two at a time per team before a bobbled puck, or turnover caused a change of possession.

The Penguins held the Phantoms to just one shot in the opening 12 minutes of the period, but were unable to convert on any of their five shots on goal during that same timespan - allowing the game to remain scoreless.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got the game's first power play after a suspect neutral zone tripping call was assessed to Phantoms' captain Garrett Wilson, but it was quickly negated by a Vinnie Hinostroza tripping minor 46 seconds into the Penguins' abbreviated power play.

Blomqvist and the Penguins' penalty killers were able to get the job done, but a second tripping minor on Hinostroza a few minutes after he exited the box allowed Lehigh Valley to stay on the attack.

An early 5-1 advantage in shots on goal quickly went the other way as the Phantoms racked up 11 shots in the final eight minutes of the period - aided by the two Penguins' penalties.

The Penguins appeared to get back to their game in the waning moments of the period, with an odd man rush in transition drawing the home team a power play when Avery Hayes was slashed as he was attempting a shot from a high-danger area in the offensive zone - giving the Penguins some momentum along with 1:38 of carryover power play time to begin the scoreless middle frame.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was unable to convert on the leftover power play time to start the second frame, and the two teams played on in a scoreless tie that was starting to become a goaltender's duel between Blomqvist and Gahagen.

Joona Koppanen thought he had scored after ringing a shot from the right-wing circle off the crossbar that bounced out to the left wing wall.

The Penguins got a fourth power play chance near the midway mark of the period, and, although the man advantage was largely wasted due to a lack of consistent possession to allow for things to be set up in the offensive zone, they scored the game's opening goal shortly after the power play expired.

Hinostroza dug a puck out from down low in the corner, and got it up to the left point for Ty Smith. Smith slid a pass across to Shea at the right point and he stepped into one - blasting it through traffic and past Gahagen into the back of the net with 9:24 left in the middle frame.

Lehigh Valley had a chance to even the game on a power play of their own late in the middle frame, but Blomqvist and the Penguins' penalty kill stood firm - preserving the Penguins' 1-0 lead to the third period.

Things got heated in the third period, as the post-whistle scrums and late hits and whacks were coming with increasing regularity as the period wore on.

The Phantoms were able to tie the game up early in the third period similar to how the Penguins did just 24 hours earlier on a similar game-tying early third period goal.

With Lukas Svejkovsky in the box for hooking, Tuomaala took a pass from Emil Andrae and fired a laser of a shot from the left-wing face-off dot to even the game at 1-1 just 2:12 into the final frame.

Moments later, Phantoms' captain Garrett Wilson delivered a hit to the head to Penguins' defenseman Ty Smith - drawing the ire of the Penguins and resulting in Wilson being ejected from the contest with a match penalty for a check to the head.

The five-minute power play provided the Penguins the perfect opportunity to re-take the lead, but instead the man advantage attempt was downright ugly - later resulting in a shorthanded goal against as Furry raced passed some sluggish power play guys from the Penguins on his way to scoring a mini-breakaway goal to give Lehigh Valley their first lead of the night with 12:38 left in regulation.

Things went from bad to worse from there.

Taylor Fedun spun around in his own zone before attempting a big no-no in trying to fire a pass up the middle of the ice.

The errant pass was picked off in front of the net by Brooks who quickly shuffled it in past Blomqvist to make it a 3-1 Phantoms lead with 8:27 left to play.

Then, Polei tallied his first goal of the season to put the Phantoms up 4-1 with 6:02 to go to put the nail in the proverbial coffin.

Poulin was able to score a penalty shot goal to cut the Penguins' deficit to 4-2, but that's as close as the home team would get before dropping a frustrating game to their bitter rival.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Parker Gahagen got the start in net for Lehigh Valley. Cal Petersen, who took the loss last night in Allentown, served as the Phantoms' backup goaltender Saturday.

Elliot Desnoyers returned to the Phantoms' lineup up front, allowing the team to dress a full compliment of 12 forwards and six defensemen after having defenseman Adam Karashik playing wing on the fourth line Friday night.

Phantoms Scratches: Will Zmolek, Tanner Laczynski, Olle Lycksell, Adam Ginning and Ryan Johansen

Lines/Pairings:

Brendan Furry - Rhett Gardner - Samu Tuomaala JR Avon - Jacob Gaucher - Cooper Marody Garrett Wilson - Elliot Desnoyers - Matt Brown Evan Polei - Adam Brooks - Zayde Wisdom

Victor Mete - Louie Belpedio Emil Andrae - Helge Grans Adam Karashik - Ethan Samson

Parker Gahagen (Backup: Cal Petersen)

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Joel Blomqvist got the start in net for the second straight night, with Jaxon Castor serving as the Penguins' backup.

Two lineup changes for the Penguins Saturday from Friday night's game, with Taylor Fedun and Matt Filipe returning to game action with Xavier Ouellet and Raivis Ansons coming out.

Penguins Scratches: Marc Johnstone, Peter Abbandonato, Sam Houde, Xavier Ouellet, Dillon Hamaliuk, Owen Headrick, Raivis Ansons and Vasili Ponomarev

Lines/Pairings:

Jagger Joshua - Radim Zohorna - Corey Andonovski Vinnie Hinostroza - Sam Poulin - Austin Rueschhoff Matt Filipe - Joona Koppanen - Lukas Svjekovsky Tanner Laderoute - Justin Addamo - Avery Hayes

Ty Smith - Taylor Fedun Ryan Shea - Jack St. Ivany Jack Rathbone - Dmitri Samorukov

Joel Blomqvist (Backup: Jaxon Castor)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

10:36: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping) 11:22: WBS - (PP) Hinostroza, minor (tripping) 16:17: WBS - (PP) Hinostroza, minor (tripping) 19:37: LV - (PP) Andrae, minor (slashing)

2nd Period

8:21: LV - (PP) Gardner, minor (high-sticking) 10:36: WBS - Shea (2) - Smith, Hinostroza 15:39: WBS - (PP) Svejkovsky, minor (tripping)

3rd Period

2:00: WBS - (PP) Svejkovsky, minor (hooking) 2:12: LV - PPG Tuomaala (14) - Andrae, Marody 3:42: LV - (PP) Wilson, 5-min match penalty (check to the head) 3:42: LV - Wilson, minor (roughing) 3:42: LV - Wilson, game misconduct 3:42: WBS - Joshua, minor (roughing) 4:18: WBS - Poulin, minor (roughing) 4:18: LV - Andrae, minor (roughing) 7:22: LV - SHG Furry (5) - Gardner, Karashik 11:13: LV - Brooks (4) - unassisted 13:58: LV - Polei (1) - Tuomaala, Gardner 14:38: LV - (PP) Samson, minor (slashing) 14:47: WBS - PPG Poulin (12) - penalty shot

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Lehigh Valley   12 - 11 - 6 = 29 W-B/Scranton  7 - 11 - 14 = 32

Goalies

LV: Parker Gahagen (30 saves - 32 shots) WBS: Joel Blomqvist (25 saves - 29 shots)

Power Play

LV: 1-for-5 WBS: 1-for-6

Penalty Kill

LV: 5-for-6 WBS: 4-for-5