Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 2 at Lehigh Valley - 0 (4/20/24)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - In the final game of the regular season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the black & gold finished off the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2-0 Saturday night - wrapping up third place in the Atlantic Division and setting up an opening round best-of-three playoff series between the Penguins and Phantoms beginning with Wednesday night's Game 1 in Wilkes-Barre.

Sam Poulin broke a scoreless tie in the middle frame, while Radim Zohorna added an insurance marker early in the final frame to complete the 2-0 final score. Valtteri Puustinen added assists on both Penguins goals in his return to the AHL, and goaltender Ludovic Waeber recorded his first shutout with the Penguins with a 21-save performance.

Alexei Kolosov stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in the loss for Lehigh Valley.

Post-Game EXTRA!

W-B/Scranton Penguins  head coach JD Forrest

On picking up the win and securing 3rd place in Atlantic Division

"Yeah, that was a big deal. You know, it wasn't like a game that there was no consequences. So we wanted to make sure that we came away with a win tonight. Now, we didn't play our best game, for sure but we did find a way to win, I thought Waeber was sensational in net for us, made some huge saves. And then we capitalized on, you know, the handful of chances that we had. So good to get the win nice to finish the regular season that way, but I guess the real work now just starts."

Penguins forward Valtteri Puustinen

On getting the win and clinching 3rd place in the division

"Yeah we have one focus today, and that was win that game. And we know next week we need to play a little better and faster. But I'm happy we win today and it doesn't matter what happens tomorrow [with Charlotte and Lehigh Valley in their regular season finale]."

GAME STORY

With a bunch of roster changes for both teams, the opening minutes provided a little bit of a feeling out period with neither team really asserting themselves.

The two teams exchanged few chances in the scoreless opening period Saturday, with Lehigh Valley having a slight edge in shots on goal with an 8-6 advantage in that category through 20 minutes.

Of note for the Penguins in the opening period, it appeared that forward Vinnie Hinostroza took a high hit from Matthew Brown in the Penguins' defensive zone with just over seven minutes left before the first intermission - with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton seemingly finishing the period with 11 forwards.

Hinostroza was able to return for the Penguins to begin the middle frame, who got the game's first power play 2:10 into the period after a nice outside-inside move by Corey Andonovski down the right-wing wall resulted in Mason Millman being forced into taking a hooking penalty to prevent Andonovski from getting a clear shot to the net.

Andonovski hit the post, and the Penguins got to work on the game's first power play - unable to convert on the ensuing man advantage but generating several chances with Puustinen back in his spot atop the left-wing circle on a four-forward power play unit that also featured Hinostroza, Poulin, Zohorna and Xavier Ouellet.

Despite not cashing in on the power play, the Penguins gained momentum and took the 1-0 lead not long after at the 6:19 mark of the middle frame.

Jagger Joshua muscled a puck into the Penguins' offensive zone, where Puustinen was first to the loose puck - sending a quick pass to an open Poulin cutting to the net for a quick shot past Kolosov for his 16th goal of the season.

Lehigh Valley got a power play of their own near the midway mark of the period, but credit to Waeber and the Penguins' penalty killers in preserving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's 1-0 lead late into the middle frame before heading back on a man advantage of their own with 4:06 left before the second intermisssion.

The Penguins failed to convert on the ensuing power play, taking a delay of game penalty with 58.4 seconds left before the second intermission when Dmitri Samorukov had a puck sail on him on a clearing attempt from the Penguins' defensive zone that ended up striking a fan in the sixth row of section 116 at PPL Center.

The fan was tended to by EMTs, who were quickly called on-site. During the second intermission the fan was escorted by EMT out of the seating area.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton killed off the carryover penalty time to begin the final frame, before getting a power play of their own shortly after.

They didn't officially score on the power play, but they generated consistent pressure for much of the two minutes - getting a few keep-ins at the offensive zone blue line from Hinostroza before he got a rebound and fed a pass back to the middle for an open Zohorna for a putback goal to extend the Penguins' lead to 2-0 with 16:26 left in regulation.

From there, Waeber and the Penguins' defense preserved the 2-0 lead into a regular season finale win.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Ludovic Waeber got the start in net for the Penguins Saturday in Allentown. Joel Blomqvist, who was the starter in net Friday in Hartford, served as the team's backup.

Beau Jelsma and Scooter Brickey took the warmup skate but served as the team's final healthy scratches.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Gauthier (week-to-week, lower body), Marc Johnstone (longer term, upper body), Vasily Ponomarev (longer term, lower body), Joona Koppanen (longer term, lower body), Ty Smith (longer term, lower body), Peter Abbandonato (longer term, lower body), Tristan Broz, Max Cajkovic (loaned to Team Slovakia), Jonathan Gruden (week-to-week, upper body), Sam Houde (out for season, upper and lower body), Beau Jelsma, Matthew Quercia, Scooter Brickey, Lukas Svejkovsky and Owen Headrick

Lines/Pairings:

Vinnie Hinostroza - Radim Zohorna - Austin Rueschhoff Jagger Joshua - Sam Poulin - Valtteri Puustinen Corey Andonovski - Raivis Ansons - Avery Hayes Matt Filipe - Logan Pietila - Mathieu De St. Phalle

Ryan Shea - Jack St. Ivany Xavier Ouellet - Dmitri Samorukov Jack Rathbone - Taylor Fedun

Ludovic Waeber (Backup: Joel Blomqvist)

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Alexei Kolosov got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday, with Felix Sandstrom serving as the team's backup goaltender.

Already locked into the 6-seed in the Atlantic Division playoffs, the Phantoms sat out most of their regulars.

Phantoms Scratches: Louie Belpedio, Tanner Laczynski, Ronnie Attard, Massimo Rizzo, Garrett Wilson, Cooper Marody, Rhett Gardner, Bobby Brink, Adam Brooks, Samu Tuomaals, Parker Gahagen, Adam Ginning, Cal Petersen and Victor Mete

Lines/Pairings:

Olle Lycksell - Elliot Desnoyers - Matt Miller Matthew Brown - Jacob Gaucher - Brendan Furry Evan Polei - Jon-Randall Avon - Zayde Wisdom Tyler Gratton - Jacques Bouquot - Adam Karashik

Hunter McDonald - Helge Grans Emil Andrae - Ethan Samson Will Zmolek - Mason Millman

Alexei Kolosov (Backup: Felix Sandstrom)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

No scoring/penalties

2nd Period

2:10: LV - (PP) Millman, minor (hooking) 6:19: WBS - Poulin (16) - Puustinen, Joshua 9:35: WBS - (PP) Ouellet, minor (holding) 15:54: LV - (PP) Wisdom, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

1:28: LV - (PP) Avon, minor (high-sticking) 3:34: WBS - Zohorna (10) - Hinostroza, Puustinen 8:34: LV - (PP) Grans, minor (slashing)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  6 - 10 - 8 = 24 Lehigh Valley  8 - 7 - 6 = 21

Goalies

WBS: Ludovic Waeber (21 saves - 21 shots) LV: Alexei Kolosov (22 saves - 24 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

WBS: 2-for-2 LV: 4-for-4