GAME STORY: W-B/Scranton - 2 at Lehigh Valley - 1 (OT) 10/24/21

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-3-1) managed to force overtime thanks to superb play in net from Samuel Ersson and an extra attacker goal from Max Willman, but it was still much of the same for the Philadelphia Flyers' AHL affiliate in that goals are still hard to come by and the man advantage is still not clicking despite all of their opportunities.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

With Felix Sandstrom getting the start Saturday night, Samuel Ersson got the start between the pipes for Lehigh Sunday afternoon against the Penguins.

Garrett Wilson was assessed a one-game suspension for his actions in the final minute of Saturday night's game against Hartford.

Samu Tuomaala, who was a healthy scratch the last two games after opening the season in the lineup, drew back in up front for the Phantoms.

Phantoms Scratches: Mason Millman, Linus Sandin, Ryan MacKinnon, Hayden Hodgson and Garrett Wilson

Lines/Pairings:

Max Willman - Morgan Frost - Tyson Foerster Isaac Ratcliffe - Cal O'Reilly - Gerry Mayhew Maksim Sushko - German Rubtsov - Samu Tuomaala Brennan Saulnier - Connor Bunnaman - Jackson Cates

Cam York - Wyatte Wylie Egor Zamula - Adam Clendening Linus Hogberg - Logan Day

Samuel Ersson - Felix Sandstrom

W-B/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Veteran goaltender Louis Domingue got the start in net for the Penguins Sunday afternoon after Filip Lindberg turned in a solid outing in a 2-1 OT win Friday.

Penguins Scratches: Jordy Bellerive and Juuso Riikola

Lines/Pairings:

Sam Poulin - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen Kasper Bjorkvist - Michael Chaput - Felix Robert Filip Hallander - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare Jamie Devane - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson

Pierre-Olivier Joseph - Taylor Fedun Niclas Almari - Matt Bartkowski Chris Bigras - Cam Lee

Louis Domingue - Filip Lindberg

GAME RECAP

1st Period

The Phantoms came out with an early edge in play, but were unable to sustain it. After failing to convert on the game's opening power play, a bad turnover in the Phantoms' defensive zone gave Valtteri Puustinen an easy Grade-A chance all alone in front of Samuel Ersson.

Wyatte Wylie had two forecheckers crashing in on him down low in the corner, and attempted to backhand a puck up the middle. Puustinen picked it off and patiently dangled and waited out Ersson for the tap in goal to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead just prior to the midway mark of the period.

All in all there wasn't many Grade-A chances had for either team in the opening 20 minutes.

2nd Period

The Phantoms were able to draw themselves some power plays in the middle frame - a total of four in the period - but were largely ineffective on the man advantage, often having trouble breaking pucks up ice and entering the offensive zone. It continued to seem like a major lack of chemistry among the power play units, which were a little different today.

Unit 1: Morgan Frost, Max Willman, Samu Tuomaala, Tyson Foerster and Cam York Unit 2: Cal O'Reilly, Gerry Mayhew, Isaac Ratcliffe, Egor Zamula and Adam Clendening

Outside of a dangerous chance or two, there wasn't much to write home about for Lehigh Valley in the middle frame other than their ability to draw penalties in their limited offensive zone attack time.

The top line of Willman-Frost-Foerster was predominantly involved when the Phantoms were buzzing at the Penguins' net, but frustration is definitely building as several of the Phantoms' top offensive players have been snakebitten to start the season.

Lehigh Valley had back-to-back Grade-As late in the period when Adam Clendening drew a slashing minor when he cut in from the center point and stickhandled to the right-wing circle. His shot was stopped by Domingue, but Frost picked up the puck and later had a hard shot from the right-circle that Domingue was just able to get a piece of with his shoulder to avoid danger for the Penguins late in the period.

In the waning seconds of the period, Cal O'Reilly got a puck from behind the net in the right-wing corner all the way across to Clendening in the bottom of the left-wing circle. Somehow, Domingue was able to slide across his crease and come up with a big stop on Clendening to keep the Penguins ahead 1-0 heading to the third period.

3rd Period

Despite all of the missed opportunities on the power play, the Phantoms found themselves still in a one-goal hockey game due in large part to the play in net from Ersson.

The Phantoms' rookie netminder continued to make timely saves to keep Lehigh Valley within a goal all the way down to the final minutes of regulation when he was pulled for the extra attacker.

To their credit, Lehigh Valley found a way to get one behind Louis Domingue - and it came with under a minute to go and the goalie pulled. Egor Zamula got a pass at the center point and sent it to the left-wing circle where Tyson Foerster stepped into a one-timer. Willman had to jump to get out of the way of Foerster's big blast, and as his skates hit the ice the rebound darted right to his stick for a quick put-back to tie the game at 1-1 with 46.0 left to play.

They tried to stuff one home in the final seconds, but were unable to do so - getting the game to overtime and earning their first standings point of the season.

Overtime

The 3-on-3 only lasted two shifts, with the Penguins scoring in the opening minute of overtime to secure the 2-1 decision. Valtteri Puustinen, who scored the Pens' only other goal off a bad Phantoms' turnover, used the open ice to his advantage - cutting to the middle in the offensive zone and sniping one past Ersson to end the game.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:36: WBS - (PP) Bigras, minor (slashing) 9:49: WBS - Puustinen (2) - unassisted

2nd Period

0:59: WBS - (PP) Bartkowski, minor (interference) 2:21: LV - (PP) York, minor (hooking) 9:17: WBS - (PP) Poulin, minor (slashing) 12:02: WBS - (PP) Poulin, minor (tripping) 14:14: LV - (PP) Zamula, minor (cross-checking) 19:39: WBS - (PP) Bjorkvist, minor (slashing)

3rd Period

2:52: WBS - (PP) Bartkowski, minor (holding) 12:53: LV - (PP) Mayhew, minor (slashing) 19:14: LV - Willman (2) - Foerster, Zamula

Overtime

0:57: WBS - Puustinen (3) - Chaput, Fedun

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  8 - 13 - 8 - 1 = 30 Lehigh Valley 7 - 8 - 14 - 0 = 29

Goalies

WBS: Louis Domingue (28 saves - 29 shots) LV: Samuel Ersson (28 saves - 30 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 0-for-3 LV: 0-for-6

Penalty Kill

WBS: 6-for-6 LV: 3-for-3