Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 2 at Lehigh Valley - 4 (3/31/23)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins once again battled valiantly Friday night in Allentown, holding a 2-1 lead to the third period before surrendering three goals in a disappointing finish in a 4-2 loss to their bitter in-state rivals.

Drake Caggiula and Ty Smith had the Penguins in front by a 2-1 count heading to the third period on goals set up by Valtteri Puustinen (two assists), but goals from Jordy Bellerive and two from Bobby Brink turned the tides in favor of Lehigh Valley.

The three-goal third period was just another frustrating loss for the Penguins, who find themselves nine points out of the final playoff spot with just seven games remaining.

...

An early penalty on Garrett Wilson on the opening shift of the hockey game gave the Penguins a chance to start the game with momentum, but they were unable to convert on the man advantage.

Instead, a strong-paced back-and-forth game ensued before the Penguins opened the scoring to take a 1-0 lead.

Jonathan Gruden forced a turnover in the defensive zone and started up ice, centering for Valtteri Puustinen who proceeded to make a nice toe-drag deke before sending it back to the left side to a wide open Caggiula for an easy tap-in into a mostly empty net.

After both teams took penalties a minute apart in the middle portion of the period, the Phantoms seemed to get to their game - getting a late period power play and converting when Foerster circled back at the right point before flinging one through traffic past Tokarski to even the game at 1-1 with 2:46 left before the first intermission. It marked Foerster's 20th goal of the season. Egor Zamula and Louie Belpedio added assists on the power play tally.

The tight-checking hard-fought battle continued in the middle frame and although the Phantoms seemed to have the advantage both territorially and in terms of possession and scoring chances, a pair of penalties 12 seconds apart gave the Penguins a glorious opportunity to take the lead in the final seven minutes of the period.

The Pens went to work and exhibited good puck movement around the perimeter before Puustinen got it up top to the center point for a knee-drop one-timer from Smith to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a power play tally and the lead, 2-1, with 6:33 left before the second intermission.

From there, Tokarski continued to come up big with some timely saves on Grade-A scoring chances by Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms outshot the Pens 10-6 in the period but it was the Penguins with the 2-1 lead heading to the third.

Lehigh Valley broke through in the third, tying the game 6:37 into the final frame after a great effort from former Penguin Bellerive - getting a shot off from inside the left-wing circle before following it up and potting the rebound for his seventh tally on the season.

The momentum gained allowed the Phantoms to turn the 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead when Brink tallied the go-ahead goal with 9:23 left in regulation.

Brink added an empty net tally for his second goal of the game to complete the comeback win, a 4-2 final score.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Penguins head coach JD Forrest

On coming up short in another hard-fought, tight-checking game

"Yeah, I don't know. It's a lot of one goal games with us. Even the ones that weren't, are usually... there's a lot of empty netters. We're in the battle every time. It's tough to find some finish for us - that'd be the only thing. Some repeat mistakes kind of cost us there. Yeah, it doesn't feel great."

On the three new guys in their pro debut

"I thought they all played pretty well considering it's their first game. The different things that we've heard about the players - the reasons why we signed them - we were able to see that tonight. From [Jagger] Joshua being tough to play against down low and getting around the net. [Justin] Lee just being a steady defensemen, make some good plays but also tough to play against. And Owen [Pickering], of course a young guy, high pick, big prospect for us at the young age he is to be able to hang and actually made some really good plays too through the game."

On what the focus will be the final seven games

"We're just gonna scratch and claw every single game and see what happens. So it's kind of... it's a bit out of our hands. Now, we can only play the game that we have and see if we can get a bounce here or there and find ourselves in a spot where every single game matters, mathematically. So right now, that's the focus."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Friday night in Allentown. Taylor Gauthier served as the team's backup.

Three players made their pro debuts Friday night as defensemen Justin Lee and Owen Pickering, along with forward Jagger Joshua, all suited up for their first games at the pro level.

Penguins Scratches: Filip Lindberg, Chris Ortiz, Mitch Reinke, Colin Swoyer, Raivis Ansons, Lukas Svejkovsky, Sam Poulin, Justin Addamo, Peter DiLiberatore, Filip Hallander and Xavier Ouellet

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Jonathan Gruden - Valtteri Puustinen Corey Andonovski - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare Jagger Joshua - Tyler Sikura - Kyle Olson Ty Glover - Jordan Frasca - Jamie Devane

Ty Smith - Jon Lizotte Owen Pickering - Taylor Fedun Justin Lee - Jack St. Ivany

Dustin Tokarski - Taylor Gauthier

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Sam Ersson got the start in net for the Phantoms Friday night. Nolan Maier served as the team's backup goaltender.

Phantoms Scratches: Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Zayde Wisdom, Cooper Marody, Will Zmolek, Wyatte Wylie, Hayden Hodgson & Alex Kile

Lines/Pairings:

Olle Lycksell - Artem Anisimov - Tyson Foerster Garrett Wilson - Elliot Desnoyers - Adam Brooks Max Willman - Cal O'Reilly - Bobby Brink Ryan Fitzgerald - Jackson Cates - Jordy Bellerive

Egor Zamula - Louie Belpedio Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard Emil Andrae- Kevin Connatuon

Sam Ersson - Nolan Maier

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:34: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (interference) 8:12: WBS - Caggiula (19) - Puustinen, Caggiula 8:37: WBS - (PP) Smith, minor (high-sticking) 9:46: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (tripping) 16:16: WBS - (PP) Lizotte, minor (interference) 17:14: LV - PPG Foerster (20) - Zamula, Belpedio

2nd Period

7:59: WBS - (PP) Devane, minor (interference) 12:26: LV - (PP) Attard, minor (holding) 12:38: LV - (PP) Connauton, minor (hooking) 13:27: WBS - PPG Smith (5) - Puustinen, Sikura

3rd Period

3:23: WBS - Caggiula, minor (slashing) 3:23: LV - Ginning, minor (slashing) 6:37: LV - Bellerive (7) - Cates, Brooks 10:37: LV - Brink (9) - Attard, Connauton 18:41: LV - ENG Brink (10) - Desnoyers

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  12 - 5 - 2 = 19 Lehigh Valley  12 - 10 - 7 = 29

Goalies

WBS: Dustin Tokarski (25 saves - 28 shots) LV: Sam Ersson (17 saves - 19 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 1-for-4 LV: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

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