Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 3 at Lehigh Valley - 0 (10/19/24)

ALLENTOWN, Pa - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (3-1-0) completed the weekend sweep over rival Lehigh Valley (1-2-0) Saturday night in Allentown, defeating the Phantoms 3-0 on the back of a 41-save shutout performance from Penguins' goaltender Filip Larsson.

The Penguins were out-shot by a wide margin, 41-17, in the contest but their goaltender was a difference maker.

Emil Bemstrom, Joona Koppanen and Boris Katchouk recorded goals in the win, while Sam Poulin had two assists and now has a team-leading six points (one goal, five assists) through the first four games of the season.

GAME STORY

Saturday's rematch began similarly to Friday's game in Wilkes-Barre.

Penguins enforcer Boko Imama and Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson dropped the gloves on the opening shift of the hockey game. Unlike Friday night's bout, which ended before it began as the two skaters spun each other around and lost their footing and prompted the linesmen to step in, Imama set the tone in a big way - dismantling Wilson and sending him to the ice before taking off his helmet and staring down the Phantoms bench before turning to head to the penalty box.

It was quite the start to a hockey game.

The Penguins opened the scoring a few minutes later on their first shot of the contest.

Filip Larsson played a puck from behind his net around the boards, and Emil Bemstrom was able to get to it first and tip it past Phantoms defender Ethan Samson - springing Sam Poulin and Bemstrom on a 2-on-0 breakaway chance.

Poulin returned the favor, passing it to his left to Bemstrom for a quick shot past Phantoms netminder Alexei Kolosov to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the contest.

As the period progressed, the Penguins appeared to be a little sloppy - often times overskating pucks or simply seeming out of sorts.

They got a power play opportunity with 8:41 left in the period with a chance to extend their lead, but the Phantoms killed it off rather easily - at one point playing a game of keep-away from the Penguins during the two-minute man advantage.

Just as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton started to generate more consistent pressure in the offensive zone, they were whistled for an offensive zone slashing minor with 1:07 left in the period - giving the Phantoms a power play chance.

Lehigh Valley wasn't able to score before the first period horn sounded, due in large part to several key saves by Larsson to preserve the Penguins' 1-0 lead into the middle frame.

The Phantoms weren't able to score on the carryover power play time to begin the middle frame, but they kept the Penguins on their heels a bit - firing the first seven shots of the period before the Penguins got their first bid towards the Phantoms' net nearly five minutes into the period.

In fact, Larsson was the best player on the ice by a country mile in the middle frame as Lehigh Valley seemed to have momentum on their side, out-shooting the Penguins by an 10-1 margin through the opening 12 minutes of the period.

One of the few bright spots of the middle frame for the Penguins, outside of Larsson standing on his head, was the play of Rutger McGroarty.

McGroarty nearly netted his first pro goal with about seven minutes left in the period, getting to a loose puck in the slot with just the goalie to beat but having the puck hop over his stick as he tried to move it to his forehand to lift it past Kolosov.

McGroarty stuck with the puck and was able to keep the play alive, out-working some Phantoms defenders along the boards in what was really the only dangerous chance Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had in the period.

It was fully the Larsson show in the second period as the Phantoms out-shot the Penguins 19-3 in the middle stanza. If not for the play of the Penguins goaltender, the black and gold would not have had a 1-0 lead heading to the third period.

Larsson continued to come up big early in the third period, but the team in front of him got an insurance marker courtesy the Penguins' fourth line.

Imama got a puck up ice to Joona Koppanen, who shuffled it to the right wing for Sebastian Aho. Aho entered the offensive zone and kept a puck inside the offensive zone blue line just long enough to center the puck back to Koppanen.

Koppanen fired a shot from between the circles that beat Kolosov to the back of the net, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead 3:28 into the final frame.

An interesting decision by Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere saw Alexei Kolosov head to the bench for the extra attacker with over six minutes left in regulation. A bizarre move.

Laperriere took his timeout at the next stoppage, an offensive zone face-off with 5:25 left, and opted to put Kolosov back on the ice lined up between the face-off circles. Kolosov later exited the ice for the extra attacker with a little over 4:30 to go, giving the Phantoms a 6-on-5 for the remainder of regulation.

The Penguins bent but did not break, and Larsson stood tall to complete a 41-save shutout.

Boris Katchouk tallied an empty netter with 28.3 left off a feed from Sam Poulin to complete the 3-0 final score.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Filip Larsson got the start in net for the Penguins Saturday in Allentown after backing up Alex Nedeljkovic Friday night in Wilkes-Barre. Sergei Murashov served as Larsson's backup

Penguins scratches: Nate Clurman (day-to-day, upper body), Dan Renouf (week-to-week, lower body), Jagger Joshua (week-to-week, upper body), Isaac Belliveau (day-to-day, lower body), Raivis Ansons, Filip Kral (week-to-week, upper body) and Avery Hayes

Lines/Pairings:

Boris Katchouk - Jimmy Huntington - Sam Poulin Emil Bemstrom - Tristan Broz - Ville Koivunen Rutger McGroarty - Jonathan Gruden - Corey Andonovski Bokondji Imama - Joona Koppanen - Marc Johnstone

Owen Pickering - Sebastian Aho Mats Lindgren - Mac Hollowell Justin Lee - Scooter Brickey

Alex Nedeljkovic (Backup: Filip Larsson)

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Cal Petersen got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday after backing up Alexei Kolosov Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

Phantoms Scratches: Eetu Makiniemi, Cooper Marody, Xavier Bernard, Mason Primeau, Alexis Gendron, Massimo Rizzo, Zayde Wisdom and Anthony Richard

Lines/Pairings:

Matt Brown - Rodrigo Abols - Samu Tuomaala Brendan Furry - Rhett Gardner - Olle Lycksell Oscar Eklind - JR Avon - Elliot Desnoyers Garrett Wilson - Jacob Gaucher - Sawyer Boulton

Hunter McDonald - Louis Belpedio Adam Ginning - Ethan Samson Helge Grans - Ronnie Attard

Alexei Kolosov (Backup: Cal Petersen)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:29: WBS - Imama, major (fighting) 0:29: LV - Wilson, major (fighting) 3:05: WBS - Bemstrom (2) - Poulin, Larsson 11:19: LV - (PP) Attard, minor (slashing) 18:53: WBS - (PP) Hollowell, minor (slashing)

2nd Period

No scoring/penalties

3rd Period

3:28: WBS - Koppanen (1) - Aho, Imama 4:36: WBS - (PP) Lindgren, minor (tripping) 13:05: WBS - Andonovski, minor (roughing) 13:05: LV - McDonald, minor (roughing) 19:31: WBS - ENG Katchouk (4) - Poulin

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton   10 - 3 - 4 = 17 Lehigh Valley   10 - 19 - 12 = 41

Goalies

WBS: Filip Larsson (41 saves - 41 shots) LV: Alexei Kolosov (14 saves - 16 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 0-for-1 LV: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

WBS: 2-for-2 LV: 1-for-1

Post-Game EXTRA!

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Head Coach Kirk MacDonald

On getting through the second period, and response in the third period

Yeah, you know, like one good thing with the second is we were in the same spot we were after the first, right? Larsson made some great saves, you know, Helter Skelter. We all know they're a bit of a shot volume team, so there was some quality there, but probably not as much as you'd see from other teams. But Larsson was there when we needed them. And then third period, I thought we did a great job managing the game. That was a great road period in the third. I thought [Koppanen's] line, big goal, a great play.  We just possessed pucks in the O-zone. We didn't give them easy line rushes. You could feel their, I wouldn't say frustration, but you could feel the wind come out of their sails from the second period a little bit."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Boko Imama

On his goaltender's performance

"I mean, [Larsson] was really lights out. He bailed us out, especially in the second. I think he faced 19 shots [just] in the second. And he did a good job keeping us in the game. And his performance is very huge for us."

On the importance of playing in - and winning - a low-scoring game versus a 7-6 game like in the home opener

"That's details that coach [Kirk MacDonald] go over and over again with us, and we did a good job executing. And, you know, obviously it's a new team. It's a new year, so we're still getting to know each other, but I think we're pushing in the right direction."