GAME STORY: W-B/Scranton - 4 at Lehigh Valley - 5 (OT) 4/3/21

ALLENTOWN, Pa.  - It wasn't their best performance, but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-3-2) found a way to overcome a 4-2 deficit on their way to a 5-4 victory in a shootout against rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday night at PPL Center.

Tyson Foerster followed up a two-goal performance last time out with two more tallies tonight, as well as the lone and deciding goal in the shootout after he tied the game and forced overtime with a 6-on-5 goal from the left-wing circle.

Wade Allison (1G-1A) scored a big goal late in the second period to make it a one-goal game heading to the third, and recorded his third multi-point game in just his seventh appearance this season.

After being shelled in the opening period, facing 17 shots, goaltender Zane McIntyre put in another strong performance in net to keep his team in it - stopping 32 of 36 total shots he faced in regulation and overtime and all three shooters he faced in the shootout to improve his own personal record on the season to 8-1-1.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Zane McIntyre got the start in net for Lehigh Valley Saturday night against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, with Eamon McAdam serving as the team's backup goaltender.

On Thursday, the Flyers called up forwards Tanner Laczynski and Linus Sandin while assigning forwards Connor Bunnaman and Carsen Twarynski to Lehigh Valley. Both Bunnaman and Twarynski jumped right into the Phantoms' lineup to replace Laczynski and Sandin, respectively.

On defense, Egor Zamula remained out of the lineup with his lower body injury - missing his fourth straight game.

Lines/Pairings:

Ryan Fitzgerald - Cal O'Reilly - Wade Allison Isaac Ratcliffe - Chris Mueller - Zayde Wisdom Carsen Twarynski - Connor Bunnaman - Maksim Sushko Garrett Wilson - Max Willman - Tyson Foerster

Tyler Wotherspoon - Wyatte Wylie Linus Hogberg - Chris Bigras Derrick Pouliot - Logan Day

Zane McIntyre - Eamon McAdam

Scratches: Felix Sandstrom (undisclosed), Egor Zamula (lower body), Tanner MacMaster, Mason Millman, Ralph Cuddemi, Brennan Saulnier, Pascal Laberge, David Kase (undisclosed) and Cam York (quarantining protocols etc.)

W-B/Scranton Penguins Roster Notes

Lines/Pairings:

Tim Schaller - Josh Currie - Nick Schilkey Drew O'Connor - Radim Zohorna - Felix Robert Sam Miletic - Jordy Bellerive - Kyle Olson Jonathan Gruden - Chase Berger - Jan Drozg

PO Joseph - Jon Lizotte Cam Lee - Zach Trotman Kevin Czuczman - Josh Maniscalco

Alex D'Orio - Tommy Nappier

Scratches: Brett Brochu, Billy Sweezey, Jesper Lindgren, Luke Stevens and Zach Nastasiuk

GAME RECAP

1st Period

The Penguins seemed to have the early jump in play Saturday night, opening up a big 13-3 edge in shots in the opening eight and a half minutes, but it was Lehigh Valley opening the scoring after a bit of a friendly bounce on a 2-on-1 chance.

Logan Day sent a puck ahead for Wade Allison, who, from along the right-wing wall at the offensive blue, took a hit to make a play - centering it for Cal O'Reilly to spring a mini 2-on-1 in the offensive zone. O'Reilly tried to send a pass across for linemate Ryan Fitzgerald, but the puck bounced off the leg of a sliding Penguins' forward and right back to O'Reilly for an easy tap-in for his third of the season to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead 4:47 into the contest.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton stuck with it, and responded to tie the game at 1-1 less than a minute later.

Kevin Czuczman fired a hard shot from the left point, and Phantoms' goalie Zane McIntyre didn't handle it cleanly - the rebound darting out atop the crease where Felix Robert put it home for his third tally on the season. Interestingly enough, all three of Robert's goals (and two of his five assists on the season) have come against Lehigh Valley.

The Penguins took the lead with a power play tally midway through the period. Drew O'Connor was able to snipe the short side top corner on McIntyre for his fourth of the season to put the Pens ahead 2-1 with 9:25 left in the opening period.

Similar to when the Phantoms took the lead and the Penguins responded, Lehigh Valley responded themselves to tie the game back up at 2-2 less than a minute after O'Connor's goal.

Max Willman got a puck from Garrett Wilson and used his speed to skate behind the net and back out to the center point before firing a shot that got blocked to the left wing right to Tyson Foerster. Foerster fanned on the shot as the puck was bouncing around, but the changeup caused D'Orio to accidentally kick the puck into the net with his right pad. It marked Foerster's fifth of the season and ninth point (5G-4A) in his last seven games.

Lehigh Valley got their first power play chance with 2:39 left before the first intermission after Wade Allison was clipped up high entering the offensive zone by Penguins' defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

The Phantoms were buzzing on the ensuing power play until an incredibly soft slashing call was assessed to Derrick Pouliot for a pretty generic stick lift in the slot. Pens' forward O'Connor saw Pouliot coming in for the stick lift and let go of his stick - sending it flying into the air and drawing an even-up penalty.

Not only did the penalty negate the Phantoms' power play, the Penguins cashed in on their brief man advantage on the back end of the penalties - taking a 3-2 lead into the intermission after a hard shot from PO Joseph in the left-wing circle went top shelf on McIntyre.

2nd Period

After an eventful five-goal first period, the two teams settled in for the middle frame - enjoying some back-and-forth hockey in a period played entirely at 5-on-5.

Isaac Ratcliffe and Garrett Wilson each had mini-breakway attempts in the first half of the period, but were unable to get one past D'Orio to tie the game back up at 3-3.

Instead, the Penguins added to their lead with just over five minutes remaining before the second intermission. After an errant D-to-D pass by Lehigh Valley in their own zone didn't connect, Penguins' forward Jan Drozg pounced on a loose puck and quickly sniped one past McIntyre to extend the Penguins' lead to 4-2.

The Phantoms got an important tally with 3:21 left in the period to send the two teams to the third in a one-goal hockey game.

O'Reilly got a puck ahead to Allison for a 1-on-1 on the left wing, and the Phantoms' rookie forward cut to his right to the middle before shooting a quick shot past D'Orio on the blocker side to cut the Phantoms' deficit to 4-3. It marked Allison's fourth goal of the season, and third game in seven appearances as a pro with a multi-point effort.

Third Period

The Phantoms had a glorious chance to tie the game up early in the third, getting a power play 1:46 into the period after Allison was hooked behind the Penguins' net. Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, they were unable to cash in.

Lehigh Valley picked up the pressure as the period wore on, but D'Orio was equal to the task on a number of timely stops - including a post-to-post left pad stop on O'Reilly with about 12 minutes left in regulation - to keep the Penguins ahead by a goal.

The home team seemingly used up all of their puck luck in the first period. Wyatte Wylie caught a pass on a backdoor play just past the halfway point of the period, and had an empty net to shoot the puck into on the right-wing, but the puck rolled right over his stick and he attempted the shot.

It wasn't until the Phantoms pulled McIntyre for the extra attacker with 2:54 left to play and an offensive zone face-off coming, that they really started to force the issue.

Foerster kept a puck in at the left point and sent it behind the net, where Max Willman and Connor Bunnaman got the puck loose and Bunnaman sent it out in front to Foerster for a laser of a shot past D'Orio to tie the game with 49 seconds left and force overtime.

Overtime

Both teams had dangerous chances in the 3-on-3 but neither were able to find a game-winner in the five minute fourth period.

Shootout

The Phantoms elected to shoot first, and Tyson Foerster started things off with a beautiful deke to the backhand in what ended up being the lone goal of the skills competition. Interestingly enough, head coach Scott Gordon went with three rookies in the shootout in Foerster, Wade Allison and Zayde Wisdom.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

4:47: LV - O'Reilly (3) - Allison, Day 5:43: WBS - Robert (3) - Czuczman, Zohorna 9:26: LV - (PP) Bigras, minor (interference) 10:35: WBS - PPG O'Connor (4) - Currie, Zohorna 11:33: LV - Foerster (5) - Willman, Wilson 17:21: WBS - (PP) Joseph, minor (high-sticking) 18:52: LV - (PP) Pouliot, minor (slashing) 19:39: WBS - PPG Joseph (1) - Currie, O'Connor

2nd Period

14:59: WBS - Drozg (5) - unassisted 16:39: LV - Allison (4) - O'Reilly, Fitzgerald

3rd Period

1:46: WBS - (PP) Trotman, minor (hooking) 19:11: LV - Foerster (6) - Bunnaman, Willman

Overtime

No Scoring/Penalties

Shootout

LV

Foerster - GOAL Allison - no goal Wisdom - no goal

WBS

O'Connor - no goal Drozg - no goal Zohorna - no goal

BOXSCORE

W-B/Scranton  3 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 4 Lehigh Valley   2 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 1 = 5

Shots

W-B/Scranton  17 - 9 - 8 - 2 = 36 Lehigh Valley   10 - 9 - 9 - 2 = 31

Goalies

WBS: Alex D'Orio (26 saves -  30 shots) LV: Zane McIntyre (32 saves - 36 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

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