Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 5 at Lehigh Valley - 2 (3/19/23)

ALLENTOWN, Pa - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins needed a gutsy effort in Allentown at the tail-end of a three-game weekend, and Drake Caggiula (two goals, one assist), Jonathan Gruden (one goal, two assists) and Dustin Tokarski (36 saves) more than delivered to help keep realistic playoff hopes alive for the Pens as they dispatched rival Lehigh Valley 5-2 Sunday afternoon.

The win brings the Penguins within four points of what is currently the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

The Phantoms had the night off Saturday while the Penguins were in the middle game of their three-in-three weekend, but it was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the early jump Sunday.

After Gruden won an offensive zone face-off, Peter DiLiberatore was able to keep a play alive inside the offensive zone blue line - getting the puck down low to Valtteri Puustinen, who quickly sent it in front to an open Caggiula for a quick shot in past Ersson just one minute into the contest.

The Pens rode the 1-0 lead into the intermission behind 12 saves from Tokarski.

Similarly to the opening period, the Penguins got an early-period goal from Caggiula to begin the middle frame as well. This one came shorthanded after Gruden won a defensive zone draw, as Jack St. Ivany got to the puck and rimmed it around the defensive zone boards out to the left point where Caggiula was able to chip the puck around a defender and head down the wing on an odd-man chance. Caggiula elected to shoot on the ensuing 2-on-1 and got it to trickle in past Ersson to extend the Penguins' lead to 2-0.

Lehigh Valley thought they got on the board with just under four minutes gone in the middle period, but it was later deemed that Adam Brooks made incidental contact with Tokarski while in the crease - negating the goal.

Things got physical as the period wore on - especially after a collision between Gruden and Cooper Marody ended with Gruden falling on Marody's upper body and causing his visor to cut his forehead as the Penguins' forward fell on top of him. No call was made to Gruden on the play, much to the chagrin of the home crowd in Allentown.

The Phantoms eventually broke through and made it a one-goal game with 2:02 left after Cates broke in down low from the right-wing circle on Tokarski before getting a backhander to bank in off the Penguins' goaltender to cut the Pens' lead to 2-1.

The Pens got the response they needed, and restored their two-goal lead in the final 40 seconds of the period.

Caggiula continued to be the focal point of the Penguins' attack as he stole a puck on a back check along the right-wing wall, turning and firing a hard shot on Ersson. The Phantoms' goalie made the initial save but the rebound went right to Gruden for the quick put-back to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead with 36.4 seconds left before the second intermission.

Things slowed down at the start of the third, with the Penguins protecting a 3-1 lead, with Tokarski making the necessary stops to keep the Pens ahead until Justin Addamo sealed the deal with 4:54 left on his fifth goal of the season.

The Phantoms got one back on the ensuing shift, an unassisted goal from Bobby Brink, but the Pens clamped down from their - adding an empty net tally from Filip Hallander on their way to the 5-2 victory.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Forward Drake Caggiula

On finishing off the three-in-three strong

"I mean, we wanted to keep it simple early, kind of find our legs. It's three-in-three. It's always tough, especially with a quick turnaround and long bus ride yesterday. So, we were able to kind of get after it early, pot an early goal, which it's always a lot more fun playing with the lead than it is climbing from behind. So we got off to a good start, and we played a pretty sound game the rest of the way and capped off a good weekend."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Sunday afternoon in Allentown. Taylor Gauthier, who got the start for the Pens Saturday in Syracuse, served as Tokarski's backup goaltender.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Fedun, Mitch Reinke, Raivis Ansons, Sam Poulin, Filip Lindberg, Nathan Legare, Ty Smith & Xavier Ouellet

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Jonathan Gruden - Valtteri Puustinen Filip Hallander - Tyler Sikura - Lukas Svejkovsky Corey Andonovski - Sam Houde - Kyle Olson Ty Glover - Justin Addamo - Jamie Devane

Jon Lizotte - Jack St. Ivany Peter DiLiberatore - Josh Mansicalco Andrew Nielsen - Colin Swoyer

Dustin Tokarski - Taylor Gauthier

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Sam Ersson got the start in net for the Phantoms Sunday afternoon in Allentown. Nolan Maier served as Ersson's backup.

Phantoms Scratches: Troy Grosenick, Adam Karashik, Emil Andrae, Ryan Fitzgerald, Will Zmolek and Hayden Hodgson

Lines/Pairings:

Olle Lycksell - Artem Anisimov - Adam Brooks Garrett Wilson - Elliot Desnoyers - Cooper Marody Max Willman - Jackson Cates - Bobby Brink Jordy Bellerive - Cal O'Reilly - Zayde Wisdom

Egor Zamula - Louis Belpedio Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard Kevin Connauton - Wyatte Wylie

Sam Ersson - Nolan Maier

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:00: WBS - Caggiula (16) - Puustinen, Gruden 13:34: LV - (PP) Connauton, minor (holding) 19:51: WBS - (PP) Olson, minor (hooking)

2nd Period

1:04: WBS - SHG Caggiula (17) - St. Ivany, Gruden 2:20: WBS - (PP) Olson, minor (slashing) 10:24: WBS - (PP) Svejkovsky, minor (hooking) 12:38: WBS - (PP) DiLiberatore, minor (hooking) 17:58: LV - Cates (11) - Willman, Attard 19:23: WBS - Gruden (14) - Caggiula

3rd Period

7:25: LV - (PP) Attard, minor (interference) 12:45: LV - (PP) Willman, minor (tripping) 15:06: WBS - Addamo (5) - St. Ivany, Swoyer 15:24: LV - Brink (8) - unassisted 19:14: WBS - ENG Hallander (11) - Sikura

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  10 - 10 - 10 = 30 Lehigh Valley  12 - 13 - 13 = 38

Goalies

WBS: Dustin Tokarski (36 saves - 38 shots) LV: Sam Ersson   (25 saves -  29 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 0-for-3 LV: 0-for-4

Penalty Kill

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