GAMEDAY: Game 62 - W-B/Scranton (28-23-9) at Lehigh Valley (30-25-6) 7:15 p.m. ET

ALLENTOWN, PA -- The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (30-25-6) are in the now-or-never portion of the stretch run, entering Wednesday night six points out of the postseason. To get back into contention, they'll need to continue winning games - beginning with Wednesday night's mid-week matchup against Atlantic Division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (28-23-9) at 7:15 p.m. ET

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Roster Notes

Phantoms' Lines (Starters in Bold/Italics)

Chris Conner - Mikhail Vorobyev - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Greg Carey - Byron Froese - David Kase Connor Bunnaman - Mike Vecchione - Justin BaileyTyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonald

David Schlemko - Mark FriedmanT.J. Brennan - James de Haas Zach Palmquist - Reece Willcox

Alex Lyon - Mike McKenna

Phantoms' Scratches: Philip Samuelsson (veteran),Steven Swavely (healthy), German Rubtsov (out for the season), Jori Lehtera (veteran), Carsen Twarynski (healthy) and Pascal Laberge (healthy)

GAME STORY

FIRST PERIOD

A plethora of unforced errors plagued the Phantoms in the opening minutes of the contest.

On the opening shift, a turnover in the neutral zone gave Penguins' forward Ryan Haggerty easy entry into the offensive zone up the middle for an uncontested shot on Alex Lyon. The Phantoms' goalie made the save, but you got the feeling Lehigh Valley would be in for a long night if things continued the way they were going.

A miscommunication on a Penguins' dump-in between Lyon and the Phantoms defense, followed by some poor back-checking by the forwards allowed the Penguins to take a 1-0 lead just 1:53 into the game.

Joseph Cramarossa got a puck from Matthew Abt and took it to the net, and although Cramarossa's shot was stopped by Lyon there were nothing but white, black and yellow Penguins' jerseys attacking the net for the rebound with Jimmy Hayes shoveling one past Lyon for his 12th of the season to get the Penguins off and running.

From there, the officials took center stage - over officiating and calling several questionable penalties, which slowed the pace and flow of the game.

Not for a lack of chances - the Phantoms racked up 13 shots in the opening period - but Lehigh Valley headed to the first intermission in a 1-0 hole.

SECOND PERIOD

Not a lot to like for the Phantoms in the middle frame. They managed just one shot on goal in the opening eight minutes of the period, and didn't seem to play with as much intensity as you'd expect from a team fighting for their playoff lives.

Credit Lyon for keeping Lehigh Valley in a one-goal hockey game.

The Phantoms began to generate more offensive pressure in the second half of the period, but were unable to get one past Jarry - heading to the third trailing the Pens 1-0.

THIRD PERIOD

Only down 1-0, the game was very much up for grabs heading to the third period.

Unfortunately for the Phantoms, the Penguins quickly shut the door on that notion - extending their lead to 2-0 just 19 seconds into the period on a weird shot on the left wing from Ryan Haggerty that eluded Lyon on its way into the net.

Lehigh Valley started taking chances in hopes of getting back into the game, and got some extended looks in the Penguins end but not before the Pens extended their lead to 3-0.

Jimmy Hayes converted on a 2-on-1 thanks to a feed from Jarrett Burton for Hayes' 2nd of the game with 11:13 left in regulation.

The Phantoms got back within two with exactly nine minutes left in regulation but it was too little too late in a tough 4-1 loss that puts the Phantoms' playoff aspirations in serious doubt, now six points out with only 14 games left on the schedule.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:53: WBS - Hayes (11) - Cramarossa, Abt 4:14: WBS - (PP) Abt, minor (slashing) 5:51: LV - (PP) Friedman, minor (goalie interference) 8:54: WBS - (PP) Abt, minor (hooking) 10:25: LV - (PP) Bunnaman, minor (goalie interference) 17:08: LV - (PP) Vorobyev, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

No Goals/Penalties

3rd Period

0:19: WBS - Haggerty (16) - Miletic, Prow 8:47: WBS - Hayes (13) - Burton, Miletic 11:00: LV - Froese (16) - 19:24: WBS - Hayes (14) - Johnson

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  14 - 10 - 7 = 31 Lehigh Valley  13 - 12 - 14 = 39

Goalies

WBS: Tristan Jarry (38 saves - 39 shots) LV: Alex Lyon (27 saves - 30 shots)

Power Play

WBS: 0-for-3 LV: 0-for-2

Penalty Kill

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

Attendance: 6,794