The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-7-3-1) were back at the PPL Center Sunday afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (12-11-4-2). Lehigh Valley is coming off a 3-0 loss to the Hershey Bears yesterday and trails them by nine points in the North Division standings with four games left in the season.
Zane McIntyre got the start for the second straight game at goalie. Wyatte Wylie returned to the lineup from the Flyers Taxi Squad. Scratches for today’s game were Mason Millman, Maksim Sushko, Logan Day, Ralph Cuddemi, Pascal Laberge, and David Kase.
Lehigh Valley got on the board two minutes into the game when Zayde Wisdom found Brennan Saulnier for a laser shot into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Phantoms would take a 2-0 lead at 5:28 when Wyatte Wiley’s shot was tipped in and redirected by Saulnier for the goal.
The Phantoms were on fire, creating problems for the Penguins early in the game. The defense was protecting McIntyre. At 9:55, Derrick Pouliot found Brennan Saulnier, and Saulnier went downtown to score the hat trick and a 3-0 lead. The last time a Phantoms player scored on a hat trick in the first period was Danick Martel on opening night on October 7th, 2017.
With 3:36 left in the first period, the Penguins answered back when Jonathan Gruden cross-passed the puck to Felix Roberts. Roberts shot the puck over the right shoulder of McIntyre to cut the Phantoms lead 3-1. Lehigh Valley headed to the locker room with a 3-1 lead and a 14-8 shot advantage over the Penguins.
The Phantoms kept their foot on the gas in the second period started. At 1:43, Zayde Wisdom created a turnover. Tanner McMaster and Wisdom zig-zagged their passing before McMaster had an open net and scored to extend Lehigh Valley’s lead 4-1.
Lehigh Valley would go on the power play at 3:21 after Jan Drozg was called for tripping. The Phantoms took advantage of the power play. Pouliot took a shot that hit the pad of Tommy Nappier. Chris Mueller dug the puck out and put it into the net for a 5-1 lead.
The Phantoms kept pressing into the Penguins’ zone for the remainder of the second period. They had chances to add more goals on the board but were stopped by Nappier. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had some opportunities in the Phantoms’ zone; however, McIntyre was stopping their shots. The second period ended with the Phantoms up 5-1. The Penguins had the shot advantage at 12-10.
A minute and twenty-seven seconds into the third period, the Phantoms went on the power after Dew O’Connor was called for tripping. Lehigh Valley got their second power-play goal. Chris Mueller moved up into the Penguins’ zone and went around Nappier for his second goal of the game to go up 6-1.
At 7:05, Linus Sandin headed to the penalty box for high-sticking, putting the Penguins on the power play. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored thirty-seven seconds later when there was a scramble in front of McIntyre, and the refs allowed the goal. However, it looked like the puck did not cross the line on the replay, but since there is no instant replay this year, the goal stood, and it was 6-2 Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley came close to putting more points on the board; however, they were either hitting the Nappier’s pad or barely missing the net as time winded down. The Phantoms would defeat the Penguins 6-2 and are now seven points behind the Hershey Bears with three games to play. The shots in the third period were 12-4 for the Penguins.
The Phantoms finished the afternoon with 26 shots, 2-5 on the power play, and Zane McIntyre made 29 saves allowing two goals. Zayde Wisdom was named the third star, Chris Mueller was the second star, and Brennan Saulnier was the first star of the game.
The Phantoms have one more road game for the season on Wednesday, May 12th, at 7:05 pm from the Prudential Center against the Binghamton Devils.
