On Wednesday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-19-6-3) were at the Mohegan Sun Arena against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (21-21-2-4). The Phantoms trail the Penguins by four points for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Kirill Ustimenko (0-3-1) returned from the Philadelphia Flyers and started in goal. Garrett Metcalf was the backup goalie. Connor Bunnaman also returned from Philadelphia.
The scratches for the game were Alex Kile, Cooper Zech, Linus Sandin, Ryan MacKinnon, Pat Nagle, and Brennan Saulnier. Meanwhile, Linus Hogberg and Nick Lappin returned from their injuries.
In the first period, the Penguins had a 6-0 shots advantage in the game’s first two minutes. Kirill Ustimenko made three excellent saves, including a sliding right-pad save. However, the Penguins were pounding the Phantoms’ zone.
With 10:48 left, Mitch Reinke (12) made a cross-ice pass to Jonathan Gruden (5), who shot it past the left shoulder of Ustimenko for a 1-0 Penguins lead. Pierre-Olivier Joseph (19) earned the secondary assists. The Penguins kept the Phantoms defense on their toes.
Then, the Phantoms were about ready to get a shot off, but former Flyer Mark Friedman drew a penalty on Hayden Hodgson for Interference, and the Penguins were on the power-play.
On the power-play, Pierre-Olivier Joseph (20) found Filip Hallander (5), who was coming at Ustimenko and flipped the puck top shelf over the right shoulder of Ustimenko for a 2-0 with 1:44 left in the first period. Late in the first period, a double-minor penalty on Penguins forward Kyle Olen put the Phantoms on the power-play.
The Phantoms had 2:44 left on the power-play to begin the second period down 2-0. The shots were 14-7 Penguins. The Phantoms were disorganized due to the lineup change.
Tanner Laczynski tripped Jordy Bellerive in the second period, making it four-on-four. The Penguins had six seconds on the power-play.
The Penguins continued to create chances, but Kirill Ustimenko made more nice saves. With 12:36 left, Garrett Wilson took a shot, but Alex D’Orio made a diving glove save to keep the score 2-0.
Finally, the Phantoms were on the attack when Adam Clendening (24) made a nice pass in front of traffic to Maksim Sushko (7) with an open-net in front and scored that cut the Penguins lead 2-1 with 10:29 left. The Phantoms improved on defense, giving Ustimenko help.
With 3:30 left, the Penguins were back in the Phantoms’ zone when Filip Hallander made a cross-ice pass to Michael Chaput, who had an open net in front of him but missed the shot over the crossbar.
Late in the second period, Tanner Laczynski and Cal O’Reilly had chances to score but missed their shots wide. The Phantoms trailed 2-1 after two periods with the shots 20-18 Penguins. This was a better period for the Phantoms.
In the third period, The Penguins had a couple of chances to regain the lead, but Ustimenko made the saves. The Phantoms had two opportunities to tie the game on the power-play but could not come through. Then at 11:07, the Phantoms went on their third power-play on a tripping call against Anthony Angello.
The third time was the charm with 8:29 left. The Phantoms were all over the Penguins in their zone when Garrett Wilson’s (13) shot hit D’Orio before Hayden Hodgson (15) muscled his way through and chipped the puck into the net for the power-play goal, tying the game 2-2.
For several minutes, the Phantoms kept taking shots from all sides. Tanner Laczynski almost had his second goal of the season, but Alex D’Orio saved it.
Late in the game, Connor Bunnaman had a chance to score but hit the right pad of D’Orio. Kirill Ustimenko made two more saves, and the game was headed to overtime tied 2-2. The shots were 31-29 Phantoms.
Hayden Hodgson almost ended the game in overtime, but he had a Penguins player on him and couldn’t get the shot off. Hodgson would get another chance, but D’Orio stopped it. With 2:55 left, Garrett Wilson had a chance but missed the shot wide. No one scored in overtime, and the game went to a shootout.
Adam Clendening scored, which opened the shootout. Meanwhile, Kirill Ustimenko made three saves that ended the game, and the Phantoms won 3-2. The Phantoms now trail the Penguins by three points for the final playoff spot.
The Phantoms finished the night with 32 shots, 1/5 on the power-play, and Kirill Ustimenko made 30 of 32 saves for his first win of the season and second of his career.
The Phantoms head to Cleveland for two games at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse starting Friday night against the Cleveland Monsters at 7 pm.
