The Rivalry Continues. Pens Barely Hold Off Phantoms 3-2

Post Shots Late for Avon and Gendron

December 27, 2024

Wilkes-Barre, PA – A rough and tumble hard-hitting rivalry affair in northeast Pennsylvania teetered on the brink of blowing up but the tight score of the contest kept the players on course as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins barely hung on to edge the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-2 on Friday night in the first game back from the holiday break.

Trailing by a goal for most of the third period, Lehigh Valley (12-12-5) has its chances including a late power play that featured a massive blast off the post by J.R. Avon from the right circle with just 6:10 left and then another iron clanger 40 seconds later from Alexis Gendron on the other side of the ice. That’s how close the margin was for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (17-8-1) to escape with the victory and improve to 4-0-0 on its home ice against their Allentown rivals.

Garrett Wilson (6th) and Ethan Samson (5th) scored for the Phantoms while Tristan Broz (10th, 11th) extended his goal streak to three games while upping his season total against the Phantoms to four goals. Vasily Ponomorev (5th) scored what turned out to be the decisive strike early in the third period for the Baby Pens who are 5-1-1 overall against the Phantoms this season with still five games remaining in the rivalry series.

In the aftermath of last week’s craziness which included 132 penalty minutes and nine early exits for misconducts, the Penguins’ fans were curious what nastiness might ensue within the encore. As it turned out, nobody was given the boot from the game prematurely. But big hits in a hard-fought and physical and chippy game were on full display through a bruising and competitive struggle.

Wilson opened the scoring just 1:17 into the game on a nice dish from Rhett Gardner finding the captain in the left slot. Wilson allowed goaltender Filip Larsson to make his move laterally from his right to left before shooting back to the far post for the opening strike. Samu Tuomaala helped win the puck on the right boards to earn his 25th point of the season, second on the team trailing only Olle Lycksell who is currently up with the Flyers.

Helge Grans almost pushed Lehigh Valley’s lead to 2-0 with the first of three shots by the team that found the post. Emil Andrae crossed over and left a drop in the wheelhouse of Grans creeping in from center-point that just missed going in.

The Penguins equalized late in the first period with talented rookie Tristan Broz pulling one off the right boards and driving to the net where he ran into the paddle of Cal Petersen. But his push was strong enough to still have forward momentum when the puck was deflected into the air and Petersen just missed coming up with the secondary save to keep it from falling into the net with 2:40 remaining in the first period.

The Penguins took the lead lead early in the second when Rutger McGroaty cut from the right-wing to the high slot and perfectly distributed back behind him for a blast from the right dot by Broz eating Petersen trying to get back to recover at 2:03 into the second putting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead at 2-1.

The Phantoms largely had the better of the play for much of the second period outshooting the Penguins 11-6. One of the better chances was on a nifty drop for Louie Belpedio in the slot whose massive crank was swallowed in by Larsson who barely hung on.

Late in the second period, Andrae’s shot was aiming for a Jacob Gaucher deflection at the net front that bounded off Larsson who made a strong follow-up save to rob Gendron on the backdoor.

The Penguins extended their lead early in the third period with a shot off the blocker of Petersen in transition bounding over to the right boards where Ponomorev had a quick put-back that squeaked through five-home just 43 seconds into the final frame to make it 3-1.

Lehigh Valley quickly responded with 17:30 left on a shot from the right point by Samson through a screen of Rodrigo Abols who was also attempting to deflect the puck. But Samson’s shot made it through cleanly to the far post on the stick side of Larsson thanks to Abols’ presence at the net front pulling the Phantoms back to within a goal at 3-2.

Both teams generated some exciting chances for the remainder of the third period. And Lehigh Valley was on the verge of getting the tying goal when the Penguins sat out for consecutive penalties affording the Orange and Black back-to-back power plays with 9:24 left and then again with 6:30 left. But Avon with 6:10 let and Gendron with 5:30 left were able to beat Larsson, but not the metal, and the Penguins held on the rest of the way to preserve the 3-2 decision while another skirmish developed at the end of the emotional and hard-fought game.

Both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play. Lehigh Valley out shot the Penguins 31-30. The Phantoms return to Wilkes-Barre in almost exactly one month on January 26.

The Phantoms have two more home games to close out 2024 as the high-flying Charlotte Checkers arrive to Allentown boasting a league-leading offense that cranks out 3.8 goals per contest. Saturday’s game features potgame photographs with the Phantoms players on the ice presented by NJM Insurance. Tuesday’s rematch against the Checkers includes Light-Up Sticks from Penn Community Bank ahead of the postgame party outside in downtown Allentown with the World’s Largest Puck Drop as New Year’s Eve partiers at Seventh and Hamilton celebrate the countdown to welcome 2025.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 1:17 – LV, G. Wilson (6) (R. Gardner, S. Tuomaala) (1-0)
1st 17:20 – WBS, T. Broz (10) (R. McGroaty, D. Renouf) (1-1)

2nd 2:03 – WBS, T. Broz (11) (R. McGroaty, J. Lee) (1-2)

3rd 0:43 – WBS, V. Ponomorev (5) (S. Aho, D, Renouf) (1-3)
3rd 2:30 – LV, E. Samson (5) (O. Eklind, R. Abols) (2-3)

Shots:
LV 31 – WBS 30

PP:
LV 0/4, WBS 0/4

Goaltenders:
LV – C. Petersen (L) (7-9-2) (27/30)
WBS – F. Larsson (W) (5-3-1) (29/31)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (12-12-5)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (17-8-1)

UPCOMING

Saturday, December 28 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms – Postgame Photographs with the Phantoms players presented by NJM Insurance

Tuesday, December 31 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms – Light-up glow sticks from Penn Community Bank. World’s Largest Puck-Drop at Midnight!

Friday, January 3 (7:00) – Phantoms at Utica Comets

Saturday, January 4 (7:00) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch

Tuesday, January 7 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

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