ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 4-2, on Friday night at PPL Center.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (25-28-6-6) carried a 2-1 lead into the third period, but a three-goal final frame propelled Lehigh Valley to victory.
The Penguins kicked things off with a tic-tac-toe passing play for the game’s first goal. Jonathan Gruden fed Valtteri Puustinen with a spinning pass to the slot, and then Puustinen found Drake Caggiula on the backdoor for the finish. Caggiula’s eighth goal against Lehigh Valley this season arrived at 8:12 of the first period.
Tyson Foerster fired in a power-play goal to tie things up, 1-1, with 2:46 left in the opening frame.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton reestablished its lead by capitalizing on a five-on-three man advantage in the second period. Ty Smith’s slapshot found twine at 13:27 of the stanza, as Puustinen picked up his second assist of the night.
The Phantoms started their third-period rally with a tying goal by Jordy Bellerive six and a half minutes into the final frame. Four minutes later, Bobby Brink swept in a feed from Ronnie Attard to seize Lehigh Valley’s first lead of the night.
Brink provided an insurance marker with an empty-net goal in the final two minutes of the game.
Penguins goalie Dustin Tokarski recorded 25 saves, while Phantoms netminder Sam Ersson recorded 17 stops.
The Penguins’ next game is tomorrow, Saturday, Apr. 1, but the club will be adopting the moniker of the “Old Forge Pizzas” for its tilt with the Syracuse Crunch. Old Forge Pizza Night will feature special, one-night-only logos, jerseys and merchandise at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Puck drop for the Pizzas and Crunch is slated for 6:05 p.m.
Individual game tickets for the Penguins’ remaining home games, as well as season-ticket packages for the 2023-24 season are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367.
