ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ended their 2023-24 regular season on Saturday with a 2-0 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at PPL Center.
Ludovic Waeber’s first shutout as a Penguin and a pair of assists from Valtteri Puustinen powered Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (39-24-8-1) past their turnpike rival. The win also guaranteed a first-round playoff series between the Penguins and Phantoms, starting next Wednesday, Apr. 24 at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Sam Poulin opened the scoring 6:19 into the second period by beating Alexei Kolosov five-hole. A board battle win by Jack Rathbone and Jagger Joshua followed by a gorgeous, cross-ice pass from Puustinen set up Poulin, who walked in for a point-blank chance.
Shortly after the expiration of a Penguins power play, Radim Zohorna scored to make it 2-0. Tic-tac-toe passing saw Puustinen connect with Hinostroza, who one-touched a feed back across the crease to Zohorna for the tap-in. Zohorna’s goal came at 3:34 into the period, and extended Hinostroza’s point streak to a career-best eight games.
The Penguins packed it all defensively, thwarting multiple odd-man rushes by and blocking shot attempts by Lehigh Valley. When the Phantoms did spring loose for quality looks, Waeber remained perfect.
Waeber stopped all 21 shots he faced, while Kolosov denied 22 of the 24 shots from the Penguins.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is Game One of its opening-round series against Lehigh Valley in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. Game One will take place on Wednesday, Apr. 24 with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Calder Cup Playoff Packages are available exclusively through the Penguins’ front office. Individual playoff game tickets and full season-ticket packages for the 2024-25 season are also 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. Individual-game tickets are also available by visiting Ticketmaster.com, the Mohegan Sun Arena Box Office or calling the Penguins’ front office at (570) 208-7367.
