ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A late-game surge from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins wasn’t enough to come from behind in their 4-2 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night at PPL Center.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (19-16-2-3) surrendered a pair of first-period, power-play goals and failed to convert on its five power plays in the game. The Penguins started to rally with goals from Tyler Sikura and Corey Andonovski in the final frame, but the four-goal deficit they were facing proved too much to overcome.
The Phantoms scored their first power-play goal of the night at 8:11 of the first period, a wicked one-timer from the stick of Tyson Foerster.
Lehigh Valley cashed in for another man-advantage marker when Olle Lycksell set-up Cal O’Reilly on the backdoor at 12:55.
Ronnie Attard and Foerster scored 86 seconds apart early in the second period, extending the Phantoms’ lead to 4-0. Foerster’s second tally also spelled the end of the night for Penguins starting goalie Filip Lindberg, who was replaced by Taylor Gauthier.
The Penguins finally solved Phantoms goalie Sam Ersson midway through the third period. With an ocean of traffic in front of Ersson, a chest save ricocheted off of a Phantoms defender and back over Ersson’s shoulder. Sikura found the loose puck and slammed it across the goal line.
Fewer than two minutes later, Andonovski roofed a rebound past Ersson, making it 4-2.
However, Ersson held firm through the final eight minutes of regulation, and time ran out on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s comeback bid.
Gauthier stopped all eight shots he faced in relief of Lindberg, who left the game after turning away 14 of 18 shots. Ersson made 34 saves in the victory.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is back on home ice tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 28, against the Bridgeport Islanders. Puck drop for the Penguins and Islanders is slated for 6:05 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Individual game tickets and season-ticket packages for the 2022-23 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.
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