ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins made a trip to southeastern Pennsylvania to take on their interstate foe, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, on Friday night for some Atlantic Division hockey. The two teams have been evenly matched in the standings, with the winner taking sole possession of fourth place in the division.
Tyson Foerster’s pair of goals and 34 saves by Samuel Ersson were enough for the Phantoms to hang on and double up the visitors by a 4-2 final score. It’s the second week in a row that the Phantoms have downed the Penguins in head-to-head matchups. Filip Lindberg took the loss, allowing four goals on 18 shots while Taylor Gauthier stopped all eight shots he faced in relief in the second half of the game.
The Phantoms sported specialty jerseys on the same night they were celebrating their National Hockey League affiliate, the Philadelphia Flyers, with the jerseys entirely white for whiteout nights. In the game, Lehigh Valley had the better of special teams, which made an impact early in the game with the Phantoms tallying goals on their first two opportunities. Foerster got the scoring started with his 14th of the season with a rocket from the left faceoff circle, followed by Cal O’Reilly’s fourth of the season on a great feed from Olle Lycksell to put the Phantoms up by a pair after one. Lehigh Valley finished the game with two power play goals on five tries, while Wilkes-Barre came up empty in five attempts.
That’s our All-Star🤩#WBSvsLV | #OurValleyOurHome pic.twitter.com/BEgsM8eZU2
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) January 28, 2023
Lehigh Valley added a pair of even-strength goals to the mix as Ronnie Attard tallied his sixth of the season, sneaking in from the point and burying a feed from Bobby Brink. Lycksell tallied his third assist on the goal, earning him second star honors behind Foerster.
Attard and Foerster connected for the latter’s second of the game and 15th of the campaign to put the Phantoms in front by a 4-0 count, the second straight game against the Penguins that they’ve scored a flurry of goals to open a multi-goal lead.
Attard is cashin’ out!💰#WBSvsLV | #OurValleyOurHome pic.twitter.com/ucBhQaRpuz
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) January 28, 2023
The Penguins would not go away quietly in this game with a pair of third period goals in rapid succession to start a comeback effort. Tyler Sikura tallied his fifth goal to get the visitors on the board, and Corey Andonovski found a loose puck in front of Ersson and deposited his seventh goal of the season to make it 4-2, but the Phantoms’ backstop held strong in the final frame despite a 14-2 shot advantage for the Penguins to make the score stand up. Ersson finished the game with third star honors in the decision.
And Ando's!! pic.twitter.com/Gr2z9zf33G
— WBS Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 28, 2023
The win gives the Phantoms a two-point edge over the Penguins and into fourth place in the division and sends the already compact Atlantic Division standings board. There are four teams tied at 41 points nipping at their heels with Wilkes-Barre, Springfield, Hartford, and Bridgeport all even in the league’s most wide-open standings battles in recent memory as only the Charlotte Checkers have gained any separation with 48 points in third place.
The Phantoms continue their five-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Hershey Bears for the second time this week, while the Penguins will play host the Bridgeport Islanders where one team will gain some separation in points in this chaotic division.
