For a second consecutive year, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-0-0) have swept their intrastate rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Atlantic Division First Round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Anthony Richard scored the icebreaker with 5:27 remaining in the second period before Tristan Broz tied the game for the Penguins with 25 seconds remaining. Harrison Brunicke then put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead 2-1 with 13:34 left in the third period before Jacob Gaucher evened the game just a minute and 28 seconds later. Helge Grans scored the go-ahead goal for Lehigh Valley with just 2:00 remaining to complete the comeback.
Parker Gahagen was outstanding with 31 saves on 33 shots to snag the victory while Sergei Murashov stopped 28 of 31 for the Penguins.
“He was great,” said Phantoms head coach Ian Laperrière. “Their goalie was great. That was a goalie battle. Like you were wondering, I’m like, I was thinking – which I shouldn’t be thinking like that – I’m like ‘it’s going to hit a skate, it’s going to go,’ but yeah he was great. He’s just a wall there and battles and guys battle in front of him, and that power play goal, nothing he could do about that… at the end of the day we found a way to win.”
FIRST PERIOD
Score: 0-0
Shots: 12-11 LVP
Right from the beginning, this game turned into a goaltending duel. Gahagen and Murashov were outstanding all night but both especially stood tall in a scoreless first period.
With 11:43 left, Grans was called for high-sticking. That didn’t deter the Phantoms as Rodrigo Ābols had a glorious shorthanded scoring chance that was stopped by Murashov. At the other end Gahagen came up with multiple crucial saves to help the home team kill off the penalty.
The Phantoms would earn their first power play with 5:08 remaining after Alex Bump was tripped by Ville Koivunen, but Murashov again stood tall for the Penguins.
SECOND PERIOD
Score: 1-1
Shots: 27-22 WBS
Jett Luchanko racked up a tripping penalty against Broz just 4:50 into the middle frame, but they again lived to tell about it as Gahagen and the PK unit did their jobs.
Luchanko was again sent to the box, this time for slashing, with 11:46 remaining, but again he was bailed out by his penalty killers and goaltender.
Sam Poulin was then whistled for high-sticking with 9:32 remaining, but Lehigh Valley still couldn’t solve Murashov and the Penguins took care of business.
But with 5:27 left, it was Richard who finally opened the scoring after a nifty feed from Luchanko and the veteran slipped it through Murashov for a 1-0 lead.
After it seemed the Phantoms would escape the period with their one-goal advantage, Hunter McDonald was called for hooking with 2:17 remaining on the clock. Right near the end of the power play, Broz received a pass from Boris Katchouk and fired one by the glove of Gahagen to tie the game with just 25 seconds left.
THIRD PERIOD
Score: 3-2 LVP
Shots: 33-31 WBS
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took a 2-1 lead early in the third period as Brunicke took the pass from Broz on the rush and rifled a perfect shot into the net that handcuffed Gahagen.
Just 1:28 later, Gaucher – last year’s hero against the Penguins – stuffed home Zayde Wisdom’s rebound to even the score at 2-2 and get the PPL Center crowd back on their feet.
Lehigh Valley earned a late power play with 6:15 left in the period, but a questionable Richard interference penalty just 40 seconds later negated it. They were able to kill off the abbreviated Penguins power play afterwards and kept their foot on the gas.
“Unreal. It’s the character we have in this room,” said Laperrière postgame about his team being able to stick with their game in the final two periods. “They were a little bit… it was little bit tense, that moment, but no panic which is great, and when you’ve got [Garrett] Wilson and Rodrigo [Ābols] on the bench and [Rhett] Gardner and all those guys saying the right thing, it really helps.”
Their hard work would be rewarded as Grans, who was down on his knees and not looking at the net, shot the puck past a bewildered Murashov and in for the go-ahead goal with just two minutes left on the clock. Luchanko also picked up his second assist of the game on the play, making it back-to-back two-assist contests for the 2024 first-round pick.
“He’s been great,” said Laperrière on Grans. “That’s a guy again, last [year] wasn’t playing in the playoffs at the end and now he had a great year. He’s building on that and that’s a guy who went up, played well for the Flyers, and he’s improving all the time. He’s a young guy. He’s 22 years old, it’s not like he’s 30, and that position they always take a little bit longer.”
The Penguins would pull Murashov for the extra attacker but the Phantoms stood tall in their end and pulled off the series sweep at two games to zero with a thrilling 3-2 victory in Game 2.
3 STARS OF THE GAME: 1) Helge Grans – LVP, 2) Anthony Richard – LVP, 3) Parker Gahagen – LVP
UP NEXT
The Phantoms will face either the Charlotte Checkers or Hershey Bears in the Atlantic Division Semifinals in a best-of-5 series. The schedule for the series is slated to be released on Sunday.
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