After a scoreless first period, the second period of Sunday's game between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms had a wild second period with a total of seven goals scored between the two teams.
Wilkes-Barre came out with a one-goal lead after the flurry of goals in the second period, but a third-period goal from the Phantoms forced overtime, and the Phantoms scored 1:08 into overtime to beat the Penguins, 5-4.
The first period didn't see much action either way, with the shots just 6-4 in Wilkes-Barre's favor after 20 minutes. After a slower first period, coach J.D. Forrest said he wasn't entirely sure why the floodgates opened the way they did so quickly in the second period.
"I wish I knew exactly," Forrest laughed. "Sometimes it's just a bounce of a puck here, bounce of a puck there, and things start moving up and down the ice. I think the first period might have been a little bit of a feeling-out. For a team that we know so well and they know us well, you'd think we'd just drop the puck and start going at it, but sometimes it takes a little bit. It certainly did start to pick up the pace there in the latter two periods."
The Phantoms' Wade Allison opened the scoring 14 seconds into the middle frame with a bar-down shot that beat backup goaltender Shane Starrett on his blocker side. AHL-contracted Penguins forward Nick Schilkey tied the game 1:33 later, diving to bury a rebound from Cam Lee:
The goal was Schilkey's third of the season, and coupled with his seven assists (which he would make eight later in the game) this season, he became the first Penguin to reach double digits in points this year.
The Phantoms quickly responded less than a minute later with Tyson Foerster's shot off a partial breakaway, and extended their lead not long after when Chris Mueller redirected a shot from just outside the crease.
Facing a 3-1 deficit, Wilkes-Barre rallied.
Drew O'Connor, playing in his fifth AHL game of the season and second as a center, redirected a Billy Sweezey shot to cut the Phantoms' lead to one goal. It was his third goal of the season and fifth point, continuing his point-per-game pace since being reassigned.
"He's got a lot of opportunity here," Forrest said of O'Connor's production. "He's on the ice quite a bit, he's on the power play, he's killing penalties, he's playing with players that can help him out. And he's a hard worker. He gets his stick in there, he disrupts other teams' plays, he gives himself second opportunities. He's a first-year pro, he's learning as he goes here, but he seems to be picking up quickly the last couple of nights."
Jonathan Gruden, the forward prospect acquired in the Matt Murray deal, tied the game 50 seconds later when he picked up his own rebound after a breakaway chance:
Bellerive, after setting up Gruden's rush on his goal, gave Wilkes-Barre its first lead of the game off a 3-on-1 rush with Gruden and Kyle Olson
"We've seen it before this season," Forrest said of the comeback. "It happens. We just have a resilient team in there and never stop battling. I thought we were playing pretty well at the time, so we weren't really nervous. It wasn't the situation we wanted to be in, but we felt we could dig out of it. We did a nice job doing that."
The Phantoms' Tanner Laczynski scored both the third-period tying goal and the overtime winner, with Derrick Pouliot picking up the primary assist on both. The work of the Penguins' penalty killers was key to even getting to the extra frame, though. Wilkes-Barre's penalty kill went 4-for-4, including a crucial kill of a Gruden tripping call with 1:15 left in the game.
"It's been a consistent bright spot with our team," Forrest said of his team's play while down a man. "(Assistant coach) Kevin Porter does a great job with them. They're dialed in, know their responsibilities and how we want to approach each different team and what their strengths are, how we want to counteract that. So they're well-prepared, they take pride in it. Just another really good example of that tonight."
The Penguins didn't come away in the game with the extra point (which, in the end, doesn't matter much in a season where there won't be Calder Cup playoffs anyway), but the resiliency they showed in the second period gave the team a positive takeaway from the loss.
"We had some good looks tonight, some nice plays around the net for goals," Forrest said. "The guys executed what we talked about before the game, where we thought we might be able to put a couple in the net. A lot of times it helps roll onto the next game. Anytime you can put four on the board, it's a good thing, especially after struggling to find it the last couple of games against Syracuse there. Hopefully it sends us in the right direction."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Jan Drozg missed the game and is day-to-day with what Forrest said was a lower-body injury sustained in Saturday's practice. Through Drozg's agency, he said Monday morning that he took a puck to the knee in practice and just needed "two or three day of rest," which should have him back in time for Wednesday's game.
• Justin Almeida returned to the lineup for the first time in over a month. Almeida was a healthy scratch after the second game of the season, then suffered an injury in practice as he was working to get back into the lineup. He returned on Wilkes-Barre's top line, and recorded no shots and no points and an even plus/minus rating.
• Defenseman Will Reilly was a healthy scratch for the first time this season, with Billy Sweezey taking his spot on the right side of the defense.
• Forward Luke Stevens played his first game since Feb. 26 after missing time with a minor injury and then as a healthy scratch. He recorded no shots, no points, and was a minus-2.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPL Center:
1. Tanner Laczynski, Phantoms
2. Wade Allison, Phantoms
3. Jordy Bellerive, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Jesper Lindgren left the first preseason game after sliding into the boards and underwent successful shoulder surgery. He's out for the rest of the season.
• Forward Jan Drozg is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after taking a puck to the knee in Saturday's practice.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Justin Almeida-Josh Currie-Tim Schaller
Felix Robert-Drew O'Connor-Nick Schilkey
Jonathan Gruden-Jordy Bellerive-Kyle Olson
Luke Stevens-Chase Berger-Zach Nastasiuk
P.O Joseph-Jon Lizotte
Kevin Czuczman-Billy Sweezey
Cam Lee-Zach Trotman
And for Scott Gordon's Phantoms:
Ryan Fitzgerald-Cal O'Reilly-Zayde Wisdom
Maksim Sushko-Chris Mueller-Linus Sandin
Max Willman-Tanner Laczynski-Wade Allison
Isaac Ratcliffe-David Kase-Tyson Foerster
Tyler Wotherspoon-Linus Hogberg
Egor Zamula-Logan Day
Mason Millman-Derrick Pouliot
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will play Syracuse on Wednesday at home.
THE CONTENT
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