Penguins Defeat Phantoms, 5-1, in Regular Season Finale Escobedo’s three-point game leads W-B/Scranton to win

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – In his second game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, defenseman Sean Escobedo recorded his first points in the American Hockey League with a three-point performance (1G-2A) that led Penguins to a 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in their regular season finale on Sunday at PPL Center.

The Penguins had an opportunity to get a jump on the Phantoms with an early 5-on-3 WBS Penguinspower play and they would take advantage.   After Danny Syvret’s point shot was stopped by Phantoms goaltender Rob Zepp, the puck kicked over to the far post, where Jean-Sebastien Dea was stationed to deposit his 10th of the season at 3:20 of the first.

With the ensuing 5-on-4 having just expired, Tom Kuhnhackl turned off the right boards with the puck and found space in high slot for a wrist shot to the top right corner of the Phantoms net that made the score, 2-0, just 49 seconds after Dea’s tally.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would build a three-goal lead with 2:56 gone in the second period when Bobby Farnham cut out of the near corner with the puck, making his way to the Lehigh Valley crease before lifting a backhand shot over the shoulder of Zepp.

Oliver Lauridsen got the Phantoms on the board at 9:27 of the frame as he worked down the left wing of the Penguins end and slipped a shot under the right leg pad of Jeff Zatkoff.

The Penguins took the 3-1 lead and a man-advantage into the third period, where Escobedo added to his big night.  Signed to a professional tryout agreement by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Apr. 15, Escobedo put his team up by three when he pinched down to the left side to accept a circle-to-circle feed from Carter Rowney and slapped in his first AHL goal at 1:29 of the frame.

Jayson Megna completed the scoring for the Penguins with 9:01 left in the contest, tallying his team-leading 26th marker of the season.

Zatkoff turned aside 32-of-33 shots to pick up his fourth win in his last five starts.  Zepp made 30 saves as the Phantoms closed out their inaugural campaign in Lehigh Valley.

Leave a Comment