Wilkes-Barre, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wouldn’t go away quietly no matter the margin. Multiple late scraps led to four separate early dismissals from the Orange and Black via 10-minute misconducts as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins eventually emerged with a 6-2 rivalry win on Friday night.
With the end result all but decided, Lehigh Valley (11-7-3) took out its frustrations on some of the Penguins’ players leading to Garrett Wilson, Jacob Gaucher, Tucker Robertson and Huner McDonald all making statements while ultimately earning their game-ending infractions.
Tucker Robertson (3rd) and Anthony Richard (8th) scored for the Phantoms while Ethan Samson collected a pair of assists but it wasn’t enough. Aidan McDonough (4th) led the way for the Penguins with a three-point night on one goal and two assists while two recent returnees from Pittsburgh both had a goal and an assist as Tristan Broz (9th) and Danton Heinen (6th) scored back-to-back in the second period to break a 1-1 tie as the Baby Pens eventually pulled away.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (16-5-1) reestablished itself at the top of the Atlantic Division with the win as the Phantoms surrendered a season high six goals while dropping Round 4 of the rivalry.
The game was even-steven for the first half. Sam Poulin (9th) scored at 13:00 into the game from the right of the cage on a post rebound of a Harrison Brunicke point-shot to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
Robertson was ready to even the score when the puck was nudged to him in the right circle for a quick release blast through Sergei Murashov at 18:34 to tie the game at 1-1.
Lehigh Valley killed off a Penguins’ power play to begin the second and hung in there against a hard push. Past the midway mark, the tide would shift. A Penguins power play would lead to a Triston Broz goal from the right side of the cage after a left-pad kick for Kolosov to make it 2-1 at 10:22. Just 1:55 later it was Danton Heinen calling bank from the other side of the net when he flicked an endboards rebound off the back of Kolosov to make it 3-1. Avery Hayes (6th) drove to the net front and crashed into Kolosov while scoring a late second-period goal at 18:15 after a fortuitous bounce off the referee helped prevent a possible clearing try.
Hayes was the recipient of a fair amount of attention for the rest of the night after rocking into Kolosov while scoring.
The comeback proclivities of the Phantoms have been on display numerous times this season but there wasn’t enough Rally Mojo available in the tank in this one. Atley Calvert (7th) threw one in past Kolosov at 2:55 of the third to make it 5-1.
Richard got one back at 5:39 from the left of the cage after Samson kept the play alive around a defender during his speedy entry into the zone. After connecting with Gaucher behind the goal, Richard was open on the other side to knock in the team’s second of the night and give Lehigh Valley a little life.
The Phantoms even had a power-play chance to cut into the deficit by another and make the Penguins sweat but the man-advantage chance was killed and, eventually, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would get another power play of its own with McDonough getting to the net front to knock one past the right skate of Kolosov at 8:28 to push the advantage to 6-2.
Push came to shove at 11:48 of the third as Jacob Gaucher and Avery Hayes got involved in a skirmish while everyone else paired off as well. Wilson was also assessed a 10-minute misconduct.
Two more decent battles ensued befitting a rivalry that previously had been mostly clean and not terribly nasty this season. Hunter McDonald and Tucker Robertson mixed it up with less than two minutes remaining while Ty Murchison found himself in the middle of another fray as well.
Round 5 of the rivalry series will be back at PPL Center on the other side of the holiday break when the Baby Pens visit Allentown on Sunday, December 28.
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