ALLENTOWN, Pa – Rob Zepp was looking to rebound from a poor start against Syracuse on Wednesday. Rebound, he did. Zepp made 33 saves and Scott Laughton had two goals to lead the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to a 4-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday night in Allentown.
It’s no secret that these two teams don’t like each other, and that was evident right off 
the opening draw. Brett Hextall, who lately has been the one to provide an energy spark for Lehigh Valley, fought Dominik Uher five seconds in. The spirited bout, which lasted about two minutes, featured both players landing solid punches. The Phantoms used it to their advantage, controlling play for the next two periods.
Scott Laughton got the home team on the board first with a power play blast at 9:44. Laughton took a pass from Jason Akeson at the far point, skated to the faceoff dot and rifled a blast past Penguins’ goaltender Matt Murray, who never had a chance because of a perfect screen by Zack Stortini. 1:15 later, the Phantoms’ would make it 2-0 on Jesper Pettersson’s second of the season. The defenseman took a pass from Petr Straka at the point, and roofed a slap shot over Murray. It was only the Phantoms’ sixth goal in their last 4 games.
In the second period, the Phantoms got a goal from another unlikely source, as Steven Delisle got his second of the season at 9:47. It was a carbon copy of the Pettersson goal, as it came from nearly the same spot at the other end. Both teams had power plays in the frame, but neither team could convert.
Given the fact that the Penguins are just points back of the division leading Hershey Bears, many wondered if they were going to make a comeback, and they certainly tried. Andrew Ebbett got his 16th of the year via a strange bounce at 9:47. Scott Wilson threw the puck to Tom Kostopolous behind the net, and he attempted a wraparound. The puck came through the crease, where it bounced off Ebbett and into the net. After a review by referee Jamie Koharski to see if the puck was kicked, the goal stood. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had several more chances, but Zepp stood tall, and Laughton added an empty netter with 58 seconds left to seal the two points for Lehigh Valley.
Notes: Forward Jason Akeson and Defensemen Mark Alt and Oliver Lauridsen were recalled to Philadelphia for an afternoon tilt against San Jose, which Philadelphia lost 3-2 in a shootout. Akeson was a healthy scratch while Alt made his NHL debut. All three were returned to Lehigh Valley after the game. Akeson played tonight, while the other two were healthy scratches. Nick Luukko, who the Phantoms recently signed to an amateur tryout, and Jesper Pettersson filled in on the blue line. There was no rule preventing the two blueliners from suiting up. When asked about it after the game, Phantoms’ Head Coach Terry Murray said: “I’ve seen it before. But (having them play two games in one day) never crossed my mind. “
Rob Zepp on the disputed goal: “I was a little late getting over there because Kostopolous beat me to the post. I knew it didn’t go off of his stick, I heard it go off what I thought was his skate. If they looked at it and said it wasn’t a kicking motion, then it’s a good goal.”
On getting a win in front of a PPL Center record crowd of 9,017: “It’s great. We’ve been a little snakebit here lately. I think we owe it to the fans who’ve supported us all year to put forth good efforts and we did tonight and got the win.”
Murray said after the game he doesn’t know if Zepp or Anthy Stolarz will be between the pipes tomorrow for a 3:05 face off with the Eastern Conference leading Manchester Monarchs, affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings.
3 Stars: 3) LV-Jesper Pettersson (Goal) 2) LV-Rob Zepp (33 Saves) 1) LV-Scott Laughton (2 Goals, Assist, +2 and a team-leading 5 shots.)
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