Wilkes-Barre, PA – Sergei Murashov was simply too good. Lehigh Valley (11-6-2) was able to break the shutout effort of one of the top goaltenders in the league, but ultimately, Anthony Richard (6th) would be the only Phantom to break through in a 4-1 loss at Wilkes-Barre on Black Friday.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard (4th, 5th) led the Penguins with a pair of goals including an empty-netter at the end to slam the door on Lehigh Valley’s frenetic efforts at a comeback rally in the third period.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (15-4-1) improved to 3-0-0 against the Phantoms in the rivalry series. Half of Lehigh Valley’s regulation losses have come against the team’s fierce rival from northeast Pennsylvania. All three losses to the Penguins have been by identical 4-1 scores.
The Penguins had a hot start and Gabe Klassen (1st) buried a breakaway chance at 8:52 on a nifty knock through the neutral zone by Aidan McDonough following a stretch-pass by former Flyers’ draft selection Jack St. Ivany.
Alexis Gendron had some big blasts and four shots on goal in the first while Denver Barkey was denied at the doorstep on a sterling stop by Murashov. Valterri Puustinen was denied in the closing seconds of the period on Kolosov’s strong left-pad save on a breakaway. Puustinen’s second effort off the rebound and from the right circle hit off the far post behind Kolosov and stayed out.
The Penguins took control in the second period and whipped home a pair of goals past Aleksei Kolosov including a shot on the rush by Harvey-Pinard from the top of the right circle aimed for the left post past the blocker of the Lehigh Valley netminder that made it 2-0 at 9:03 into the period.
Former first-rounder Rutger McGroaty continued his torrid scoring pace since joining the Penguins just over a week ago after recovering from a preseason injury. He sniped on the power play from the top of the left circle to the upper-right corner past Kolosov’s glove on a wicked snipe at 16:19 to extned the lead to 3-0.
The third period belonged to the Phantoms. But the 3-0 deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
Lehigh Valley dominated the final frame and outshot the Baby Pens 14-4. Richard got the Phantoms on the board at 6:35 into the third when Ethan Samson’s shot from the right boards was blocked and deflected into the slot. Richard spun around to whack the bouncing puck between the legs of the unready Murashov to cut the score to 3-1.
The Phantoms continued to press but could get no closer. A power play with less than seven minutes remaining and a pulled goalie with 3:30 left generated some strong chances on Murashov but he held them off until Harvey-Pinard’s goal with 20.1 seconds remaining finished the deal.
The Phantoms play another first-place team when they host the Laval Rocket (Montreal) at PPL Center on Saturday’s Gritty Night including pregame photographs with Philadelphia’s zany mascot.
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