ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins opened their 2024 preseason schedule by defeating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 6-1, at PPL Center on Tuesday night.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton received an inspired effort from all 18 of its skaters and last-minute goals in all three periods. The Penguins had four players produce multiple points in the victory, but Logan Pietila led the charge with a game-high three-point outing (1G-2A).
The Penguins drew first blood late in the first period when Matt Quercia broke loose for a breakaway on a feathery feed from David Jankowski. Quercia swiftly moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand and lifted it over the outstretched pad of Phantoms goalie Eetu Mäkaniemi with 2:32 left in the frame.
Jordan Martel quickly doubled the Penguins’ lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal 24 seconds before the first intermission.
Shortly after a successful second-period penalty kill, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went to work on the forecheck and came away with another goal. Pietila buried his own rebound at 15:22 of the second after Martel and Matt Koopman stripped Lehigh Valley of the puck below the opponent’s goal line.
The Penguins got another late-period tally when Koopman took a perfect pass from Pietila and rifled it behind Mäkiniemi with 50.9 seconds left.
Lehigh Valley earned its first and only goal of the night when Zayde Wisdom took a lead pass after stepping out of the penalty box and sneaking a backhand shot across the goal line midway through the third period. However, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton didn’t take long to respond, as a long stay in the attacking zone culminated in a bar-down snipe by defenseman Justin Lee.
Lee added another goal, a power-play goal, in the final minute of regulation.
Sergei Murashov secured the win with 12 saves on 13 shots faced, while Mäkiniemi recorded 32 saves in the less.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next preseason game is their annual ‘Learn With Hockey’ School & STEM Day Game on Thursday, Oct. 3 against the Hershey Bears. Puck drop is slated for 10:35 a.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
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