Pens Pull Away in 3rd
Rematch on Friday
February 1, 2026
ALLENTOWN, PA – The Phantoms were solid for the first 40 minutes and were possibly even the better team. But a four-goal surge in the final frame propelled the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 6-2 victory on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. NHL veteran defenseman Matt Dumba led the Penguins’ attack with a four-point performance, all assists.
Fans arrived early on the annual meLVin Youth Jersey Day with a jammed turnout in the chilly weather including many excited kids ready to cheer on their Phantoms.
Lehigh Valley (21-18-4) received goals from Lane Pederson (14th) and Anthony Richard (12th). Richard extended his point streak to five games, as did Christian Kyrou who had a pair of assists to crank up his recent total to 2-6-8 in his last five.
But costly miscues resulted in too many timely and strong opportunities for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Meanwhile, the Phantoms had some strong chances of their own but Joel Blomqvist came up with some big saves on the 2-on-1’s and partial breakaways that challenged him.
“We have to find a way to score on the chances that we had,” said head coach John Snowden. “They do. They did. They scored on every one we gave them… That’s on us. The whole game is on us.”
Lehigh Valley wasn’t able to bury a pair of early power-play opportunites allowing the Penguins to build some momentum off their penalty kills.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (29-12-4) struck at 14:32 in the first period with Aidan McDonough (9th) scoring off a chaotic back-door rebound from defenseman Matt Dumba’s initial right-circle shot off Kolosov’s pad to put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton up 1-0. Kolosov had made two sterling denials on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pressure but couldn’t come up with the third.
The Phantoms answered on their third power-play chance with Lane Pederson (14th) equalizing it at 1-1 at 4:23 into the second period. In just his second game back from a stint with the Flyers, Pederson sniped from the left circle after receiving the seam pass from Cooper Marody.
Lehigh Valley was steadily accumulating chances and largely had the better of the play. But the Penguins again pounced on an odd-man rush opportunity. At 9:38 in the second, Nolan Renwick (2nd) rushed down the left wing on a 2-on-1 and wristed a shot past Kolosov to the far post to take the lead back at 2-1. Zach Gallant and Emil Pieniniemi assisted Renwick’s conversion.
Then the third period. And Wilkes-Barre/Scranton put the game away.
A neutral-zone turnover allowed Boko Imama to walk in uncontested on a breakaway which he slipped inside the left post past the sprawled Kolosov to make it 3-1 less than two minutes into the third.
“I thought we were controlling play for the first two periods,” Snowden said. “I just thought the minute we gave up the third one and then we gave up the fourth one, the wind was out of our sails.”
Not long after, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton put together back-to-back power play goals in the span of 48 seconds. Avery Hayes (12th) sniped a 5-on-3 goal from the left circle at 6:11 and Owen Pickering (5th) found the net on a long-range shot from the blue line past the glove of Kolosov at 6:59 and suddenly it was 5-1.
The Phantoms got one of them back at 7:28 with Anthony Richard (13th) scoring from the back door of the Penguins’ net off Karsen Dorwart’s pass across the slot to make it 5-2.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard (12th) concluded the scoring getting a piece of Gabe Klassen’s shot to provide for the 6-2 final margin as Matt Dumba’s cross-ice pass to Klassen earned him his fourth assist of the game.
The Phantoms have another crack at the Penguins at PPL Center on Friday, February 6. Then the day after, it’s a road trip to Bridgeport on February 7 for the last game before the All-Star break.
The Phantoms will return for Winter Games Weekend at PPL Center with games against the Cleveland Monsters on February 14 and Syracuse Crunch on February 15.
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