Late Rally Falls Short

Phantoms Edged by Pens 6-5 on Friday Night

February 6, 2026

ALLENTOWN, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms showed resilience, firepower, and relentless pushback on Friday night at PPL Center, but brief lapses in the first and third periods proved costly as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins held off the Phantoms by a 6-5 count. 

Tucker Robertson (8th), Max Guenette (2nd), Phil Tomasino (7th), Lane Pederson (15h) and Jacob Gaucher (10th) all hit pay-dirt for the Phantoms in the offensive slugfest. 

“The difference was about a two- or three-minute stretch where we stopped playing hockey,” head coach John Snowden said. “We were chasing early, I thought we controlled the entire second period, and we had a good start to the third. But when we got away from our details, that’s when it ended up in our net.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard. Just 1:14 into the game, a crisp passing sequence freed Matt Dumba between the circles and the veteran defenseman blasted a shot past Carson Bjarnason to give the visitors the early lead. The pressure continued moments later when the Penguins worked the puck behind the Phantoms’ net and Ville Koivunen slipped in from a sharp angle, finding a narrow opening to make it 2–0 just over four minutes into the night.

Lehigh Valley (21-19-4) pushed back with urgency. Anthony Richard burst in alone on a breakaway and was denied by Joel Blomqvist’s right pad but drew a slashing penalty to give the Phantoms their first power-play opportunity. Though the man advantage came up empty, momentum finally swung when Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went to its first power play of the game.

Instead of extending the lead, the Phantoms struck shorthanded.

Robertson exploded up ice with lightning speed, pulling the puck from forehand to backhand before tucking it past Blomqvist at 15:34 of the first period to cut the deficit to one and ignite the PPL Center crowd.

Lehigh Valley carried that spark into the second period and wasted little time pulling even. Just 1:40 into the frame, Richard’s shot from the right circle deflected off the skate of Karsen Dorwart and kicked perfectly to the high slot where Max Guenette stepped into it and rifled home his second goal of the season to tie the game at 2–2.

The Penguins answered again. Dumba continued his strong night, stepping into a blast from the top of the right circle at 4:09 that beat Bjarnason clean to restore the lead. 

But much like the first period, Lehigh Valley’s persistence paid off late. With under a minute remaining in the second, relentless forechecking forced a breakdown. The puck was worked low to high and funneled back into the danger area where Phil Tomasino found a loose puck pinballing through the crease and buried it into an open net with 57.9 seconds left, sending the teams to intermission tied 3–3 and restoring life to the building.

The third period erupted into an offensive slugfest.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton regained the lead at 3:57 when Atley Calvert’s wide shot took a lively bounce off the end boards and Aidan McDonough one-timed it home from a sharp angle. Just minutes later, on a delayed penalty, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard beat Helge Grans to a loose puck in the blue paint and tapped it into an empty net to make it 5–3.

Momentum swung further when Dumba completed his hat trick at 9:21, burying his own rebound from the slot to push the Lehigh Valley deficit to 6-3. 

But the Phantoms weren’t finished.

On a power play at 10:49, Pederson unloaded a blistering one-timer from the right circle that ripped into the cage to trim the deficit to 6–4. Lehigh Valley kept pressing, earning another late power play after Dumba was called for slashing, and continued to tilt the ice in the closing minutes.

With the net empty and the extra attacker on, the comeback tightened dramatically. Moments after the power play expired, Gaucher slipped in on the back door and tapped home a perfect feed into an open cage to make it a one-goal game with 1:36 remaining.

The Phantoms came within inches of completing the rally when a final surge produced a shot that rang off the post with 20 seconds left, but the equalizer never came as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton held on for the 6–5 win.

The Phantoms now turn their attention to a road matchup in Bridgeport on Saturday night.

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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