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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — The brevity of a best-of-three series places an extra emphasis on Game 1.
When the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, one of the hottest teams at the end of the AHL regular season, came up empty in their postseason opener, their prospects of making a serious impact on the Calder Cup Playoffs took a major hit.
After falling to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the division’s sixth seed, 2-1 Wednesday night, the third-seeded Penguins will have to win two straight, the first of them on the road, just to play beyond the weekend.
The Penguins will need to win Friday night in Allentown to force a Sunday 5:05 p.m. game back at Mohegan Sun Arena if they are going to advance to the Atlantic Division semifinals when Calder Cup action expands to best-of-five series.
Although the Penguins started out fine, they went through an extended listless stretch beginning in the middle of the first period, putting them in a 2-0 hole and seemingly in danger of falling further behind throughout the second period.
Lehigh Valley outshot the Penguins 22-11 over the game’s first 36 minutes and 32-22 overall.
Ville Koivunen, playing in his first game with the team after signing an amateur tryout contract in time for the playoffs, scored the only Penguins goal with 1:44 remaining in the second period.
The game was more evenly played for long stretches of the third period, but the Penguins continued to live dangerously.
Lehigh Valley’s Bobby Brink rang a shot off the post exactly midway through the third and the Penguins made a series of desperate plays to stave off a potential empty-net goal during the 1:59 that Joel Blomqvist was pulled. They ended the game playing shorthanded for the final 30.8 seconds as the result of one of those plays.
Aiden Brooks opened the scoring at 14:37 when his shot was pinned against Blomqvist’s body before dropping across the goal line on the short side. The play required a video review for officials to be certain the puck had made its way across the line.
Rhett Gardner converted a rebound from in front at 1:35 of the second period to put the Phantoms up by two goals.
Sam Poulin sent a puck to the front of the net from along the goal line near the left corner late in the second quarter.
Koivunen’s deflection hung in the air, but Phantoms goalie Cal Petersen was unsuccessful in his attempt to swat it away.
A second-round pick by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2021 National Hockey League Draft, Koivunen’s rights were acquired by the parent Pittsburgh Penguins when they traded away Jake Guentzel March 7. The 20-year-old played for Oulun Karpat of the Finnish Liga, where he had 22 goals and 34 assists in the regular season, then five goals and seven assists in 11 playoff games. His 32 points since Christmas were the most in the league.
This is Koivunen’s second shot in the AHL. He had a goal while playing 12 games for the Chicago Wolves late last season.
NOTES
The game drew a paid crowd of 4,181. … Gardner was the game’s first star, followed by Petersen and Koivunen. … Lehigh Valley took 11 of the first 13 shots of the second period. … There were just five minor penalties called in the game. Lehigh Valley was 0-for-3 on the power play while the Penguins were 0-for-2. … The Penguins were 8-2 in the last 10 regular-season games, including 3-0 against the Phantoms. … Jonathan Gruden was in the Penguins lineup after missing the last eight with injuries.