Heading into Wednesday's opening-round matchup, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins – AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins – were 8-2-2 against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the regular season.
But, unfortunately, a crucial Game 1 did not go as expected.
The Penguins dropped the first game of a best-of-three first-round Calder Cup playoff series against the Phantoms, 5-2. They will face elimination in Allentown, Pa. on Friday in Game 2, when Lehigh Valley will host.
And despite scoring two late goals in the third period, there wasn't much to like from this performance by the Penguins.
The Phantoms came out strong and were rewarded for their efforts with a goal midway through the opening frame by forward Olle Lycksell, who was their leading scorer during the 2024-25 regular season with 19 goals and 44 points in 43 games.
Things got a bit nasty between the two teams in the latter half of the first, and that leaked into the second period. The Penguins had four power play opportunities in the second, and – despite their fourth-best finish in league power play percentage during the regular season (21.3 percent) – they were unable to convert on any of them. In response, Alex Bump and Rodrigo Abols capitalized in the minutes after to put the Phantoms ahead, 3-0, going into second intermission.
Heading into the third period, starting goaltender Joel Blomqvist was pulled due to injury and replaced by Taylor Gauthier, who had just one AHL start this season in the team's regular season finale, which was a 3-0 shutout win. Unfortunately, that wasn't carried over into the final frame of this game.
WBS couldn't find any juice until the last five minutes of the game, and that was after Bump had already registered his second goal of the evening and Anthony Richard added another to make it 5-0. Avery Hayes and Gabe Klassen added those two late tallies, but it was too little, too late at that point.
"Tonight wasn't because it was a lack of care," WBS head coach Kirk MacDonald said. "I would argue that they care too much… We've gotta go play free, play the game that we know how to play. We've done it all year. Tonight was a setback. It's not the result we wanted, but I have no doubt the guys are going to come with an effort Friday."
Some members of the team somewhat disagreed with their coach and know they need to come out with more urgency from the jump in Friday's do-or-die game. And they weren't shy about expressing that.
"I think they just wanted it more," forward Tristan Broz told Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey. "I think it's f—ing embarrassing."
If the Penguins beat Lehigh Valley on Friday, the deciding third game will be on Sunday in Wilkes-Barre. The winner of the series will advance to the second round to take on either the Charlotte Checkers or Hershey Bears.
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