Penguins Pour It On Late, Power Past Phantoms 6-2 Behind Dumba’s Four-Assist Day
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - For two periods, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms were locked in a tight, back-and-forth battle. Then the third period hit - and the Penguins hit back, hard.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton exploded for four goals in the final frame to skate away with a commanding 6-2 win on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. The win was fueled by balanced scoring, opportunistic special teams, and a career-best showing from defenseman Matt Dumba, who dished out four assists - the most in a single game in his pro career.
The Penguins didn’t waste time setting the tone. Midway through the first, Aidan McDonough capitalized on a turnover just as the Phantoms were trying to transition out of their own zone. The puck was stripped, momentum flipped, and McDonough finished the sequence with a clean finish to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 1-0 lead.
Lehigh Valley responded early in the second with a power-play goal from Lane Pederson, their leading scorer, who found space and buried the equalizer at 4:35. But the Penguins answered back with a laser from Nolan Renwick midway through the period, reclaiming the lead and setting the stage for what would become a dominant final 20 minutes.
The third period belonged entirely to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Just two minutes in, Boko Imama jumped on a Phantoms miscue and turned it into a breakaway opportunity. He made no mistake, outwaiting Aleksei Kolosov and sliding the puck home for a 3-1 edge.
And then came the turning point.
Lehigh Valley took back-to-back penalties, giving the Penguins a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play. They didn’t let it go to waste. Avery Hayes blasted one home with the two-man advantage, and just moments later, Owen Pickering added another on the ensuing 5-on-4 to make it 5-1.
The Phantoms tried to claw back with a quick response - Anthony Richard tapped in a backdoor feed just 29 seconds after Pickering’s goal - but that was as close as they’d get.
Dumba capped off his stellar night by setting up Rafaël Harvey-Pinard with a crisp tic-tac-toe passing play at 12:53 of the third, sealing the win and putting an exclamation point on a dominant team performance.
In net, Joel Blomqvist was steady and sharp, turning aside 23 of 25 shots to earn the win. Kolosov faced a heavier workload, stopping 21 of 27 as the Phantoms struggled to contain the Penguins’ late surge.
The win moves Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to 29-12-2-2 on the season, and they’ll look to carry that momentum into another Keystone State showdown on Wednesday, when they host the Hershey Bears at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.