Jacob Gaucher scored 2:11 into overtime to send the Lehigh Valley Phantoms into the next round with a 5-4 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at PPL Center on Friday night.
With the two-game sweep of the Penguins, the Phantoms advance to meet the Hershey Bears in the Atlantic Division semifinals. That series gets underway Wednesday night in Hershey.
Gaucher led a Lehigh Valley rush into the offensive zone and found Brendan Furry heading to the net. Furry’s shot was stopped by Joel Blomqvist, but Gaucher got to the rebound first and gave the Phantoms their first series victory since 2018.
Before those heroics, Lehigh Valley rallied from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits in the third period to force overtime. Emil Andrae and Tanner Laczynski scored power-play goals 22 seconds apart to tie the game with 7:23 to play in regulation, and after Radim Zohorna put the Penguins back in front with 3:48 left, Laczynski scored again just 34 seconds later.
Ronnie Attard also scored on the man advantage for Lehigh Valley, which went 3-for-6 on the power play in the game.
Zohorna scored a pair of goals for the Penguins, while Valtteri Puustinen recorded a goal and two assists and Jack Rathbone added a goal and an assist. Vinnie Hinostroza chipped in three assists on the night.
Cal Petersen (2-0) made 24 saves for Lehigh Valley, while Blomqvist (0-2) finished with 29 stops for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
(Lehigh Valley leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – Lehigh Valley 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – LEHIGH VALLEY 5, W-B/Scranton 4 (OT)
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