By Michael Heilman

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza Saturday night to take on their rivals Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. Scratches for tonight’s game were Carsen Twarynski, Chris Bigras, TJ Brennan, Pascal Laberge, and Chris Stewart.

It didn’t take the Phantoms long to score as two minutes and seven seconds into the first period, Gerry Fitzgerald (4) had three Penguins players on him, when he passed the puck to Isaac Ratcliffe (4), who was all alone and shot the puck under the legs of Penguins goalie Emil Larmi to put the Phantoms up 1-0. Tyler Wotherspoon also assisted Fitzgerald’s goal. Fifty-six seconds later, the Penguins tied the game 1-1 as Kevin Roy (9) went upstairs over the shoulder of Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko and in for the goal.

The Phantoms regained the lead with nine minutes and twenty-one seconds left in the first period as Maksim Sushko (8) went upstairs over the shoulder of Penguins goalie Emil Larmi to give the Phantoms a 2-1 lead. The Phantoms would add another goal with five minutes and fifty-eight seconds left in the first period as Kyle Criscuolo (10) passed the puck to Greg Carey (11), who found Maksim Sushko (9) who sent the puck under the legs of Emil Larmi for his second goal of the game putting the Phantoms up 3-1. That was the way the first period would end. There were plenty of scuffles in the period. the shots were sixteen to eleven in favor of the Penguins.

Early in the second period, the Phantoms were down a player as German Rubtsov was hit in the face by a puck and was down for several minutes. He was helped off the ice and was bleeding from the mouth. The Phantoms added another goal as Kyle Criscuolo passed the puck to David Kase (9), who passed it back to Criscuolo (8) who then took a fiery shot that went under the arm of Emil Larmi to put the Phantoms up 4-1. Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko was playing stellar in his first game with the Phantoms. The Phantoms led 4-1 as the second period ended with the shots going to the Penguins twelve to eleven.

The Phantoms added another goal three minutes and fifty-eight seconds into the third period as Gerry Fitzgerald’s shot went over the right shoulder of Emil Larmi, Larmi didn’t see the puck as the puck crossed the goal line for Fitzgerald’s sixth goal of the season and a 5-1 Phantoms lead. The Penguins cut the Phantoms lead 5-2 as Jake Lucchini (8) passed the puck to Myles Powell (1), and Powell took a shot that hit Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko, who didn’t see the puck as the puck crossed the goal line for Powell’s first AHL goal.

The Penguins pulled Emil Larmi several times for the man advantage that would result in another goal with twenty seconds left as Jake Drozg (4), with assists from Jamie Devane (4) and Thomas Di Pauli (9) to cut the Phantoms lead down to 5-3. The Phantoms defeated the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-3.

The Phantoms finished the night with thirty-two shots while the Penguins had forty-one shots. The Phantoms were zero for four on the power play, and their penalty-killing unit continues to step up when they need to as the Penguins were zero for three on the power play.

The Phantoms played a feisty game by not giving up costly penalties and not giving the Penguins chances to score. Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko did an excellent job for his first start with the Phantoms. So far this year, Ustimenko is 18-4-5 with one shutout and a 0.916 save percentage for the Reading Royals. His play tonight could open up the door for more opportunities to play depending on what the Flyers do at the trade deadline February 24th at 3 pm.

Ustimenko finishes the night with thirty-eight of forty saves allowing three goals while Penguins goalie Emil Larmi was twenty-seven of thirty-two saves allowing five goals.

The three stars of the night were Phantoms forward Gerry Fitzgerald with one goal and one assist, Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko with thirty-eight saves, and Phantoms forward Maksim Sushko with two goals.

The Phantoms will now head back to PPL Center to wrap up the weekend tomorrow afternoon against the Hershey Bears at 3:05 pm.