Joel Blomqvist achieved his first shutout in the AHL as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-0 at Mohegan Sun Arena on Wednesday night.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (30-20-7-1) faced their turnpike rival for the third consecutive game and regained third place in the Atlantic Division due to Blomqvist’s 23-save clean sheet. Jagger Joshua led the team’s offense with his first career two-goal game.
Joshua opened the scoring by scoring a rebound nine minutes into the first period.
The Penguins had to defend against three power plays in the first period, including a five-on-three advantage. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton successfully denied all three opportunities to maintain their 1-0 lead.
Joshua scored again at 15:18 of the second period to give the Penguins a two-goal lead. Corey Andonovski faced a big hit in front of the Phantoms bench, but managed to make a breakout pass to Joona Koppanen before the impact to create a two-on-one rush. Koppanen passed the puck to Joshua, who shot a wrist shot into the top of the net for his second goal of the night.
Lehigh Valley applied strong pressure during a third-period penalty kill and created numerous close-range chances. Blomqvist was ready for the onslaught, keeping his team ahead by two.
Dmitri Samorukov finally sealed the win with an empty-net goal from the Penguins’ goal line.
Phantoms goalie Cal Petersen suffered the loss despite making 29 saves on 31 shots.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s upcoming game is the first of two consecutive games against the Cleveland Monsters, beginning on Sunday, Mar. 17. The Penguins and Monsters will face off at 3:00 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Penguins’ next home game is their annual Star Wars Night against the Utica Comets. Star Wars Night will take place on Saturday, March 23 with a 6:05 p.m. puck drop at Mohegan Sun Arena.
