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Observations from SWB RailRiders’ 10-6 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs

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Tyler Webb provides stability as SWB RailRiders edge Lehigh Valley IronPigs

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith earned his first AHL shutout on April 1 against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.Eleven days later, during Wednesday&#8217;s final game of the season series against the Phantoms, DeSmith almost earned his second.DeSmith stopped 33 of 34 shots, but the Phantoms scored in the shootout to beat the Penguins, 2-1 in a game that featured the bitterness of a playoff series. The win allowed Lehigh Valley to clinch a playoff spot, so a meeting between the two division rivals is possible.Taylor Leier&#8217;s goal in the third period snapped a lengthy Penguins shutout streak against the Phantoms. Until then, Lehigh Valley last scored against the Penguins on March 12, and the streak lasted 12 periods and 268:49. Over the last four games, the Penguins have allowed just one goal to the Phantoms.&#8220;It&#8217;s impressive,&#8221; DeSmith said. &#8220;That&#8217;s one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. We really shut them down the past four games or so.&#8221;While the scoring wouldn&#8217;t get started for a while, the fighting did. Garrett Wilson immediately sought retribution for the hit delivered by Phantoms defenseman Sam Morin that injured him on Feb. 14 and dropped the gloves with the blueliner just 38 seconds into the game.&#8220;If we see them in the playoffs it will be another battle, but for now it&#8217;s all settled I guess,&#8221; Wilson said. &#8220;We play these guys so many times you start to hate different players. If we meet them in the playoffs I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s going to be intense.&#8221;On the next shift, Tom Kostopoulos took a pass from Derrick Pouliot and hit the post, and then Phantoms goaltender Anthony Stolarz was injured seconds later and exited the game.Stolarz was replaced by Alex Lyon, who made 33 saves in the night, and over the next two periods both teams battled to a 0-0 stalemate.The Phantoms pressured several times in the second and early in the third, but DeSmith came up big each time. Shortly before the Penguins got on the board in the third period, DeSmith stoned Greg Carey who was alone in the slot to keep the game scoreless.&#8220;We hung Casey out to dry a little but and he made some big saves,&#8221; head coach Clark Donatelli said.On the ensuing shift, Simon put the Penguins on the board when he trailed Teddy Blueger into the Phantoms end. Blueger shot from the side, and Lyon allowed the rebound into the slot where Simon put the puck home for a 1-0 lead.The lead was short-lived as Lehigh Valley tied it up in the second half of the third period when Leier beat DeSmith to make it 1-1.After a scoreless overtime that saw several questionable plays not penalized, the Phantoms scored the only goal in the shootout when Corban Knight beat DeSmith in the second round.Despite the loss, the Penguins won the season series against the Phantoms, 7-4-0-1. While the Penguins didn&#8217;t have much to play for with a playoff spot and home ice already clinched, they still wanted a win.&#8220;It seems like this one didn&#8217;t matter to us, but that&#8217;s a team we play a lot and there&#8217;s a lot of thing that go on on the ice. Disagreeable things,&#8221; DeSmith said. &#8220;We really didn&#8217;t want to give them anything tonight.&#8221;<ins>For other sports stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom Veneskytvenesky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Lehigh Valley 2, Penguins 1, SOLehigh Valley`0`0`1`1 &#8212; 2Penguins`0`0`1`0 &#8212; 1First PeriodScoring &#8211; None. Penalties - LV, Morin (fighting) :38; WBS, Wilson (fighting) :38; WBS, Kostopoulos (tripping) 3:46; LV, Bardreau (slashing) 10:38; LV, Morin (high-sticking - double minor) 15:55Second PeriodScoring &#8211; None. Penalties - None.Third PeriodScoring &#8211; 1. WBS, Dominik Simon 15 (Blueger, Dea) 5:10. 2. LV, Taylor Leier 12 (Lamarche, McDonald) 13:11. Penalties - None.OvertimeScoring - None. Penalties - None.ShootoutWBS - Reese - NG; Kostopoulos - NG; Sundqvist - NGLV - Brennan - NG; Knight - GShots on goalLehigh Valley &#8211; 9-7-16-2-34Penguins &#8211; 13-11-8-3-35Power-play OpportunitiesLehigh Valley &#8211; 0 of 1Penguins &#8211; 0 of 3GoaltendersLehigh Valley &#8211; Anthony Stolarz (1 save- 1 shot); Alex Lyon - 1:32 of the first period, 25-14-4 (33 saves &#8211; 34 shots)Penguins &#8211; Casey DeSmith 21-4-3 (33-34)StartersLehigh Valley &#8211; G Anthony Stolarz, D T.J. Brennan, D Reece Willcox, LW Taylor Leier, C Scott Laughton, RW Colin McDonaldPenguins &#8211; G Casey DeSmith, D David Warsofsky, D Frank Corrado, LW Garrett Wilson, C Oskar Sundqvist, RW Ryan HaggertyThree Stars1. LV, Alex Lyon (one goal allowed, 33 saves) 2. WBS, Casey DeSmith (one goal allowed, 33 saves) 3. LV, Taylor Leier (goal)Referees - Evgenii Romasko, Terry Koharski. Linesmen &#8211; Jud Ritter, Ryan Daisy.Attendance - 5,013</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TomVenesky</shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">WkK0icSxWBg </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkK0icSxWBg </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Casey DeSmith talks about WBS loss to Phantoms.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Tom Venesky | Times Leader</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</videoMeta></div>

WBS Penguins shutout streak against Phantoms ends in 2-1 shootout loss