Adam Brooks and Rhett Gardner scored and Cal Petersen stopped 21 shots as Lehigh Valley went on the road and defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 2-1 in the opener of their Atlantic Division first-round series on Wednesday night.
The Phantoms head home with a chance to finish off the best-of-three on Friday.
Brooks, a Calder Cup champion as a rookie with Toronto in 2018, got Lehigh Valley on the board 14:37 into the first period.
Then Gardner, who recorded a team-high eight points in eight playoff games for Texas last year, doubled the lead 58 seconds into the middle frame.
Ville Koivunen, in his Penguins debut, scored the only goal of the night for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The 20-year-old Koivunen played in his native Finland this season; he was acquired from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade last month.
Joel Blomqvist made 30 saves for the Penguins in his first career Calder Cup Playoff start.
It was just the Phantoms’ second regulation win in 13 tries against the Penguins this season.
(Lehigh Valley leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 24 – Lehigh Valley 2, W-B/SCRANTON 1
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 26 – W-B/Scranton at Lehigh Valley, 7:05
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 28 – Lehigh Valley at W-B/Scranton, 5:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
