Helge Grans Scores Winner with 2:00 Left
April 25, 2025
Allentown, PA – Phantoms defenseman Helge Grans weaved his way through the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defense and then finished what he started when he dove forward to knock in a rebound of an Anthony Richard shot with just 2:00 remaining in an intense and exciting 3-2 win over the Penguins in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Playoffs series.
Anthony Richard and Jacob Gaucher also scored for the Phantoms while 18-year-old first-rounder Jett Luchanko had a pair of nifty assists for a second consecutive postseason game.
Lehigh Valley finished the two-game series sweep of the northeast Pennsylvania rivals to advance to the second round of the playoffs against either Charlotte or Hershey. The Phantoms will find out their schedule and opponent in the upcoming Best of 5 series on Sunday after the conclusion of the Springfield vs. Providence series.
Phantoms fans came out in full force ready to “Rally the Valley” instilling an intense and electric atmosphere in Lehigh Valley’s Game 2 matchup against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The team responded.
Parker Gahagen and Sergei Murashov were fantastic in the hard-fought goaltenders’ duel that was scoreless through the first 35 minutes.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had several strong chances, particularly in the second period, but the Phantoms racked up 14 blocked shots, several deflections for backdoor seam-pass tries, and Gahagen was there to clean up the rest. One sharp-angle shot from the left circle aimed for the upper-right corner had the 31-year-old West Pointer wildly windmilling his arm around to catch the puck and then hang onto it behind his head while he obtained the whistle. Whatever works! Just moments before that, a close-range deflection went off of Gahagen’s helmet as the Phantoms’ netminder made a “head save” among his 31 total shots.
Lehigh Valley had some strong pushes too. And eventually broke through on a quick rush up ice with Garrett Wilson finding Luchanko racing up the left-wing to connect with the speedy Anthony Richard who buried his short breakaway at 14:33 of the second for a 1-0 lead. Richard’s goal was his second of the playoffs.
But Wilkes-Barre/Scranton responded late in the period with a power-play strike from rookie blueliner Tristan Broz. who rocked it home from the right circle past Gahagen on a seam-pass by Boris Katchouk to get the Penguins on the board with just 25 seconds left in the period at 1-1.
The Penguins had cranked up 16 shots on goal in the second-period onslaught though and Gahagen was key in keeping Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from pulling away.
Lehigh Valley’s defense buckled down in the third and limited the Penguins to just six shots. But it was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton who would take its first lead of the series at 6:26 when Broz would find rookie second-rounder Harrison Brunicke fading across the high slot to the left circle to roof his first goal as a professional putting the Baby Pens ahead at 2-1.
That lead would only last for 88 seconds though. Jacob Gaucher got to a rebound of a Zayde Wisdom shot and scored from the right of the cage to even the count at 2-2 at 7:54 into the third period. Olle Lycksell got rocked in the corner to begin the sequence but successfully connected with Wisdom for the scoring opportunity.
Gaucher had scored the series-clinching goal against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton almost exactly one year earlier with his overtime winner in Game 2 at PPL Center on April 26, 2024.
Garrett Wilson almost blew the roof off the building a couple minutes later when his chance from the right circle blasted off the post and stayed out. And we stayed tied.
Grans maneuvered quickly up ice in the game’s closing minutes and showed some serious wheeling in splitting the Penguins’ defense and gaining the entry into the zone. He distributed to his left to Luchanko who immediately put it down low to Richard who was denied in front by Murashov. But the Penguins goalie was moving and, for the second time in the period, the Phantoms would score on the rebound.
Grans dove for the puck from the right circle and somehow knocked in a little backhand push underneath the diving Sebastian Aho and through Murashov for the winner. Grans, a fourth-year pro in his second season with the Phantoms arrived to the Flyers’ organization two years ago via a trade with the Los Angeles Kings. The 22-year-old played well in his first NHL callup with a six-game stint with Philadelphia in November.
Gahagen and the Phantoms hung on the rest of the way and Wisdom got the last clear down ice to clinch the victory as time expired and an Orange-Dominated crowd screamed with approval.
The Phantoms will play in the Atlantic Division semifinals beginning next week against either Charlotte or Hershey. The second-round playoff opponent and schedule will be announced on Sunday evening.
SCORING SUMMARY
2nd 14:33 – LV, A. Richard (2) (J. Luchanko, G. Wilson) (1-0)
2nd 19:35 – WBS, T. Broz (B. Katchouk, V. Koivunen) (PP) (1-1)
3rd 6:26 – WBS, H. Brunicke (T. Broz, V. Koivunen) (1-2)
3rd 7:54 – LV, J. Gaucher (Z. Wisdom, O. Lycksell) (2-2)
3rd 18:00 – LV, H. Grans (A. Richard, J. Luchanko) (3-2)
Shots:
LV 31 – WBS 33
PP:
LV 0/5, WBS 1/5
Goaltenders:
LV – P. Gahagen (W) (2-0) (31/33)
WBS – S. Murashov (L) (0-1) (28/31)
Series:
Phantoms win the series 2-0
UPCOMING
Atlantic Division Semifinals vs. Charlotte or Hershey
Best of 5 Series
Series Schedule will be announced Sunday evening
