Josh Currie’s first shot attempt didn’t go in. No matter.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain stuck with the play, retrieved the puck again in the corner and gave someone else a chance to end the game.
Tim Schaller did just that, snapping home a one-timer of a Currie feed to give the Penguins a hard-fought 2-1 overtime win over Lehigh Valley on Wednesday at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Penguins (9-11-3-2) had snapped a four-game skid by beating Hershey on Sunday, and Wednesday gave them their first back-to-back wins since beating the Phantoms twice on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.
This latest victory was made possible by goalie Alex D’Orio, who made 41 saves in arguably the best performance of his young AHL career. D’Orio was only beaten on a first-period odd-man break and held strong from there, including stopping all 18 Lehigh Valley shots in the third.
Weathering that storm kept the Penguins in the game long enough for Anthony Angello to tie it up.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got on the board early in the third when the Phantoms took two penalties 21 seconds apart to give the Penguins a two-man advantage.
On the ensuing faceoff, Currie won the draw back to defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, whose contested pass looked like it was headed out of the zone.
But Angello made a nice play to stop the puck right as it hit the blue line. He kept it from there and skated down to the left circle and snapped one past Phantoms goalie Felix Sandstrom to tie the game.
Lehigh Valley had opened the scoring back in the first period when Linus Sandin converted on a two-on-one break, deflecting a Brennan Saulnier feed top shelf past D’Orio.
Saulnier, though, wouldn’t make it out of the first period.
A few minutes after the goal, Penguins defenseman Will Reilly caught Saulnier up high on a hit and was penalized for checking to the head.
Upset with the play, Saulnier went after Reilly later in the period and racked up 27 minutes worth of penalties for his trouble — five for fighting, two and 10 for instigating and, for good measure, an extra 10 for trying to continue the fight after the refs stepped in, a move that got him thrown out of the game.
Currie and Joseph both finished with two assists on the night to lead the team.
Schaller’s goal was his team-leading ninth of the season, and Currie now leads the squad with 18 points despite playing in just 17 games.
The Penguins are back on on the ice Friday when they hit the road to face Binghamton at 7 p.m.