The goals came in quick succession. One, two, three all in a span of one minute, 37 seconds in the second period.
All of the frustration from a month-long losing skid began to melt away for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which earned a 5-2 victory over Lehigh Valley on Saturday in Allentown.
The Penguins hadn’t won since Dec. 12 against Springfield, dropping eight straight and earning just one point in that span.
Goals have been tough to come by for the Penguins, and they held a 1-0 lead on Valtteri Puustinen’s team-best 11th goal of the season midway through the first period.
Unlike Friday night’s win by the Phantoms, though, the Penguins finally broke through as Sam Poulin, Felix Robert and Nathan Legare all scored at even strength in that span of under two minutes in the second.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton led 4-0 with 8:33 left in the second and had to withstand a pair of goals by Lehigh Valley’s Connor Bunnaman and Wade Allison on the power play in the third to make things tense.
But captain Taylor Fedun calmed things down with an empty-net goal with 1:16 left to secure the win.
Matt Bartkowski added a pair of assists as he, Fedun and Robert all finished with two points to lead the charge.
The Penguins allowed just 22 shots on goal and Tommy Nappier picked up the win with 20 saves.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will close out a three-in-three weekend today when Hershey visits Mohegan Sun Arena for a 3:05 p.m. game.