By Al Cohen
Philadelphia Phantoms Correspondent

Andy Chiodo stopped all 18 shots he faced as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took a two games to one lead in the East Division Finals with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phantoms tonight at Wachovia Arena.

Chiodo, who was taken out of Game One after surrendering four goals in just over 21 minutes, made eight saves in the second period and five in the first and third tonight for his second postseason shutout.

Antero Niittymaki stopped 24-of-27 shots for Philadelphia, which will return to Wilkes-Barre on Monday for Game Four of the best-of-seven series. Game Five is set for Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Just as in Game Two, Wilkes-Barre jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Colby Armstrong opened the scoring tonight with his third goal of the series at the 1:21 mark, as he took a feed from Marquis Mathieu and launched a slap shot by Niittymaki from the far circle.

Brooks Orpik also assisted on Armstrong's goal and helped set up Michel Ouellet's second postseason goal that widened the gap to 2-0. Konstantin Koltsov received the other assist at 8:35 of the opening period.

But unlike Game Two when Philadelphia scored twice in the second period en route to a 3-2 comeback win, the Penguins were able to increase their lead to 3-0 through 40 minutes of play.

With Ian MacNeil in the box serving a slashing minor, Tom Kostopoulos and Ryan Whitney worked the puck to Shane Endicott for his third goal of the playoffs at the 4:16 mark.

The third period was scoreless and featured a line brawl after the buzzer that included Niittymaki and Chiodo at center ice.

It was the fifth time in club history that the Phantoms were shut out in a playoff game and the first since Game Three of the 2001 Western Conference Semifinals vs. the Penguins.

Phantoms Notes: Stephen Wood, Ben Eager, James Laux, Les Borsheim, Kirk Furey, Mike Peluso, Stefan Ruzicka and Craig Berube were scratched ... Nick Deschenes was activated prior to the game ... Philadelphia fell to 9-6 all-time in Game Three of a playoff series ... Wilkes-Barre was 1-for-11 on the power play, while Philadelphia finished 0-for-7.