AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins Prevail Over Pirates

Published on February 20, 2012 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


PORTLAND, Maine - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins outlasted the Portland Pirates in a back-and-forth affair to take a 5-3 victory on Monday afternoon at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The win was the team's league-leading 20th on the road this season and also allowed the Penguins to pull into a tie with the Norfolk Admirals for first place in the East Division.

With Wilkes-Barre/Scranton up 3-2 coming to the third period, Portland was able to even the match just 3:07 into the third period. During a 5-on-4 advantage, Brett MacLean got a stick on Patrick O'Sullivan's shot to deflect it past Penguins goalie Scott Munroe

The Penguins answered back with 7:43 left in regulation during a delayed penalty call on Portland. Brian Strait snuck his third goal of the year past Justin Pogge to put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead for good.

The Pirates had a chance to tie with a late power play and Pogge pulled for the extra attacker, but Alexandre Picard iced the game with the shorthanded empty-net goal at 19:25 of the third.

After the first period saw neither team find the back of the net, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Portland combined for five goals with the Penguins getting on board first. Nick Petersen was able to deposit the rebound from Ryan Craig's shot to make it 1-0 at 3:12 of the second.

Just over three minutes later, Portland defenseman Tyler Eckford had room to walk in from the blueline and bomb a slapshot to the back of the net and tie the score, 1-1. The Pirates then took their first lead of the contest at 8:39 of the same period after Munroe left a rebound out in front of his net and Ryan Duncan slammed it home.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton soon after went to work on the man-advantage to take back its one-goal edge. Ben Street was able to keep in a failed clearing attempt by Portland's penalty kill and quickly sent a pass down low to Geoff Walker, who swept in his 15th goal of the season at 13:10.

Roughly four minutes later, Street drew two hooking penalties on the same rush up-ice to give the Penguins a 5-on-3 power play. Some quick tic-tac-toe passing through the Pirates zone gave Bryan Lerg the easy tap-in past Pogge with 1:25 until the second intermission.

Munroe stopped 25 shots for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to send his record to 11-4-3 on the season.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins host the Manchester Monarchs on Thursday, February 23 at 7:05 PM. For tickets and more information, call the Penguins at (570) 208-PENS or visit www.wbspenguins.com.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from February 20, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central