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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins Pull Out 5-4 Win On Opening Night

October 3, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Chris Minard recorded a natural hat trick, and Tyler Kennedy picked up the game-winning goal on a flip in from the neutral zone, as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins posted a 5-4 win against the Hershey Bears Wednesday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

The game was the opener of the American Hockey League's 72nd season, and was played out in front of a capacity crowd of 8,157.

A pregame video honoring long-time Penguins tough guy Dennis Bonvie was just a precursor to the action on the ice, as the AHL's all-time penalty minutes leader brought the fans to their feet as he tossed down with and handily defeated Grant McNeill at center ice just 2:16 into the contest.

But it was Hershey pest Louis Robitaille who laid claim to the season's first goal, as he beat Ty Conklin with a snap shot from the top of the left circle at 6:20 of the first.

Minard took over from there, rattling off three straight tallies in a span of 8:37 to give the Penguins the lead.

A 32 goal scorer a year ago, Minard played tic-tac-toe with Kris Letang to pick up his first score, backhanding the pass into the upper regions of the net behind a sliding Frederic Cassivi.

His second tally came on a one-timer off a Kennedy feed at 16:38, and the Penguins took a one-goal lead to the first intermission.

The hats came flying down at 2:51 of the second, as Ryan Stone shuffled behind a defender on the power play, then slid a backhand pass to an open Minard, who had about five feet of net to work with.

Robitaille, who recorded just six goals all of last season, picked up his second of the night, dinging a shot off the far post on a slapshot at 7:48.

Less than a minute later, Chris Bourque jumped into a scrum in front of Conklin and poked the puck through several pairs of legs to record his first of the year.

Jason Morgan was whistled for a roughing penalty against Ryan Stone as the second period came to a close, giving the Pens another power play opportunity to start the final period. And with 27 seconds left in the advantage, Jeff Taffe deflected an Alex Goligoski blast that eluded Cassivi to make the score 4-3.

But Hershey bounced back, as Joe Motzko swatted at a Bourque rebound and found pay dirt at 6:43.

The game looked to be headed to overtime, until Kennedy threw up a floater from the neutral zone. Hershey defender Sami Lepisto tried to glove the fluttering puck, but only managed to deflect it out of Cassivi's line, and it found the goal for what turned out to be the deciding goal.

Conklin stopped 19 shots for the Penguins, while Cassivi turned aside 25 in the loss.

NOTES: The hat trick was the 17th in Penguins history, and the second to come on opening night. Erik Christensen scored four goals on October 5, 2005 in an 8-1 win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

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