Penguins Rally Past Falcons In Wilkes-Barre

March 19, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are battling for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and they used a relentless third period attack on the Springfield Falcons Friday night to earn a must needed two points. The Falcons saw their 4-1 lead disappear in the final period and Deryk Engelland scored in the overtime for Wilkes-Barre giving the Penguins a 5-4 overtime victory at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. The Falcons will next head to Hartford to battle the Wolf Pack on Saturday night.

The Penguins came out fast and furious in the final 20 minutes trying to erase a three-goal deficit. Konstantin Pushkarev started the rally at 3:12 of the third period for the Penguins, followed by Nick Johnson scoring his second goal of the game at 9:09 of the final frame pulling the Penguins to within one at 4-3. Chris Conner evend the score at 4-4 just 31-seconds after Johnson's marker sending the 6,214 into a frenzy.

"I thought we were lucky to have a lead after two periods because we didn't deserve it with how we were playing," said Falcons head coach Rob Daum "They came out and attacked us all period long and we couldn't answer back.".

In the second period, Springfield built a 2-0 lead at 6:19 when Colton Fretter tapped in a Jordan Eberle rebound on the power play. Johnson cut the Falcons' lead to 2-1 just over a minute later when he scored his 14th goal of the year, but the Falcons responded right back with a pair of markers of their own. Liam Reddox tipped in a Dean Arsene shot at 7:57 of the middle period, followed by J.F. David scoring his first AHL goal at 12:31 of the second frame.

The Falcons appeared to have taken a 5-1 lead late in the second period when Chad Wiseman's shot looked to have hit the back cross bar inside the net, but after the officials gathered for a lengthy discussion, the goal was waved off.

Late in the middle period, Jason Pitton and Engelland dropped the gloves for a marathon fight with Pitton holding his own for the Falcons.

Eberle quickly made an impact in the game when he scored his first goal of the year on his first shift of the game. Eberle was set up by Chad Wiseman in front before Eberle made a nice forehand to backhand play to slide a puck past Penguins goaltender Brad Thiessen just one-minute into the first period.



American Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2010


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