AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Pens Stun Falcons with Four Unanswered Goals in 4-1 Win

January 2, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins put a three-game losing streak to bed with a 4-1 win over the Springfield Falcons on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Josh Archibald snapped his scoring drought, Matt Murray was near-perfect in his return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Shavertown native Patrick McGrath took on one of the league's toughest in his first game of the season with the Pens, and Clark Donatelli saw his team earn him his first career win as an AHL head coach.

"It feels great. It's always great to get the first win," Donatelli said. "But I'm more happy with the way our team played. Most of the game we played with a lot of pace, guys played well defensively. We played the right way."

Dustin Jeffrey ensured Murray would not earn his fifth career shutout against Springfield when he opened the scoring just 1:17 into the game. Murray went on to make 30 saves in the game.

The Penguins answered with Archibald netting his first goal of the season on a breakaway at 6:01 of the first period, tying the game at one goal apiece.

The second period was owned by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as the Penguins went off for three goals in 3:17 of game time, going up 4-1 by the end of two.

Tom Kostopoulos gave his team its first lead of the game, 2-1, by redirecting a point shot by Tim Erixon between the legs of Falcons goalie Niklas Treutle at 4:08 of the second period.

Forty seconds later, Sahir Gill swept a puck underneath a sprawling Treutle, making it 3-1 in favor of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins' power play extended the lead to 4-1 when Bryan Rust scored eight ticks into Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's second man advantage of the contest. Rust's goal came at 7:25 of the middle period and brought the game to its final score.

Amid the Penguins' goal-scoring eruption, McGrath dropped the gloves with the Falcons' Eric Selleck. Both players landed a series of punches, but the altercation ended with a standing ovation from the crowd at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for the local product, who was called up one day earlier from the Wheeling Nailers.

"Everybody knows, that's what Patty does," Donatelli said of McGrath's fight. "The guys in that room love him... I think we scored two quick goals right after that. [The fight] got the guys going, it got the crowd into it. That's what he does."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton quickly hits the ice again for its next game against the Hartford Wolf Pack at XL Center. The contest is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2016


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