AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Pens win fourth straight versus Bears

January 23, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


HERSHEY, PA - Chris Minard scored twice and Mark Letestu recorded a goal in his fourth straight game, as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins posted a 4-3 shootout win Friday night over the Hershey Bears.

The win upped the Penguins record to 27-15-1-2 on the year, and moved the team into second place in the East Division standings. It was also the fourth straight win for the Pens over the first place Bears, whose record stands at 31-12-0-3 on the season.

The Bears held leads of 1-0 and 3-1, only to see the Penguins claw back and eventually take the victory.

Minard scored 48 seconds into the middle period to even the score at 1-1, before Alexandre Giroux and Tyler Sloan scored 4:40 apart to give the home club a two goal cushion midway through the game.

But Letestu scored with less than a minute left in the period to pull the Pens within one goal, and Minard netted his team-high 28th of the season at 3:42 of the third period to force overtime.

Hershey outshot the Penguins 7-2 in the extra frame, but John Curry was up to the task, as he turned aside 33 of 36 shots on the night, and then stopped three of four in the shootout.

Janne Pesonen led off the one-on-one portion of the night with a goal, and Jean-Michel Daoust scored in the fourth round. Keith Aucoin was the only one of five Bears shooters who could beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton netminder, who picked up his 10th win in his past 12 games.

NOTES: Letestu extended his goal streak to four games...Minard set a new franchise record with his 14th and 15th power play goals of the season. He now trails Tom Kostopoulos by just three goals for the team's career power play goal total (28 to 31).

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2009


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