3/11 WBS Penguins Win Third Straight Shootout In Road Trip
By: Colin Riccobon
Updated: March 12, 2012
For the third consecutive game over their weekend in New England, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins skated to the shootout and again they triumphed, 4-3, on Sunday against the Springfield Falcons at MussMutual Center.
The Falcons struck early in the second frame during a 5-on-4 advantage to pull the home team into a 2-2 tie. Brent Regner sent in a shot from the point that Alexandre Giroux tipped by the goalie Patrick Killeen.
Giroux would find the back of the net again in the last four minutes of the period with the help of a 5-on-3 power play. Killeen turned aside a shot from Martin St. Pierre, but Tomas Kubalik kept the puck alive for Giroux to shove across the goal line.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would be forced to kill off an eight-minute major power play to start the third after Steve MacIntyre was sent off with a match penalty. The Penguins escaped still trailing by only one with a chance late in the game to tie the score.
The Penguins' power play converted on their fifth opportunity of the contest and made the score, 3-3, when Alex Grant beat a screened Paul Dainton with 5:07 left in regulation for his seventh goal of the year.
As they had done the previous two nights, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would head to the shootout. Cody Goloubef beat Killeen in the top of round one, but Cal O'Reilly responded for the Penguins. Killeen denied the remaining four Falcons shooters, while Colin McDonald registered the game-winner in round three.
The Penguins needed less than two minutes to break the scoreless tie as Ryan Craig led a 3-on-1 rush where he found Alexandre Picard at 1:56 with a backdoor pass.
On the ensuing faceoff, Springfield's Nathan Longpre sprung into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone for a breakaway tally that evened the score twenty seconds later.
It didn't take long for the Penguins to regain their lead after Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat an icing call. O'Reilly threw a shot toward the net that Craig deflected past Dainton at 3:37.
Killeen gathered his first AHL win with 21 saves on 24 shots through overtime. The victory was the Penguins' fifth road win and AHL-best 24th on the road this season.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins conclude their four-game road trip on Wednesday, March 14 versus the Norfolk Admirals at 7:15 PM.
