Official Website of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PENS TURN IT ON IN THIRD TO PULL OUT WIN

  

Penguins head coach Todd Richards gave Erik Christensen a little lesson in humility during the second period of Friday night’s contest in Manitoba, benching the Penguins sniper after a turnover proved costly.

But Christensen used the extended rest as motivation, recording two third period goals to lead Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory against the Moose at the MTS Centre.

The win extended the Pens’ current winning streak to six games, and upped the team’s record to 7-1-0-0 overall on the season. Wilkes-Barre also stayed undefeated on the road at 4-0-0-0 after defeating the Moose in Winnipeg for the second straight night.

Christensen failed to win a face-off in the Pens’ end with the visitors up, 1-0, less than four minutes into the second period. Rick Ryien pounced on the ensuing loose puck and potted his third tally of the season to even the score, which led to Christensen’s punishment.



OFFICIAL SCORESHEET - Click Here


Former Penguin Jason Jaffrey extended the advantage with less than one tick left in the middle period, recording his team-high seventh goal of the campaign to make the score 3-1 at the end of 40 minutes.

Things got worse for the Pens as the period went on. Lee Goren followed the same pattern as Rypien, grabbing a loose puck after Marc-Antoine Pouliot failed to win a face-off late in the period, then beat Jeff Deslauriers to give the Moose the lead for the first time on the evening.

But Christensen was quick to make amends in the third period. The team’s leading goal scorer from a year ago swooped in to pick up a Tom Gilbert rebound at 3:29 of the third period to pull the visitors to within one goal. He then took a nifty feed from Rob Schremp six minutes later to even the score at 3-3 with 10 minutes to play.

The Penguins wouldn’t need nearly that long to go back in front, though, as Kyle Brodziak recorded what would turn out to be the game-winner on the power play less than three minutes after Christensen’s second tally.

Stephen Dixon scored the other Penguins goal, swatting a clearing pass out of midair and backhanding his shot behind goalie Drew MacIntyre 12 minutes into the game to give Wilkes-Barre its first lead of the night.

Deslauriers stopped 23 of 26 shots to record his fourth victory in as many games this season.

The win was the fourth in a row against the Moose for the Penguins, dating back to last season. Wilkes-Barre is already guaranteed to take the season series with Manitoba, having captured three victories with just one meeting left between the clubs this year.

NOTES: Eric Cairns made his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut in the win...Scratches for the Penguins were Curtiss Patrick, Dennis Bonvie and Alain Nasreddine...The Penguins were outshot for the first time this season on Friday, as Manitoba took 26 attempts to Wilkes-Barre's 25...