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MAC BITES BULLDOGS

Kurtis McLean has had bigger nights for the Penguins, like the evening he tied the team record with a five point outing. But he’s never had a bigger impact on a Pens’ game than he did on Saturday.

McLean recorded a goal and an assist in regulation, then netted the deciding shootout goal to lead the Penguins to a 5-4, come-from-behind victory against the Hamilton Bulldogs at Wachovia Arena.

The win, the team’s 30th of the year, snapped a season-high three-game losing streak for the Penguins.

McLean opened the scoring 7:47 into the game with his seventh goal of the season, then assisted on Joe Jensen’s third of the campaign to cut a two-goal Bulldogs’ lead in half.

But it was his second shootout attempt that proved the difference. After being denied by Yan Danis on his first go, McLean was determined to end the proceedings in the ninth round.

“My second time around I really wanted to get out there, because I felt I had him beat the first time but I didn’t just get it up quite enough, it hit his glove,” he said.

OFFICIAL SCORESHEET

SHOTS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
HAM	14	7	4	2	27
WBS	7	17	8	1	33

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
HAM	1	2	1	0	4
WBS	1	2	1	0	4

THREE STARS

1. McLean

2. Grabovski

3. Kostitsyn

GOALTENDER STATS
TEAM	GOALIE	GA	SV	W-L
HAM	Danis	4	29	SOL
WBS	Dubnyk	4	23	W

McLean finally broke through, snapping a career 0-for-4 record in AHL shootout attempts to give Wilkes-Barre the win.

But McLean wasn’t alone in getting credit. Devan Dubnyk, making his first AHL start, stopped seven of nine tries in the shootout to record his first win in the league.

“I think the pace [of the AHL] was faster obviously than what he’s used to,” said head coach Todd Richards. “The shots come a little bit quicker…the release is quicker. They move the puck really well. A couple of times he was maybe out of position a little bit. But for the most part, pretty happy with the way he played.

“He was great in the shootout.”

Hamilton scored three consecutive goals, including two in a 54 second span in the first three minutes of the second period. But the embattled Pens’ fought their way back with a gritty Jensen goal, scored off a McLean rebound. Leading scorer Jonathan Filewich popped home his 21st of the season to even the score at 3-3 late in the second period.

But Kyle Chipchura netted a shorthanded tally early in the third to put the visitors back in front, before former Bulldog Marc-Antoine Pouliot pulled the Pens back into a tie with a power play goal at 6:16.

“Jensen was able to bang in a rebound and that gave us some life. It got the crowd back into it, I think we got energized,” said Richards. “We’ve got big strong guys that have to get pucks to the net and go to the net. They did a good job of that for the second half of the game.”