Success is something that has come easily to the Penguins when they host the Admirals. The last Norfolk win in the Diamond City came on February 14, 2004, a string of 11 home wins for the Pens.

Like Saturday night, Pouliot was the man to get the scoring going. He picked up a loose puck off a Daniel Carcillo shot, then stuffed it behind a sprawling Cory Crawford for a power play marker.

The Pens then struck for three goals in a span of 1:47, with all three coming as the result of hard hits that loosened the puck.

“I think we we’re better tonight but we wanted to talk about investing in the physical play,” said Richards, “especially early on, because it pays off in the third period and we were able to create turnovers off of our physical play.”

Troy Brouwer broke up Andrew Penner’s shutout bid 6:35 into the second period, But Pouliot responded minutes later with his second of the night.

“The last five games before (Saturday) I’ve had a few chances that didn’t go in, the luck wasn’t there,” Pouliot said. “The last two games I’ve just buried my chances, and I’ll take it.”

“Pouliot’s a skilled guy that needs to make plays,” Richards said. “He was probably a little snake bitten when he first got here, but I think a lot of that has to do with being sent down. Not that he didn’t accept it, but (he was) probably a little frustrated and disappointed.

“I think now he’s starting to feel comfortable with the team, comfortable with the coaches, comfortable with the city and hopefully he’ll break things out here and he’ll score a lot more goals. But he’s been good; he’s been putting himself in the right places to make plays.”

Christensen closed the Pens scoring with his second of the night before the period was out, and Norfolk added two tallies in the third to reach the final score. There were also some fisticuffs, with Matt Carkner, Ryan Stone and Wade Skolney all squaring off as time ran down.

“That’s what part of team building is,” Richards said. “It’s caring for the other person, its sacrificing.”

NOTES: Carcillo also had a fight on the night, giving him the Gordie Howe hat trick (a fight, a goal and an assist). Carcillo could have tacked another goal on, but was turned away by Crawford on a penalty shot attempt in the second period…Crawford was relieved at the start of the second period by Mike Ayers…Andrew Penner picked up his fifth win of the season…Christensen has a four-game point streak, and now sits in third place in the league in scoring.