The best in the West met the beast of the East on
Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, with the Penguins
collecting two points from the Chicago Wolves with
a 5-3 win.
The victory raised the Pens’ record to 18-4-1-2
on the season, tying them with the Rochester Americans
for first place overall in the league. The Wolves
fell to 18-7-1-0, two points behind the Western Conference
leaders.
It was a game of contrasting styles, as the black
and blue battle of the Penguins limited the highest
scoring team – and line – in the AHL to
just three goals. Chicago entered the game having
notched five tallies in each of their previous four
contests.
The Pens also held the line of Jason Krog, Darren
Haydar and Brett Sterling to just two points on the
evening (1+1). Not bad considering the trio sat one-two-three
in the league in scoring entering the game.
“They’re a good offensive team. They
come at you, and that line that they have is a good
line, that can make plays,” said head coach
Todd Richards. “They’re going to make
plays, the other line, and they’re going to
get their chances. It all comes down to how you can
limit them to their chances, how much.”
The job of putting the squeeze on the top line in
the league fell to Daniel Carcillo, Connor James and
Stephen Dixon, who not only held the opposition in
check, but chipped in with a goal of their own.
“The line of Dixon, Carcillo and James played
a huge key in the game,” said Penguins leading
scorer Jonathan Filewich. “They limited their
chances and still got [their own] chances.”
Filewich played his part in the game as well, notching
a pair of first period power play tallies, raising
his season total to 13.
The Pens came out strong, scoring twice in the first
7:33 to put the Wolves on their heels. Filewich tapped
home a pass from the top of the crease six minutes
into the game, before Tim Wallace picked up his first
AHL tally by knocking home a Kurtis McLean rebound.
Haydar extended his scoring streak to 26 games with
a power play marker of his own (assisted by Krog),
but that was all the offense the high flying group
would muster on the night.
“They’re an extremely skilled team. They
gave us a good run at it,” said Filewich. “I
think we just shut them down.”
Filewich popped in his second power play goal of
the night at 15:03 of the first to give the Pens a
two goal cushion heading into the middle frame.
Carcillo extended his goal scoring streak to five
games early in the second, intercepting a pass in
the neutral zone and then tucking the puck between
the pads of Micahel Garnett, who actually kicked the
puck over the goal line.
The Wolves scored goals late in the second and then
15 minutes into the third before Joe Jensen banged
home his first in the AHL with 2:02 to play to secure
the win.
“[Jensen, Wallace and Kurtis McLean] were great
tonight. Really good energy,” Richards said
of the threesome recently recalled from Wheeling of
the ECHL. “They brought a lot of energy and
physical play, and it was great to see them have some
success.”
Andrew Penner put to subpar results behind him by
stopping 23 of 26 shots for the win.
NOTES: Matt Carkner picked up an
assist on Wallace’s first period goal, giving
him a five-game assist streak.
