The Penguins battled back from a pair of two-goal
deficits, only to see a late lead slip away with the
Toronto Marlies pulling out a 6-5 overtime victory
Friday night at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.
“We had some guys that weren’t very good,
from the net all the way out,” said an upset
Todd Richards after the game. “Looking at the
team, I don’t know really who had a good game
or who stood out, well the one exception might be
Connor James. But we had sub-par performances.
“We had the chance to get two points. We let
it slip away.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton led the game 5-4 with 2:25
to play when Brett Engelhardt was whistled for a boarding
call, giving the home club what appeared to be all
that they would need to sew up the game. But the Marlies
countered the Pens’ attack with a three-on-two
going the other way one minute into the infraction,
and Jeff Corey wrister beat Jeff Deslauriers to force
the extra frame.
“Two minutes to go, two and a half minutes
to go in the game and you have a power play, the only
thing you have to think about, the only thing, is
to be responsible. And we had guys out there that
weren’t responsible,” said Richards. “Move
it around, put pucks at the net, and come back. That’s
all you have to do.”
Unfortunately, things got even worse in overtime,
as Kyle Brodziak was called for tripping with 54 seconds
left in the frame, the penalty coming in retaliation
to a push to the back on the side boards. Eighteen
seconds later Kris Newbury beat Deslauriers from in
close to cap a see-saw affair.
“I think we’re disappointed. We had control
of the game with two minutes left and the power play,”
said James, who scored twice in the game, including
once shorthanded himself. “I was happy to get
some goals, but I was on the ice for three of their
goals, so it kind of negated that.”
Toronto struck first with Boyd Devereaux tapping
a shot past Deslauriers’ right skate 4:28 into
the game.
James netted his first of the night by stealing a
puck on the near boards, then breaking in with Stephen
Dixon on his right side. Instead of dishing, James
wristed a precision shot into the upper right hand
corner behind Justin Pogge to tied the score.
Jamie Sifers and scored before the first period ended,
and Engelhardt notched his ninth of the campaign early
in the second before Dixon got in the goal column
by banking a puck off a Toronto defender in the crease.
Ben Ondrus regained the two-goal lead midway through
the period, but Kyle Brodziak’s tip home with
44 seconds remaining in the second gave the Pens life
headed into the third.
James got the Penguins back on even footing by picking
up a rebound on the far post, then skating around
the net and wrapping a shot just inside the near post
26 seconds into the final frame. Kurtis McLean gave
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton their only lead of the night
with a nice screened shot from the point at 7:49.
But that tally was all for naught, as the Marlies
stormed back to pick up their 11th win of the season.
“They’re a good team and we kind of left
off a bit. They don’t quit and they’ll
keep coming at you,” said James. “The
great thing is that we play again tomorrow.”
