The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins entered Saturday
night’s match with the Philadelphia Phantoms
looking to bounce back from a less than satisfying
overtime loss to the Toronto Marlies one night earlier.
They did that, and much, much more.
Kyle Brodziak led the Penguins onslaught with four
points (2+2), as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 7-1
victory over their intrastate rivals at Wachovia Arena.
The win raised the club’s record to 19-4-2-2
on the season.
“It’s a great rebound by the group,”
said head coach Todd Richards. “[Friday] night
we had a sub-par performance by a lot of our guys.
I think the guys were focused [Saturday]. You could
see it on their faces this morning, there was disappointment
still from [Friday] night’s game.
“When they showed up tonight, we were focused
and ready to play.”
No one was more focused than Brodziak, who recorded
his first career two-goal game and set a new personal
best for points in a game. He also netted the game-winning
goal, his third of the year.
“Obviously scoring seven goals, we were able
to do some things in the offensive zone,” Richards
said. “Only giving up one was a commitment to
the defense, and Andrew [Penner] played well, making
some saves.”
Brodziak figured in on the opening goal of the game,
flipping a puck through the crease during a five-on-three
early in the first period. That pass deflected off
Jonathan Filewich’s skate and bounced directly
to Noah Welch, who buried a shot behind Martin Houle
for the only tally of the first 20 minutes.
“We knew they were going to come out hard.
I think our team did a good job of matching their
intensity,” said Brodziak. “Our team identity
I think is to wear teams down, and then later on in
the game that’s when we’re going to take
over. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Brodziak put the Pens up by two goals 8:25 into the
second, stealing a pass in the neutral zone then roofing
a shot for his seventh goal of the season.
Frederik Cabana notched the Phantoms’ only
goal of the game less than three minutes later, using
a screen to slip the puck between Andrew Penner’s
legs.
Stephen Dixon regained the two-goal lead seconds
later, taking a pass from a prone Connor James and
stuffing it into the Philly goal, and Tyler Kennedy
extended the lead to three goals with a short side
shot on the power play to finish off the second period
scoring.
Brodziak’s second goal of the night came just
35 seconds into the third period, and Micki DuPont
and Rob Schremp finished off the evening with a couple
ticks for good measure.
The victory allowed the Penguins to gain a point
on the East Division leading Hershey Bears, who dropped
a 4-3 overtime decision to the Marlies at the Giant
Center.
NOTES: Kennedy (1+1), Dixon (1+1),
Welch (1+1), DuPont (1+2), Filewich (0+2) and Schremp
(1+1) all scored multiple points for the Penguins.
