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PENGUINS SEE 3-D (Deslaurier, DuPont and Dixon) IN VICTORY

A record-setting first period gave the Penguins all the padding they would need, as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 6-1 win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza on Friday night. The win upped the Pens’ record to 21-4-2-2 on the season, and moved them ahead of the Hershey Bears and into second place in the East Division, one point behind the Norfolk Admirals – the same Admirals who will be in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night.

The Penguins pounced on Bridgeport for four goals in a span of 2:10 in the opening frame (a new team record for fastest four goals), with three of those tallies coming on the power play.

But even with a substantial early lead and an even larger margin of victory, head coach Todd Richards was less than thrilled with the team’s play.

“It wasn’t a 6-1 game, let’s not be fooled by the score,” Richards stated. “I measure our games not by wins and losses…but rather by how we play the game, things that we want to do well. And there were some things tonight that I wasn’t too, too happy with.”

One area of the game Richards was more than pleased with, though – that being the play of netminder Jeff Deslauriers.

The Edmonton prospect held the Sound Tigers off the board for 59:56, before a Frans Nielsen shot found its way into the net on a very late power play. And many of his stops, especially during the second and third periods, were of the spectacular variety.

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SHOTS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
BPT	8	12	11	--	31
WBS	10	8	5	--	23

GOALS BY PERIOD
TEAM	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	TOTAL
BPT	0	0	0	--	1
WBS	4	0	2	--	6

THREE STARS

1. Micki DuPont

2. Jeff Deslauriers

3. Stephen Dixon

GOALTENDER STATS
TEAM	GOALIE	GA	SV	W-L
BPT	Thompson	4	6	L
BPT	Mole	2	11	ND
WBS	Deslauriers	1	30	W

“We relied too heavily on him tonight,” said Richards. “And yes, in a 4-0 game, Bridgeport, they might as well just go. So maybe they took some chances that normally they wouldn’t which created some problems for us.”

Deslauriers didn’t seem to mind the work though, as he bounced back from a subpar performance against the Toronto Marlies more than a week ago to record his 11th victory of the season.

Of course, having a 4-0 lead after one frame didn’t hurt his game, either.

“It’s always good when your guys respond in front of you like they did from the start,” Deslauriers said. “They gave me confidence, and that made my play increase. And if my place increases, that gives confidence to my guys, so it’s like a circle.”

The Penguins scoring surge started when Micki DuPont, recently returned from Pittsburgh, banged home a one-timer off a Rob Schremp feed during a two-man advantage at 13:58.

Noah Welch delivered a bomb 31 seconds later during the second penalty, and DuPont followed that with his second of the night on the team’s fourth power play opportunity.

Stephen Dixon deflected a Connor James shot between Thompson’s legs at 16:08 to chase the Bridgeport goalie, and to eclipse the former team mark for four fastest tallies by 41 seconds.

Dixon doubled his tally with a shorthanded goal off a Tyler Kennedy feed 3:22 into the third before Daniel Carcillo notched his 13th of the year to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick at 9:32.

The win was the third in a row for the Penguins, and extended their streak of consecutive games with at least one point to eight (14 points).

NOTES: The previous record for four fastest goals was 2:51 and set in the first period on December 26, 2005 against the Hershey Bears. Penguins goals came from Chris Kelleher (12:57), Jonathan Filewich (13:42), Kenny Corupe (14:15) and Maxime Talbot (15:48).