An elbowing call on Nate Guenin, followed quickly by a Don Morrison roughing penalty on Daniel Carcillo gave the Pens the extended power play. But Philadelphia held tough to keep the score knotted.

“Power play, for the most part through the season, has put us where we are,” said Richards. “Tonight I feel like the power play is one of the contributing factors in the loss. When you get a five-on-three for a minute and forty-seven seconds, you need to generate some offense.”

Martin Grenier broke the scoreless tie at 18:04 of the second period, when he took a bouncing puck in the Penguins zone and wristed a shot over Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers’ blocker for his first tally of the year.

That score held until Kyle Brodziak picked up a rebound off a Noah Welch slap shot, then flipped the puck off the near post behind Philly netminder Scott Munroe. The dancing rubber flirted with staying out of the goal, but finally toppled over the line to even the score.

Seconds after the second infraction expired, Niko Dimitrakos split two Wilkes-Barre defenders, then slid a shot between Deslauriers’ pads to pick up what would proved to be the game-winner.

Dimitrakos added to his goal total with his sixth of the season, which found an empty net, at 19:49.

The loss dropped the Penguins into second place in the East Division, as the Hershey Bears posted a 6-3 victory over Bridgeport to leap into the top spot in the standings.

The Pens return to action Wednesday in Albany, and take on the Crunch in Syracuse on Friday before returning home to close out 2006 against the Providence Bruins.