WBS Pens Win 4-3 in OT, Clinch Best Record in AHL

The Penguins clinched the league's best record tonight!

The fans began to get restless about three minutes into overtime when Corey Potter chose to back it up in his own zone and let the forwards change, but it was easily the best decision made on the night. Potter would pass the puck to a fresh Geoff Walker and he did the rest, skating around, between and through the Amerks down the left wing side and finished the coast-to-coast play with a toe drag and then a backhander into the net. Game over, Pens win.

The win gives the Pens their 55th of the season and the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, awarded to the league’s regular-season points champion. It's the first in team history for the Pens.

More after the jump.


Corey Potter got the Penguins on the board in the first period with another point shot goal. He's really been lighting up the lamp since his one game recall to Pittsburgh last month. Newcomer Paul Thompson picked up his second point in as many nights and Zach Sill got his first of three points with the secondary assist.

Rochester would tie the game at one later in the first and after a scoreless 17:27 of second period play the Pens would get into penalty trouble, first with a too many men on the ice call and then a bogus tripping penalty by Chris Collins just 11 seconds later. The Pens would kill almost all of the 5-on-3 power play but just as the first penalty expired the Amerks took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

The Pens wasted no time tying up the game in the third as an Andrew Hutchinson slap shot made it a 2-2 game 2:45 into the final frame. Just over two minutes later Zach Sill would beat the defense and make a great move to beat Marc Cheverie on a breakaway to give the Pens a 3-2 lead. But just 95 seconds after that the Amerks struck back and tied it with Jeff LoVecchio's 8th goal of the season.

But the Pens didn't panic. They out shot the Amerks 14-6 in the third period and went into the overtime session already having clinched the AHL's best record. John Curry made a few good saves off of faceoffs early in the extra session and played well in the limited action he saw. The Pens out shot the Amerks tonight 44-27.