Penguins Sink Pirates, Win 5-3

Monday, February 20, 2012

An exciting finish to the game this afternoon. The Penguins had a 4-3 lead with 2:15 left, but Ryan Craig took a slashing minor to give the Pirates a big chance to tie it up.

Scott Munroe made some big saves on the penalty kill and Alexandre Picard iced a puck 195 feet and caught a lucky bounce off the boards to get it in an empty net.

Pens win 5-3 and are now tied with the Norolk Admirals with 69 points each.

A lot of lineup changes for today's game. It was Scott Munroe vs. Justin Pogge in net.  Zach Sill, Eric Tangradi and Cody Wild sat out in favor of Brandon DeFazio, Steve MacIntyre and the return of Simon Despres.

Recap after the jump.



After a scoreless first period, where Munroe and Pogge each made 12 saves, the teams erupted for a five goal second period.

Nick Petersen opened the scoring 3:12 into the middle frame with his 8th of the season after good work by the Petersen-Craig-Walker line.

Then the Pirates got two quick goals on the board 2:05 apart.  Tyler Eckford blasted a slap shot past Munroe to tie it at one and Ryan Duncan gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

The Penguins got their first power play of the game at the 12:36 mark when the Pirates were whistled for too many men, and Geoff Walker made them pay with his 15th goal of the season. Colin McDonald and Ben Street got the assists on the power play tally. That goal tied the game at 2.

With 3:05 left in the second period, Ben Street made both defensemen on the ice for the Pirates take hooking minors, giving the WBS Penguins a full two minute 5x3 power play.  Pogge was making a lot of saves and it appeared the Pens were going to let the opportunity slip away.

But a great passing play gave Bryan Lerg an open net to tap in his team leading 22nd of the year. McDonald and Grant got the assists.

Simon Despres would fall right off the hop on an offensive zone face-off and would be forced to take a holding minor. Brett MacLean would tie the game at 3 on the power play 3:07 into the final frame.

At the 12:17 mark, Bryan Lerg drew a hooking call but Brian Strait wouldn't allow a power play to happen. Bortuzzo passed the puck across the blue line and Strait flung it on net and beat Pogge for his 3rd of the season, giving the Pens a 4-3 lead they would not look back on.

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