Gudas Night, Pens Beat Crunch 5-3

Friday, November 30, 2012

The Penguins have won four games in a row and seven of their last eight with a 5-3 win over the Syracuse Crunch tonight.

It was Jeff Zatkoff vs. Dustin Tokarski in net. Zatkoff stopped 23 of 26 shots for the win, his 8th of November. Tokarski stopped 31 of 35 in the loss.

For the Penguins, Joey Mormina, Joe Morrow and Alex Grant were scratched on defense. Zach Sill was the lone forward scratch. Sill was expected to return to the lineup tonight but didn't take the warmup skate tonight. I have a hunch he returns tomorrow night.

A weird play 3 minutes into the game led the the Penguins first goal. Pascal Dupuis seemed to beat Tokarski with a backhander but the goal was waved off. Trevor Smith quickly got to the loose puck and gave the Pens a 1-0 lead. Dylan Reese got the lone assist.

The Crunch tied it late in the first period before Beau Bennett took over in the 2nd period. Bennett sniped Tokarski with a fake and shot to the top right corner. Holzapfel and Peters got the assists.

Brian Dumoulin got his first goal as a pro late in the period while on the power play to give the Pens a 3-1 lead.

Bennett was at it again in the third period, springing Holzapfel to a breakaway goal that seemed to put the game out of reach with 10:36 to play. But the Crunch battled back, scoring two goals and making it a 4-3 game in the final minutes.

Trevor Smith buried an empty net goal against his former team and the Penguins held on for the 5-3 win.


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