The Penguins make it interesting again, but are on the good side of a 5-3 win tonight in Worcester.
The Pens needed to kill off a 6-on-3 power play in the final minute, but the defense held and Warren Peters added an empty net goal in what is the weirdest play I have seen in quite some time.
With 10.8 seconds left and a Sharks penalty called, the face-off came into the WBS offensive zone. Instead of putting Harri Sateri back in net, the Sharks leave him on the bench and Peters muscles the face-off in route to the empty net goal. That goal gives Peters tallies in each of his last two games.
Much like Wednesday night, the Penguins were awarded a two-man advantage in the first period against the Worcester Sharks. The only difference between Wednesday night and tonight was the Penguins capitalized.
Brian Dumoulin found Dylan Reese at the far face-off dot and Reese made no mistake, blasting the puck top shelf to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Penguins power play went right back to work early in the middle frame, with Chad Kolarik picking up his team leading 23rd goal of the season after finishing off a 2-on-1 chance with Riley Holzapfel.
From there the flood gates opened. Paul Thompson deflected a Joey Mormina point shot to make it 3-0 just 23 seconds after Kolarik's tally. Then, Worcester got on the board via a Yanni Gourde goal just 14 seconds after the Pens had made it 3-0. Three goals separated by just 37 seconds.
Holzapfel was in perfect position later in the period and tapped home a rebound that made it 4-1 with 3:25 left.
At the time, I thought it was a back breaker for Worcester, trailing 4-1 heading into the third period. But the Sharks would not go away into the night quietly.
The Sharks made a game of it in the third period, getting on the board early and really taking it to the Penguins. They pulled within one goal with 4:55 to go but that would be as close as the Sharks would get tonight.
The Penguins travel overnight to Portland, where they take on the Pirates tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. EST.
ROSTER NOTES
Brad Thiessen got the start in net tonight.
Injured list: Tom Kuhnhackl (upper body) and Phil Dupuis
Brian Dumoulin found Dylan Reese at the far face-off dot and Reese made no mistake, blasting the puck top shelf to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Penguins power play went right back to work early in the middle frame, with Chad Kolarik picking up his team leading 23rd goal of the season after finishing off a 2-on-1 chance with Riley Holzapfel.
From there the flood gates opened. Paul Thompson deflected a Joey Mormina point shot to make it 3-0 just 23 seconds after Kolarik's tally. Then, Worcester got on the board via a Yanni Gourde goal just 14 seconds after the Pens had made it 3-0. Three goals separated by just 37 seconds.
Holzapfel was in perfect position later in the period and tapped home a rebound that made it 4-1 with 3:25 left.
At the time, I thought it was a back breaker for Worcester, trailing 4-1 heading into the third period. But the Sharks would not go away into the night quietly.
The Sharks made a game of it in the third period, getting on the board early and really taking it to the Penguins. They pulled within one goal with 4:55 to go but that would be as close as the Sharks would get tonight.
The Penguins travel overnight to Portland, where they take on the Pirates tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. EST.
ROSTER NOTES
Brad Thiessen got the start in net tonight.
Injured list: Tom Kuhnhackl (upper body) and Phil Dupuis
Healthy Scratches: Cody Wild, Dominik Uher and Steve MacIntyre
Lines:
Holzapfel - Smith - Kolarik
Collins - Gibbons - Megna
Payerl - Peters - Thompson
Farnham - Sill - Minella
Reese - Dumoulin
Grant - Mormina
Samuelsson - Morrow
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