Kolarik's Hat Trick Lifts Pens Past IceCaps

Chad Kolarik scored three goals, including the game winner in overtime, to lift the Pens past the IceCaps for a clean sweep up in Newfoundland. The Penguins are 8-0-0-1 in their last nine games and with only two games left in the regular season, they look to enter the postseason on a roll.

Dominik Uher picked up his third goal of the weekend in the 2nd period to give the Pens a 2-1 lead, but the IceCaps stormed right back with two goals of their own before a Trevor Smith breakaway goal sent the two teams tied at three heading to the third period.

In the third period, Kolarik took over. He scored his 30th goal of the season to tie the game at four with 5:17 left to play. Then, in overtime, Kolarik netted his 31st of the season about halfway through the extra session to give the Pens their 8th win in their last nine contests.

With the hat trick on Sunday, Kolarik is just one goal away from tying the Penguins franchise record for most regular season goals (32), set by Janne Pesonen in the 2008-09 season. 

A few lineup changes for the Penguins on Sunday, with Brad Thiessen in net for Jeff Zatkoff, Reid McNeill in for Cody Wild and Christian Minella in for Chris Collins.

With the Penguins playoff spot at 5th in the conference nearly set in stone, I would expect to see guys like Joey Mormina and Dylan Reese get some rest heading into the postseason. Same could be said for some of the veteran forwards as well.