WBS Penguins Win 3rd Straight Over Admirals, 2-1

I must have said it a thousand times but Nick Petersen is the real deal. Look out! His two goals tonight were no fluke.

The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins came into Norfolk, Virginia down 2-0 in the best of seven series and facing three straight road games against the Admirals. It's safe to say the Penguins took care of business in Norfolk and now control their own destiny, up three games to two with Game 6 tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre and if necessary Game 7 on Monday. What a week for the WBS Penguins.

Both WBS goals came in the first period and both came on the power play. Nick Petersen tallied both goals and both on great effort from behind the net. Brett Sterling and Andrew Hutchinson recorded assists on each goal and gave the Pens a lead they would never look back on. They held the Admirals to just three shots in that first period and made a statement in the first 20 minutes of play.

The teams played a scoreless second period and WBS out shot the Admirals 11-9 and kept the two goal lead going into the final frame.

Brad Thiessen made some unbelievable stops tonight, especially when he stacked the pads and robbed an Admirals shooter in the third period. While the defense had trouble getting pucks out of the zone much of the night, the Pens got solid play from the defense when it mattered most and Thiessen was a brick wall in net.

The Admirals found a way to beat Thiessen with 10:15 left on a Mark Barberio power play point shot but were unable to find the equalizer. The Pens defense kept the Admirals pinned down and didn't let Dustin Tokarski off the ice for an extra attacker until the last 35 seconds or so. The Admirals had a good chance with 9 seconds left but Thiessen shut the door and the Pens take a 3-2 series lead back to Wilkes-Barre with a chance to wrap up the series tomorrow night in Game 6.