WILKES-BARRE, PA - David Brown’s 29 saves kept the Penguins in the game, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scoring touch disappeared for one night, as the Philadelphia Phantoms grabbed a 2-1 shootout victory at the Wachovia Arena on Saturday night.
The loss was just the Pens’ second in a shootout this season (23-13-0-2, 48 points), while the Phantoms padded their lead in the East Division to seven points (27-11-1-0, 55 points) over the Penguins.
“I thought for two periods we generated some good chances, had some good opportunities,” said head coach Todd Richards. “We didn’t spend much time in our own end, which is a positive thing. In the third they played a smarter period, Philadelphia did. And we just didn’t have a lot of gas in our tanks.
“We didn’t have a lot of life on the bench. The energy of last night’s game [a 3-1 comeback victory against the Hershey Bears] took a lot out of us. But we worked hard and competed.”
The home team controlled play early, outshooting the Phantoms 21 to 11 over the first 40 minutes, but still found themselves trailing by a goal as time sound down in the middle period. With defenseman Deryk Engelland draped on his back, Pete Zingoni drove through the Penguins’ zone and shoveled a shot over Brown’s left pad at 9:12 of the second.
After failing to convert on their first four power play opportunities of the evening, Mark Letestu finally solved netminder Brian Boucher. After Alexander Picard was whistled for delay of game for knocking the Philly net off its moorings, the Pens’ hottest hand blasted a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that dinged the far post and found the back of the cage. The goal was Letestu’s fourth in the past four games – and fourth of his AHL career.
“Our power play [on Friday night], I thought we were good,” Richards said. “We executed well up the ice, entered the zone with possession. We looked crisp, passes were on the tape.
“Tonight we weren’t crisp. We had pucks on our tape and they were hitting their sticks, we were losing battles, and weren’t able to execute. We were a little flat in that area.”
Philadelphia dominated play in the third, peppering Brown with 17 shots. But it wasn’t until the shootout session that the visitors would beat the rookie goaltender, as the Phantoms scored three times in six tries to secure the extra point.
The game was the final home contest for the Penguins before the All-Star Break, as the club plays its next six games on the road, starting Friday night in Norfolk.
NOTES: The crowd of 8,357 was the largest for a home regular season contest since November 5, 2005, when 8,369 fans saw the Penguins down the Phantoms, 4-1.
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