PENGUINS JUMP OUT TO LEAD, HOLD ON TO BEAT PHANTOMS 3-2

groupPOST-GAME AUDIO: Todd Richards | Alain Nasreddine | Alex Goligoski

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The last time the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took to the Wachovia Center ice in Philadelphia, the club saw a three-goal lead slip away, as the Phantoms posted six goals in the third period to record a 7-4 victory, ending the Pens’ 2005 playoff hopes.

As the lone holdover from the Penguins team which tumbled out of the postseason on May 13, 2005, Alain Nasreddine remembers that game well.  That might make the events of Game Three all the more sweet.

Nasreddine picked up the first goal of the night as the Penguins held on to post a 3-2 win Monday night in Philadelphia.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton now leads the best-of-seven series two games to one, with Game Four slated for Wednesday night in Philadelphia.It was a dominating Penguins performance for the first 40 minutes, during which time the visitors outscored the Phantoms, 3-0, and out-shot their hosts, 24-7.

“I love the way we played in first period.  We played a great first period.  We played hard, our execution was good,” said head coach Todd Richards, who saw his club score three times in a seven minute span, including a pair of goals by Nasreddine and James just 12 seconds apart.  “We wanted to get pucks deep and did a good job executing in the offensive zone.  I think we played so hard in the offensive zone that they didn’t have a lot of energy coming up the ice.”

“Our second period we spent a lot of time on the power play, and that was the main reason for their five shots.”

Nasreddine opened the scoring midway through the opening frame, picking up his second goal of the postseason off a nice feed from Dave Gove.

“I closed my eyes again,” laughed Nasreddine.  “Gover made a nice play, I out-muscled a guy and came down.  I yelled so hard and he had no choice but to see me…He made a perfect pass and I shot it.”

James followed quickly, beating Scott Munroe for his third playoff goal.

Goligoski made the score 3-0, but not without another conference between a referee and goal judge.  The Pens’ defenseman shot a puck from the left side that hit off Munroe’s pads and trickled over the goal line on edge, just barely squeezing all the way over.  That extended his point streak to seven games (3+9=12).

“I was going behind the net right after I shot it, and I saw it go over.  It was close, but it definitely got over,” said Goligoski.

The Pens had four power play chances in the second period, but failed to capitalize on any of those tries.

“Our power play wasn’t good.  We weren’t able to use it in creating any momentum,” said Richards.  “If we take one of those power plays and score, that’s four to nothing, that’s a long way to come back versus a team that’s defended really well all year.”

The Phantoms came out with new life in the third period, and worked their way back into the contest.  Luca Caputi was called for hooking at the 7:24 mark, and 34 seconds later Stefan Ruzicka backhanded a shot over John Curry’s right shoulder for his fourth of the postseason.

Thirty-two seconds after that, Jonathan Kalinski picked up a loose puck behind the Pens net and stuffed it between Curry’s left skate and the goal post, cutting the lead to one.

“When you take a three goal lead, you want to stay focused, which we maybe didn’t do,” said Nasreddine.  “They get one goal and the second quick goal and that’s what happens, they make it interesting.

“I wouldn’t say we changed our game, but we probably weren’t as aggressive as we were…At the end they made it interesting.  We stayed composed and Curry made the big saves when he had to.”

The win gives the Penguins the narrow advantage headed into Game Four Wednesday night back at the Wachovia Center.

“Tonight’s game is over with.  Obviously I feel good with the result.  But the goal now is to win on Wednesday,” said Richards.  “But I’m not going to be satisfied with a split and I don’t think the guys in there will be satisfied with a split.  What we’ve done is we’ve put ourselves in a position to win two games, and the next game is the biggest.  It’s the first one to four…Game four is a huge game.”
 

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