Last second heroics not enough for Penguins

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have had a goal for every game since Todd Reirden took over coaching duties from Dan Bylsma – register 40 shots on goal.

If they had stopped at 40 on Saturday night, the club would have achieved its goal but lost to the division-leading Hershey Bears in regulation.

But with 3.2 seconds remaining in the third period, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 41st shot of the game hit Mark Letestu’s foot and caromed into the net behind Hershey goaltender Michal Neuvirth.

Letestu’s soccer-style strike capped another third period comeback for Wilkes–Barre/Scranton that saw them score two goals in the closing 5:39 of play, only to eventually lose 3-2 in a shootout at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

“You outshoot a team like that, 42-20, you hope that things should go your way by the end of the game because you carry the play,” said Reirden. “Eventually, it did. It just took us all of 59 minutes and 57 seconds, but we battled and competed. We’ve had a lot of success lately in our shootouts, so one was bound to maybe go the other direction.”

It was the first shootout loss of the season for Penguins’ goaltender John Curry, who was beaten by Darren Reid, Kyle Wilson, and Chris Bourque in the bonus round. Curry had won his first five shootouts of the campaign, but was bested by Neuvirth’s 40-save performance on Saturday. The Hershey netminder stopped Miroslav Satan, Alex Goligoski, and Jeff Taffe, while conceding goals to Janne Pesonen and Letestu.

“Shootouts are shootouts. They buried a couple more than we did tonight,” Letestu said. “I’m sure Johnny would like to have a few back, but that’s the way it goes.”

The Bears raced out to a 2-0 lead after just 16:00 of play thanks to MVP candidate Alexandre Giroux’s league-leading 56th and 57th goals of the season. No AHL player has scored 57 goals in a season since Brad Smyth scored 68 goals for the Carolina Monarchs 13 years ago.

Hershey’s 2-0 advantage stood until the 14:21 mark of the third period, when Paul Bissonnette spoiled Neuvirth’s shutout bid by one-timing Janne Pesonen’s centering feed home.

Letestu forced overtime after the Penguins pulled Curry in favor of an extra attacker and called a time-out with 10 seconds left in the third period.

Letestu won the ensuing face-off, and the puck eventually came to forward Chris Minard. His shot was headed well wide of the net until it hit Letestu’s skate and trickled over the goal line, just out of the reach of the Bears’ goalkeeper.

“That’s just the way Todd drew it up, take care off the face-off and then get to the net,” Letestu said. “I was waiting for a Minard rebound but he fanned on it, hit me in the skate with it, and it just happened to direct into the net.”

With the loss, the Penguins fell to 47-24-2-3 on the season. They have 99 standings points and currently reside in third place in the American Hockey League’s East Division. By comparison, the Penguins won the East Division with 101 points last season, which Reirden thinks is a testament of the division’s skill level.

“A lot of the bottom teams in our division are not easy games. These guys come to compete and play every night. We’ve had a lot of trouble with Norfolk this year, Albany’s been tough for us as well. There’s definitely no gimmies in our division.”

NOTES

The Penguins are five points back of the Bears and only one point back of the second-place Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who had Saturday off. The Penguins hold a game in hand on Bridgeport. The top two teams in the East Division will have home ice advantage in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Center Joe Vitale made his professional debut. He wore #18 and was held off the score sheet in all categories.

Reirden said that goaltender Brad Thiessen, who was signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, will be on the ice at practice tomorrow.

BOXSCORE
 
Hershey Bears 2 0 0 0 1 – 3
W-B/Scranton 0 0 2 0 0 – 2

First Period: 1, Her, Giroux 56 (Perreault, Bourque) 1:40. 2, Her, Giroux 57 (Bourque) 16:00. Penalties: Her, Gordon (hooking) 4:50.

Second Period: No scoring.  Penalties: Her, Brennan (hooking) 3:34; WBS, Bench minor – served by Vitale (too many men) 5:57; WBS, Wozniewski (hooking) 10:03; Her, Osala (fighting) 13:29; WBS, Engelland (fighting) 13:29.

Third Period: No scoring. Penalties: Her, Lepisto (holding) 3:43; Her, Neuvirth – served by G. McNeill (delay of game) 9:17; WBS, Bissonnette (slashing) 12:01; Her, Wilson (delay of game) 14:40.

Shootout: Round 1: WBS, Satan NG. Her, Reid G. Round 2: WBS, Pesonen G. Her, Wilson G. Round 3: WBS, Letestu G. Her, Bourque G. Round 4: WBS, Goligoski NG. Her, Giroux NG. Round 5: WBS, Taffe NG. Her, No shot.

Shots on Goal: Hershey 8-6-5-1-1-21. W-B/Scranton 12-14-15-1-0--42.

Power-play opportunities: Hershey 0 of 3; W-B/Scranton 0 of 5.

Goalies: Hershey, Neuvirth (42 shots, 40 saves). W-B/Scranton, Curry (20 shots, 18 saves).

Three stars: 3, Her, Neuvirth (40 saves). 2, WBS, Letestu (goal, shootout goal). 1, Her, Bourque (two assists, shootout goal).

Attendance: 8,347 Time: 2:36.

Referee: Jeff Smith. Linesmen: Matt McNulty, Richard Leonard.