Penguins conclude season on a high note

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins concluded their regular season on Sunday afternoon against Hershey Bears at Giant Center with a noticeably different line-up than they’ve used in previous games.

With absolutely nothing at stake standings wise, Penguins’ head coach Todd Reirden scratched several big-name players. Chris Minard, Jeff Taffe, Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy, and John Curry all had the night off.

But the Penguins did not rest Janne Pesonen, who leads the team in scoring.

“Personally, I wanted to have a good game before the playoffs,” Pesonen said. “I think the past two or three games weren’t that good and I wanted to have a good feeling for the playoffs and play a good game.”

Pesonen was all smiles after the game, as he scored twice in the third period and assisted on linemate Nick Johnson’s game winning goal as the Penguins turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-4 victory, spoiling Hershey’s chances of clinching home ice advantage throughout the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs.

“They wanted to win the game, Hershey,” Reirden said. “To our guys’ credit we wanted to win the game as well… Our whole group just came together as one tonight. It just shows that character and belief with the guy sitting next to you goes a long way. It’s certainly something we can gain from this as we move forward here.”

After the opening 22 minutes of the game went scoreless, the two teams erupted for four goals in a span of 2:54. Luca Caputi got the ball rolling, scoring a power play goal at the 2:00 mark of the second period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Only 86 seconds later, Hershey’s Andrew Joudrey converted a pass from Travis Morin to restore the deadlock.

Bill Thomas scored on an odd-man rush to give the Penguins a 2-1 advantage, but American Hockey League Most Valuable Player Alexandre Giroux responded with his league-leading 59th goal of the season 34 seconds later.

The 2-2 draw held until the final minute of the middle stanza, but Francois Bouchard ensured that the Bears would head to the locker room with a lead. He one-timed Kyle Wilson’s cross-ice pass over a sprawling Adam Berkhoel with just 57.6 seconds remaining in the period.

The line of Pesonen, Johnson, and Mark Letestu took over in the third period, with Pesonen netting the equalizer at 1:45 and then giving the Penguins the lead for good with a power play strike at 5:07. Johnson one-timed the eventual game-winner past Bears’ goaltender Darren Machesney at 17:16. Giroux became the fifth 60-goal scorer in the history of the American Hockey League when he backhanded a puck past Berkhoel at the 18:49 mark of the third.


Reirden was happy to see a line other than Paul Bissonnette, Joe Vitale, and Jean-Michel Daoust producing, noting that his team played with the sense of urgency and desperation that they lacked in Saturday night’s loss to Norfolk that crushed their hopes of a division title.

“There was a lot on the line for a lot of players tonight, in regard to trying to prove that they should be in our line-up on Friday night," the coach said. "We have an extremely competitive situation… it was a challenge for our guys and they stepped up to the plate tonight.”

“We have four good lines right now. Biss and Vitale and J.M. are doing a phenomenal job just bringing energy and smart plays all over the ice,” Johnson said. “I think the other three lines on our team have to pick it up a little bit to kind of keep up with them right now. It was a good night; stuff kind of went our line’s way. It was good to be a part of it.”

NOTES

Bill Thomas skated with Dustin Jeffrey and Luca Caputi. The fourth line consisted of Tim Wallace, Adam Henrich, and Aaron Boogaard.

J.P. Cote and Joey Mormina started on defense, while Lane Caffaro skated with Deryk Engelland and Andy Wozniewski was paired with Jon D’Aversa.

Deryk Engelland was the only Penguin to appear in all 80 games this season. He has appeared in 160 consecutive regular season games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

BOXSCORE

W-B/Scranton  0 2 3 – 5
Hershey Bears  0 3 1 – 4

First Period: No scoring. Penalties: WBS, Caffaro (slashing) 4:57; Her, Wilson (hooking) 9:52; WBS, Bissonnette (fighting) 9:52; Her, Finley (fighting) 9:52; WBS, Henrich (interference) 12:55; Her, Machesney – served by Bouchard (delay of game – puck over glass) 17:27.

Second Period: 1, WBS, Caputi 18 (Daoust, Thomas) 2:00 (PP). 2, Her, Joudrey 7 (Morin) 3:26. 3, WBS, Thomas 8 (Caputi, Caffaro) 4:54. 4, Her, Giroux 59 (Aucoin) 5:28. 5, Her, Bouchard 15 (Gordon, Wilson) 19:02 (PP). Penalties: Her, Finley (hooking) 2:00; WBS, Johnson (fighting) 10:21; Her, Arsene (fighting) 10:21; WBS, Vitale (hooking) 15:25; Her, Aucoin (slashing) 16:25; WBS, Engelland (tripping) 17:07.

Third Period: 6, WBS, Pesonen 31 (Letestu) 1:35. 7, WBS, Pesonen 32 (Wozniewski) 5:07 (PP). 8, WBS, Johnson 14 (Letestu, Pesonen) 17:16. 9, Her, Giroux 60 (Aucoin, Bourque) 18:49. Penalties: Her, Brennan (roughing) 3:26; WBS, Caffaro (delay of game – puck over glass) 9:04; WBS, Thomas (slashing) 12:45.

Shots on Goal: W-B/Scranton 7-12-11--30. Hershey 8-13-13--34.

Power-play opportunities: W-B/Scranton 2 of 4; Hershey 1 of 6.

Goalies: W-B/Scranton, Berkhoel (34 shots, 31 saves). Hershey, Machesney (30 shots, 26 saves).

Three Stars: 3, WBS, Caputi (goal, assist). 2, Her, Giroux (two goals), 1, WBS, Pesonen (two goals, assist).

Attendance: 8,575. Time: 2:20.

Referee: Terry Koharski. Linesmen: Rob Fay, Mike Hamilton.