Penguins march on to East Division Finals

With 51.4 seconds remaining in the third period of Friday night’s game, Jeff Taffe saw a loose puck come gliding toward him at the right face-off circle.

“You don’t get those very often,” Taffe said.

And when the Bridgeport Sound Tigers turned the puck over deep in their own zone with less than a minute to play in regulation, Taffe knew what he had to do.

He skated towards the puck and unloaded a slap shot that flew past Bridgeport goaltender Peter Mannino, giving the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 4-2 victory and eliminating the Sound Tigers from the Calder Cup Playoffs.

“I really had no idea it went in for a few seconds, but it was huge” Taffe said. “It’s a great feeling. We lose this game, you never know what might happen.”

The Penguins received power play goals from Chris Minard and Dustin Jeffrey, as well as an even strength marker from Jean-Michel Daoust, but led by just a single goal after two periods of play. And after collapsing in the third period to the Sound Tigers the last time the two teams met at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza, the Penguins were determined to not make the same mistakes.

“Even though they carried the play at the end of the game, today we were composed, under control, and did our job,” said Penguins coach Todd Reirden. “They were the team that was forced to make plays. We were in the lead, we worked hard to get to the lead, and I thought that was our best game – by far – in the third period with a lead.”

With the victory, the Penguins advanced to the East Division Finals. They will take on the top-seeded archrival Hershey Bears, who swept the Philadelphia Phantoms in their playoff matchup, in a best-of-seven series that begins on Saturday in Chocolatetown.

“It’ll be a real, real challenge for us,” said Reirden. “They’ve got an outstanding team, a ton of depth. We’ll definitely have our hands full there with a team that’s definitely the most talented in the league.”

Although the Penguins enjoyed success against the Bears during the regular season, winning seven of the ten meetings between the two clubs, the team doesn’t necessarily expect that to translate into the playoffs.

“It’s a whole other season. Obviously, we can take confidence from that and we can draw on some of their tendencies that we’ve picked up through the year, but it’s a seven game series now,” Jeffrey said. “With exhibition and regular season, I think we’ve probably played them probably 15 times. I think that kind of goes by the wayside and it’s a race to four now.”

With the not so easy task of upsetting 60-goal scorer and American Hockey League MVP Alexandre Giroux’s Hershey squad ahead of his team, Reirden said that the week-long layoff before the second round begins will provide the Penguins with some much needed rest and relaxation.

“It was definitely a grinder series, from the looks of it a little bit more difficult than the one Hershey went through,” the coach said. “This will give us some time to recharge our batteries and get healthy, some guys were banged up and playing through it. This gives a chance to go into Saturday as healthy as we can be.”

ROUND TWO SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 2     Penguins @Hershey        7:00 PM
Sunday, May 3     Penguins @Hershey        5:00 PM
Wednesday, May 6    Hershey @ Penguins     7:05 PM
Friday, May 8        Hershey @ Penguins     7:05 PM
Saturday, May 9    Hershey @ Penguins     7:05 PM*
Sunday, May 10     Penguins @Hershey        5:00 PM*
Tuesday, May 12     Penguins @Hershey        7:00 PM*

*If Necessary

Hershey home games are played at Giant Center, while Penguins’ home games take place at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

NOTES

The list of players that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recalled from Wheeling following the Nailers’ elimination from the ECHL playoffs is as follows: goaltender Curtis Darling, defensemen Brock Sheahan and Reid Cashman, and forwards Jordan Morrison, Bryan Ewing, and Tommy Goebel.

BOXSCORE
 
Bridgeport        1 1 0 – 2
W-B/Scranton 1 2 1 – 4

First Period: 1, WBS, Minard 5 (Taffe, Goligoski) 7:37 (PP). 2, Bri, DiBenedetto 1 (Lessard, Haskins) 9:35. Penalties: Bri, MacDonald (hooking) 7:30; Bri, DiBenedetto (roughing) 12:37; WBS, Taffe (roughing) 12:37; WBS, Lovejoy (hooking) 18;18.

Second Period: 3, WBS, Jeffrey 4 (Caputi, Thomas) 5:29 (PP). 4, WBS, Daoust 3 (D’Aversa, Minard) 13:13. 5. Bri, Joensuu 2 (Colliton, Callahan) 14:25. Penalties: Bri, Kohn (hooking) 0:38; Bri, Callahan (slashing) 3:38; WBS, Wallace (boarding) 9:44; Bri, Kohn (holding) 16:45;

Third Period: 6. WBS, Taffe 3 (Minard, Johnson) 19:06. Penalties: WBS, Vitale (goaltender interference) 6:19; WBS, James (hooking) 9:49.

Shots on Goal: Bridgeport 13-4-5--22. W-B/Scranton 3-11-4--18.

Power-play opportunities: Bridgeport 0 of 4; W-B/Scranton 2 of 4.

Goalies: Bridgeport, Mannino (18 shots, 14 saves). W-B/Scranton, Curry (22 shots, 20 saves).

Three Stars: 3, WBS, Jeffrey (goal). 2, WBS, Daoust (game-winning goal). 1, WBS, Minard (goal, two assists).

Attendance: 5,260 Time: 2:15.

Referees: David Banfield. Linesmen: Rob Fay, Paul Carnathan.