Pesonen propels Penguins over Philly

When it came time for interim head coach Todd Reirden to select which of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to use in the shootout, he didn’t have a difficult choice to make.

He sent out Miroslav Satan, a former National Hockey League All-Star who had four points in his Penguins debut on Monday, and Janne Pesonen, who had beaten Philadelphia Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe twice in regulation.

They both scored, and Penguins’ goaltender John Curry stopped four of the five Phantoms he faced in the bonus round to lead Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 3-2 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

“I’ll take that,” Reirden said of the Satan-Pesonen 1-2 punch. “It wasn’t a tough decision there, in terms of those two guys going. That was fun to watch.”

Pesonen’s goal in the second round gave the Penguins their fifth win in their last six games and propelled Wilkes-Barre/Scranton into second place in the American Hockey League’s East Division. They sit one point behind the division-leading Hershey Bears.

With the shootout loss, the Phantoms gained a standings point, but they sit nine points behind the Binghamton Senators for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division.

“They need points if they want to get back in the playoffs and we need points trying to catch the first place team,” Satan said. “Everybody wanted to gain points and didn’t want to make mistakes.”

Pesonen opened the scoring late in the first period when he collected a loose puck and backhanded it past Munroe. But the Phantoms stormed back in the second period, receiving goals from former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton training camp attendee Rob Sirianni and Jeff Szwez.

As has happened so often this season, the Penguins found themselves entering the third period facing a deficit despite outshooting their opponents.

“All you can do at that point if you’re trailing is try to keep going and keep shooting the puck,” Pesonen said. “At some point, you might get the goal.”

The point proved to be the 9:41 mark of the final frame. With the Penguins on a power play, Satan passed the puck across the perimeter to Dustin Jeffrey, who found Pesonen down low. Pesonen converted Jeffrey’s feed, racking up his 26th goal of the season.

“Credit to Janne again, great job getting in the right spot there on the power play to tie things up,” Reirden said.

As praiseful as Reirden was for Pesonen’s equalizer, he was even more impressed with the winger’s tally in the shootout. After his second goal of the game but before his shootout score, Pesonen was drilled into the boards by a Phantoms player. He then took a slash on his ungloved hand that resulted in a wound.

“Guys are going to take shots at him,” Reirden said. “He’s getting much better at dealing with adversity and capitalizing on it, getting the last laugh like that.”

Pesonen said that he knew the Phantom that slashed him, but wouldn’t tell reporters the player’s name. But he agreed with Reirden’s statement that the sweetest revenge is earning two points.

“You play the game to win games,” Pesonen said. “That’s the best you can get.”

NOTES

Prior to the game, Mark Letestu was honored as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Player of the Month for February.

BOXSCORE

Philadelphia      0 2 0 0 0 – 2
W-B/Scranton  1 0 1 0 1– 3

First Period: 1, WBS, Pesonen 25 (Letestu, Johnson) 11:42. Penalties: Phi, Maroon (roughing) 4:07; WBS, Engelland (roughing) 4:07; WBS, Caputi (boarding) 7:39.

Second Period 2, Phi, Sirianni 5 (Ross, Bartulis) 10:40. 3, Phi, Szwez 12 (Curry, Nodl) 16:32. Penalties: Phi, Szwez (slashing) 2:52; Phi, Raduns (slashing) 12:22.

Third Period: 4, WBS, Pesonen 26 (Jeffrey, Satan) 9:41 (PP). Penalties: Phi, Raduns (tripping) 1:22; Phi, Curry (interference) 7:52; WBS, Wozniewski (interference) 11:00; Phi, Kane (hooking) 13:04; WBS, Pesonen (tripping) 14:13.

Overtime: No scoring. Penalties: No penalties.

Shootout: Round 1, WBS, Satan G, Phi, Matsumoto NG. Round 2, WBS, Pesonen G, Phi, Ross G. Round 3, WBS, Letestu NG, Phi, Maroon NG. Round 4, WBS, Goligoski NG, Phi, Sirianni NG. Round 5, WBS, Taffe NG, Phi, Guenin NG.

Shots on Goal: Philadelphia 6-5-7-5-0--23. W-B/Scranton 10-13-9-1-1--34.

Power-play opportunities: Philadelphia 0 of 3; W-B/Scranton 1 of 5.

Goalies: Philadelphia, Munroe (33 shots, 31 saves). W-B/Scranton, Curry (23 shots, 21 saves).

Three Stars: 3, Phi, Munroe (31 saves). 2, WBS, Curry (21 saves). 1, WBS, Pesonen (two goals, shootout goal).

Attendance: 7,036. Time: 2:26.

Referee: Francois Charron. Linesmen: Matt McNulty, Jameel Chaudry.