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Wolf Pack feast on depleted WBS Penguins roster

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton shorthanded due to injuries and promotions to Pittsburgh.

Matthew Conyers For The Times Leader

HARTFORD, Conn. — By the time the first period came to a close Thursday against the Wolf Pack, the Penguins found themselves in position all too familiar during the past two weeks —down and out.

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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, depleted by injuries and departures to the NHL, allowed four goals in the first period, including two power-play goals 30 seconds apart, to head into the locker room down three goals.

Despite outscoring Hartford in the final periods, the Penguins were never able to completely recover.

Hartford’s Paul Crowder and Dale Weise scored 30 seconds apart on the power play in the opening period and Matt Zaba had 21 saves as Hartford defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5-3 Thursday at the XL Center in front of 1,600.

“We have a lot of new guys and think at the start we stood around and watched the puck,” Penguins coach Todd Reirden said. “Then we got comfortable we were able to start putting something together.”

Crowder’s goal came on a 5-on-3 penalty with 11:01 left, and Weise scored on the back end of the 5-on-4 with 10:31 left

“We definitely came in wanting to get a good start, but going down 5-on-3 was a big goal for them,” Penguins defenseman Lane Caffaro said.

Wilkes-Barre Scranton (8-7-1) entered Thursday’s game without Nate Guenin, who was called up to Pittsburgh to help fill another role left open by several injuries to the parent club. Aaron Boogaard, Kevin Veilleux and Ryan Bayda were all out in Hartford with injuries sustained last Saturday at Hershey.

“That’s what the AHL is all about — developing new players and giving them those opportunities,” Reirden said.

“It was a tough start. They were able to convert on special teams and like it often does special teams play had a big impact on the game.”

Hartford finished 3-for-6 on the power play.

Down three in the second period and two at the start of the third, the Penguins were able to get within one when Wade Brookbank beat Zaba on a low shot glove side with 10:12 left.

“We responded and hung in there,” Caffaro said. “We tighten up defensively and did a much better job staying out of the box (to allow ourselves to come back).”

But the Wolf Pack (9-5-1) had an answer, scoring on another streaking play that saw Paul Crowder finish off a pass from Evgency Grachev with 8:25 left.

“We’re always look to play our top game in all aspects and (Thursday) we were very effective,” Hartford coach Ken Gernander said.

After falling behind by two in the first period, the Penguins were able to trim the lead to one on a goal from Tim Wallace with 7:07 left on a shot that beat Zaba glove side. But Hartford responded less than three minutes later when Corey Locke beat John Curry.

The Wolf Pack capped off the four-goal period with 2:30 left on a score from Byers. In the second, Robert Bortuzzo finished off a pass from Luca Caputi with 17:05 left to make it 4-2.