Penguins

ahl

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins stopped at home and replenished their lineup with the addition of three key players Saturday night.

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The Penguins celebrate their goal in the first period against the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night in an AHL game at the Wachovia Arena.

Fred adams/for the times leader

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The Penguins’ Luca Caputi (17) tries to get the puck past Syracuse goalie Kevin LaLande, sprawled on the ice, as Crunch defenseman David Liffiton (48) tries to push Caputi away. The Penguins’ Dustin Jeffrey (21) is also involved in the play during first-period AHL action at the Wachovia Arena.

Fred adams photos/for the times leader

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The Penguins even put together a double-digit shot advantage for the second consecutive night.

None of that was enough to avoid their second defeat in as many nights.

Dan Fritsche and Kevin Harvey scored third-period goals to rally the Syracuse Crunch to a 4-3 AHL victory over the Penguins.

“Our power-play capitalizes and gives us a chance to win,” Penguins coach Todd Reirden said, “but then our puck management and wall play were not what they needed to be.”

The loss at home to the sixth-place Crunch comes in a difficult stretch in the schedule, tucked between road games against the league’s top team and the East Division’s top team to complete a stretch of four games in five nights. The Penguins finish the tough week today at 5 p.m. against the division-leading Hershey Bears.

The Penguins seemed to be positioned for a win when Dustin Jeffrey scored on the power play 53 seconds into the third period for a 3-2 lead.

“When we get that third one at home, that’s got to be something we can close out,” Reirden said.

It was not.

The lead lasted less than a minute before Bates Battaglia worked the puck deep along the boards on the right side and sent a pass to Fritsche, who scored on a one-timer from the slot while falling to one knee.

“On the third goal, I was disappointed in our wall play,” Reirden said. “That puck’s got to get out.”

Jordan LaVallee-Smotherman started the winning play when he raced up the middle past two Penguins while others retreated. LaVallee-Smotherman’s shot from the blue line was blocked, but Harvey picked it up on the right side and got the game-winner on a shot through traffic at the 15:33 mark.

Reirden said the trouble started when the Penguins did not get the puck deep into the Syracuse zone and LaVallee-Smotherman was able to counterattack.

“We didn’t get the puck behind the defensemen,” the Penguins coach said. “They were able to attack us with speed. The initial slap shot was blocked, but there’s a rebound.

“When you shoot pucks, people have to readjust. Everyone is scrambling and gets out of coverage.”

Harvey took advantage to score just his third goal in 16 games.

Fritsche and Battaglia finished with a goal and an assist each while Pierre Pelletier had two assists to help Syracuse offset a strong game by Jeffrey.

Jeffrey did his best to let his on-ice performance say he was sorry for an off-ice incident that left him out of the Penguins lineup for the previous two games for violating team rules.

The team scoring leader spent those games working out and watching on television from the locker room.

“Obviously, it’s very frustrating,” Jeffrey said. “It’s something you don’t want to have to do, especially in those circumstances.”

Jeffrey had done most of his scoring on assists coming in. He ranks second in the league with 19 after picking up another on Luca Caputi’s power-play goal 4:01 into the game.

After scoring just one goal in his first 17 games, he added two Saturday night.

Jeffrey rallied the Penguins to a 2-2 tie midway through a second period in which they outshot the Crunch, 15-5. He then redirected Letestu’s shot from the point for the go-ahead, power-play goal.

“I had to accept the punishment,” Jeffrey said. “It was a fair punishment.

“I just had to prove to my teammates that I’m here to play hockey.”

Letestu assisted on all three goals for the Penguins, who struggled defensively despite getting two defensemen back from the parent Pittsburgh Penguins earlier Saturday.

Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy were sent down and joined the team in time for the game.

Engelland, who had an assist, and Lovejoy played together for much of the game.