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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach J.D. Forrest placed a little extra reliance on his defense Wednesday night.
The move paid off.
Defenseman Jack Rathbone provided the offensive play of the night on the game-winning goal, and the blue-line crew held Syracuse scoreless on 11 shots for the first 35 minutes as the Penguins defeated the Crunch 4-1 before a crowd of 2,463 at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Instead of the conventional lineup of four forward lines and three defense pairs, Forrest dressed an extra defenseman, going with seven along with 11 forwards.
The defense corps was prominent in producing the win.
Rathbone gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead at 7:21 of the second period with his fifth goal of the season and third in the last six games.
Xavier Ouellet, playing in his 400th career AHL game, and Dmitri Samorukov, back in the lineup after being returned from the parent Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday, each had assists. Team captain Taylor Fedun joined Samorukov in going plus-2 for the night.
They helped the Penguins finish 2-1-1-0 in their four-game homestand.
“We’re trying to take advantage of all the home ice we’ve had lately,” Rathbone said in the on-ice, post-game interview.
The Penguins (12-9-3-0) took control while holding the Crunch (13-8-0-2) to two shots on goal in the first 9:36 of the game and two in the first 13:35 of the second period. They did not allow the Crunch any shots on net for the first 15:27 of the third period while protecting a three-goal lead.
When the Penguins faced trouble in the second period, their responses were swift.
They scored 20 seconds after the only Syracuse goal and picked up a shorthanded goal 29 seconds into their only penalty kill of the second period.
The Penguins opened the scoring with 39 seconds left in the first period.
Ouellet sent a puck toward the net from the left point. While Colin White drew attention with a strong move toward the right post, Rem Pitlick scored with a deflection from out in front on the left side.
The Penguins dug the puck out of the right corner and got it to Rathbone high in the slot.
Rathbone’s nifty stickhandling caused a Crunch player to move past him before he snapped a shot under the crossbar from nearly 30 feet out. Rathbone becomes the first Penguin with two game-winning goals in a season that has seen 10 different players produce the other 10 winners.
Corey Andonovski picked up his second straight assist on the play, along with Jagger Joshua.
Syracuse scored on a face off from the left wing of the offensive zone, but the Penguins came right back to restore the two-goal lead.
Austin Rueschhoff scored on a deflection of Samorukov’s point shot. Peter Abbandonato dropped a pass to Samorukov on the play for an assist, giving him seven points in six games since coming to the team in a Nov. 27 trade.
Joona Koppanen sprung Matt Filipe for the short-handed, breakaway goal and a 4-1 lead heading into the third period.
The goal continued the special teams success of the Penguins, the only team to enter the night in the top five in the AHL in both power-play (21.5) and penalty-kill (86.8) percentages. The Penguins held the Crunch scoreless in four tries, but were also unable to score in five power plays, three of which helped them comfortably control play and protect their lead in the third period.
NOTES
• Rathbone was the game’s first star; Filipe the second; and Andonovski the third.
• Even with a late flurry by the Crunch, the Penguins led 26-25 in shots. Magnus Hellberg made 24 saves for the win.
• The Penguins’ record is deceiving. They have played 23 of 24 games against teams which have won more games than they lost – true winning teams, as opposed to the inflated .500 hockey winning percentage created by giving points for overtime and shootout losses.
Half of their games have come against Hershey, Hartford and Providence, which have established themselves as the clear 1-2-3 in the Atlantic Division early in the season.
Their most frequent opponent is the defending Calder Cup champion and Atlantic Division-leading Hershey Bears and their most frequent North Division opponent is second-place Syracuse. The Penguins improved to 2-1 against the Crunch.
• The game was the first of three in four days for the Penguins against North Division teams. They play at Utica Friday night, then return home Saturday to face Rochester at 6:05 p.m.
• The Penguins were part of a pack of four teams within two points of each other in fourth through seventh place in the Atlantic Division entering the night. They trailed Springfield by one point while leading Charlotte and Lehigh Valley by one each.
• The Penguins have not been a streaky team. They have alternated wins and losses for their last eight games.
• Prior to Samorukov being sent here, defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph was recalled to Pittsburgh Sunday. Joseph had one assist in two games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He has an assist for Pittsburgh while appearing in six games.
• Ty Smith of the Penguins, who ranks fourth in the AHL in scoring by defensemen, ripped a slap shot squarely off the right post on one of the two third-period power plays.