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WILKES-BARRE — After playing three weekends with three games, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins probably don’t want to play any more hockey than they have to.
After needing a shootout and overtime to settle their last two contests, Kevin Czuczman made sure there was no need for extra hockey during Saturday’s game against the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Facing the defending Calder Cup champions, the Penguins overcame a late tie when Czuczman connected with eight minutes remaining for the 2-1 win. Anthony Peters stopped 32 shots and Adam Johnson added the other goal for the Penguins.
“We don’t mind overtime, but we want to win it in regulation and get it done, especially here at home,” said head coach Clark Donatelli.
The Penguins got to work in the first period by taking advantage of a Grand Rapids power play. Adam Johnson pounced on a bouncing puck in the neutral zone, settled it down on the ensuing breakaway and beat Griffins goaltender Tom McCollum with a backhand shot for a 1-0 lead.
Penalty trouble haunted the Penguins in the second period, but Peters bailed them out each time. With Tom Sestito in the box midway through the period, Peters made a sliding save on Matt Lorito from the right faceoff circle to help kill off the power play.
“Peters was outstanding. Every shot, he was dialed in and his rebound control was great,” Donatelli said.
Later in the period, the Penguins were hit with an odd sequence of calls when they were called for too many men and, on the following faceoff, Thomas Di Pauli was assessed a delay of game minor for chopping the stick of a Griffins’ player.
The calls gave Grand Rapids two minutes with a two-man advantage, but Peters and the penalty kill staved off the threat. The closest the Griffins came was a shot from Ben Street at the side, which Peters snagged with his glove.
Daniel Sprong, who was serving the too many men call, gained a breakaway out of the box which was denied by McCollum, but momentum had definitely swung in the Penguins favor.
Donatelli was thrilled with the job of his penalty killers, but said both units are getting good because his team is taking too many penalties in the first place.
“Peters and the three guys out there did a great job on that two-man kill,” he said. “That was against one of the best power plays in the league.”
At the end of the period, former Penguin Eric Tangradi gave his old team a chance to extend its lead when he was called for tripping and an unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Penguins blanked on the four-minute power play, and Grand Rapids tied it up at 1-1 midway through the third period when Street put home a bouncing puck and that changed direction on Peters.
But the Penguins re-gained the lead minutes later when a loose puck rolled out to Czuczman in the high slot, and he promptly weaved a wrist shot through traffic for a 2-1 lead.
“That was a big goal by Czuczman and also a really good couple of shifts to push back,” Donatelli said. “This team has been doing that all year.”
NOTES
– D Andrey Pedan (injury), D Zach Trotman (injury), F Patrick McGrath, F Jarrett Burton, D Frank Corrado (injury), D Dylan Zink, D Lukas Bengtsson (injury), F Ryan Haggerty (injury) and G Michael Leighton were scratched for the Penguins.
– Sam Lafferty played his first pro game on Saturday after joining the Penguins on Wednesday following his college career at Brown University. He centered a line with Tom Sestito and Joseph Cramarossa on the wings and finished with one shot. “He was good. He’s a big body. He can skate and has good moves. I was really happy with him,” Donatelli said.
– After starting Friday’s game in Binghamton, Leighton was a healthy scratch for rest purposes, Donatelli said.
