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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — When the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost two defensemen for the entire third period on Friday, that would seem to be a major factor behind the 5-4 loss to the Rochester Americans.
But Head Coach Clark Donatelli said his team’s problems were apparent long before the attrition on defense occurred.
“It put some stress on the other four D. But when we had all six D, for whatever reason, we didn’t have that jump,” Donatelli said. “I didn’t think we had a good game overall.”
Anthony Angello scored twice for the Penguins, who lost defensemen Jeff Taylor and Matt Abt in the second half of the game and used center Jarrett Burton as a fill-in on the blueline.
Burton said he’s been in a similar situation a handful of times in his career so it’s not entirely new.
But it wasn’t ideal, either.
Burton was playing defense with Ethan Prow in the third period when Rochester scored its fourth goal of the night.
“A little different when you’re seeing all the play in front of you the whole time. It was fun but, yeah, I don’t know how often I’ll be doing that,” Burton said.
Both teams established the offenses early, as Angello struck first for the Penguins less than four minutes into the opening period. After the Americans answered a minute later, Jimmy Hayes converted a nice pass from Joseph Cramarossa to finish a two-on-one rush and give the Penguins a 2-1 lead to close out the period.
Rochester struck twice in the second to gain a 3-2 advantage, but Adam Johnson’s breakaway — which resulted after he stole the puck in the defensive end and pulled away from several Rochester players and put a shot under the crossbar — tied things up at 3-3.
Rochester’s tallies in the period — one on the power play and the other after the Penguins botched a line change — didn’t sit well with Donatelli.
“We didn’t get the puck in deep and they all changed. You can’t do that. You have to stick to it. You can’t change like that and give them a two-on-zero,” Donatelli said. “We talked about it and talked about it, but some guys just aren’t getting it.”
The third period didn’t put Donatelli in a better mood, either.
With Burton filling in on defense while Taylor — who was shaken up on a hit in the first period — and Abt were out, the Americans capitalized with a pair of goals from Victor Olofsson.
Olofsson snuck into the zone after the puck hopped over Prow’s stick, and beat Jarry to make it 4-3.
With a few minutes left to play, Olofsson struck again when he blasted a one-timer into the net for a 5-3 advantage.
After Jarry was pulled for the extra attacker, Angello made it interesting when he scored his second of the game with one minute remaining, but the Penguins couldn’t connect again to force overtime.
NOTES
— Due to a winter storm forecast for Saturday, the Penguins game against Hershey has been changed from 7 p.m. to 3 p.m.
