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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Coming into Monday on a three-game losing streak, reality hit home for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. It’s already mid-January, and the team that has reached the postseason for 16 consecutive seasons is currently out of playoff spot in a tight Atlantic Division.
Maybe that’s why the Penguins fired every puck they could during Monday’s contest against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. And perhaps that’s why the Penguins didn’t get frustrated when, for most of the game, those shots weren’t getting by netminder Anthony Stolarz.
Fortunately, Tristan Jarry wasn’t letting many pucks get behind him either, and the Penguins pulled out a 2-1 overtime win. Adam Johnson scored in the third period to tie it, and Ethan Prow won it in overtime as the Penguins trail Springfield by two points for the fourth and final playoff spot.
“It’s getting to the point where we have to start winning or getting a point every game,” Johnson said. “We’re fighting for a playoff spot, and we’re not in it yet.”
Offensively, both teams battled to a stalemate through the first two periods as Jarry and Stolarz were stellar in net.
If any team had an edge offensively, it was the Penguins, who outshot the Phantoms 32-17.
“I told them the game plan is working,” coach Clark Donatelli said. “Keep putting pucks on the net and get ready for the rebound. It worked out.”
It wasn’t until the first half of the third period that both teams were able to find the back of the net.
Lehigh Valley struck first when Mike Huntebrinker scored from the slot to make it 1-0.
The Penguins tied it up minutes later after a long shift in the Phantoms’ end. Jean-Sebastien Dea fired a shot from the high slot that banked off the wall and out to Johnson, who lifted a shot from the bad angle to tie it up.
The goal was Johnson’s fourth in the last three games.
“I saw (Dea) was in the slot and I figured he was going to shoot, so I curled around for a rebound,” Johnson said. “It bounced right to me.”
After the overtime that began much like the first two periods — uneventful — Teddy Blueger made things happen when he gained the puck in the neutral zone and blew by a Phantoms defender. Blueger drove to the net and fired a shot, which Stolarz stopped, but Prow skated in to put home the rebound for the win.
Donatelli was happy to see his team take his pregame message to heart.
“We just lost three in a row and not playing well at home. The message to them was, win or lose, let’s come out and play the right way,” Donatelli said. “Let’s get back to business.”
NOTES
• Defensemen Zach Trotman and Chris Summers returned to the lineup after lengthy absences due to injury.
• Newly acquired forward Joseph Blandisi, who was re-assigned by Pittsburgh over the weekend, is expected to join the team for practice on Tuesday.