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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins started strong against the Worcester Sharks on Friday, hitting everything that moved and skating with speed to generate several scoring chances.
But it was Worcester that got rewarded.
The Sharks scored with 12 seconds left in the opening period and, despite a hot start, the Penguins never fully recovered en route to a 4-2 loss. Worcester now trails the Penguins by one point for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Jeff Zatkoff made his second straight start and stopped 32-of-36 shots on the night.
The loss was the result of inconsistent play, according to Penguins coach John Hynes. His team was good at times, but not for long stretches.
“We didn’t have a lot of good performances, no standouts, no line or player that really drove the bus,” Hynes said. “Just a vanilla game by our team and we got what we deserved.”
The Penguins came out hitting in the first period, highlighted by a blast from Jayson Megna that up-ended Worcester forward Evan Trupp.
But the Sharks matched the Penguins pace and got on the board with a wraparound from Nikolay Goldobin with 12 seconds left to stun the Penguins.
“If you give up a goal it shouldn’t impact the rest of the game,” Hynes said.
It looked like the Penguins would recover when they evened it up on a shot from Danny Syvret during a power play midway through the second period to make it 1-1.
With the Penguins looking to take control, Worcester did exactly that when they scored off a faceoff play in the Penguins end. Center Travis Oleksuk won the draw back to Willie Coetzee in the slot who ripped a shot before netminder Zatkoff could react.
“They picked up their game in the second and we got away from what was working for us,” said Dominik Uher. “Exchanging chances isn’t how you want to play.”
With a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, and the Sharks added to it in the first 10 minutes with a shot from Ryan Carpenter in the slot that went over Zatkoff’s glove and a power play goal that was the result of a bouncing puck deep in the zone.
The Penguins did chip away when Uher took a one-handed swipe to punch in a loose puck in front to make it 4-2 with eight minutes left.
The Penguins had a late power for the final two minutes but couldn’t get anything past goaltender Aaron Dell.
Despite the great start, inconsistency ultimately doomed the Penguins.
“We wanted to play hard and put the pressure on early and I thought we did that,” Megna said. “If we did that for a full 60 minutes it would’ve been a different outcome.”
NOTEBOOK
• D Harrison Ruopp (injury), D Reid McNeill (injury), C Jean-Sebastien Dea, C Nick Drazenovic (injury), C Carter Rowney (injury), LW Anton Zlobin (injury), D Barry Goers (injury) and LW Conor Sheary (injury) were scratched for the Penguins.
• First round pick Kasperi Kapanen is expected to join the Penguins today but won’t play in tonight’s game, Hynes said.
“He just traveled so we’re going to get him going a little bit.”
• Hynes said G Matt Murray, who won the AHL Goaltender of the Month award for the last two months, isn’t hurt. Zatkoff earned the start with his performance on Wednesday against Hartford, Hynes said.
“We have two real good goaltender and you want to have both guys feeling real good down the stretch,” he said. “He deserved the start just as we’ve give Murray numerous opportunities when he was playing well.”
• Rowney is day-to-day with an upper body injury.
• D Clark Seymour was recalled from Wheeling and played in Friday’s game.