Game Story: Springfield - 3 at W-B/Scranton - 2 (11/12/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (6-4-1) erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period Saturday night at Mohegan Arena, but former Penguin forward Anthony Angello spurned his former team and converted on an odd-man chance to give the Springfield Thunderbirds a 3-2 regulation win - snapping the Thunderbirds' three-game winless skid and extending the Penguins' losing streak to four games (0-4-0) after they started the season unbeaten in regulation through their first seven games.

Will Bitten and Dmitrii Samorukov gave the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals in the second period before Sam Houde and Ty Smith converted on both ends of a 4-minute power play to draw the Penguins even.

Thunderbirds goaltender Vadim Zherenko (39 saves - 41 shots) was thrown to the wolves in the final frame as the Penguins out-shot Springfield by as much as a 20-4 margin at one point in the period - aided heavily by five straight Penguins power plays. Penguins netminder Filip Lindberg (21 saves - 24 shots) played well albeit in a losing effort.

The two teams played a scoreless opening period, with the Thunderbirds getting the first two power play chances of the contest in the opening 13 minutes of the contest.

Hard-shooting forward Martin Frk hit the posts behind Penguins' goalie Filip Lindberg a couple of times in the opening frame, but the puck eluded the back of the net.

The Penguins' penalty troubles continued in the middle frame, and although they were able to kill off two more Springfield power plays in the second period the momentum gained by the opposition set the stage for what happened next.

The Thunderbirds were able to break through shortly after buzzing on one of those aforementioned power plays, with Matthew Kessel getting a puck down low and Matthew Highmore getting just enough of the puck on his attempt to get the puck to the net-front where Will Bitten was parked atop the crease for a quick shot past Lindberg.

Just 1:24 later, Martin Frk stole a puck on a backcheck in the Penguins' defensive zone and sent a cross-ice pass onto the tape of Dmitrii Samorukov's stick in the left-wing circle for a shot to the far side past Lindberg to give the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead in short order.

The Penguins upped the intensity early in the third period after a Tommy Cross high-sticking double-minor gave the home team a glorious opportunity to get back into the hockey game.

The Pens did just that, tallying two power play goals just 38 seconds apart to turn a 2-0 deficit into a tie game.

First, a Mitch Reinke blast from the right point missed the mark but bounced off the end boards and back out to the other side and right onto the stick of Sam Houde for a quick put back goal to snap Zherenko's shutout bid.

On the next shift, a delayed penalty call on Springfield had the Thunderbirds' penalty killers in disarray - and Ty Smith made the most of it. Smith displayed great patience with the puck at the top of the right-wing circle, weaving to the middle and opening a shooting lane for himself before getting his shot to hit the top shelf high to the blocker side on Zherenko.

Springfield called timeout and the Penguins kept on coming, but credit Zherenko for standing in and making some big saves to keep the game at 2-2 before former Penguin Angello converted on an odd-man rush with Jake Neighbours to give the Thunderbirds the lead back with 12:17 left in regulation.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Springfield Thunderbirds head coach Drew Bannister

On the three-game losing skid, and snapping it after blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period

"We've played pretty well on the road, actually. You know, we lost in Hartford in a shootout, played a good game there. Played well last night, we kind of got a little bit away from our game midway through the third. But overall, it was happy with the game [Friday night]. And tonight, I thought we played really well, you know, dictated the play in the first and second period, and we get ourselves into penalty trouble. But I liked the response from our group, we were able to kill that off and then score right after it. Then weathered the storm from then on."

On his goaltender, Vadim Zherenko, and his play in the third period especially (stopped 19 of 21 shots in third, faced five PK's)

"He played well, especially in the third to make some difficult saves for us. Guys were battling, a couple a big blocks. So, I'm happy with the performance. We're battling some pretty major injuries here, so we're asking a lot from the guys. And the guys responded well."

Springfield Thunderbirds Lineup Notes

Vadim Zherenko got the start in net for the Thunderbirds Saturday night. Joel Hofer served as the team's backup goaltender after playing Friday night.

Thunderbirds Scratches: Mathias Laferriere, Griffin Luce, Keean Washkurak, Dylan McLaughlin and Matthew Peca

Lines/Pairings:

Matthew Highmore - Hugh McGing - Will Bitten Jake Neighbours - Nathan Todd - Martin Frk Greg Printz - Drew Callin - Anthony Angello Andrei Bakanov - Mitchell Hoelscher - Luke Witkowski

Steven Santini - Dmitrii Samorukov Austin Osmanski - Matthew Kessel Tommy Cross - Brady Lyle

Vadim Zherenko - Joel Hofer

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Filip Lindberg got the start in net for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday night. Dustin Tokarski served as the team's backup after getting the start Friday night vs. Hartford.

Jon Lizotte and Lukas Svejkovsky were scratched Saturday, while Colin Swoyer and Sean Josling entered the Penguins' lineup in their places, respectively.

It was almost entirely new line combinations and pairings for the Penguins in the second night of a back-to-back set of games for them.

Penguins Scratches: Jordan Frasca (lower body), Lukas Svejkovsky, Sam Poulin, Jamie Devane, Ty Glover and Jon Lizotte

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Drew O'Connor - Valtteri Puustinen Alex Nylander - Tyler Sikura - Corey Andonovski Kyle Olson - Jonathan Gruden - Nathan Legare Raivis Ansons - Sam Houde - Sean Josling

Ty Smith - Taylor Fedun Xavier Ouellet - Colin Swoyer Mitch Reinke - Jack St. Ivany

Filip Lindberg - Dustin Tokarski

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

6:35: WBS - (PP) Houde, minor (high-sticking) 12:27: WBS - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Nylander)

2nd Period

4:43: WBS - (PP) Olson, minor (slashing) 8:27: SPR - Bitten (6) - Highmore, Kessel 9:51: SPR - Samorukov (2) - Frk 12:06: WBS - (PP) Fedun, minor (hooking) 16:23: SPR - Angello, minor (roughing) 16:23: WBS - O'Connor, minor (roughing) 19:19: SPR - (PP) Kessel, minor (holding)

3rd Period

3:07: SPR - (PP) Cross, double-minor (high-sticking) 4:03: WBS - PPG Houde (1) - Reinke, Ouellet 4:41: WBS - PPG Smith (3) - Puustinen, Nylander 4:41: SPR - (PP) Witkowski, minor (tripping) 7:43: SPR - Angello (1) - Neighbours, Todd 10:35: SPR - (PP) Hoelscher, minor (tripping) 13:37: SPR - (PP) Lyle, minor (cross-checking) 16:38: WBS - (PP) Ouellet, minor (tripping) 16:38: WBS - Andonovski, ten-minute misconduct

BOXSCORE

Springfield       0 - 2 - 1 = 3 W-B/Scranton  0 - 0 - 2 = 2

Shots

Springfield       7 - 10 - 7 = 24 W-B/Scranton  7 - 13 - 21 = 41

Goalies

SPR: Vadim Zherenko (39 saves - 41 shots) WBS: Filip Lindberg (21 saves - 24 shots)

Power Play

SPR: 0-for-5 WBS: 2-for-6

Penalty Kill

SPR: 4-for-6 WBS: 5-for-5