Faceoff Factor

WBS Baby Pens advance to Second Round of Playoffs

Eric Politowski | WBS "Baby" Penguins

Apr 26, 12:34 AM | Hype this story!

Welcome to the newest chapter of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Penguins weekly report. The Pens were unsuccessful at sweeping the Hershey Bears on Wednesday, but won the series tonight, 4-1 at home.

GAME 4 RECAP

The Baby Pens traveled to Hershey, with a 3-0 series lead, and a look to sweep the Bears right out of the playoffs.

LW Chris Minard scored his 3rd and 4th goals of the playoffs, one with only 19 seconds left in the 3rd period.

But it only took the Bears 20 seconds, when they scored on G John Curry in overtime, sending the series back to Wilkes-Barre, on Saturday.

RW Dennis Bonvie was scratched to slide in the newly signed LW Luca Caputi into the line-up. Caputi looked decent, and almost scored on his first shift off a deflection.

Final Score: Hershey 3 – WBS 2 (OT)

GAME 5 RECAP

At 15:10 in the 1st period, D Alex Goligoski netted his 2nd of the playoffs, on the power play.

After the Hershey Bears took a 2-1 lead, Luca Caputi came through, and scored his 1st career playoff goal, tying it back up at 2-2.

Chris Minard would also score his 5th of the playoffs, while garnering the man advantage.

Hershey tied the game back up at 3-3, only 25 seconds into the 3rd period.

The Baby Pens scored two powerplay goals to take the lead, and they never looked back. F Tim Brent buried his 4th of the playoffs, and D Alex Goligoski scored his 3rd of the playoffs (2nd of the game).

C Nathan Smith went on to score his 2nd of the playoffs, after a nice set up by F Ryan Stone.

To top the night off, with only 15 seconds remaining, Dennis Bonvie scored his 1st of the playoffs in his 100th career AHL postseason game. Luca Caputi and C Mark Letestu assisted. Tim Brent finished the night off with 4 points. He also set a new team record for the most points in a series with 11.

Pens goalie John Curry stood strong once again, and made 30 saves on 33 shots.

The Baby Pens defeated the Hershey Bears in the first round of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs.

Final Score: WBS 7 – Hershey 3

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The Pens will take on the winner of the Philadelphia Phantoms/Albany River Rats series. The Phantoms currently have a 3-2 series lead over the Rats.

Here’s how the schedule will pan out.

IF PHILADELPHIA WINS IN 6
Game 1 – Home, Wednesday, April 30
Game 2 – Road, Friday, May 2
Game 3 – Home, Saturday, May 3
Game 4 – Road, TBA
Game 5 – Home, Friday, May 9
Game 6 – Road, TBA
Game 7 – Home, Tuesday, May 13

IF PHILADELPHIA WINS IN 7
Game 1 – Home, Thursday, May 1
Game 2 – Home, Saturday, May 3
Game 3 – TBA
Game 4 – TBA
Game 5 – TBA
Game 6 – TBA
Game 7 – TBA

IF ALBANY WINS IN 7
Game 1 – Home, Thursday, May 1
Game 2 – Home, Saturday, May 3
Game 3 – Road, Sunday, May 4
Game 4 – Road, Monday, May 5
Game 5 – Home, Friday, May 9
Game 6 – Home, Monday, May 12
Game 7 – Road, Tuesday, May 13