Faceoff Factor

WBS Penguins Beat and Beat Up the Syracuse Crunch... Twice!

Kyle Dreibelbies | WBS "Baby" Penguins

Dec 28, 11:22 AM | Hype this story!

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins played a home-and-home series against the Syracuse Crunch where they won the two games by a combined score of 7-1. WBS rookie Gs David Brown and John Curry both recorded wins (with Curry getting his first pro shutout). The two games also featured eight fights as the rivalry between these two teams continues.

The first game featured a game-winning goal only 55 seconds into the game, as Kurtis McLean deposited a goal that would prove to be the only support that Curry would need. But, just for safe measure, McLean later scored on a rebound and C Nathan Smith also added two goals of his own. C Tim Brent kept his point streak alive with assists on three of the four WBS goals.

Some fierce hitting on both sides and pre-game hype coming from career penalty minute record-holder RW Dennis Bonvie and rookie Syracuse F John Mirasty. Both had plenty to say about the possibility of fighting and it was accepted that it would happen in this game. Later, Bonvie would also go a round with W Tom Sestito. The other matches included Picard (SYR) vs. Ardelan (WBS) as a result of an Ardelan hit, Dorsett (SYR) vs. Bissonnette (WBS), Rome (SYR) vs. Stone (WBS), and Konopka (SYR) vs. Engelland (WBS).

In the second game, this one in Syracuse, Wilkes-Barre again won a fine game for their goaltender, this time G David Brown. Syracuse was only able to manage one early power play goal. McLean, Smith, and RW Tim Wallace provided the scoring for Wilkes-Barre. The fireworks were provided by another Bonvie-Sestito fight along with Bissonnette-Mirasty.

On Saturday, Wilkes-Barre will return home to play the Binghamton Senators and continue their six-game winning streak.