COMEBACK KIDS STRIKE AGAIN, FORCE GAME SEVEN

POST-GAME AUDIO: Todd Richards | Connor James | Chris Minard | John Curry

WILKES-BARRE, PA – There it was – the off-season, staring the Penguins right in the face.

Down three goals with slightly more than 20 minutes to play, it looked like the Pens would be headed to the golf course instead of to the ice rink on Saturday night.

But Connor James and Chris Minard apparently aren’t ready to take up golfing just yet.

James and Minard scored two goals apiece, with James netting the game-winning goal 20 seconds into overtime to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton an improbable 4-3 come-from-behind victory against the Portland Pirates in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night.  The victory forces a decisive Game Seven, which will be played Saturday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

“I just know the way this team’s reacted in the past, it doesn’t matter if we go down 2-0 in the second period, we’ve come back from trailing that much,” said goaltender John Curry, who picked up his league-best 11th victory of the playoffs.  “You’ve just got to keep plugging away from my perspective, because I know the guys are going to turn it on at a certain point, I know we’re a third period team.”

The win was reminiscent of the Penguins’ 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Phantoms in Game Two of the East Division Finals, which saw Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head into the third period facing a 4-1 deficit.  The big difference this time around was that the Pens’ playoff lives were on the line.

“The thing is when you’re down like that you’ve got nothing to lose,” said James, who notched his sixth and seventh goals of the playoffs in the game, “so you can take some chances you normally wouldn’t take.”

Those chances became necessary when Portland scored three times in a span of seven minutes late in the second period to put the Pens in a big hole.

Wilkes-Barre had great chances early in the period to get on the board, getting back-to-back penalties to Brian Salcido and Tyler Bouck.  Goaltender Mike McKenna was up to the task though, holding the Pens at bay for the 3:57 of consecutive power play time.

Eight minutes later Andrew Ebbett opened the scoring, and went on to sandwich a pair of goals around a Geoff Platt tally to give the visitors the big advantage.

But, 21 seconds after Ebbett’s second tally, and with just 11.7 ticks left on the second period clock, James potted his first goal of the night to keep the team breathing heading into the final frame.

“Never say die,” said head coach Todd Richards.  “It was a huge goal at the end of the second period that Connor James scored, I think that gave us some life, got the fans back into it a little bit.”

Minard, who tallied eight goals during the first two series but had been held off the scoresheet in the first five games of the Conference Finals, finally found a way to break through.  The Pens’ leading goal scorer during the regular season one-timed a Ryan Lannon feed off the right post at 2:55 of the period to pull the team within one, and then slammed a shot off of McKenna’s shoulder that trickled over the goal line at 14:17.

“[Minard] was real frustrated through the series.  He’s got opportunities, whether shots have been blocked or haven’t made their way to the net, or the goalie’s made the saves,” said Richards.  “But that line is one reason why we’re where we’re at right now.  Other teams do key on them and try to shut them down.  And it was great to see him get on the board.  Hopefully that will ease the frustration a little bit and give him some more energy.”

That forced overtime, when James picked up a puck on the near boards then scooted past Bobby Ryan and snapped off a shot over McKenna’s glove hand.

PENS NOTES:  Game Six was the 100th playoff game in team history.  The Pens are now 53-47 all-time in the playoffs…Alain Nasreddine appeared in his 51st playoff game with the Penguins in Game Six, tied for first on the team's all-time list (Tom Kostopoulos and Shane Endicott).  It was also his 97th AHL playoff game…Todd Richards picked up his 16th win with the Pens, tied for second most all-time with Glenn Patrick.  Michel Therrien leads with 17…The Pens are 3-0 in Game Sevens, 4-0 in series that have gone full distance (five game series with Syracuse in 2001)…The Pens are now 17-11 in OT games