PENS POWER WAY TO GAME FIVE

POST-GAME AUDIO: Todd Richards | Dennis Bonvie | Nathan Smith

WILKES-BARRE, PA – Power play goals from Chris Minard, Dave Gove and Nathan Smith led the Penguins to a 3-2 win against the Chicago Wolves in Game Four of the Calder Cup Finals.

The victory allowed the Penguins to stave off elimination from the playoffs, and they now trail Chicago three games to one in the best-of-seven series. Game Five will take place Saturday night at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes on tallies from Minard and Gove. The opener, which came on a two-man advantage 13 and a half minutes into the game, was a nice tic-tac-toe play that went from Smith's stick, cross-ice to Tim Brent, and back to Minard on the far doorstep.

Gove tallied on a deflection off a Ben Lovejoy point shot 4:18 into the second to give the Pens their first multi-goal lead of the series.

But the joy was short-lived, as Darren Haydar talled twice on the man advantage in a span of 10:03 to knot the game at 2-2 after two periods.

Smith picked up his seventh tally of the postseason when he attempted a cross-crease pass to a breaking Lovejoy. The puck deflected off of Brian Sipotz's skate though, and found its way behind Ondrej Pavelec at 2:21 for what proved to be the game-winning goal.

John Curry made 17 saves for his 13th victory of the postseason, while Pavelec stopped 20 shots in defeat.

NOTES: The win was the 18th in coach Todd Richards' Penguins career, moving him past Michel Therrien and into first place on the team's playoff wins list...Saturday night's game will be the latest in the caldendar year the Penguins have ever played. The Pens played on June 6, 2004, when they dropped Game Four of the Calder Cup Finals against the Milwaukee Admirals...Friday night's win was the Penguins' first in the Calder Cup Finals since May 23, 2001 against the Saint John Flames (6-4 win). The Pens' Finals losing streak ended at nine games, one game short of the league's all-time record.