The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins dropped their first game of the 2007-2008 season on Sunday afternoon, falling by a 4-1 score to the Philadelphia Phantoms at the Wachovia Spectrum.
The loss dropped the Penguins record to 2-1-0-0 on the season, while the Phantoms improved to 2-0-0-0.
Power plays were the order of the day, as referee Nygel Pelletier whistled the teams for a combined 21 infractions, resulting in 17 advantages overall, with four of those leading to goals.
Boyd Kane turned a two-man advantage into the first goal of the night, as he banged home a puck while Alex Goligoski and Tim Wallace sat in the penalty box.
That was the only tally of the first period, which saw the Penguins outshoot the Phantoms, 13-12.
The second period saw a little more scoring, and a lot more hitting, as the two teams turned a freewheeling contest into a rough and tumble match-up.
Jonathan Matsumoto gave the Phantoms a 2-0 lead 4:42 into the second, shooting from the goal line and squeezing his own rebound between Conklin’s left leg pad and the near post.
Alex Goligoski’s first professional goal got the Penguins back to within one goal. Goligoski’s initial shot was stopped by Brian Boucher, but floated out to the slot where Jeff Taffe swatted it out of the air. The biscuit found its way back to the rookie defender, who whacked a shot in from the left side of the cage at 6:16.
Nathan Smith and Josh Beaulieu provided the rest of the fireworks in the second, as the two exchanged blows in a very spirited fight with just 10 seconds left to play in the second.
Pete Zigoni regained the two-goal cushion for the Phantoms, as he took a Stefan Ruzicka pass and went in along on Conklin, who got a piece of the puck but not enough to keep it out of the goal. The fourth and final power play goal of night came at 6:01.
The Pens received a late power play chance with 1:02 to play. But with Conklin pulled, Ruzicka grabbed a loose puck and found the empty net to close out the scoring.
The Penguins were one-for-nine on the power play, while Philadelphia went three-for-eight while skating with an extra man.
The Pens won’t have to wait long to get a chance at revenge, as the two teams will meet again in a home-and-home series starting next Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.
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