BRENT'S FOUR HELPERS, MINARD'S OT GOAL LEAD PENS PAST SENS
The Penguins put an end to their power play woes on Saturday night, scoring three times on the man advantage to post a 4-3 overtime win against the Binghamton Senators at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
After suffering through a one-for-28 spell with the extra man, the Pens found the back of the net on one-third of the opportunities against the Senators on Saturday, including a Chris Minard power play tally in the extra frame.
“The difference in the game,” said head coach Todd Richards. “You talk about special teams and that game within a game, and tonight our power play executed, our guys made plays and shot the puck.”
The winner came 2:24 into OT, with Greg Amadio serving two minutes for interfering with Minard in front of the Binghamton goal. Mark Ardelan blasted a shot from the point that deflected off Minard’s ankle and found it’s way in behind goaltender Brian Elliott.
“I’ll take anything right now,” laughed Minard, who deflected home a shot in Friday’s loss to the Senators to end a 15-game goal drought. “I still haven’t shot one in yet, but I’m feeling a little bit better about myself.”
The see-saw game saw the Penguins take three one-goal leads, only to have the Senators counter with equalizers each time.
Jeff Taffe started the scoring for the Pens, recording his team-leading ninth of the season off a Tim Brent feed from the slot with 44 seconds left in the first period.
Josh Hennessy evened the game at 1-1 at 3:22 of the middle frame, the only goal of the second period. That coming while Joe Jensen served a five minute major for high sticking former teammate Matt Carkner as time expired in the first period.
Connor James netted his first of two goals on the night just 2:04 into the third, stuffing in a rebound off a Brent attempt.
Danny Bois picked up a rebound off a Lawrence Nycholat shot from the point to tie the game at 2-2 at the 5:30 mark of the third, but James notched his second of the night exactly three minutes later with a one-timer from the slot.
Denis Hamel roofed a shot over John Curry’s blocker at 15:49 to force the extra period, where Ardelan and Minard teamed up for the winner.
“I don’t think we did much different than we did the game before…it’s just we got three goals today, the puck went in for us,” said Ardelan. “It feels good to score a couple power play goals to get the team back in it.”
NOTES: Curry made 30 saves to record his first career AHL victory…Tim Brent picked up assists on all four Penguins goals, tying the team record for assists in a game. John Slaney, Ryan Whitney and Kurtis McLean also had four assist games for the Penguins…The win was the 299th in team history.
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