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A four point game by Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty aids the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to a 6-2 win in Providence Sunday afternoon.
McGroarty had a pair of goals and a pair of assists as the Penguins routed the Bruins to a 5-0 lead. The Penguins outscored their opponents 13-3 this weekend.
They will head home then likely bounce for Cleveland midweek, probably stop off in Pittsburgh for practice before taking on the Monsters Friday and Saturday in The Land.
Here’s how they lined up…
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Lineup Notes: Lucas Ciona makes his debut up front, Ilya Solovyov on defense. Phil Kemp also was back in. Finn Harding and Jake Livanavage drew out. Melvin Fernstrom was out for Ciona.
By that time, Tristan Broz made it 2-0 off of this nice feed from Rutger McGroarty.
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Taylor Gauthier stopped all 8 shots he saw and was generally solid in net, especially late when the Bruins applied pressure on a late power play.
Second Period: Wilkes-Barre kept its foot on the gas with a pair of goals in the period.
Bill Zonnon just :43 into the period followed by Rutger McGroarty via the power play at 4:26.
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Taylor Gauthier continued to play strong in net, stopping all 15 shots seen.
Third Period: Rutger McGroarty scored his second of the game with this nifty move that made it 5-0 Penguins.
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But then the Bruins finally got on the board when Maxence Guenette scored here to put Providence on the board.
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However, the Penguins re-established the five goal lead when Oliver Okuliar scored on a redirect from a shot from the point which made it 6-1.
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Wilkes-Barre finds itself in late, avoidable power play trouble and Riley Duran scores to make it 6-2.
(no GIF here)
Three Stars: 3) Oliver Okuliar (goal, assist) 2) Taylor Gauthier (39 saves) 1) Rutger McGroarty (two goals, two assists)
The Good: Taylor Gauthier had a career high 39 saves and was outstanding, when he needed to be, for the Penguins in a laugher of a hockey game.
The Bad: Nitpicking, but they kind of let off in the third period after they went up five early.
Turning Point: The Zonnon goal :43 in gets it here. You let the Penguins start running downhill spotting them two after the first and then it turned into a runaway train in the second that you couldn’t recover from in the third, not with the way that Taylor Gauthier was playing.
Around the Division: A pair of finals as Laval thumps Hartford 5-2 and Cleveland does the same to Lehigh Valley with the same score. Springfield / Charlotte box here and Hershey / Texas box here.
Standings: The Penguins will have 5 points and depending on how the other finals fall this Sunday will be as high as second or as low as fourth. It’s too early for this!
Florida Update: The Everblades start next weekend.
Video Highlights: For those sickos, the Bruins YouTube page is here and they should post the highlights when they are ready.
Back at it here on the blog Friday with the Wekened Preview setting the table for the games in Cleveland. Have a great week, everyone!
Let’s Go Pens!
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