Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Defeat Portland Pirates 6-1 - AHL

WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Brian Strait opened up an offensive onslaught on Wednesday night, tallying his first AHL goal en route to a 6-1 rout of the Portland Pirates at Wachovia Arena.
 
A seemingly harmless shot found its way through a maze of players and into the upper left corner at 12:38 of the opening period, giving Strait what should have been the game-winner.  Wade Brookbank earned his first point of the year with the primary assist, while Joe Vitale picked up his third helper of the campaign.
 
After two unsuccessful power plays, the Penguins would find themselves on a third.  Rookie Keven Veilleux capitalized on Portland defenseman Mike Kostka’s mishandling of a bouncing puck, grabbed control and backhanded his second of the season past Pirates netminder J.P. Lamoureux.  The Penguins would take the 2-0 lead to the dressing room, but the period would not end quietly.  After winger Ryan Bayda was whistled for boarding Pirates blueliner Joe DiPenta, the Penguins’ Robert Bortuzzo engaged Portland’s Matt Generous for his first pro fight.
 
An extra “chirp” from the Pirates bench earned them a late unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which would result in an early second-period power play for the Penguins.  It only took 20 seconds for defenseman Chris Lee to let a wrister go toward the slot and find the stick of Luca Caputi parked in front.  Caputi’s tip-in was his fifth goal of the season.  Lee would connect on his own power play goal at 14:12 to make it 4-0 in favor of the hosts.
 
Another first pro goal was scored, this time from forward Zach Sill, at the16:01 mark of the final frame.  Then with just 2:15 remaining in regulation, on a Portland dump-and-chase, Pirates forward Mark Mancari chased a loose puck into the right corner, barely beating newly-recalled Lane Caffaro.  Mancari sent a shot from the goal line off of Penguins goaltender John Curry’s right pad and into the back of the net, spoiling the bid for his 9th career shutout.  A late tally by Eric Tangradi concluded a night of firsts for Penguins rookies and completed a fine night for a once-struggling Penguins offense.
 
The Penguins once again depart for three straight on the road, visiting Albany on Friday for a 7:00 pm tilt with the River Rats.  The weekend concludes on Saturday with the Penguins’ first visit of the season to Hershey to battle the Bears, also at 7:00 pm.  The team returns home on Saturday, November 21st at 7:05 pm to take on the Adirondack Phantoms.    

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