WBS Pens Shutout by Crunch

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had their winless streak reach five games as they were blanked by the Syracuse Crunch, 4-0, at Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter.

It was a 1-0 edge for the Crunch after the first period thanks to Brett Connolly’s 12th goal of the season.  J.T. Wyman led a 3-on-2 rush into the Penguins zone and fired a snapshot from the high slot that Brad Thiessen stopped with his leg pad, but a crashing Connolly put the rebound top corner with 5:25 left until the intermission. 

Syracuse added to that lead at 11:21 of the second during its fourth power play of the contest.  Philip-Michael Devos controlled the puck at the far half-wall of the Penguins zone and flung a pass to the slot that Alex Killorn redirected to the left side of the net. 

The Crunch padded the score five minutes into the third period after a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton turnover in the near corner in its own zone.  Tyler Johnson took the puck and quickly slid a pass to the far circle that Pierre-Cedric Labrie one-timed past a sliding Thiessen.     

Johnson added another marker on the man-advantage with 3:23 remaining to complete the scoring.  

Crunch goalie Dustin Tokarski gathered his first shutout of the season with a 29-save performance.  Thiessen fell to 3-5-1 on the year, stopping 27-of-31 shots.