Brock Trotter scored both goals for the St. John’s IceCaps, including the game-winner in overtime, to give his team a 2-1 triumph over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
With the victory, St. John’s took a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The IceCaps got on the scoreboard first at 12:37 of the opening period as Zach Redmond held the puck in at the Penguins blueline and flung a pass to the far hashmarks that Trotter deflected over the blocker of goaltender Brad Thiessen. #20 Alex Grant had a stick near the puck on the shot and seemed to add to the deflection and the goal.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton owned the secondperiod as they skated on three straight power plays and ended up outshooting St. John’s 11-0 in the period. Only the stellar play of IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale kept the Penguins off the board.
With 62 seconds left in regulation and skating with the extra attacker, the Penguins would finally find the back of the net. After Colin McDonald’s initial chance in close was turned aside, Eric Tangradi pulled the loose puck off the back wall and tucked it inside the right post. That tied the game at 1-1.
The two teams would head to overtime where Trotter struck again to end the game at the 10:02 mark. Carl Klingberg led a 2-on-1 rush into the Penguins zone and had his wrist shot denied by Thiessen, but Trotter followed up to bang home the rebound for his fourth goal in this series.
Thiessen stopped 16 shots of 18 shots in the contest as his postseason record goes to 4-4. Pasquale made 28 saves for his second overtime win of the playoffs.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and St. John’s IceCaps face off on Sunday, May 6 at 4:05 PM for Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinal. For tickets and more information, call the Penguins at (570) 208-PENS or visit www.wbspenguins.com.