WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – On a night of returns, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Binghamton Devils in overtime, 4-3, at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza on Saturday night.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (26-12-3-1) saw Jean-Sébastien Dea and Tom Kostopoulos tally points in their return to the lineup while Zach Aston-Reese recorded his second game-winner in the last three games.
Fresh down on reassignment from Pittsburgh, Dea put the Penguins up, 1-0, at 10:29 of the first period when he took a pass from Ryan Haggerty in the neutral zone, turned on the jets to beat the Devils defense, and deposit the puck bar-down over Mackenzie Blackwood.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got the second tally of the night on a beautiful drop pass from Gage Quinney back into the slot for Kevin Czuczman 11:59 into the second frame.
The Devils used a pair of power play goals in the second period to pull even with the Penguins, starting with a man advantage marker from Nick Lappin 2:10 after Czuczman’s tally. Lappin scored again on the power play at 18:33 of the second period as the Devils also utilized a drop pass from Bracken Kearns back into the slot for Lappin.
The Penguins appeared to have found a late game-winning goal when Garrett Wilson took a lovely feed from Kostopoulos that Wilson rocketed to the near-side top corner behind Blackwood. However, 35 seconds later, Kearns redirected a shot off the post that then ricocheted off of Tristan Jarry’s back and across the goal line, tying the game, 3-3, and forcing overtime.
It took most of the back-and-forth overtime period, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton got the game-winner from the stick of Aston-Reese at 3:28 of the extra frame. Aston-Reese won a battle below the Devils’ goal line, Teddy Blueger dished him the puck right back. Aston-Reese wrapped around the blue paint and put it behind a floundering Blackwood.
Aston-Reese’s game-winner secured the Penguins’ third win of the season against the Devils, all of which have been decided by identical 4-3 scores.
Jarry made 26 saves in his first game back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton since Oct. 28. Blackwood was dealt the overtime loss despite also recording 26 stops.
The Penguins rest up for the All-Star Break, but return to the ice on Friday, Feb. 2 against the Hershey Bears. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s showdown with Hershey is also a WBRE/WYOU Eyewitness News Fan Friday with lower bowl seating available for $14 and select draught beers on sale for $2 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Puck drop between the Penguins and Bears is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Individual tickets for all Penguins home games are available at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza box office, online at TicketMaster.com, or by calling 800-745-3000.
Season ticket packages for the 19th season of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey, including 22-game, 12-game and Flexbook plans, are available by contacting the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367.
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