The Wolf Pack were shut out for the first time on the season Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA, in a 3-0 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins that ended a season-high six-game Hartford win streak.
Casey DeSmith made 25 saves in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton net for his third whitewash of the season, and Kevin Roy scored the only goal the Penguins would need with 1:48 left in the second period. The last two Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goals were empty-netters, by David Warsofsky and Anthony Angello.
Tom McCollum made his first appearance in the Wolf Pack net and stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
Roy’s late-second-period winner came after Danny O’Regan attempted to pass the puck from deep in his own zone to Mason Geertsen. The feed went off of Geertsen’s stick to Roy at the right side of the slot, and he slid to his right before snapping a shot that got by the stick side of McCollum.
The Wolf Pack had a 12-9 shots advantage in the third period, after being outshot by a combined margin of 18-13 in the first 40 minutes, but could never solve DeSmith. McCollum was pulled for an extra attacker with 1:33 left, but Warsofsky hit the vacated net at 18:57, after Yegor Rykov made a cross-ice pass out of his own zone and Warsofsky intercepted near the center line.
The Wolf Pack lifted McCollum a second time, with 40 seconds left, and again the Penguins foiled the strategy. A Mason Geertsen shot from high in the slot was blocked, and Angello picked up the carom. He moved through center ice on the left side and snapped the puck into the net from just outside the Wolf Pack blue line.
(Photo courtesy of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)
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