WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ran into a strong goaltending performance and were handed their first defeat of the season by a score of 1-0 on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Springfield Thunderbirds netminder Reto Berra came up with 23 saves, including a big blocker stop with less than two seconds left in the game, to drop the Penguins to 1-1-0-0 on the season.
The Thunderbirds scored the game’s first goal when Ryan Horvat snuck a shot underneath the leg of Tristan Jarry at 9:25 of the first period.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton countered Horvat’s go-ahead tally with a flurry of attempts thrown towards the Springfield net, but Berra shut the door.
The second and third period were infrequently played at five-on-five, as both squads combined for 26 penalty minutes during that time. The Penguins went to the penalty kill five different times and left unscathed every time, improving the team’s P.K. to a perfect 11-for-11 overall.
With the goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker in the final 1:19 of the game, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prevented Springfield from escaping from its defensive zone, but were unable to punch one past Berra. Berra’s biggest save came as time expired on a slap shot by Chad Ruhwedel, who tied with teammate Steve Oleksy for a game-high four shots on goal.
Jarry finished the game having made 22 saves on 23 shots faced.
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