UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Chris Minard’s goal 4:54 into overtime capped a two-goal comeback and propelled the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 5-4 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the teams’ East Division semifinal series on Saturday night. Minard notched a backhand rebound past Bridgeport goaltender Nathan Lawson for his third career overtime game-winner. The teams close out their three games in three nights weekend Sunday evening at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. As in Game One, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored early, when Paul Bissonnette skated into the Bridgeport zone and fed Dustin Jeffrey for a tip-in just 30 seconds into the game. Michael Haley evened things up nine minutes later, shoving a rebound past Penguins netminder John Curry. Jeffrey reclaimed the lead for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 11:58 on the power play, but Bridgeport’s Kyle Okposo ripped a shot over Curry’s left shoulder to knot the score, 2-2, 15 seconds later. Bridgeport took its first lead of the series four minutes later, when Jon Sim fed Mike Iggulden on the power play. And Jesse Joensuu added to the bulge with the only goal of the second period, his first career playoff tally. But the Penguins battled back in the third. Andy Wozniewski wristed a shot from the left point past Lawson 6:11 into the frame. Then, Ben Lovejoy evened the score at four, skating end-to-end and snapping a shot from the high slot past Lawson at 8:13. Thanks to Minard’s heroics the Penguins are now 19-11 in overtime games.
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