Wilkes-Barre defeats IceCaps 5-3 as Penguins win fifth straight

WILKES BARRE, Pa. - Riley Holzapfel and Dylan Reese each had a goal and an assist as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated the St. John?s IceCaps 5-3 on Saturday for the Penguins fifth straight win.

The Penguins opened a 2-0 lead just over three minutes into the game with goals by Simon Despres and Warren Peters.

The IceCaps cut the lead in half when Jason Jaffray tapped a puck into the wide open cage behind goalie Jeff Zatkoff thanks to a great feed by Paul Postma.

St. John?s evened the score 3:45 into the second period as Julian Melchiori let loose a shot that was deflected past the left side of Zatkoff.

The Penguins took the lead for good during a 5-on-4 advantage late in second frame. Reese released a shot that tipped off of an IceCaps stick and trickled across the goal line with 19.8 seconds left.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton?s Benn Ferriero and Spencer Machacek for the IceCaps traded goals in the third period before Holzapfel notched an empty-netter with 1:05 remaining in regulation.

Zatkoff made 13 saves for the Penguins. Pasquale turned aside 24 of 28 shots.

Notes: The victory was John Hynes??? 115th as head coach of the Penguins and pulled him into a tie for first with Glenn Patrick on the franchise???s all-time win list.