Minor league report: Penguins fall to Monsters in overtime outdoors
Goaltender Dustin Tokarski made 28 saves on 31 shots for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Cleveland Monsters during an outdoor contest at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on Saturday.
A goal by forward Marcus Bjork 31 seconds into the extra period gave the Monsters a victory in which they came back from a two-goal deficit.
The contest was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., but too much sunshine was deemed a threat to the ice conditions and forced the game to be postponed until 6 p.m.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (22-23-4-5) opened the scoring 5:42 into regulation when defenseman Peter DiLibratore scored his first goal of the season. DiLibratore was acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade that sent forward Teddy Blueger to the Vegas Golden Knights.
A short-handed score by forward Raivis Ansons — his second goal of the season — put the Penguins up by two at 15:06 of the first period.
The Monsters got on the scoreboard late in the second period at the 19:28 mark when forward Justin Richards scored his 10th goal of the season.
Bjork scored his first goal of the game and fourth of the season only 1:25 into the third period to tie the game.
Penguins defenseman Mark Friedman participated in his second outdoor game of the season. Previously, he was in the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins who lost the NHL’s Winter Classic, 2-1, to the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park in Boston on Jan. 2.
Highlights:
This was the second outdoor game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s history. Previously, the AHL Penguins faced the rival Hershey Bears in the AHL Outdoor Classic at Hersheypark Stadium on Jan. 20, 2013. The Penguins won that game, 2-1, in overtime.
The Penguins’ next game is a road contest against the Monsters inside the confines of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday, 3 p.m.
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Goaltender Brad Barone made 31 saves on 35 shots for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-3 road loss to the Fort Wayne Komets at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Forwards Cedric Desruisseaux, Jordan Frasca and Sean Josling all scored goals for Wheeling (23-26-5-0)which has lost three consecutive games.
Highlights:
The Nailers’ next game is a road contest against the Toledo Walleye on Sunday, 5:15 p.m.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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