The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins scored two power-play goals Wednesday.
Problem was they also allowed two power-play goals, as well as an empty netter that they couldn’t overcome.
Springfield jumped out to a two-goal lead after two periods, and held off a Penguins’ charge in the third as the Thunderbirds won, 5-4, at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
It was Springfield’s first win over the Penguins this season, after losing the first three matchups — including a 7-2 loss in their last meeting Feb. 18. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (36-14-4-2) had its six-game point streak stopped, but remains in second place in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the Providence Bruins. The Penguins have 16 games left in the regular season and the Bruins have 19.
In terms of efficiency, the Penguins had it on offense Wednesday. They were 2 of 3 on the power play, and held a 31-22 edge in shots.
The problem was keeping the Thunderbirds out of the net.
Juraj Pekarcik got the Thunderbirds on the board just three minutes into the game, and two second-period goals by Dillon Dube — the latter coming on the power play with less than four minutes left — gave Springfield a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. Aidan McDonough had the Penguins’ goal at 14:03 of the second period.
The Penguins fought back in the third. Tanner Howe’s fifth goal of the year cut the deficit to 3-2 at 1:17 of the third, and McDonough’s power-play goal off assists from Gabe Klassen and Rutger McGroarty knotted the score at 3-3 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
But it was a Thunderbirds power-play score off the stick of Mathieu Joseph, his first of the year, coupled with an empty-netter by Chris Wagner gave Springfield a two-goal lead with 43 seconds left.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard’s 14th goal with 22 ticks left set the final score.
Goalie Joel Blomqvist got the start, stopping 17 of 21 shots.
The Penguins have one more game this week, heading to Syracuse on Friday night at 7.