AHL Playoffs: WBS wins Game 5 blowout, advances

· Yahoo Sports

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins faced a win or pack it in for the year situation in Game 5 of the best-of-five series against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Unlike the majority of the very closely contested series, this game wasn’t in doubt very long. Tristan Broz scored two of the Pens’ four goals in the first period, finally slaying the dragon that was goalie Georgii Romanov and eventually chasing him from the game. Backup Vadim Zherenko was called on to start the second period and didn’t fare much better as the Pens rolled to an 8-1 series clinching win.

Here was the lineup for the night, Rafael Harvey-Pinard slotted back into play and defenseman Owen Pickering reportedly has a day-to-day injury and was replaced by veteran Sebastian Aho.

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Broz, often a clutch player in big game moments throughout his career, put his stamp on the game early scoring 3:56 into the action, then setup Harrison Brunicke for a goal at the 7:43 mark. Broz scored again with under four minutes in the third period and Harvey-Pinard added a huge dagger with about 20 seconds left in the period to set the score at 4-0.

From there, the game and series was virtually in the bag. Romanov, who only gave up seven total goals to the Pens in Game 1-4 of the series (and just 16 total goals in 10 playoff games entering the night) had finally cracked. The riddle was solved by the Penguins, and just in time. The plucky Thunderbirds – who ranked just sixth place in the entire division but had upset third place Charlotte and first place Providence – finally saw the clock hit midnight on their Cinderella run, turning their carriage into the proverbial pumpkin.

WBS will move onto play the winner of the Cleveland/Toronto series. The Marlies won Game 4 by a 5-2 score on the road to stay alive, their deciding Game 5 comes up tomorrow afternoon. The good news for the Pens is that since (as mentioned above) Providence is out and Grand Rapids is also eliminated that lines Wilkes up for home ice advantage for the rest of the way. They will host Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, regardless of opponent. The last two series in the Calder Cup playoffs also now shift to best-of-seven formats.

In the end for this series, the Pens rose to the occasion after playing what coach Kirk MacDonald called one of their worst played games in Game 4. Sergei Murashov made saves on 26 out of 27 shots tonight, emerging as the clear victor in the matchup against Romanov that saw two great performances in the net. Per theAHL.com, Murashov ended up with a 1.55 GAA and .949 save% in the five games against Springfield.

Other important names for the Pittsburgh perspective showed up as well. Ville Koivunen pitched in three third period points. Mikhail Ilyin recorded two primary assists. Broz added a fourth point on his night late in the game. Brunicke, as mentioned, scored. Bill Zonnon and Avery Hayes each had an assist.

Lots of good news across the board, as is this case in a 8-1 playoff win. Most important of all, it punches WBS’s ticket to the conference final.

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