GANDY DANCERS MUSCLE THEIR WAY TO 4-1 WIN
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Steamtown Gandy Dancers drove the hammer down on the Cleveland Monsters for a 4-1 win on Saturday night at Mohegan Station.
In the fourth installment of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ (44-16-7-2) Community Night presented by Visit Luzerne County, the team adopted the one-night-only branding of the “Steamtown Gandy Dancers” as a nod to the Steamtown National Historic Site and Northeast Pennsylvania’s rich and storied railroading history. The Gandy Dancers turned in an appropriately proletarian effort to outlast the Monsters and establish a season-high eight-game point streak.
Daniel Russell picked up an assist for the second-straight game to start his pro career, thrusting a shot off the pads of Zach Sawchenko that careened right to Atley Calvert. Calvert stoked in the rebound at 12:29 of the opening frame for a 1-0 Gandy Dancers lead.
The two clubs exchanged power plays back and forth throughout the second period, but neither side could solve the opposing netminder. Joel Blomqvist delivered a massive save at 16:49 when Tate Singleton was sprung out of the penalty box for a breakaway, only for Blomqvist to rob him with an outstretched right pad.
The 1-0 score persisted past the midway mark of the third period, until Aidan McDonough provided insurance with a smoking wrist shot off the far post and in. However, Cleveland’s James Malatesta responded less than a minute later, slashing Steamtown’s lead back down to one.
It was McDonough stepping up again with a power-play goal five seconds into a man advantage to put the Gandy Dancers up 3-1 with six minutes left in regulation.
Tanner Howe tidied things up with an empty netter with 11 seconds to go.
Blomqvist finished the night with 25 saves, while Monsters goalie Sawchenko had 24 stops.
Steamtown will return to playing as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for its next game, Wednesday, Apr. 15, when the Hershey Bears come to town for the conclusion of their season series with the Penguins. Game time between the Penguins and Bears is set for 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
The Penguins have three games left in their regular season before starting their run in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Postseason opponents and schedules are yet to be determined, but fans can cheer on the team throughout its entire playoff run by purchasing a Penguins Playoff Package.
Playoff packages, which are billed on a pay-as-we-play basis, include tickets to every confirmed home game during the postseason. Each package also comes with an $8 voucher for every home game, which can be redeemed at Savor concession stands or at the Penguins Igloo Team Store located inside Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza on each designated game date.
Penguins Playoff Packages, as well as individual-game tickets for the remaining regular-season home games are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367 or at wbspenguins.com.
Every minute of Penguins hockey can be watched online with the league’s streaming service, AHLTV on FloHockey. AHLTV on FloHockey provides its subscribers access to not just every regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff game for all 32 AHL teams, but also more than 21,000 hockey contests from other professional and junior leagues on FloHockey, as well as access to all other live event streams and replays across FloSports.
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