Penguins Run Wild In Defeat Of Bears

Kennedy ties team record by scoring five points; Brodziak gets hat trick in the rout.

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – The Penguins blamed a lack of focus for Friday night’s uninspired loss to Grand Rapids.
To be sure, focus wasn’t a problem on Saturday.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton showed up ready to pummel a tired, short-handed Hershey squad and that’s exactly what it did.
Again and again and again.
Kyle Brodziak had a hat trick and Tyler Kennedy tied the team record for points in a game by scoring five as the Penguins hammered their I-81 rivals, embarrassing the Bears 8-4 at Wachovia Arena.
“It was a good first period,” said Penguins head coach Todd Richards, who had said after Friday’s game that his team hadn’t shown up ready to play. “That’s what we wanted. That’s what we talked about. I think we came out focused tonight and ready to play. The guys really responded well coming off (the Grand Rapids’) game. We really carried the play in the first period and generated a lot of opportunities. We did a lot of good things in the first period.”
For starters, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the expense of Hershey goalie Maxime Daigneault, who looked shaky on all three goals.
Kennedy got things headed in the right direction by whipping a wrist shot from the left circle through Daigneault’s pads just 3 minutes, 57 seconds into the period.
Brodziak scored the first of his three at 7:34, burying the rebound of Matt Carkner’s backhander from the top of the right circle.
Brodziak made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 12:37 by redirecting Patrick Thoresen’s centering pass.
“It felt good,” said Brodziak, who completed his first pro hat trick in the third and matched his career-high with four points. “I don’t think we were as effective as we could’ve been at even strength the last couple of games. But I think we did a good job tonight getting it in, wearing down their ‘D,’ and sticking to our game plan.”
The Penguins continued to pour it on in the second, getting goals from Kurtis McLean (a wrister from the left circle) and Noah Welch (a slap shot from the left boards) to chase Daigneault.
Daigneault, who got the start in place of the injured Frederic Cassivi (collar bone), gave up five goals in 18 shots.
His replacement, an ECHL call-up named Daren Machesney, started the third and fared little better.
Jonathan Filewich, Kennedy and Brodziak all scored on Machesney in the first 11:02 of the third to push the Penguins’ lead to 8-1.
Hershey, which was coming off back-to-back losses to Norfolk, tried to get physical in the third and did just as well as it had at the hockey part of Saturday night’s game.
Matt Hendricks, Jamie Hunt and Tyler Sloan all lost third-period fights for Hershey. Sloan was on the wrong end of as one-sided a fight as you’re likely to see with Penguins forward/defenseman Wade Brookbank.
“We’ve got great guys in the locker room,” Richards said when asked about the way his team had bounced back from the loss to Grand Rapids. “There’s really never a question (of character) when it comes to the guys. You can probably go back and look at the games and it’s focus. It has nothing to do with work, has nothing to do with caring or not putting it all on the line every night. It’s just we lose mental focus. That’s going to happen over 80 games.”