The St. John’s IceCaps rebounded from Friday’s loss with a 2-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday night at Mile One Centre.
The best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series is now tied, 1-1. Wilkes-Barre hosts the next three games, beginning Wednesday night.
Michael Hutchinson (8-4) made 34 saves on the night, including 13 in the third period, allowing no more than one goal for the sixth time in 12 playoff starts.
St. John’s grabbed a 1-0 lead at 13:54 of the first period as Blair Riley feathered a lead pass to Kyle MacKinnon, who skated in alone up the left side and snapped a shot past Peter Mannino (8-5) for his second goal of the playoffs.
Carl Klingberg doubled the IceCaps’ lead at 6:24 of the second period with his second playoff goal, redirecting a wrister from the blue line by Will O’Neill to make it 2-0.
With each team down a man and Mannino pulled for an extra attacker, Anton Zlobin ended Hutchinson’s shutout bid with 1:04 left in regulation, burying a pass from Brian Gibbons during a scramble in front of the IceCaps net for his sixth goal of the postseason.
Wilkes-Barre finished with a 6-on-4 power play for the final 52 seconds but Hutchinson made several big stops to preserve the win.
NOTES: Wilkes-Barre was without leading playoff scorer Chuck Kobasew in Game 2, while Jerome Samson, a 27-goal scorer in the regular season for St. John’s, was also out of the lineup… Conor Sheary assisted on Zlobin’s goal, extending his scoring streak to eight games (6-4-10)… The Penguins went 0-for-6 on the power play and the IceCaps were 0-for-3; both teams are scoreless in eight chances for the series… Wilkes-Barre finished with a 35-29 edge in shots… The IceCaps scored first for the 10th time in 12 playoff games.
Eastern Conference Finals – Series “M” (best-of-7)
4-St. John’s IceCaps vs. 6-W-B/Scranton Penguins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Sat., May 24 – W-B/Scranton 3, ST. JOHN’S 2
Game 2 – Sun., May 25 – ST. JOHN’S 2, W-B/Scranton 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 28 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 4 – Thu., May 29 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 5 – Sat., May 31 – St. John’s at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 6 – Tue., June 3 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 4 – W-B/Scranton at St. John’s, 6:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
