Krystofer Kolanos and Guillaume Lefebvre each scored twice during a five-goal second period as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rolled to a 7-2 win over Hershey in a playoff-like atmosphere at the Wachovia Arena on Friday night.
The win moved the Penguins four points up on the Bears atop the East Division. The teams meet again on Sunday evening in Hershey.
Petr Taticek got Wilkes-Barre on the board first 5:22 into the game before the Penguins erupted for five goals on 11 shots in the second period.
Kolanos and Lefebvre scored 51 seconds apart to make it 3-0, then after Mike Green and Tomas Fleischmann pulled the Bears back to within a goal, they struck again 3:06 apart to restore the three-goal lead.
Dany Sabourin turned aside 33 shots for the Penguins. Kolanos, acquired by Pittsburgh prior to the Mar. 9 trade deadline, has four goals and three assists in seven games for Wilkes-Barre, which is 4-0-1-2 in that span.
The big period was nothing new for the Pens, who scored seven times in the first 20 minutes of an 8-1 win over the Bears on Dec. 26.
Elsewhere on Friday:
Colby Genoway, Craig Weller, Alexandre Giroux and Brad Smyth each recorded a goal and an assist as Hartford posted a 6-1 win over Springfield
Carl Corazzini‘s goal 2:33 into the third period stood up as the difference as Norfolk edged Portland, 3-2
Noah Clarke scored on both of his shootout attempts as Manchester clinched a berth in the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 decision over Bridgeport
Joe Motzko recorded four points, including a hat trick, and Peter Sarno registered five assists as Syracuse dumped Binghamton, 9-3
Tom Cavanagh registered a goal and an assist to lead Cleveland to a 4-3 win over Rochester
Stefan Ruzicka scored twice for Philadelphia in a 5-2 win over Albany
Jeff Campbell scored his first AHL goal in the first period, then converted in the seventh shootout round to give Lowell a 3-2 win over Providence
Gregg Naumenko made 20 saves for his first AHL shutout since the 2000-01 season, leading Peoria to a 3-0 win over San Antonio
Pekka Rinne recorded 24 saves and Milwaukee scored four times on just 13 shots in a 4-1 victory at Manitoba
Pat Dwyer scored twice to give Chicago a 4-2 win over Houston and drop the Aeros into second place in the West Division, one point behind Milwaukee
