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8 minutes, 44 seconds in heaven

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins erupted for seven goals in a span of 8:44 during the first period and rolled to an 8-1 win over the Hershey Bears on Monday night.

The Pens killed off four consecutive Hershey power plays, including a lengthy stretch of 5-on-3 advantages, before Noah Welch scored at the 9:43 mark of the first period.

Konstantin Koltsov made it 2-0 at 11:16, and Chris Kelleher and Jonathan Filewich scored 45 seconds apart to chase starting goalie Frederic Cassivi from the Bears net.

Kirk Daubenspeck took over and promptly allowed goals to Kenny Corupe and Maxime Talbot before Koltsov scored the Penguins’ fourth power-play goal of the period with 1:33 left, giving Wilkes-Barre a 7-0 lead.

The seven goals were the most ever scored in a period by the Penguins, and the second-most ever allowed in one period by the Bears.

The last AHL team to score at least seven goals in one period was the Providence Bruins, netting seven in the second period of a 9-3 win over the Beast of New Haven on Feb. 3, 1999.

Colby Armstrong, Stephen Dixon, Guillaume Lefebvre, Rob Scuderi and Daniel Carcillo recorded two assists each for Wilkes-Barre, which opened up a seven-point lead over Hershey atop the East Division.

Elsewhere on Monday:
Kirby Law scored two goals, including his league-leading 20th of the season, as Houston rolled past San Antonio, 7-1… Nathan Robinson scored once in regulation and once in the shootout to lead Providence past Lowell, 3-2… Denis Hamel and Steve Martins each had a goal and two assists as Binghamton doubled up Albany, 4-2… Mathias Tjarnqvist scored twice and Mike Smith made 46 saves as Iowa improved to 10-1-1-1 in its last 13 games with a 3-2 win over Peoria… Darren Haydar recorded three assists in regulation and scored in the shootout as Milwaukee defeated Chicago, 4-3.