Ryan Stone and Jonathan Filewich scored third-period goals and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton withstood a late rally to take a 5-4 victory from Bridgeport in Game 7 of their East Division semifinal on Saturday night.
The Penguins, who rallied from 0-2 down to win their first-round series for the third year in a row, will meet in-state rival Hershey next, beginning Thursday night.
Stone, the overtime hero in Game 6, gave the Pens a two-goal lead early in the third period. He finished with a goal and an assist, as did Erik Christensen and Ryan Whitney.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for his second win in a row.
Allan Rourke, Justin Papineau, Bruno Gervais and Rob Collins all scored for the Sound Tigers, who like Manchester in the Atlantic Division never trailed in the series until Game 7 was over.
Wilkes-Barre’s win on Saturday was the only one by the home team in the series, which was the first in 70 years of Calder Cup Playoff history to feature seven one-goal games.
The Penguins’ first-round results since 2004:
2004 vs. Bridgeport
Game 1 – Bridgeport 5, Wilkes-Barre 4 (OT)
Game 2 – Bridgeport 5, Wilkes-Barre 4 (OT)
Game 3 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Bridgeport 2 (OT)
Game 4 – Bridgeport 4, Wilkes-Barre 2
Game 5 – Wilkes-Barre 2, Bridgeport 1 (OT)
Game 6 – Wilkes-Barre 5, Bridgeport 0
Game 7 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Bridgeport 2 (OT)
2005 vs. Binghamton
Game 1 – Binghamton 5, Wilkes-Barre 2
Game 2 – Binghamton 4, Wilkes-Barre 2
Game 3 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Binghamton 2 (3OT)
Game 4 – Wilkes-Barre 2, Binghamton 0
Game 5 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Binghamton 2
Game 6 – Wilkes-Barre 2, Binghamton 1
2006 vs. Bridgeport
Game 1 – Bridgeport 2, Wilkes-Barre 1
Game 2 – Bridgeport 3, Wilkes-Barre 2
Game 3 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Bridgeport 2 (OT)
Game 4 – Wilkes-Barre 1, Bridgeport 0
Game 5 – Bridgeport 3, Wilkes-Barre 2 (OT)
Game 6 – Wilkes-Barre 3, Bridgeport 2 (OT)
Game 7 – Wilkes-Barre 5, Bridgeport 4
