SILL HELPS AHL PENGUINS ICE PLAYOFF SERIES
SCRANTON, PA, April 25, 2011 – Truro, NS native Zach Sill, a former member of the Moncton Wildcats and Truro Bearcats, helped ice the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-3 win over Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night, capturing the teams’ AHL East Division semifinal series in six games.
Steve Wagner’s first-period hat trick staked the Penguins to an early 3-0 lead Joe Vitale notched the game winner while empty-netters by Tim Wallace and Sill iced the series.
It’s the fourth time in franchise history that the Penguins have advanced after losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series, an accomplishment that has only been done 23 times total.
Wagner scored twice on the power play in the first 3:58 of the game, and later in the period became the first AHL defenceman to notch a playoff hat trick since Freddy Meyer scored three times for Philadelphia in a conference final game vs. Providence in 2005.
Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Blair Jones cut the deficit to 3-2 after the second period, but Vitale restored Wilkes-Barre’s two-goal lead with 12:37 left in the third. James Wright’s power-play goal got the Admirals back within one but the Penguins iced the win with the empty-net goals
Brad Thiessen made 28 saves in leading the Penguins to their fourth straight win. Dustin Tokarski stopped 23 of 27 shots in the loss.
Geoff Walker, a 24 year-old right winger from Charlottetown, PEI is also a member of the Penguins.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which finished with the best record in the AHL during the regular season, will face either Charlotte Checkers in the division finals beginning Thursday night.