A tense, low-scoring and exciting contest at CAA Arena went against the Belleville Senators on Friday night.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins booked their ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs with a point and made the Belleville Senators road that much more treacherous with a 2-1 shootout victory.
Neither team blinked in the opening 20 minutes, and the Pens and Sens remained dead even in the second period with a goal each.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton cashed in first on the powerplay 2:10 into the period through Aidan McDonough but the Sens went into battle mode to get tied.
Jamieson Rees clicked with Tyler Boucher on a rush and the native of Scottsdale, Arizona beat Joel Blomqvist for his ninth of the year with a little less than five minutes to play in the second.
Chipping in with the secondary helper was Riley Kidney, making his Sens debut count.
Both teams continued to go back and forth in a tight checking third period to earn a point, before overtime turned into the Leevi Merilainen show.
The affectionately nicknamed ‘Finnish Firewall’ made no fewer than three brilliant saves to keep the Sens alive, including taking away two breakaways from Avery Hayes.
The Penguins eventually wore Merilainen down, scoring on all three shots through McDonough, Gabe Klassen and Hayes in the shootout against one Olle Lycksell goal and a stop on Arthur Kaliyev.
Final shots favoured Belleville 29-19 in a well-played defensive effort.
The single point moves the Sens to two points away from the Rochester Americans for the coveted fifth place in the North Division ahead of a Saturday night affair against an equally playoff-hungry Springfield Thunderbirds at 7 p.m.
