Lannon Ends Goal Drought, Lifts Wilkes-Barre

Former Harvard defenseman Ryan Lannon went 128 games between goals two and three of his AHL career.

His wait for goal number four was considerably shorter.

Lannon tallied his second goal of the year with 10:40 to play, giving the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 4-2 win against the Syracuse Crunch Friday night at the Onondaga County War Memorial at Oncenter. The win raised the Penguins' record to 11-10-0-0 on the year, while the Crunch dipped to 7-13-1-0.

Lannon's shot from the point beat a screened Adam Munro in the Syracuse net, giving the Pens' defender his second goal in the past six games. Before scoring against the Worcester Sharks on November 21, Lannon's last goal had come on December 28, 2005.

The goal quieted a Syracuse arena that echoed with cheers and jeers for

most of the night, as the Crunch faithful enjoyed a pair of one-goal leads, and loudly booed former ‘Cuse netminder Ty Conklin and Penguins' tough guy Dennis Bonvie.

The Crunch controlled things early, scoring less than a minute into the contest. Steve Goertzen and Trevor Frischmon cruised in on a two-on-one, with Goertzen's shot deflecting off Conklin's left pad into the cage.

The Penguins countered shortly thereafter, as Tim Brent picked up his second of the campaign, this one coming during the team's first power play of the night 3:37 into the game.

Syracuse leading scorer Joakim Lindstrom put the home club back in front, carrying the puck into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone all alone, and then wristing a shot past Conklin at 5:42.

There wasn't as much scoring in the second period, but there was still plenty of action as bodies and fists flew.

Tim Wallace netted the lone goal of the frame, driving the net and pushing home his second of the campaign at 10:14.

Tempers flared two minutes later, as Tim Brent and Kyle Wharton both picked up seven minutes in penalties, the results of coincidental slashing minors followed by a fight.

Alain Nasreddine dropped the gloves with Derek Dorsett two-and-a-half minutes after those infractions, with Bonvie and John Mirasty also picking up matching minors at the 14:53 mark.

A series of roughing penalties to both teams late in the second period was the last of the chippiness, though, as both squads took a more calculated and cautious approach in an effort to grab the game-winner in the third.

Lannon's tally proved to be the difference, but Jeff Taffe couldn't resist getting in the action as well, netting his team-leading 10th of the season at 14:32 to close out the scoring.

Conklin made 27 saves to pick up his 10th victory of the season, while Munro stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss.

The Penguins now carry a two-game winning streak into Hershey, where they will take on the Bears on Saturday night at 7:00pm. The Pens return home to face their intra-divisional rivals from Chocolate-town on Friday, December 7 at 7:05pm.