Hanson helps Toronto defeat WBS Penguins
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share thisDave Hanson is one of the legendary Hanson brothers from "Slap Shot," and his actual playing style in the late 1970s and early 1980s was very similar to the one his movie character preferred - lots of penalty minutes and few goals.
His son, Christian, plays a completely different game than his father. That's a fact the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins discovered in painful fashion Sunday afternoon.
Christian Hanson scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, as the Toronto Marlies topped the Penguins, 4-2, at Ricoh Coliseum.
Hanson, a 6-foot-4 rookie winger out of Notre Dame, is one of hockey's top prospects. He and his teammates on Toronto's top line, former Pittsburgh center Mike Zigomanis and Swedish winger Viktor Stalberg, accounted for all four Marlies' goals.
The biggest came with 5:58 left in the third period, when Hanson took a pass from Stalberg and broke a 2-2 tie.
Stalberg added an empty-netter in the final seconds and finished with four points on the night.
The Penguins, who saw their streak of six straight games without a regulation loss snapped, went 1-1-1 on a three-game Canadian road trip and return home to face the Norfolk Admirals on Friday.
The first two times the Hanson line scored Sunday, the Penguins had an answer.
Hanson knocked in the rebound of a bad-angle Zigomanis shot at the tail end of a 5-on-3 power play midway through the first period.
Tim Wallace tied the score 6:40 into the second period. Wyatt Smith started the play by winning a faceoff back to Ben Lovejoy, and his shot deflected in off Wallace, who was driving to the net.
Stalberg scored his second goal to restore a one-goal lead for the Marlies just 28 seconds later. Just as he was taking a diagonal pass from Zigomanis, Lovejoy took a tumble, leaving the Swede alone, racing down the right wing.
The Penguins tied the score at 2 when Ryan Bayda took off alone down the right wing off a neutral zone faceoff and fired a shot under the crossbar with 2:59 left in the second period.
Brad Thiessen made his second pro start in goal for the Penguins, stopping 24 of 27 shots.
Fellow rookie James Reimer stopped 34 of 36 shots for the Marlies.
Contact the writer: sports@timesshamrock.com
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