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WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; Before Wednesday&#8217;s morning skate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins trainer Kyle Moore walked into head coach Mike Sullivan&#8217;s office to deliver a message.It was from Tom Kostopoulos.A day earlier, Sullivan expected Kostopoulos to miss Wednesday&#8217;s game against the Syracuse Crunch due to an injury. But Moore told Sullivan that Kostopoulos said he wants to go through the morning skate and if he feels alright, he wants to play.&#8220;I didn&#8217;t expect him to be in the lineup today,&#8221; Sullivan said.But Kostopoulos felt fine enough to not only play on Wednesday, but score a goal as the Penguins defeated the Crunch 6-2. Dominik Simon turned in his first two-goal game of the season and the win erases a three-game losing streak from last weekend during which the Penguins scored a total of three goals.A lot of it had to do with Kostopoulos being able to lace up the skates.&#8220;This game, where we didn&#8217;t expect him to play, shows his passion for the game. Our guys play better when he&#8217;s in the lineup,&#8221; Sullivan said.And it showed quickly.The Penguins put any existing offensive woes to rest early on when Tom Kuhnhackl slammed home a Bryan Rust pass three minutes into the game for the opening goal. The play began when Rust stole the puck from Syracuse defenseman Luke Witkowski at the blueline and skated it deep into the offensive zone.Just 40 seconds later Kostopoulos made it 2-0 when he sent a shot into the far side of the net.At the midway point, Conor Sheary made it 3-0 when he skated through a maze of Crunch players and whipped a shot from the bad angle that beat Kristers Gudlevskis.&#8220;I think we needed a game where we could all get our confidence back,&#8221; Kostopoulos said. &#8220;It was nice to put the puck in the net a couple times.&#8221;While Sullivan may have been surprised to see Kostopoulos play on Wednesday, he wasn&#8217;t shocked to see the goals return.&#8220;Everyone was talking about this past weekend like all of a sudden the offense dried up,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For me, it&#8217;s more about the process. We told the guys let&#8217;s stay the course here. Let&#8217;s not get rattled and lose our belief or conviction.&#8221;While the Penguins were fine at even strength, their special teams still struggled. The penalty kill gave up a Syracuse power play goal on the first half of a Kostopoulos high-sticking double minor in the second period that made it 3-1.With the man advantage, the Penguins blanked on all five of its chances to extend their power play drought to 0-for-23. Still, Sullivan was happy with some of the chances that were generated against a tough Syracuse penalty kill.&#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t say it was the power play at our best, but I do think it&#8217;s progress,&#8221; he said.Simon gave the Penguins an insurmountable lead when he put home a rebound from the corner of the crease to make it 4-1 with 13 minutes remaining.With eight minutes remaining, Simon extended the lead when he raced down on a breakaway, threw a fake that froze Gudlevskis and tucked a shot inside the post to make it 5-1.Dominik Uher put things out of reach when he scored with a minute left in the game to make it 6-1. The goal was Uher&#8217;s first of the season.Syracuse made it 6-2 in the last minute, but by then the game was decided. Still, Kostopoulos said the three goals in the third period were as important as those scored in the first.&#8220;(Syracuse) has a good team. They always play us hard,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They came out hard and had some good pushes, so it was nice we could add a few more goals and put it out of reach.&#8221;NOTES&#8226; F Tom Sestito (injury), D Barry Goers (injury), F Josh Archibald, F Tyler Biggs and D Clark Seymour were scratched for the Penguins.&#8226; C Kevin Porter had an assist in his 500th pro game.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom Veneskytvenesky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Penguins 6, Syracuse 2Syracuse`0`1`1`&#8212;`2Penguins`3`0`3`&#8212;`6First PeriodScoring &#8211; 1. WBS, Tom Kuhnhackl 5 (Rust) 3:14. 2. WBS, Tom Kostopoulos 5 (Sundqvist) 3:54. 3. WBS, Conor Sheary 6 (Kuhnhackl, Andersen) 11:04. Penalties - WBS, Uher (roughing) 13:54; SYR, Erne (interference) 15:50; SYR, McGinn (charging) 19:41.Second PeriodScoring &#8211; 4. SYR, Jeff Tambellini 9 (Richard, Taormina) power play 4:48. Penalties - WBS, Kostopoulos (high-sticking - double minor) 4:29; SYR, McGinn (slashing, roughing) 9:07; WBS, Andersen (slashing) 16:11.Third PeriodScoring &#8211; 5. WBS, Dominik Simon 8 (Porter, Oleksy) 6:11. 6. WBS, Dominik Simon 9 unassisted 12:06. 7. WBS, Dominik Uher 1 (Sundqvist) 18:58. Penalties - SYR, Broll (roughing, misconduct) 15:39; SYR, Dotchin (roughing) 15:39; WBS, Kuhnhackl (roughing, misconduct) 15:39; WBS, Oleksy (roughing) 15:39Shots on goalSyracuse &#8211; 7-13-11-31Penguins &#8211; 12-13-10-35Power-play OpportunitiesSyracuse &#8211; 1 of 4Penguins &#8211; 0 of 5GoaltendersSyracuse &#8211; Kristers Gudlevskis 6-5-0 (29 saves-35 shots)Penguins &#8211; Matt Murray 11-4-0 (33-35)StartersSyracuse &#8211; G Kristers Gudlevskis, D Dylan Blujus, D Luke Witkowski, LW Yanni Gourde, C Tanner Richard, RW Philippe ParadisPenguins &#8211; G Matt Murray, D Steve Oleksy, D Derrick Pouliot, LW Kael Mouillierat, C Scott Wilson, RW Conor ShearyThree Stars1. WBS, Dominik Simon (two goals) 2. WBS, Matt Murray (two goals against, 30 saves) 3. WBS, Tom Kostopoulos (goal)Referee &#8211; Mark Lemelin, Cameron Voss. Linesmen - Ryan Knapp, Francois DussureaultAttendance &#8211; 4,360</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</shirttailMeta></div>

Penguins’ offense fired up by return of Kostopoulos