AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Battle for first in East comes to a head this week

March 20, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


The Penguins enter this week's action with a one point lead over the Hershey Bears for first place in the American Hockey League's East Division, with the two teams scheduled to face-off Friday in Wilkes-Barre and Sunday in Hershey.

The Bears clinched their first postseason appearance since the 2002-03 season with a 5-4 shootout victory against the Binghamton Senators on Sunday evening, and have a 40-18-3-10 record, good for 93 points, heading into this week.

While they are just one point ahead of the Bears in the division standings, the Penguins have the luxury of having four games in hand on their southern neighbors (67 games played for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton; 71 games played for Hershey).

The Penguins could stretch their lead to three points on the Bears before the two clubs meet this weekend, as they host the Portland Pirates on Wednesday night at 7:05pm.

BONVIE BREAKS TEAM PENALTY MINUTES RECORD

Dennis Bonvie picked up 12 penalty minutes during the Penguins' 3-2 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Friday night, and in the process set a new team record for career penalty minutes with 836. The former mark of 830 was held by Darcy Verot, who suited up for the team from 1999-2002.

Bonvie's 372 penalty minutes this season lead the AHL, and are the second-highest single-season total in Penguins history, trailing only Verot's mark of 387 set during the 2001-02 season.

PENGUINS SET TEAM MARK FOR POINTS IN A SEASON

The Penguins dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Binghamton Senators on March 15, but still managed to pick up one point in the loss to set a new team record for points in a season (93). The former record of 92 points was set by the 2004-05 club, which finished the season with a record of 39-27-7-7.

PENGUINS CLOSE IN ON HOME WINS RECORD

The Penguins' win on Sunday, March 12 against the Binghamton Senators was the 21st victory on home ice this season, leaving the team two wins shy of the team-record of 23 set last season. This year's club is 21-7-2-1 (45 points) through 31 home games, and has nine more contests at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. Last year's club went 23-12-3-2 (51 points).

SABOURIN BEARING DOWN ON FLEURY

Dany Sabourin picked up his 25th victory of the season on Sunday, March 12, leaving him one win shy of Marc-Andre Fleury's single season wins record of 26 for the Penguins, set last season.

Sabourin currently ranks among the AHL leaders in goals against average (first, 2.23), save percentage (tied for first, .923), shutouts (tied for second, three) and wins (tied for third, 25).

STREAK AT FIVE FOR FILEWICH

Penguins rookie Jonathan Filewich carries a five-game scoring streak into Wednesday night's game against the Portland Pirates, with six points (4+2) in those five contests. Filewich netted his 20th goal of the season in last Wednesday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Binghamton Senators, and picked up his 21st of the year last Friday at Philadelphia.

Filewich ranks second on the team in goals, third in points (35) and tied for second in game-winning goals (4). He is tied for the team lead in games played, having appeared in each of the team's first 67 contests this year.

DEFENSE FIRST

The Penguins continue to have the fewest goals against in the AHL this season, having allowed just 147 goals through 67 games thus far (2.19 goals per game). The next closest teams in the goals against column are the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, who have allowed 180 goals in 67 contests, and the Manitoba Moose, who are averaging 2.66 goals against per game (181 goals/68 games).

The Penguins team record for fewest goals allowed in a season is 197 (2.4625 goals per game), set during the 2003-04 campaign.

ATTENDANCE

The Penguins are averaging 8,145 fans per home game this season (252,510 in 31 games), 100.1% of capacity.

A LOOK AHEAD:

Wednesday, March 22 - Portland Pirates @ PENGUINS

NOTES:

- The Penguins are 1-0-0-0 this season, and 4-3-0-2-0 all-time against Portland.

- The Penguins have a home record of 2-1-0-1-0 against the Pirates

- This is the second of two games between the teams.

- Portland is 42-16-5-3 (92 points) and in first place in the Atlantic Division.

Friday, March 24 - Hershey Bears @ PENGUINS

NOTES:

- The Penguins are 5-1-1-1 against Hershey this season, and 28-22-4-5-1 all-time.

- The Penguins are 3-1-0-0 in Wilkes-Barre against the Bears this season.

- This is the ninth of 10 meetings between the clubs this season.

- Hershey is 40-18-3-10 (93 points) and in second place in the East Division.

Saturday, March 25 - Albany River Rats @ PENGUINS

NOTES:

- The Penguins are 3-0-0-0 against the River Rats this season, and 20-9-5-3-0 all-time.

- This is the fourth and final meeting between the clubs this season.

- Albany is 23-38-4-2 (52 points) and in seventh place in the Atlantic Division.

Sunday, March 26 - PENGUINS @ Hershey Bears

NOTES:

- This is the 10th and final meeting between the clubs this season.

INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE LEADERS

- Dany Sabourin is first overall with a 2.23 goals against average, tied for first with a .923 save percentage, tied for third with 25 wins and tied for second with three shutouts.

- Dennis Bonvie is first overall with 372 penalty minutes.

- Matt Hussey is tied for fourth with six game-winning goals.

ON THE AIR

All Penguins games can be heard live on QFM 92.1 and on the internet at www.wbspenguins.com, with Tom Grace calling the action.

ON THE WEB

All Penguins games can be seen live on the internet thanks to the B2 Network. Log on to www.wbspenguins.com to watch all Penguins home and road games live.

TICKETS

Good seats remain for all Penguins home games. Full season, partial season, group and individual tickets for Penguins home games are now on sale. For more information, contact the Penguins at 570-208-7367 or log on to www.wbspenguins.com.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from March 20, 2006


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