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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Cincinnati Spoils Aubin's Return

March 2, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Cincinnati, Ohio (Saturday, March 1, 2003) - Brendan Yarema scored two goals and Ilja Bryzgalov made 20 saves as the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-1, before a crowd of 6,112 at Cincinnati Gardens.

The Mighty Ducks, who improved to 6-0 lifetime at home against the Penguins, spoiled the return of goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who was making his first start for the AHL Penguins since February 5, 2000, when he made 45 saves in a 5-4 loss at Hershey.

Cincinnati got all of the scoring it would need in the first period with two power play goals. Yarema scored his 14th goal of the season at 11:07 and then later Valicevic scored his 13th of the year with 11 seconds left in the period to give the Mighty Ducks a 2-0 lead.

With 30 seconds on Ross Lupaschuk's minor penalty for holding, Yarema took a pass from Travis Brigley in the high-slot and knocked a one-timer past Aubin low to the glove-side for the goal. Then, with under a minute left in the opening period, Valicevic scored on a deflection late in the period to give the Mighty Ducks' a two-goal lead.

The Penguins, who scored four power play goals on Friday at Cleveland, had several chances on the man-advantage in the game, but came up empty. The Penguins failed to convert on six power play chances, while Cincinnati scored twice on four chances.

In the second period, the Penguins had several good scoring opportunities, but could not strike with the man-advantage as goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov was up to the challenge.

Early in the period, Alexandre Daigle fired a slap shot from the top of the left face off circle that Bryzgalov kicked away, but the rebound came to Kostopoulos in the slot. With a point-blank scoring chance, Kostopoulos tried to score on a wrist shot, but Bryzgalov thwarted his scoring bid with a glove save. Later in the period, Toby Petersen and Milan Kraft each had great scoring chances but Bryzgalov came up big each time.

The Penguins had a four-minute power play late in the period but not could capitalize on Todd Reirden's double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Penguins' best scoring chance came with 1:20 left in the period as Petersen fired a pass to Kraft, who was all alone on the in the slot, but he shot went wide of the net.

Early in the third period, the Penguins broke up Ilja Bryzgalov's shutout bid as Kraft scored his ninth goal of the season at 7:09. The goal extended Kraft's point streak to ten games and closed the Penguins' within a goal at 2-1. Kraft has 16 points (7+9) in his last 10 games with the Penguins.

With under a minute left in the game, coach Glenn Patrick pulled Aubin for an extra skater, but the Mighty Ducks put the game out of reach as Yarema scored an empty net goal with 22 seconds left in the third period to close out the scoring.

With the win, goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov improved to 8-18-7, while Aubin, who finished with 23 saves, fell to 0-1-0 on the season. He will make his second consecutive start tomorrow as the Penguins and Mighty Ducks close out the two-game series at 4:05 p.m. at Cincinnati Gardens.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins were forward Jason MacDonald (left shoulder) and defenseman Francois Leroux (rotator cuff) ... In the six losses to Cincinnati on the road, the Penguins have been outscored, 30-11 ... Following tomorrow night's game, the Penguins will play 11 of their final 16 games at home.

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