AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Game Recap (Norfolk 3, Pens 2)

Published on March 28, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


43-save performance by Robbie Tallas not enough as Pens' fall to first-place Admirals on the road

NORFOLK, Virginia (Wednesday, March 27, 2002) -This season can't end fast enough for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, especially for goaltender Robbie Tallas. The Penguins wasted another solid outing by Tallas, who recorded 43 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Norfolk Admirals before a crowd of 3,686 at the Norfolk Scope in a battle between two bitter division rivals.

In his last four starts, Tallas has stopped 156 of 165 shots faced and all he has to show for it is a 0-4 record. In two of the four games, the Penguins were shutout and in their last outing, Tallas faced 51 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"Norfolk was terrific tonight," said Coach Glenn Patrick. "They played a great game and were hitting on all cylinders. They have a great team."

The Admirals came out flying in the first period and dominated the opening period, but only had a 1-1 tie to show for it, thanks to the performance of the Tallas between the pipes. Norfolk could have easily led 4-1 if not for the play of the veteran netminder.

Tallas, who was making his third consecutive start, stopped Jean-Yves Leroux, Jim Campbell and Quintin Laing on short-handed breakaway chances in the period. The Penguins had three straight power play chances late in the period, but Norfolk had the better of the scoring chances.

With a couple of minutes left in the period, rookie defenseman Brooks Orpik mishandled a pass just inside the point and Leroux beat him to the puck near the far side-boards in the neutral zone and was off to the races. Leroux broke in all alone on Tallas and tried to go top-shelf, but Tallas blocked the shot.

Veteran forward Valeri Zelepukin found Jim Campbell cutting across the middle in the offensive zone and Campbell skated in on Tallas, who went down to make the save. He made the right decision as Campbell tried to slip the puck into the right corner of the net with 40 seconds left in the period. The Admirals had another great scoring with 15 seconds left, but Tallas made a pad save on Quintin Laing's scoring bid.

Despite the play of Tallas, Norfolk struck first as Leroux scored his eighth of the season early in the game at 3:13 for the 1-0 lead. Leroux got the puck near of the bottom of the right face off circle and fired a shot past Tallas for the goal just inside the far post.

But the Penguins rallied back tied the game at 1-1 on Mike Wilson's sixth goal of the season at 6:06. Tom Kostopoulos came skating down the left wing and flipped a back-hander back to Wilson in the slot. Wilson got the puck on stride and tapped in the shot over Andersson for the goal.

In the second period, Norfolk kept the pressure on the Penguins, firing 18 shots on Tallas, who stopped all but one. Norfolk regained the lead at 4:13 of the period when Mike Peluso knocked home his 14th of the season off a rebound past Tallas for the goal. That was all the scoring for the Admirals' in the second frame despite numerous chances.

The Penguins evened the game on Tom Kostopoulos' 26th goal of the season at 6:34. After a tie up in the corner, Shane Endicott pushed the puck out to Kostopoulos at the left face off dot and he skated a few feet to his right and fired a slap shot that slipped through Andersson's pads and just inside the left post for the goal.

Still in the second, Tallas made a save Peter White's shot from the high slot and then got his blocker on Ajay Baines' blast from the bottom of the left circle that caught him on the shoulder midway through the period. Later on, Tallas made a pad save on Dmitri Tolkunov's slap shot from top of the right face off circle with a minute left in the period.

The Admirals took the lead for good in the third period as Matt Henderson broke up the 2-2 tie with the eventual game-winning goal at 8:49 of the period. Tallas made the save on Peluso's initial shot, but Henderson was standing there in traffic in front of the crease and banged home his 18th goal of the season.

The Penguins couldn't get much going offensively in the third period and had eight shots in the period. Trailing by a goal late in the game, Coach Glenn Patrick pulled Tallas for the extra skater (Tom Surovy) with 1:19 left in the game. Despite with the extra skater, the Penguins could not get a good scoring chance as the Admirals held on to record the win.

The Admirals held a 46-19 edge over the Penguins in shots for the games. Andersson stopped 16 of 19 shots to improve his record to 9-12-4 on the season. Tallas, who faced 40 or more shots for the sixth time in his last 10 starts, recorded 43 saves and saw his record fall to 6-23-5.

"He (Tallas) kept us in there," said Patrick. "He gave us a chance to win."

With tonight's win, the Admirals improved their record to 35-24-12-4 (86 points) and extended their winning streak to seven games. Peluso had a goal and one assist, while White recorded two assists as Norfolk improved to 5-4 on the season against the Penguins.

Kostopoulos led the Penguins with a goal and an assist in the loss. The Penguins, who have now lost five straight games, saw their record fall to 20-40-12-3 on the season.

The Penguins wrap-up the season series against the Admirals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Scope and then return home to host the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the First Union Arena in the next to last home of the season.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins tonight were Jason MacDonald (suspension), Alexandre Mathieu (wrist) and Steve Parsons (suspension) and Rob Scuderi (bruised ribs) . RW Eric Meloche injured his shoulder in an open ice hit with Norfolk's Jeff Helperl midway through the first period and did not return . Meloche will have x-rays taken on Thursday and his status for Friday is questionable . Goaltender Robbie Tallas is winless (0-4) in his last four games and has a 2.28 goals against average and a .940 save percentage . In his last 10 games, he has a record of 2-7-1 with a 2.70 gaa and a .945 save percentage . Tallas has started in three consecutive games three times this season (10/17/01-10/20/01- 3 games, 12/07/01-12/14/01 - 4 games and 3/20/02-3/27/02 - 3 games) . Prior to the game, Patrick announced that goaltender Sebastien Caron will start on Friday for the Penguins . The Penguins are now 8-8-1 lifetime against the Admirals and are 4-4 at Scope . The Penguins are scoreless on their last 32 power play opportunities . They have not scored a power play goal since Martin Sonnenberg's power play goal at 10:32 of the third period against the Admirals on March 13 . Tom Kostopoulos recorded his 12th multiple-point game of the season and his first since March 9 . In nine career games against the Penguins, veteran center Peter White has 19 points (7+12) . White recorded 17 points against the Penguins during the 1999-2000 season while as a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms . The Penguins allowed 40 or more shots for the 13th time this season tonight .The Penguins have been outshot in 46 of 75 games this season, including 28 of the last 40 games . The Penguins are being outshot, 2,272-2,532 (30.29/33.76) for the season ... This season, the Penguins are 7-15-5 when outshooting the opponent and are 12-25-7 when being outshot and have a 0-2-0 record when shots are even . The Penguins have been outshot in 27 of 36 road games . This season, the Penguins are 1-6-1 when outshooting the opponent and are 5-18-4 when being outshot and have a 0-1-0 record when shots are even in games on the road.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 28, 2002


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