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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins and Crunch Skate to 4-4 Tie

March 31, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


SYRACUSE, N.Y. (March 30, 2003) - It's always adventure for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when they play in Syracuse, so the Penguins were more than happy to leave with a point, especially after falling behind early in the game.

The Pens' top-two scorers led the way as Toby Petersen recorded two goals and one assist and Tom Kostopoulos added three assists as the Penguins rallied to salvage a 4-4 tie against the Crunch before a crowd of 5,488 on Sunday at the War Memorial at Oncenter.

The Penguins (33-32-6-5), who were just 3-12-3 on the road against the Crunch, remained just where they did before the game - tied for ninth place in the Western Conference playoff race. The Penguins and Rochester (29-29-14-5) both have 77 points, although the Amerks' have played one more game than the Penguins.

After killing off a 5-on-3 power play to start the game, the Penguins took an early 1-0 lead on Konstantin Koltsov's ninth goal of the season at 3:16. But then, the Penguins fell behind the eight ball as the Crunch scored three unanswered goals and chased goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin after just 20 minutes of play.

Syracuse tied the game on Mathieu Darche's goal from the slot at 6:36 and then scored two goals within 1:28 to take a two-goal lead into the locker room.

Brad Moran's tenth goal of the season from top of the left face off circle at 14:11 gave the Crunch their first lead of the game and then a little over a minute later, Kent McDonell scored the first of his two goals in the game with a slap shot from the top of the right face off circle that beat Aubin high to the glove side to give Syracuse a 3-1 lead.

Coach Glenn Patrick made a change in goal at the second of the second period as he replaced Aubin with Robbie Tallas, who was making his first appearance between the pipes for the Penguins since March 16.

The move seemed to spark the Penguins as they come out of the gate quick to start the period as Brooks Orpik scored his third goal of the season just 18 seconds in to close the Penguins within a goal.

A few minutes later, Syracuse increased its lead to 4-2 as McDonell scored his second goal of the game and 14th of the season at 3:12. But the Penguins answered right back on the ensuing face off as Petersen knocked home a rebound past goaltender Karl Goehring for his team-leading 27th goal at 3:24 to close the Penguins back within a goal at 4-3.

Just like at the start of the second period, the Penguins came out in the third period strong and tied the game just 24 seconds in as Toby Petersen scored his second goal of the game and 28th of the season to tie the game at 4-4. Despite out shooting the Crunch, 15-12 in the period, Petersen's goal was all that the Penguins could get as Goehring made several big saves down the stretch to force overtime.

Tallas looked sharp in overtime stopping a two straight breakaways and finished with 24 saves. Goehring, who was pulled early n last night's game, bounced back and stopped 36 of 40 shots for the Crunch.

With the tie, the Penguins finished the season 4-3-1 season against the Crunch. The Penguins are now 12-20-6 lifetime against their I-81 rivals.

The Penguins return to action as Wednesday as they host the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks at 7:05 p.m. at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza. The Penguins' 97-game sellout streak (league-record) is in jeopardy as several hundred tickets are still available for the game.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins were right wing Alexandre Daigle (recalled by Pittsburgh) and right wing Jason MacDonald (illness) ... Daigle recorded 38 points (9+29) and 18 penalty minutes in 39 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was seventh on the team in scoring ... He recorded at least a point in 27 of 39 games and has eight multiple-point games, including six-multiple-assist games and one-multiple-goal game ... C Toby Petersen has six points (2+4) in the last two games ... Petersen leads the team in scoring with 62 points (28+34) in 76 games ... RW Tom Kostopoulos is second on the team in scoring with 61 points (20+41) in 67 games ... Although his five-game goal streak came to an end, left wing Matt Murley extended his point streak to six games with an assist in the second period ... Murley has nine points (5+4) and is a plus-four in the last six games ... He is third on the team in scoring with 56 points (20+36) in 69 games ... C Michal Sivek has one assist in each of the last three games ... C Milan Kraft extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Koltsov's goal in the first period ... Kraft has recorded eight points (3+5) in the last six games ... D Brooks Orpik has a goal and an assist in the last two games and has a plus/minus rating of plus-three in the last three games ... With Wheeling's season ending today, forwards' Steve Crampton, Michel Ouellet, Bobby Russell and Zenon Konopka and defenseman David Koci will join the Penguins as taxi-squad players in case of injuries or call-ups for the remainder of the season ... Ryan Malone, Pittsburgh's fourth-round pick in the 1999 draft, will also join the Penguins ... Malone completed his four-year career at St. Cloud State and will join the team on Monday ... Coach Glenn Patrick said he will evaluate Malone in practice and decide whether he will play in any games the rest of the way ... The team is off tomorrow and will resume practice on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Ice Box Skating Complex in Jenkins Township ... The Penguins are 1-5-6 in overtime games this season and have not won in OT since November 29 when Kris Beech scored the game-winner at Saint John in a 4-3 win ... The Penguins are winless (0-4-4) in overtime since the win against the Flames.

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