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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins Come Up Short

October 19, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (Friday, 18, 2002) - Some things never change for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when they square off against the Philadelphia Phantoms.

The Penguins, who were winless in their last three meetings (0-2-1) against the Phantoms and heading into the game did not post a victory at the First Union Spectrum since February 23, 2001 (0-5-2), had hoped tonight to start off the season series on the right foot against their archrivals. With a new cast of characters in the lineup and two wins already under their belt, the Penguins had every reason to believe they could the jinx tonight.

But unfortunately for the Penguins, until the Phantoms move their home games across town to the Class of 1923 rink or trade Mark Greig and John Slaney to a team in the New England Division soon, the Penguins are probably going to endure the same fate like they did tonight: a loss.

Greig, who probably wished he played every game against the Penguins, scored two goals and former Penguin John Slaney notched the game-winner as the Phantoms continued their domination over the Penguins with a 5-4 win before a crowd of 5,541 at the First Union Spectrum.

With two goals, Greig now has 41 points (18+23) in 31 games against the Penguins, the most by any player ever against the Baby Pens, while Slaney has 15 points (7+8) in 15 games against his former team. And, with the win, the Phantoms improved their record to 21-9-3 lifetime against the Penguins and 9-6-2 at home.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Robbie Tallas got off to a shaky start in the first period against the Phantoms and was pulled midway through the period. Tallas, who was making his first start of the season between the pipes for the Penguins, allowed four goals on seven shots and was replaced by Sebastien Caron at 10:15 of the opening period.

The Phantoms took an early 1-0 lead as Andre Savage slide the puck to Guillaume Lefebvre in the slot and he snapped a one-timer past goaltender Robbie Tallas for his first goal of the season at 3:14 of the first period. The assist was Savage's first of four helpers on the evening and he finished the night as the game's high scorer with four points and in the process, tied a team record for assists in a game.

Despite falling behind for third time this season, the Penguins answered right back as Tom Kostopoulos notched his second goal of the season 23 seconds later to even the game at 1-1. The shot was not only the Penguins' first of the game, but was it was also the first against Phantoms' goaltender Antero Niittymaki, who was making his pro debut.

The Penguins, who never led in the game, fell behind later as the Phantoms scored two goals in a span of 2:30 to take a 3-1 lead. The Phantoms took a 2-1 lead as Greig's wrist shot from the slot beat Tallas at 5:03. The goal was his 300th point as a Phantom. A few minutes later, rookie center Patrick Sharp added a power play goal with a wrist from the top of the left circle at 7:33. The goal was Sharp's first as pro goal. The former University of Vermont product made his AHL debut tonight with the Phantoms. Sharp was assigned to the Phantoms yesterday by the Philadelphia Flyers to get more ice time.

Still in the first period, the Penguins closed within a goal on Jason MacDonald's first goal of the season at 9:24. However, the Phantoms regained their two-goal lead as Greig tallied his second goal of the period, and third of the season, with a shot from just inside blue line that beat Tallas high to the glove side at 10:15. That was all for Tallas on that goal as coach Glenn Patrick had seen enough and replaced him with Caron. Shortly after the move the Penguins cut the lead to 4-3 on Eric Meloche's power play goal at 13:17.

The Phantoms and Penguins traded power play goals in the first ten minutes of the second period to close out the scoring in the game. Philadelphia increased its lead to 5-3 as Slaney scored a power play goal at 7:08, but the Penguins matched the Phantoms with a power play tally of their own as Kris Beech extended his point streak to four games with his third goal of the season at 9:27.

The Penguins could not generate many scoring chances in the third period and had only five shots on goal in the final stanza. Caron, who was appearing in his fourth straight game, kept the Penguins in the game as he stopped all 11 shots faced in the third period.

The Penguins called a timeout with 48 seconds left and pulled Caron for an extra skater but could not score game-tying goal to force overtime.

Overall, Caron finished with a season-high 30 saves. Despite allowing only one goal, he took the loss. At the other end of the ice, his counterpart, rookie Antero Niittymaki, made 25 saves to record his first pro win in his first game with the Phantoms.

With the win, Philadelphia improved to a perfect 2-0, while the Penguins' record fell to 2-2 on the season. The two teams will complete the home-and-home series tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05 p.m. at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins tonight were Matt Hussey (healthy), David Koci (healthy), Michel Ouellet (healthy), Andrew McPherson (lateral meniscal tear in left knee), Matt Murley (fracture of the right index finger), Robert Scuderi (dislocated shoulder), Tom Surovy (hernia; had surgery on Friday), Alexander Zevakhin (proximal greater tuberosity fracture of right humerus) are all out indefinitely ...

C Kris Beech, who has a four-game point streak in progress, is tied for first on the team in scoring with five points (3+2) ... Beech has a goal in each of the last three games ... RW Eric Meloche has a two-game point streak in progress with a goal and one assist and has recorded a point in three of the Penguins four games ... RW Konstantin Koltsov recorded his first multiple-assist game with two assists tonight ... Koltsov is tied with Beech for the team lead in scoring with five points (2+3) in four games ... He has recorded a point in three of the four games this season with the Penguins ... D Brooks Orpik has three assists in four games ... Orpik has a point in three of four games this season ... Fellow blue liner Ross Lupaschuk also has three points (2+1) in four games.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 19, 2002


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