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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins Fall to Binghamton, 3-2, in Overtime

February 17, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Binghamton, N.Y. (Sunday, February 16, 2003) - Antoine Vermette scored the game-winning goal with 1:17 left in overtime to lift the Binghamton Senators to a 3-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins before a sellout crowd of 4,685 at the at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

In overtime, the Senators took advantage of a bad line change as Dean Melanson, who was without a stick, got the puck to Vermette just inside the offensive zone and he broke in all alone and slipped a backhander past goaltender Mike Valley for the game-winner.

With the win, Binghamton improved to 29-18-7-1 (66 points), while the Penguins' season-high five-game unbeaten streak came to an end. The loss dropped the Penguins' record to 26-23-4-4 (60 points).

Binghamton took a 1-0 lead early in the first period on Julien Vauclair's fifth goal of the season at 3:51. Chris Bala skated into the offensive zone and with Brendan Buckley all over him, gave the puck to a trailing Vauclair, who fired a slap shot from the top of the right face off circle. Vauclair's slap shot beat goaltender Mike Valley high to the glove side and caught the top of the net for the goal.

The Senators struck again later in the period as Chris Kelly increased the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal at 11:58. With Shane Endicott in the penalty box for hooking, Binghamton scored 48 seconds into the power play as Kelly took a pass from Joe Murphy in the high slot and knocked home his 17th goal of the season past Valley.

After a sluggish opening period, the Penguins picked up their play in the second and closed within a goal on Bobby Russell's power play goal at 7:54. Russell took a pass from Shane Endicott at the bottom of the left face off circle and skated towards the net. Binghamton goaltender Ray Emery blocked Russell's initial shot, but he followed up and knocked in the rebound just inside the right post for his fourth goal of the season. The goal was Russell's second in the last two games against the Senators.

The Penguins came out hard in the third period and had several point-blank scoring chances, but Emery came up big. He made a glove save on Shane Endicott's wrist shot at 3:57 and Tom Kostopoulos' one-timer from the slot at 9:03 and another scoring bid at 12:27.

But Emery had no chance on Eric Meloche's back-hander with four minutes left in regulation. The Penguins, who outshot the Senators, 16-10, in the third period, tied the game on their 14th shot of the period as Richard Lintner fired a wrist from the point and Meloche re-directed it past Emery for his ninth goal of the season. Emery made 33 saves to improve his record to 21-14-5, while Valley stopped 30 of 33 shots in a losing effort. Both teams were 1-for- 3 on the power play.

The Penguins were scheduled to host the Philadelphia Phantoms tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza, but the game has been postponed due to the winter storm in the area.

Information regarding make-up date and ticket information will be announced as soon as it becomes available.

The Penguins are expected to leave Monday for a weeklong road trip where they will visit the Utah Grizzlies for a two games (Wednesday, Feb. 19 and Friday, Feb. 19 at the "E' Center; 9:00 p.m. EST start) and then visit the San Antonio Rampage on Sunday (3:00 EST start). The Penguins' next home game is on Wednesday, February 26 (7:05 p.m. start) against the Senators.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins were forwards Matt Hussey (neck and back spasms), Konstantin Koltsov (bruised left elbow) and Jason MacDonald (left shoulder) ... A number of individual player streaks came to an end ... Alexandre Daigle's six-game point streak came to an end, as did Kris Beech's five game point and goal streak and Toby Petersen's nine-game point streak ... Petersen's streak was the longest of the season by a Penguin ... D Richard Lintner extended his point streak to three games and RW Eric Meloche recorded a point for the second straight game ... Since being acquired by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Linter has a goal and two assists in three games ... Meloche, who led the Penguins with a goal and an assist tonight, has three points (1+2) in the last two games ... LW Bobby Russell has three points (2+1) in the last two games against the Senators ... The Penguins are 1-4-4 in overtime this season, including a 1-2-1 mark on the road ... The Penguins will play six of their next seven games on the road.

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