AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins Lose to Philadelphia, 5-3

Published on April 6, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (Friday, April 5, 2002) - It's not exactly how the Penguins wanted to go out before another sellout crowd. In the final home game of the season, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost to the Philadelphia Phantoms, 5-3, before a crowd of 8,341 at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

Mike Lephart recorded a career-high four points (2+2) and Mike Watt added a pair of goals as the Phantoms improved to 32-26-15-5 (84 points) on the season.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead midway through the period as Martin Sonnenberg scored a power play goal, their first in the team's last 45 tries, at the 10:17 mark. Sonnenberg scored when he knocked in Brooks Orpik's shot past goaltender Corey Hirsch for his 20th goal of the season.

A few minutes later, Philadelphia answered back as Watt scored his 10th goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. Watt took a pass from Guillaume Lefebvre and beat goaltender Sebastien Caron for the goal.

Later in the period, the Phantoms took their first lead of the game on Mark Freer's power play goal with 2:45 left in the opening period. But before the Phantoms could get comfortable with the lead, the Penguins bounced right back and tied the game less than a minute later on Peter Ratchuk's goal. Ratchuk took a feed from Jan Fadrny and buried it past Hirsch for his 16th goal of the season at 17:59.

The game was tied until 8:33 of the second period when Watt notched his second of the game and 11th goal of the season to give the Phantoms the lead at 3-2. But the Penguins battled back and tied the game 4 minutes, 12 seconds after Watt's goal as John Jakopin blasted a shot past goaltender Corey Hirsch from top of the right face off circle for his third goal of the season at 12:45.

With the game tied at 3-3, Philadelphia took advantage of Jason MacDonald 's roughing call as Lephart tipped in David Harlock's shot for a power play goal at 5:19 of the third period. The goal, Lephart's ninth of the season, gave the Phantoms the lead for good as the Penguins could not get anything going offensively the rest of the way. The Penguins only had six shots in the final period against Hirsch, who had a relatively quiet night.

With a minute left in regulation, Penguins' coach Glenn Patrick pulled goaltender Sebastien Caron for an extra skater (Jason MacDonald). Lephart sealed the game with his 10th of the season and second of the period with an empty net goal at 19:25.

Special teams played a roll in the outcome as Philadelphia scored twice on five power play opportunities, while the Penguins capitalized on only one of three chances.

Both goaltenders did not have relatively busy night as Caron face 28 shots, while Hirsch stopped 19 of 22 shots in the win for the Phantoms.

With the loss, the Penguins' record fell to 20-43-13-3. The Penguins will look to end their season-high nine-game winless streak (0-8-1) tomorrow when they close out the season against the Hershey Bears. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at Hersheypark Arena.

GAME NOTES Scratches for the Penguins tonight were Rob Scuderi (family matter), Alexandre Mathieu (wrist), Steve Parsons (suspension) and Robert Dome . Scuderi is expected to be back in town tomorrow and will be in the lineup . Goaltender Robbie Tallas is expected to get the start tomorrow night in the season finale at Hershey . Tallas has a record of 2-3-2 with a 2.25 goals against average and a .937 save percentage in seven games against the Bears this season . With an assist tonight, RW Tom Kostopoulos now has five points (2+3) in the last five games . Kostopoulos has 50 points (27+23) and 110 penalty minutes in 69 games . He is tied for first on the team in scoring . Kostopoulos leads the team in goals and power play goals and is tied for first with three game-winning goals . He is among the team leaders in short-handed goals (second), assists (tied for third) and shots (third) . Kostopoulos has a point in 36 of 69 games . The Penguins finished the season 14-19-7 at home . The Penguins recorded their 39th sellout of the season tonight .The Penguins lead the American Hockey League in both average attendance and total attendance. For the season, the Penguins had a total attendance of 333,501 in 40 home games, an average of 8,337 (102.2 % capacity) with a league-high, 39 sellouts . The Penguins sold out every game this season played in Wilkes-Barre at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza. For the second straight season, the Penguins played one "home" game in Pittsburgh at Mellon Arena. The Penguins attracted 324,896 fans (102.3% capacity) in 39 home games at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza and attracted a crowd of 8,605 in one "home" game at Mellon Arena. Seating capacity at Mellon Arena is 16,958 for hockey . The Penguins finished the season with a 2-7-3 mark against the Phantoms . Prior to tonight's game, the Penguins had won the last two games against the Phantoms at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza . Overall, the Penguins are 2-3-1 against the Phantoms at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza and are 0-5-1 at the First Union Spectrum this season . The Penguins are 9-20-3 lifetime against the Phantoms in 32 regular season meetings over the past three seasons. The Penguins are 3-12-1 lifetime against the Phantoms at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza and are 6-8-2 at the First Union Spectrum.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 6, 2002


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