AHL American Hockey League

Penguins off to high-flying start

Published on October 24, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... Who says Penguins can't fly?

A franchise-record-tying winning streak has the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins atop the AHL standings with a perfect 7-0-0-0 record, with potent offense, sound defense and quality goaltending all contributing to the success.

Heading into this week's action, the Penguins boast three of the top seven scorers in the AHL, including Erik Christensen, who sits in a four-way tie for the league lead with 15 points in the seven games. The 21-year-old Christensen is on pace to blow past his rookie outputs from 2004-05, when he recorded 27 points (14g, 13a) in 77 games for the Penguins. He tallied a club-record four goals on opening night against Bridgeport, and added single goals in each of the Pens' three games this past weekend.

Ryan Whitney leads all AHL defensemen with 13 points, while Michel Ouellet, coming off consecutive 30-goal seasons for Wilkes-Barre, has contributed five goals and seven assists for 12 points. Fellow returnees Colby Armstrong and Matt Hussey have three goals and three assists each, and Tomas Surovy has added five points (2g, 3a) to date.

The newcomers are contributing as well, including defenseman Ryan Lannon, a rookie out of Harvard University who owns a plus-9 rating through his first seven professional games, tops in the AHL. Fellow rookies Daniel Carcillo (2g, 6a), Ryan Stone (2g, 2a), Noah Welch (4a) and Jonathan Filewich (3g) are among the 17 Pittsburgh draftees to skate for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton so far in 2005-06.

Between the pipes, Marc-Andre Fleury has stopped 104 of 108 shots (.963) in going 4-0-0, while also seeing action in three NHL games for Pittsburgh. Dany Sabourin has nearly matched Fleury save for save, stopping 100 of 108 shots and posting three victories for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Penguins have outscored their opponents by a 34-12 margin in their seven games and have surrendered just three even-strength goals on the season, including a span of 330 minutes and 16 seconds (more than 16 periods) without allowing a 5-on-5 tally. They rank eighth in the AHL in penalty killing (86.9%), and second on the power play with 12 goals in 43 chances (27.9%).

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won seven in a row from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, 2000, en route to a trip to the 2001 Calder Cup Finals. Head coach Michel Therrien's Penguins are back in action this weekend, hosting Hershey on Friday and Syracuse on Saturday.

RECORD NIGHT IN ROCHESTER ...

There hadn't been many nights like this one in 50 years of Rochester Americans hockey. At the War Memorial on Friday night, Jason Pominville scored five goals, Chris Taylor added six assists and Derek Roy chipped in with a goal and four assists as Rochester knocked off Cleveland, 8-4.

Pominville and Taylor tied franchise records with their efforts, while Roy recorded his second five-point night of the young season. Dave Hynes (Jan. 17, 1975) and Donald Audette (Oct. 29, 1989) had previously scored five goals in one game for Rochester; Rudy Migay (Feb. 6, 1959), Ed Litzenberger (Jan. 24, 1965) and Geordie Robertson (Dec. 26, 1983) had recorded six-assist games.

MORE HAT-TRICKERY ...

Pominville's performance nearly overshadowed Houston rookie Roman Voloshenko, who scored four times in the Aeros' 7-3 win over Grand Rapids on Friday night. All four goals came off two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Chris Osgood, who was making his second of three conditioning starts for the Griffins. Voloshenko, 19, has scored seven goals this year, and they have all come in two games. He had a hat trick in his AHL debut on Oct. 7 vs. San Antonio.

Rookie Geoff Platt scored three times for Syracuse in a 6-3 win over Rochester on Saturday night. Platt, a 45-goal scorer with Erie (OHL) last season, has six goals in five games for the Crunch. Jiri Hudler recorded a hat trick in Grand Rapids' 6-3 win over San Antonio on Wednesday, and Eric Healey scored three times in Providence's 8-2 victory at Springfield on Saturday.

There have been nine hat tricks in 79 games around the AHL this season, one for every 8.8 games played. Last year, there were 61 hat tricks (one for every 18.4 games).

BACK ON TRACK ...

Gardens Hockey Inc. announced that its AHL franchise, which played from 1997-2005 as the Mighty Ducks, will be known as the Cincinnati RailRaiders, named in honor of the city's history with the U.S. train system. The franchise, which was granted a voluntary suspension for the 2005-06 season, has begun a season ticket campaign with the hopes of securing community support and an NHL affiliation for next fall and beyond.

ETC. ... Hershey's Brooks Laich, a former Senator, scored four goals in two weekend games against Binghamton... Defenseman Patrick Traverse scored twice in three shootout attempts as Iowa beat Milwaukee, 3-2, in 11 rounds on Friday... Jamie Storr made 44 saves in Philadelphia's 1-0 win over Norfolk on Saturday... An 8-2 win in Springfield on Saturday marked the first time since Jan. 12, 2001, that Providence had scored eight goals in a game... Manchester's Jeff Giuliano scored a shorthanded goal while two men down in the Monarchs' 2-1 overtime win over Houston on Saturday... Nigel Dawes, Colby Genoway and Jake Taylor all scored their first AHL goals in Hartford's 6-5 win at Hershey on Saturday, the Wolf Pack's sixth straight win in Chocolatetown... The Bears were 10-for-30 on the power play in three weekend games... Saturday's win over Lowell gave Albany 1,000 all-time standings points, the 15th AHL franchise ever to reach that mark... Grand Rapids is 5-2-0-0 on the season, with both losses coming against Houston... Tickets to the 2006 AHL All-Star Classic in Winnipeg went on sale to the public last week through the MTS Centre box office and TicketMaster... The AHL and its other member teams join the Milwaukee Admirals in mourning the sudden passing of Admirals play-by-play broadcaster Kyle Schultz on Saturday.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 24, 2005


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