AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Penguins slip past Albany, 2-1

Published on March 28, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


WILKES-BARRE, PA. - Toby Petersen broke a 1-1 tie with his 14th goal of the season midway through the third period as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins held on for a 2-1 win over the Albany River Rats before a sellout crowd of 8,328 at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when rookie forward Michel Ouellet scored his team-leading 29th goal of the season at 16:30. The Penguins needed only 48 seconds to cash in on Ilkka Pikkarainen's slashing penalty as Ouellet took a cross-ice pass from Kris Beech at the right post and banged home the shot past goaltender Ari Ahonen for the power play goal. With the assist, Beech extended his point streak and he now has seven points (4+3) in the last three games.

In the second period, Albany came back and tied the game on Phil Cole's first goal of the season at the 11:11 mark. The River Rats got on the board with a lucky bounce as Tuomas Pihlaman's slap shot from the point was tipped by both Pikkarainen and Cole on the way in on net and the puck hit off the top of Chiodo's catching glove and in for the goal.

Petersen scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 10:04 of the third period when he knocked down Shane Endicott's shot from the left face off circle and slipped it past Ahonen for the goal. The goal held up as the Pens' tightened up defensively and limited the River Rats to only three shots in the third period.

Andy Chiodo made his 11th consecutive start and stopped 19 of 20 shots to improve his record to 18-17-2. With the win, Chiodo set a new team record for wins in a season by a goaltender, breaking Rich Parent's mark set three years ago (2000-2001) when he backstopped the Penguins to the Calder Cup Finals.

Albany goaltender Ari Ahonen, who was making his 44th appearance of the season, stopped 32 of 34 shots in a losing effort. With the loss, Ahonen saw his record fall to 12-26-6 on the season.

The Penguins were 1-for-3 on the power play, while Albany was scoreless on their one power play chance. The Penguins had only one minor penalty in the game, while the River Rats had six penalty minutes on three infractions.

With the win, the Penguins improved their record to 33-27-8-6 (80 points), while the Rats fell to 17-35-11-9 on the season. The two teams will meet for the tenth and final time this season next Friday in Wilkes-Barre.

The Penguins, who led the all-time series, 12-7-5-3, have not lost to the River Rats at home since March 12, 2000. With tonight's loss, Albany is now winless in their last nine visits (0-8-1) to Wilkes-Barre and has been outscored, 42-16, by the Penguins.

The Penguins return to action on Wednesday when they visit the second-place Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7:05 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Penguins trail the second-place Sound Tigers (36-23-9-4, 85 points) by five points in the East Division standings.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from March 28, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central