AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Pens rally from 4-1 deficit to beat Philadelphi, 5-4

Published on May 6, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Philadelphia, Pa. (Wednesday, May 5, 2004) - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins rallied from a 4-1 deficit and stunned the regular season champion Philadelphia Phantoms with a 5-4 win in Game 1 of the East Division Finals before a crowd of 4,874 at the Wachovia Center.

"It was a tremendous comeback," said Penguins coach Michel Therrien. "We have the type of players who refuse to quit. They believe they can win every single game.

"We need to learn from our mistakes tonight," he said. "I don't think we'll be able to get away with it like this if we don't show up 60 minutes. I know our guys will be ready from the start next game."

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played on Friday at the Wachovia Center (7:05 p.m. start), before the series shifts to Wilkes-Barre for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday, respectively.

Just like in the series win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Penguins had a number of players step up and lead the way tonight. Colby Armstrong scored two goals, Kris Beech recorded two points (1+1), including the game-winning goal, and Sebastien Caron, who came in of relief of Andy Chiodo early in the second period, shut down the Phantoms the rest of the way stopping all 11 shots faced over the final 38 minutes to keep the Penguins in the game.

"He did a great job," said Therrien of Caron's performance. "There's no doubt about that.

"He came in and it was a situation where he had nothing to lose," he added. "He (Caron) gave us a couple good saves. Then at 4-2, the hope was there. There was still a lot of hockey to be played. I knew if we could play our game the way that gave us success in the first round, we'd have a shot to win this hockey game."

A turning point in the game came shortly after Caron entered the game as Peter Vandermeer tried to score on a breakaway, but Caron made a pad save to keep the Phantoms from a taking a 5-1 lead.

"It's been almost two weeks since I played,'' said Caron. "It feels good to be back in the net and do well like I did. It feels good.

"I didn't want to play that bad," he added. "I'm just going to turn the page. I worked hard the last two weeks. I'm ready to go again. I don't want to look too far ahead. I just want to be ready for the next game."

But heading into the game, Therrien was worried about the Penguins' long layoff and he was right as the Phantoms led 3-1 after 20 minutes of play.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead early in the first period on Colby Armstrong's first goal of the playoffs at 6:42. Toby Petersen skated down the right wing and at the top of the circle, dropped a pass to a trailing Armstrong who fired a slap shot past Antero Niittymaki high to the glove side for the goal.

The lead didn't last long as the Phantoms came right back and tied the game less than a minute later on Dennis Seidenberg's first goal of the playoffs. Chiodo made a blocker save on Kirby Law's wrist shot, but Seidenberg got the rebound near the bottom of the circle and lifted a wrist shot over Chiodo for the goal at 7:31.

Later in the period, Patrick Sharp scored two goals in a span of two minutes and thirty-eight seconds to give the Phantoms a 3-1 lead. After Chiodo made a pad save on a Mark Murphy's slap shot, Brooks Orpik had a chance to clear the zone, but he didn't get enough on the shot to get it out. Seidenberg, who was at the blue line, kept it in and fired a shot from the top of the point that was tipped in by Sharp on the way in for the goal at 12:39.

A few minutes later, Sharp made a nice individual play as he walked out form the corner and headed to the net where he skated across the crease and slipped home his second goal under Chiodo's glove and in to the corner of the net. The goal, his second of the period, came at 15:17 and gave the Phantoms a commanding 3-1 lead.

Philadelphia came out strong in the second period and added to their lead as Jeff Carter scored his second goal of the playoffs 1:19 in to give the Phantoms a 4-1 lead. Following the goal, Therrien replaced Chiodo with Sebastien Caron.

The move worked as the Penguins started their comeback and slowly chipped away at the Phantoms' lead. Konstantin Koltsov got the Pens' offense going as he scored his fourth goal in the last three games at 7:32 to cut the lead to 4-2. Then, less than a minute later, Armstrong notched his second goal of the game as he took a cross-ice pas from Matt Hussey at the top of the left circle and fired a one-timer through the pads of Niittymaki at 8:22 to close the Penguins within a goal.

The Penguins continued to pressure the Phantoms and late in the period, tied the game on Tom Kostopoulos' fourth goal of the playoffs. Kris Beech found Kostopoulos in front of the net and the Penguin captain banged home the shot past Niittymaki low to the stick-side for the game-tying goal at the 14:51 mark.

With 4:21 left in regulation, Beech scored on a 2-on1 break to give the Penguins their first lead since early in the first period. He took a pass from Matt Murley on the right wing and beat Nittymaki with a wrist shot for the eventual game-winning goal.

"It's not the most conventional way of doing things,' said Kris Beech on the come-from-behind win. "I think we came out a little flat in the first period. You don't want that to happen, but when you have (10) days off, it makes it tough.

We really were focusing on trying to get a good start," he added. "It just didn't happen for us. We picked it up in the second period. I think everyone got their legs going and we looked good.'

Late in the game, Philadelphia had their best chance to tie the game, but Caron made a pad save on John Slaney's point-blank shot from the high slot with under three minutes left in regulation.

Following the game, Therrien did not say who would start Friday's game. "We're going to take the time, wait and see,' he said. "I knew before the series that Sebastien has played very well against Philly. He has a great record. He had two shutouts. That was the reason why I wanted him to be the backup. But I haven't made a decision who will be the goalie Friday."

GAME NOTES Scratches for the Penguins were Marc-Andre Fleury (healthy), Guillaume Lefebvre (healthy), Pauli Levokari (injury), Ondrej Nemec (healthy), Reid Simpson (injury) and Ryan Tobler (injury) ... The Penguins have won their last four playoff games ... In Game One of the 2001 Western Conference Semifinals, the Penguins rallied from a 3-1 deficit and beat the Phantoms, 4-3 ... The Penguins are 3-1 against the Phantoms at the Wachovia Center in the playoffs ... Michel Ouellet has an assist in each of the last three games ... Tom Kostopoulos has a five-game point streak with 3-4-7 totals, including a two-game goal streak in progress ... Kostopoulos is also a plus-six in the last four games ... He leads the team in playoff scoring with 10 points (4+6) in eight games ... Konstantin Koltsov has a three-game point streak and goal streak in progress ... Koltsov has five points (4+1) in the last three games ... Eric Meloche has an assist in each of the last two games ... Center Matt Hussey has a three-game point streak and two-game assist streak in progress ... Hussey has four points (2+2) in the last three games ... The Penguins have a record of 5-3 in Game 1 of a series ... Including tonight's game, goaltender Sebastien Caron has not allowed a goal in three games against the Phantoms this season ... Caron has stopped 68 shots in 158:41 of work.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

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



American Hockey League Stories from May 6, 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