AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Pens' slide continues with 5-0 loss to Hershey

Published on March 22, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


HERSHEY, Pa (Sunday, March 21, 2004) - The Hershey Bears had a balanced scoring attack as five different players scored goals and goaltender Philippe Sauve stopped all 21 shots faced as the Bears shutout the Penguins, 5-0, on Sunday at the Giant Center in a game that featured 223 minutes in penalties between the two teams.

Sheldon Keefe recorded a goal and two assists, while Dennis Bonvie and Steve Brule each recorded a goal and an assist for the Bears. With the win, the Bears improved to 30-29-8-4 (72 points), while the Penguins saw their record fall to 30-27-8-6 (74 points). The Penguins are now winless in their last three games (0-2-0-1).

"It was very disappointing the way that we played," said coach Michel Therrien. "It's not normal at this time of the year to have too many guys having bad games. Andy played unbelievable game - and we still lost 5-0. "

"I don't remember us having any scoring chances," he added. "That's how bad we were. "They wanted it more than us. They outworked us and they deserved to win."

The Penguins got off to a slow start for the third straight game and were outshot, 15-4, in the opening period. Despite being outplayed, the game was scoreless thanks to Penguins goaltender Andy Chiodo, who made several key saves, including a sprawling glove save on Brule's point-blank shot from the slot midway through the period.

In the second period, the Bears finally broke through and capitalized on one of their many scoring chances as Shane Willis scored a power play goal at 5:20 to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Willis skated to the net down the left wing and was pulled down by Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi. As he was being hooked, Willis managed to shovel the puck just inside the near post past Chiodo for his 24th goal of the season.

The Bears increased their lead to 2-0 later in the period when Cody McCormick scored his third goal at 14:21. Gavin Morgan came skating down into the offensive zone and fired a shot on net. Chiodo blocked the shot, but the rebound came to Dennis Bonvie. As he was skating towards the net, Bonvie got the rebound and fired a cross-ice feed to McCormick in the slot, who beat Chiodo on a one-timer high to the stick side.

Hershey came out fast in the third period and put the game out of reach with three goals in a span of 6:46 to take a commanding 5-0 lead. The Bears scored early as Keefe scored his 14th goal just 1:16 into the period. On a odd-man rush, Eric Perrin found him all alone in the slot and Keefe snapped a wrist past Chiodo for the goal.

The Bears would scored two power play goals later in the period. Steve Brule scored his team-leading 27th goal of the season 1:46 into Tomas Surovy's high-sticking penalty and Dennis Bonvie knocked home a rebound 43 seconds into Kris Beech's five-minute major for high-sticking at 8:02. Chiodo blocked Martin Hlinka's shot from the left circle, but the rebound came right to Bonvie in the slot and he lifted the rebound into the top of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

The game turned ugly in the final 2:42 of the game as the Penguins and Bears combined for 110 penalty minutes. The Penguins had over 100 penalty minutes in a game for the first time this season as they finished with 117, while Hershey racked up 106 penalty minutes.

Penguins' goaltender Andy Chiodo, who was making his eighth consecutive start, made a season-high 39 saves in the loss. The Penguins were outshot, 44-21, for the game. The Penguins are 1-3-2 this season when allowing 40 or more shots in a game.

The shutout was Sauve's third career against the Penguins, and first since December 15, 2002. All three of Sauve's shutouts against the Penguins have been recorded in Hershey.

Hershey scored on three of eight power play chances, while the Penguins were scoreless on three attempts.

"Sometimes, there's a couple of games a year where you can't put your finger on anything,' said defenseman Rob Scuderi. "It was not a good game for us, top to bottom."

Despite the loss, the Penguins are still in sole possession of third-place in the East Division. The Penguins lead Norfolk and Binghamton by one point and Hershey by two points. The Penguins and Bears will meet for the final time in the regular season on Friday at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

The Penguins (30-27-8-6, 74 points; Third-Place, East Division) return to action on Wednesday when they host the Manchester Monarchs (36-22-6-5, 83 points; Second-Place, Atlantic Division) in the first-ever meeting between the two teams at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

GAME NOTES: Forwards Ryan Tobler (back strain), defensemen Ondrej Nemec, Darcy Robinson and goaltender Nick Boucher were scratches for the Penguins ... Martin Brochu served as Andy Chiodo's back-up ... Center Kris Beech returned to the lineup for the first time since January 11 ... Beech, who missed the last 21 games with a broken collarbone, was ejected from the game after receiving a game misconduct and a five-minute major for cross-checking at 7:19 of the third period ... He was scoreless and even with one shot and 15 penalty minutes in the game ... Toby Petersen had his season-high seven-game point streak end ... The 117 penalty minutes for the game and 89 in the third period are new season-highs for the Penguins ... The Penguins will play seven of their nine remaining games in the regular season at home ...Of the nine games, seven are against division opponents, including six at home ... In 22 career games against the Penguins, Hershey goaltender Philippe Sauve has a record of 9-9-3, a 2.46 goals against average and a .918 save percentage with three shutouts .... In 16 games with the Bears, Steve Brule has recorded 13 points (6+7) against the Penguins ...Overall, Brule has recorded 31 points (9+22) in 27 career games against the Penguins in four seasons with Albany, Cincinnati and the Bears ... The Penguins were shutout for the fifth time this season ... In their five seasons, the game following a shutout, the Penguins are 4-15-2-2, including a 0-3-1 mark this season.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from March 22, 2004


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