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AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Phantoms and Penguins Battle to 1-1 Tie

April 4, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Wednesday, April 3, 2002) - It wasn't a win, but after losing their last seven games, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will settle for a tie. In the first game of the home-and-home series against the Phantoms, the Penguins traveled to Philadelphia and battled their long-time division rivals to a hard-fought 1-1 tie before a crowd of 8,881 at the First Union Spectrum.

After two scoreless periods, the Penguins struck first with the game's first goal 20 seconds into the third period as rookie left winger Tom Surovy knocked home his 20th goal of the season past goaltender Neil Little to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

Selected as the game's No. 1 star, Surovy, got the puck at the face off circle and skated in and fired a wrist shot on Little, who made the save with his blocker. The puck was loose in the slot and Surovy tapped it in for the goal.

Philadelphia came back and tied the game at 1-1 a few minutes later as Jarrod Skalde slipped home his own rebound past Sebastien Caron at 3:30 of the period. Caron could not handle Skalde's wrist shot and was there on the doorstep to knock in his own shot for his 18th goal of the season.

Both teams had great scoring chances throughout, but both Caron and Little came up big when they had to in the game. Caron, who made 38 saves on the night, made a save on Mark Freer's point-blank scoring bid late in the game to preserve the tie. Freer, who was all-alone in the slot, flipped a back-hander that Caron stopped with 1:40 left in regulation.

Earlier in the game, Caron made a glove on Pavel Brendl's shot late in the second period. Brendl took a cross-ice feed from John Slaney and knocked it home for the apparent goal, but Caron reached back and made the save at the 6:35 mark of the second period.

Little was up to the task as well and made a number of saves, including a sprawling pad save on Tom Kostopoulos shot off a two-on-one short-handed break early in the first period.

The Penguins had numerous scoring chances on the night. In the second period, the Penguins had a goal waved off. Referee Dan O'Rourke ruled that the puck was hit in off of Martin Sonnenberg's high stick.

Early in the third period, Little made a save on Surovy's shot off a three-on-one break at 8:50. Later, Surovy took a feed from Kostopoulos in the high slot with 4:40 left and snapped a wrist that Little deflected with his blocker. Then, with time winding down, Martin Sonnenberg walked in all-alone on Little but his wrist shot went wide of the left post with 15. 2 seconds left in regulation.

The Penguins had three straight power play chances late in the game, but could not convert on their opportunities.

Little, who was making his 17th career start against the Penguins, finished the game with 38 saves.

The Penguins return home to play host to the Phantoms on Friday in their final home game and conclude their third American Hockey League season on Saturday against the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m. at Hersheypark Arena.

GAME NOTES Scratches for the Penguins tonight were Robert Dome (scratch), Jason MacDonald (suspension), Alexandre Mathieu (wrist) and Steve Parsons (suspension) . Defenseman Rob Scuderi returned to the lineup after missing the last three games with bruised ribs and right wing Eric Meloche played after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury . MacDonald served the final game of his six-game suspension tonight and will return to the lineup on Friday . The Penguins have had 35-man games lost due to suspensions this season (Steve Parsons - 15 games; Jason MacDonald - 9 games; Billy Tibbetts -2; Darcy Verot - 3; Brendan Walsh -3; and Martin Sonnenberg -2) . The Penguins have had 88 man-games lost due to injuries this season . RW Tom Kostopoulos moved in to a tie with Martin Sonnenberg for the team lead in scoring with an assist tonight . Kostopoulos, who has four points (2+2) in the last four games, has 49 points (27+22) and 110 penalty minutes in 68 games . Sonnenberg has 49 points (19+30) in 75 games . Philadelphia goaltender Neil Little has a record of 9-6-2 lifetime with a 2.21 goals against average and a .918 with two shutouts against the Penguins . The Penguins are 4-3-13 in overtime games this season . The Penguins were 0x5 on the power play tonight against the Phantoms . In 78 games this season, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is 59x421 (14.0%) on the power play. The Penguins are scoreless on their last 44 power play opportunities. . The Penguins have not scored a power play goal since Martin Sonnenberg's power play goal at 10:32 of the third period against the Admirals on March 13.

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