Phantoms lose 5-1 in Wilkes-Barre

December 21, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Adirondack Phantoms News Release


(WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Dec. 21, 2002) - The Philadelphia Phantoms had their two-game winning streak halted tonight at the First Union Arena as Tom Kostopoulos scored twice to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 5-1 victory in a fight-filled game that featured 11 game misconducts.

Shane Endicott added two assists and goaltender Robbie Tallas made 33 saves as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton assumed a 3-2 lead in the 10-game season series. The Penguins also won in a rout (6-1) during the last match-up eight days ago in Philadelphia. The teams will meet again this Thursday in Wilkes-Barre.

Mark Greig scored the lone goal for Philadelphia, which also had a two-game road win streak come to an end. Antero Niittymaki started in goal and made four saves during the first period before Neil Little came on to stop 16-of-19 shots.

Wilkes-Barre assumed a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to goals by Kostopoulos and Alexander Zevakhin over the final five minutes of the session. Tomas Surovy set up Kostopoulos' ninth of the season at the 15:18 mark with a nice pass from behind the net to the right wing who was stationed outside the crease.

Zevakhin's fourth goal made it 2-0 with 40 seconds left in the period after Philadelphia's Jack Baker was sent off due to a checking from behind major and game misconduct. Matt Hussey offered a cross-ice pass from beyond the far circle to Zevakhin, who tapped it in from the doorstep. Wilkes-Barre's Eric Meloche had earlier received the same checking from behind major and game misconduct call.

The Penguins continued their five-minute power play to start the second stanza and Kostopoulos widened the gap to three goals 67 seconds into the period, with assists going to Toby Petersen and Matt Murley.

Philadelphia finally got on the board at the 4:58 mark during a 5-on-3 situation. Peter White and John Slaney set up Greig's 13th of the season and seventh power-play goal. White now has nine points (6G, 3A) in his last six games.

The score remained 3-1 heading into the second intermission, but no one went to the locker room as a huge brawl broke out. Phantoms left wing Peter Vandermeer and Mike Wilson each received double fighting majors and double game misconducts during the melee, while Philadelphia's Eric Betournay and Jim Vandermeer and Wilkes-Barre's Francois Leroux and Kostopoulos all left with a fighting major and game misconduct.

Surovy extended the lead to 4-1 at the 1:12 mark of the third period and Ross Lupaschuk capped the scoring on a breakaway out of the penalty box with 2:33 to play. Jason MacDonald of the Penguins received the final game misconduct of the game during a fight with Mike Siklenka with 6:10 remaining.

Next week, the Phantoms play three games in three days, beginning on Thursday, Dec. 26 when they return to Wilkes-Barre to play the Penguins. Philadelphia then hosts the Hershey Bears at the First Union Spectrum on Friday at 7:05 p.m. before playing at Hershey next Saturday, Dec. 28.

Phantoms Notes: Philadelphia still leads the all-time series 22-12-3 and is 12-5-1 in Wilkes-Barre ... The Phantoms are 1-3 all-time on Dec. 21.



American Hockey League Stories from December 21, 2002


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