Sports stats



AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Philadelphia Moves Closer to Third-Place Penguins with 4-3 Win

February 6, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


WILKES-BARRE, PA (Wednesday, February 5, 2003) - Ian Forbes broke up a 3-3 tie with his first goal of the season midway through the third period as the Philadelphia Phantoms ended their six-game (0-5-1) winless streak with a 4-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-3, before a crowd of 8,318 at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

Former Penguin John Slaney recorded a goal and an assist and goaltender Neil Little made a season-high 40 saves as the Phantoms improved to 21-22-2-3 (47 points) on the season. Philadelphia now trails the third-place Penguins by three points with three games in hand.

The Penguins got off to a rough start as they committed two minor penalties in the first 1:16 of the game. Defenseman Rob Scuderi was called for a delay of penalty nine seconds into the game and Brendan Buckley was sent off for high-sticking at 1:16. It didn't take Philadelphia long to capitalize on the 5-on-3 power play as Brad Tiley scored his third goal of the season with a shot from inside the blue line at 1:46 to give the Phantoms a quick 1-0 lead.

Philadelphia increased the lead to 2-0 later in the period as Ben Stafford scored his 10th goal of the season at 7:01. Ian MacNeil won a face-off in the offensive zone and the puck came back to Slaney and he passed it Bruno St. Jacques at the top of the left circle. St. Jacques fired a slap shot and Stafford redirected the shot past goaltender Robbie Tallas for the goal. The goal was Stafford's third in the last three games.

The Penguins struck late in the period and closed within a goal on Jason MacDonald's fourth of the season at 16:16. MacDonald finished off a fore check near the wall and came back and got the puck near the right face off circle. He skated around one Philadelphia defender and fired a shot that beat Little to the far post.

The Phantoms regained their two-goal late a little over midway through the second period as Slaney scored his sixth goal of the season on Philadelphia's first shot of the period at 12:24. Slaney took a pass down low at the bottom of the left face off circle from Kirby Law. He skated across the crease and slipped home the shot past Tallas to give the Phantoms a 3-1 lead.

But the Penguins came back late in the period and tied the game with two goals in nine seconds. Toby Petersen extended his point streak to four games with his 14th goal of the season at 17:09 and Tom Kostopoulos answered off the ensuing face-off as he scored his 15th goal at 17:18 to tie the game at 3-3.

Petersen took a cross-ice feed from Alexandre Daigle and beat Little from the left face-off dot with 2:31 left in the period. Then, the Penguins won the center ice face off and Koltsov got the puck and skated into the Phantoms zone. He fired a shot on net from the top of the circle and Kostopoulos got to the rebound first and knocked home his 15th goal of the season to tie the game at 3-3.

The Phantoms took the lead for good midway through the third period as Forbes scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 10:57. Forbes took a pass from Mark Greig and unleashed a slap shot from the left point that beat Tallas high to the glove side for his first goal of the season.

The Penguins outshot the Phantoms, 43-26, in the game, including a 12-5 edge in the second period and by a 16-9 margin in the third period. In the second period, the Penguins outshot the Phantoms, 11-0, to start the period.

"That was one of the more frustrating losses we've had," said Penguins' Head Coach Glenn Patrick. "We outplayed them. We deserved better than that tonight. "

The Penguins return to action on Friday as they host the San Antonio Rampage on Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins were forwards Colby Armstrong (healthy) and Bobby Russell (healthy) and defenseman Mike Wilson (concussion) ... C Matt Hussey has a goal and an assist in the last two games ... Hussey has four points (3+2) in the last five games and is a plus-five ... He has 17 points (11+6) in 43 games ... C Shane Endicott has one assist in each of the last two games ... Endicott has eight points (1+7) in the last 10 games ... He is tied for fourth on the team in scoring with 33 points (11+22) in 48 games ... C Toby Petersen extended his point streak to four games with his first goal since January 18 ... Petersen has four points (1+3) in the last four games ... He is second on the team in scoring with 37 points (14+23) in 51 games ... Since being sent down from Pittsburgh on January 31, RW Konstantin Koltsov has three assists in two games and is a plus-two with three shots ... Koltsov has eight points (2+6) and a plus-three rating in his last eight games ... He is eighth on the team in scoring with 22 points (6+16) in 40 games ... RW Tom Kostopoulos has a three-game point streak in progress ... Kostopoulos has six points (2+4) and is a plus-four in the last three games ... He leads the team in scoring with 41 points (15+26) in 42 games ... Goaltender Robbie Tallas has started the last six games for the Penguins ... In his last six starts, Tallas has a record of 2-3 with a 3.79 goals against average ... Philadelphia defenseman John Slaney has 24 points (8+16) in 22 games against his former club ... RW Mark Greig is the Phantoms' all-time leading scorer against the Penguins with 52 points (22+30) in 38 career games ... In 22 career games against the Penguins, Philadelphia goaltender Neil Little has a record of 10-7-2, a 2.41 gaa with a .920 save percentage and two shutouts.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2003


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.

Other Recent Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central