AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Tomas Surovy scores game-winner in OT as Pens take thriller, 2-1

Published on April 23, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins News Release


Bridgeport, CT (Thursday, April 22, 2004) -The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins staved off elimination and live to play another day as Tomas Surovy scored the game-winning goal at 14:33 of overtime to lift the Penguins to a thrilling 2-1 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before a crowd of 2,608 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

With the win, the Penguins now trail the best-of-seven series, three games to two, with Game 6 scheduled for tomorrow night at Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. If necessary, Game 7 will be played back in Bridgeport on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

"It's a totally different ballgame," said coach Michel Therrien. "In our building, we know we're a tough team to play against, especially when the crowd's into it. It's going to be a fun game to play."

The Penguins took advantage of a Bridgeport miscue on the winning goal. The Sound Tigers turned the puck over at the red line and Tom Kostopoulos got the puck near the penalty box door and fired a pass to Surovy just outside the blue line. Surovy carried the puck into the offensive zone and snapped a wrist shot that beat a Dieter Kochan low to the glove side for his third goal of the playoffs. More importantly, the goal kept the Penguins' season alive.

"I was behind the "D" and it was overtime," said Surovy. "You don't want to have a turnover 1-on-1, so I just tried to shoot from behind him. It went into the net."

"We told our guys it's never a bad play to shoot the puck," added Therrien. "Tomas is a pure shooter, and finally, the puck went in."

Despite not playing in over a couple of weeks, rookie goaltender Andy Chiodo looked sharp in the first period stopping all four shots, including two point-blank shots by Jeff Hamilton. Despite outshooting the Sound Tigers, 6-4, the Pens' best scoring bid came late in the period when Michel Ouellet a fired shot from the bottom of the circle and then followed in on his own rebound, only to have Dieter Kochan block both shots.

After a scoreless first period, Bridgeport struck first as Jeff Hamilton scored 6:20 into the period to give the Sound Tigers a 1-0 lead. Ryan Kraft set-up the goal when he battled the Penguins' Brooks Orpik behind the net and when both players collided, the puck fluttered out and to the bottom of the right circle. The puck bounced one and Hamilton wound up and slapped a one-timer past Chiodo low to the stick-side for the goal.

The Penguins, who outshot the Sound Tigers 13-3 in the second period, had some quality scoring chances late in the second period but goaltender Dieter Kochan made a number of big saves, including a save on Tomas Surovy's back-hander from the slot at 6:45. Kochan then made a save on Rob Scuderi's slap shot from the circle a minute later to keep the Penguins off the scoreboard. But the Penguins finally got one past Kochan as Kostopoulos banged home his second goal of the playoffs with 5:07 left to tie the game at 1-1.

Both teams had chances in the third period, but both goaltenders came up big and kept the game tied at 1-1. Blaine Down tried to score on a wraparound but Chiodo made a pad save at 12:49. The Penguins came right back with point-blank scoring chance of their own as Kochan made a pad save on Tom Kostopoulos' blast from the bottom of the circle.

Bridgeport's Martin Kariya had two point-blank scoring chances in the final 25 seconds of regulation but Chiodo made two big stops to send the game into overtime.

The Penguins, who have killed off Bridgeport's last 10 power play chances, made two key kills on two penalties by Marquis Mathieu. The Penguins killed off the first one late in regulation and early in overtime.

The Sound Tigers' best chance came early in sudden death, but Chiodo robbed Blaine Down early into the overtime session as he made a glove save on a snap shot from the bottom of the circle 1:38 into overtime to keep the Penguins in the game and their season from being over.

"I didn't see the pass come out," said Chiodo of his game-saving stop of Down's shot. "I just kind of got an eye on it and made a reaction save. The guys did a pretty good job all night. That's one of the only ones I had to see."

"It's the type of save we've been looking for a long, long time,' said Therrien. "You need those types of saves if you want a chance to win in the playoffs. Andy did a great job."

And now, the Penguins go back home looking to even the series and force and deciding seventh game. "I think it's a good momentum shift going back to our fans," said Chiodo of playing tomorrow night at home. "What we thought about doing was getting some life and playing in front of our home crowd.

"Then, hey, flip a coin in Game 7," he said. "We've given ourselves a chance to play in that great building (Wachovia Arena). We'll see what happens from there."

GAME NOTES

Scratches for the Penguins were Sebastien Caron (healthy), Guillaume Lefebvre (healthy), Pauli Levokari (injury), Ondrej Nemec (injury), Reid Simpson (injury) and Ryan Tobler (injury) ... The Penguins' last overtime win on the road was on May 9, 2001, when Michal Rozsival scored the game-winning goal in overtime (5:02) against the Hershey Bears at Hersheypark Arena. Right wing Eric Meloche left the game at 8:09 of the opening period after being hit in the head from behind by Kevin Colley. Meloche did not return and is out indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated by team physicians in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. Colley was assessed a two minute minor for roughing on the play ... Tomas Surovy and Tom Kostopoulos each have a goal and two assists in the last two games ... Surovy has recorded a point in three of five games, including two multiple-point games, while Kostopoulos has collected a point in four of five games, including two multiple-point games ... The win ended the Penguins' six-game road losing streak in the playoffs ... The Penguins have outshot the Sound Tigers in each of the five games and hold an 178-102 edge in shots for the series.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from April 23, 2004


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