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By STEVE SEMBRAT steves@leader.net
Friday, March 07, 2003 Page: 1C
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – When Wilkes-Barre/Scranton checks out the current
American Hockey League standings, the Penguins look up, not down.
That’s because coaches and players alike feel the team has the potential to
significantly improve its postseason status in the final month of the season.
“We’re not happy with where we are right now,” said winger Tom
Kostopolous. “We want to get into one of those spots where we don’t have to
play in the first round.”
The top 10 teams in the American Hockey League’s Western Conference make
the Calder Cup playoffs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (28-26-5-5, 66 points) is
seventh in the conference, seven points ahead of Philadelphia, the 11th-place
team.
The Penguins have their aim on teams ahead of them in the standings. The
top six teams get a bye in the best-of-three first round series, something
they’d like to avoid. Chicago is sixth in the Western Conference, two points
ahead of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The divisional races also are significant because the three divisional
champs are guaranteed the top seeds in the playoffs. The Penguins are seven
points behind Hershey and eight points behind Norfolk in the South Division of
the Western Conference, and have key games coming up against both clubs.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton plays Hershey three more times, starting with
tomorrow’s game (7:05 p.m. faceoff, First Union Arena). The Penguins and Bears
then play March 15 and 23 at Hershey.
On the final weekend of the season, Norfolk comes to town for games on
April 4 and 5.
“The next game you play is always the most important one, and the game
against Hershey is huge for us,” Patrick said. “If we beat the right teams,
that will put us in first place in our division. If we win those five games
against teams in our division, we feel we can finish in first.
“That’s very lofty, but I think it’s reachable. We should expect a lot of
ourselves and the team should know that.”
What also helps Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s chances of improving its playoff
status is an advantageous schedule down the stretch. The Penguins have 16
games left, 11 on home ice. The longest road trip remaining is at Lowell on
March 22. The rest of the away games are at Hershey twice, at Syracuse on
March 30, and a season-ending game at Philadelphia on April 6.
What has already buoyed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s hopes is that the team has
played reasonably well during its toughest stretch of the season. The Penguins
are 4-3-1-2 during the past 10 games, and eight of those have been on the
road.
That has included a three-game swing to Utah and San Antonio, Texas, then
another three-game swing to Ohio for a game in Cleveland and then two more in
Cincinnati.
“At the start of that stretch I was thinking we’d do better,” Patrick
said. “But when you think about it, with eight out of our last nine on the
road, that is moderate success.”
Patrick always sets a goal for his team to earn two-thirds of the possible
points it can get at home and half on the road. If Wilkes-Barre/Scranton can
do that, it will finish with 87 points, the most ever in the four-year history
of the franchise.
All this could serve as the springboard to the playoffs, where a team with
a highly talented lineup looks for great things.
“This team is a good team,” said goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin, one of
eight players on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s current roster who have spent time
with the parent club in Pittsburgh this season. “We can score a lot of goals
and I think we’ll have a good run in the playoffs.”