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Scott Reinardy
Wednesday, January 26, 2000 Page: 3B
crease / ‘kres /n, 1: the 4-by-8-foot area in front of the goal off-limits
to offensive teams until the puck enters. 2: this column filled with inside
information about the Penguins. Stat of the Week Against Hershey on Friday,
the Penguins scored a franchise-high seven goals as John Slaney had a
franchise-record five points (one goal, four assists). The line of Slaney,
Martin Sonnenberg and Tom Kostopoulos accounte for 12 points (four goals,
eight assists) in the 7-3 victory. Play of the Week The Penguins were
leading 5-3, but Hershey was on a third-period power play. Goalie
Jean-Sebastien Aubin made one save, but was trapped under a player when the
puck bounded to Bears defenseman Mike Gaul at the left point. Gaul was
shooting at an open net when suddenly Aubin’s glove appeared from the bottom
of the pile to snag the puck. The Penguins killed off the rest of the power
play and won the game, 7-3. Number Crunchers In 33 games, John Slaney has
had multi-point games on 14 occasions. That includes four-point and five-point
performances in two games last week. He leads the team with 41 points (18
goals, 23 assists). Slaney is tied as the top scoring defenseman in the AHL.
He’s played mostly forward the past 15 games dating back to Dec. 26. …
Before Tuesday’s game, Greg Crozier had a nine-game points streak dating back
to Dec. 22. Crozier missed five games because of a broken cheek bone he
suffered when he collided with Sven Butenschon in practice. … Entering
Tuesday’s game, defenseman Butenschon had a four-game points streak with five
assists. … Tom Kostopoulos is second on the team with 30 points (16 goals,
14 assists). He is sixth in the AHL among rookie scorers. … The Penguins
power play is 12th in the AHL, scoring 17.4 percent of the time. …
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is last in penalty killing at 75.8. The league average
is 81.9. … The Penguins have a 6-11-2 home record and are most successful on
Wednesdays (4-5-1). … The Penguins are 6-6-1 when scoring first and 4-23-4
when the opponent scores first. When the Penguins lead after two periods, they
have a 6-0-1 record. … Slaney is the only Penguin without a negative
plus/minus rating. He is at zero. If a player is on the ice when his team
scores, he receives a plus. If the opponent scores, he receives a minus.
Players are not given a minus if scored against while short-handed. Passing
the Puck There was no question last week because of the mid-season report
card. But two weeks ago, the question was: How much do you think the current
losing streak is attributed to the loss of their captain, Tyler Wright, and
assistant captain, Dennis Bonvie? At the time, the Penguins were in a
nine-game losing streak. Although that streak has been stopped, the team is
2-12 in their last 14 games. To the Wright-Bonvie question, Karl Besteder
writes: “I feel it makes a great impact on whether we win or lose not having
players of their caliber.” P. Crawford also writes: “I don’t believe that
the call-up of Bonvie and Wright has anything to do with the Pens “FORMER”
losing streak. I do feel that they have been a little less aggressive without
having Bonvie there to help out, especially against the Phantoms.” This
week’s question: Who do you want to be the Penguins’ No. 1 goalie,
Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Ryan Bach or Dave Weninger? You can respond to Scott
Reinardy at 831-7342 or online at sreinardy@leader.net.