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By SCOTT REINARDY sreinardy@leader.net
Wednesday, February 02, 2000 Page:
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Billed as the most important game of the season, the
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins did nearly everything they could to snatch two
points from Empire Division opponent Albany on Tuesday.
But with 12.7 seconds left in overtime, the River Rats were the ones doing
the snatching.
In front of 6,083 First Union Arena spectators, Albany’s Pierre Dagenais
flipped the game-winning goal past Penguins goalie Ryan Bach on a breakaway to
give the River Rats a 4-3 victory.
Although Wilkes-Barre/Scranton receives a point for the third consecutive
game following back-to-back weekend ties, it falls further behind fourth-place
Albany for the final division playoff spot. Now, with 31 games remaining, the
Penguins have an 11-point gap to fill.
“It’s a tough one to swallow with the way we played,” coach Glenn Patrick
said. “This team works hard and we don’t feel like we’re out of the playoff
race. We outplayed them. If they came into our rink, outplayed us, dominated
the game and kicked us in the rear end and said, `See you later,’ that’d be
different. But we played well enough to win.”
Even if you had missed the first three periods, the overtime still would
have been worth the price of admission.
Late third-period penalties to the Penguins’ Josef Melichar and newly
acquired Steve Leach provided Albany with a 5-on-3 power play to begin the
overtime. The Penguins actually played 3:40 of the five-minute overtime
shorthanded because Leach’s penalty was a four-minute double minor for high
sticking.
Still, it didn’t seem to phase the Penguins, especially Bach.
Within a 19-second span, Bach made two tremendous saves that keep the
Penguins alive.
First, Steve Brule rushed down on a breakaway, but Bach stuck out his right
pad at the last possible second to make the save. Nineteen seconds later,
Dagenais unleashed a slapper that was headed for the upper right-hand corner
of the goal until Bach snagged it with his glove, leaving Dagenais shaking his
head.
“On the breakaway, … I just outwaited him,” Bach said. “The next one
just happened really quick. I had to stretch out a little bit, but that’s what
you have to do to come up with saves like that in that situation. You want to
make those saves.”
The overtime was a run-and-gun affair with the Penguins getting chances as
well.
Valentin Morozov dropped a pass to Sven Butenschon in the slot, but
Butenschon’s shot was turned aside by goalie Jean-Francois Damphousse.
Damphousse didn’t start the game, but replaced Frederic Henry at 3:11 of
the second period after the Penguins took a 3-2 lead on Leach’s goal.
The Penguins were pressing hard when Brule got a handle on the puck and
flipped it past defenseman Chris Kelleher to Dagenais. Dagenais took his time
before lifting a shot past Bach’s stick side.
“We had some opportunities to put it away,” Leach said. “The thing is
you have to put it behind you, try to string some wins together and be as
upbeat as you can.”
The Penguins now have an 11-29-7-2 record, losing both overtime games to
Albany.
“I think we’ve had a lot of tough defeats this year,” Butenschon said.
“First of all, it shouldn’t have gone to overtime. We didn’t come out very
good at all.”
After falling behind 1-0, Morozov and Martin Sonnenberg scored first-period
goals to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.
Shasha Lakovic deadlocked the game, but Leach’s first tally in his
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut made it 3-2.
At 14:51 of the second period, Brule tied the game for the final time.
The Penguins play Hershey in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
ICE SHAVINGS: Greg Crozier’s 13-game points streak came to an end Tuesday.
It’s the second-longest streak in the AHL this season. … The three stars
Tuesday were: No. 1, Pierre Dagenais; No. 2, Steve Brule; No. 3, Steve Leach.