Sens vs. Penguins 2/25/04 Preview: Sens/Pens fourth meeting of the year; fighting for playoff spots
February 25, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net

The Binghamton Senators hosts the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins today at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena with a face-off time scheduled for 7:05. This is the fifth of eight meetings between the two teams. Neither team has the series edge as it sits at 1-1-2-0.

The last time the teams met up was Monday, February 16th at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza where the teams skated to a 2-2 tie in front of 8,263 fans. In the game the Penguins out shot the Senators, 34 to 24. At the 1:30 mark of the 1st period, Guillaume Lefebvre put the Penguins a head first with a goal fed to him by Jean-Francois Dufour & Marquis Mathieu. One-minute laster Alexandre Giroux tied the game back up on a shorthanded goal from Brooks Laich at 2:31 mark. Both teams then got their last scores of the night on the powerplay with the Penguins striking first, with Michel Ouellet scoring with assists from Pauli Levokari & Matt Murley at the 19:09 mark in the 1st period. Steve Bancroft's powerplay goal came in the 2nd period when he put the puck past net minder Andy Chiodo at the 4:15 mark from teammates Charlie Stephens & Arpad Mihaly. That would be all the scoring from the two teams as the Senators, Ray Emery stopped 32 of 34 shots while his counter-part on the other end of the ice Andy Chiodo, stopped 22 of 24 Senators shots.

In the Senators first season in the AHL the two teams played eight times with the Senators having the edge in the series winning 5 games and losing three games to the Penguins.

The Senators last six games has seen the team go 2-2-2 with 2 wins vs. Providence (2-1) & Toronto (6-2), 2 ties vs. Syracuse (0-0) & Wilkes-Barre (2-2), 2 losses, Monday night in Manchester (2-0) & Sunday night in Springfield (5-3).

The Penguins last six games has seen the team go 2-2-2 with 2 wins vs. Syracuse (2-1) & shutting out Philadelphia (2-o), 2 losses to Portland (1-0) & Norfolk (4-2), 2 ties with Binghamton on February 16th (2-2) & with Albany (3-3).

Today’s game for Wilkes-Barre is the beginning of a four game road trip facing Binghamton tonight, Syracuse on Friday and traveling to Toronto for a two game set Saturday and Sunday.

Tonight's home game for the Senators is the last home game until March 10th when they welcome the Rochester Americans to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. After tonight's game the Senators will go on a six game road trip facing Norfolk on Friday and Saturday, Hershey on Sunday, Wilkes-Barre next Wednesday, Rochester on March 5th and ending the road trip on Sunday March 7th in Bridgeport.

Wilkes-Barre’s top point getter is Right Winger Michel Ouellet who has 34 points (23+21), along with fellow teammate, Kris Beech who also has 34 points (15+19). Goalie, Andy Chiodo, on re-call with Pittsburgh, has a record of 12 wins, 13 losses and 2 ties on the season. He also has 2 shut outs this year with a 2.35 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Martin Brochu has been in goal for the Penguins since then with a 3-8 record & a 2.75 goals against average.

Denis Hamel still sits on top of the Senators statistic race with 49 points (21+28). Senators Goalie, Ray Emery is 18-15-5 on the season with three shut outs on the year. Emery’s goals against average going into tonight’s game sits at 2.29 and he has a .926 save percentage. Emery was recently called up by parent club Ottawa to back-up Patrick Lalime after Martin Prusek went down with left knee injury. It is un-known at the time of this report whether or not Emery will be sent down to Binghamton for tonight's game vs. the Penguins.

Wilkes-Barre (22-21-7-5) sits sixth in the East division with 56 points, 4 points behind the Binghamton Senators (26-24-6-2) who sit in fifth place in the East division with 60 points just one point behind the Norfolk Admirals.

After tonight's Penguins/Senators game come back to Binghamton Hockey.net for an updated East Division standings and a Senators/Monarchs boxscore and articles about the game.

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