Sens vs. Penguins 2/25/04 Articles: Pens extend unbeaten string
February 26, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Times Leader.com

Pens extend unbeaten string

TAG: AHL

By SCOTT LAUBER

Special to the Times-Leader

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Jesse Cook picked a perfect time to score his first American Hockey League goal.

Cook, a 24-year-old defenseman playing just his fourth game for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, ripped a shot off the shin pad of Binghamton Senators winger Arpad Mihaly midway through the third period to break a tie and give the Penguins a huge 4-3 victory Wednesday night.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (23-21-7-5, 58 points) stretched its season-high unbeaten streak to five games and inched to within two points of struggling Binghamton (26-25-6-2, 60 points) for the fifth and final playoff spot in the East Division of the AHL's Eastern Conference.

The Penguins, who are unbeaten four games into a seven-game road trip, also moved within three points of Norfolk, which is in fourth in the division and is idle. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has played three fewer games than Binghamton, and five fewer than Norfolk.

"Right now it's tough because we needed this game real badly," said Senators winger Alexandre Giroux, whose second goal of the game, scored 35 seconds before Cook's, brought Binghamton back from a 3-1 deficit before 3,968 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. "At the start of the season, you don't know these games will be a factor, but now we need these points."

The Senators thought they had tied the score with 2:13 left in regulation, as winger David Hymovitz whacked at a loose puck from the left of goalie Sebastien Caron's net. But referee Gordon Dwyer ruled the puck never crossed the goal line, safeguarding the Penguins' one-goal lead.

"I'm not sure, but I think so," Caron said when asked if Dwyer made the right call.

Said Senators coach John Paddock: "The guys all said it was in, but (Caron) pulled it out. There's nothing we can do about it."

If the Senators understood the game's urgency, it wasn't clear during the first period. After setting a franchise record for fewest shots in a period with two in the first period Monday night in Manchester, N.H., Binghamton mustered only three in the opening 20 minutes Wednesday night and were outshot, 15-3.

The Senators' first shot, however, gave them a lead when winger Denis Hamel snapped an eight-game scoring slump by redirecting a Mihaly shot past Caron on the power play 11 minutes into the period.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton answered with three goals in a 4:50 span against all-star goalie Ray Emery, who returned from a one-day NHL call-up to Ottawa in time to start.

Toby Peterson started the barrage by finishing a two-on-one with rookie Michel Ouellet by lifting a backhander over Emery at 14:05.

Veteran center Marquis Mathieu gave the Penguins a lead at 17:43 by hammering in a loose puck that was left in Emery's crease, and winger Colby Armstrong made it 3-1 only 72 seconds later on a shot from a difficult angle below the goal line.

Emery returned to his all-star form in the second period, stopping 21 Penguins shots and keeping the Senators in striking distance so that winger Alexandre Giroux could slice the deficit to 3-2 by flipping the rebound of Andy Hedlund's power-play point shot over Caron at 13:38.

Giroux, by far the Senators' top forward over the past two weeks, tied it with 10:28 left by picking off a turnover by David Koci and Eric Meloche and depositing it behind Caron to stir the crowd.

Notes: Veteran defenseman Patrick Boileau (back spasms) joined the list of wounded Penguins that includes centers Michal Sivek (hip surgery) and Kris Beech (broken collarbone), wingers Reid Simpson (abdominal strain) and Steve Webb (broken ribs), defenseman Ross Lupaschuk (broken hand) and goalie Martin Brochu (back) ... Webb might be ready to play Saturday night in Toronto. To replace Boileau, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recalled rookie defenseman Alexandre Rouleau from Wheeling of the East Coast Hockey League. .. The Penguins' seven defensemen averaged 49 games of AHL experience, but that's still better than the Senators, who started the game with only five defensemen and were down to four after Peter Smrek suffered an apparent right leg injury in the second period. ... Three stars: 1, Cook; 2, Giroux; 3, Peterson.