WBS Pens Weekly Report - 5/3

Eric Politowski | WBS "Baby" Penguins

May 4, 12:01 AM | Hype this story!

This week, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Penguins started their 2nd round of the playoffs against the Philadelphia Phantoms. Both teams are looking to win the East Division Championship, so how did the cross-state rivals execute this week?

GAME RECAPS:

On Thursday, the Baby Pens played game 1 at home against the Phantoms. After Philadelphia took a 3-0 lead into the 2nd period, they never looked back. The Pens were defeated 5-2, as only half of the Wachovia Arena crowd was present. RW Connor James scored his 2nd of the playoffs on a nice one timer fed by D Ryan Lannon. F Tim Brent scored his 6th of the playoffs. LW Kurtis McLean notched two assists. D Mark Ardelan and D Alain Nasreddine were criticized of their defensive efforts.

Final Score of Game 1: PHI 5 – WBS 2

Tonight, the Pens tied the series at 1-1 after defeating the Phantoms by a final score of 5-4 in overtime. LW Chris Minard started off the Penguins scoring by netting his 6th of the playoffs. The Pens were down 4-1 going into the 3rd period, and then they showed their desire to win.

Tim Brent buried his 7th goal of the playoffs, 3:36 into the 3rd period.

Ten minutes later, LW Luca Caputi showed his ability to score after he put in his 2nd of the playoffs. D Ben Lovejoy and G John Curry assisted.

With under a minute to go in the 3rd period, Coach Todd Richards pulled John Curry to the bench for an extra attacker. Kurtis McLean puts his 1st goal of the playoffs past Philadelphia goaltender Scott Munroe with only 46 seconds left in regulation. Mark Ardelan and D Alex Goligoski assisted the game tying goal.

Only 2:07 into the overtime period, Chris Minard blasts his 7th goal of the playoffs home, to tie the series at 1-1. This is Minard’s 2nd overtime winner of the 2008 AHL Playoffs. Minard earned the 1st star of the game, with his 2 goals and 1 assist. Goaltender John Curry picked up the win as he made 26 saves on 30 shots.

Final Score of Game 2: WBS 5 – PHI 4 / OT

Series: Tied at 1-1

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

If the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the New York Rangers in their NHL semi-final series, the Penguins would be playing the Flyers, as the Baby Pens would be playing the Phantoms. Talk about the cross-state rivalry.

Game 3 — Monday, May 5 @ PHI

Game 4 — Wednesday, May 7 @ PHI
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Game 5 — Friday, May 9

Game 6 — TBA @ PHI

Game 7 — Tuesday, May 13

Comments

  1. Chas

    May 4, 09:10 AM

    Just an FYI on the ‘Baby’ Pens/Phantoms AHL Playoff series. It’s not a ‘cross-state’ rival, as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is in Northeast PA and Philly is in Southeast PA. But, it has been one of the better ‘in-state’ rivalries over the past few years.

    With the probability of Pitt Pens closing out their NHL playoff series against the Rangers, it’s VERY rare that you would see two series like this, where franchise teams from both the NHL and AHL are facing each other at the same time

  2. Ben S

    May 4, 12:41 PM

    I have been thinking that Caputi was about two years from reaching the NHL. If he can adapt this quickly going from Major-Juniors to AHL Playoff hockey, I may have to shorten my timespan prediction! I’m starting to think that he at least has a decent shot of getting a mid-season call-up next year.

    So far, the 2007 draft is looking pretty good. Which is a good sign for the future, since that’s the first draft that Shero’s scouting team has been in place.

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