WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins found themselves down early in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal and were never able to catch up as the Manchester Monarchs took a 2-1 decision to claim the series, 4-1, and move on to the next round of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Previously 6-0 this postseason when scoring first, the Monarchs found the back of the net just 2:01 into the opening period when Sean Backman intercepted a clearing attempt on the left wall of the Penguins zone and fed Adrian Kempe in the low slot for a quick backhand shot past goalie Matt Murray.
Though Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would have the possession advantage for the remaining time in the first, Manchester wase opportunistic in doubling its lead with 5:03 left until the first intermission. Gathering a loose puck at center, Sean Backman drove down the far wing before dropping a pass at the faceoff dot that Nick Shore whipped inside the right post.
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Following the goal, Jeff Zatkoff would come into the game in relief of Murray, who turned aside 4-of-6 shots.
The 2-0 lead for Manchester held until 1:17 remained in the second as a set face-off play helped the Penguins cut the deficit in half. After Andrew Ebbett won the draw at the left circle, Brian Dumoulin slid a pass to Conor Sheary for a wrist shot through traffic that got by Monarchs goalie Jean-Francois Berube.
That was as close as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would get as a frantic final two minutes of regulation in the offensive zone with the extra attacker failed to net the equalizer.
Berube made 28 saves on 29 shots to help the Monarchs reach the Conference Final for the third time in team history. Zatkoff stopped all 22 shots he faced in relief.
May 10, 2015
The Penguins have an all-time record of 15-16 in Game Four of a playoff series.
The Penguins are 8-8 in Game Four on home ice, and 7-8 in Game Four away from Wilkes-Barre. WHEN TRAILING 2-1
The Penguins have an all-time record of 7-6 in Game Four when trailing 2-1 in a playoff series.
The Penguins have won six of the 13 playoff series in which they have trailed 2-1.
When they have won Game Four when trailing 2-1, they have gone on to win the series five times, and dropped the series just twice. WHEN LOSING THE FIRST TWO
The Pens have dropped the first two games of a playoff series 12 times, and have gone on to win the series five times. Those winning series:
2004 East Division Final vs. Bridgeport (4-3)
2005 East Division Semifinal vs. Binghamton (4-2)
2006 East Division Semifinal vs. Bridgeport (4-3)
2010 East Division Semifinal vs. Norfolk (4-2)
2013 Eastern Conference Semifinal vs. Providence (4-3) GAME FOUR AFTER A GAME THREE WIN
The Penguins have a record of 8-7 in Game Four after a Game Three win. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Tom Kostopoulos recorded his 17th career playoff goal as a Penguin in the Game Three win against Manchester on Saturday night, tying Chris Minard for first place on the team’s all-time scoring list.
The top five goal scorers in Pens playoff history are:
Chris Minard – 17
Tom Kostopoulos – 17
Eric Meloche – 16
Kris Beech – 14
Milan Kraft – 14
Conor Sheary, who leads the team with 10 points (4+6) through the first six games of the playoffs this season, has recorded 21 points (10+11) in 21 career postseason games with the Penguins.
Tickets for Games Four and Five of the East Division Semifinals between the Penguins and Monarchs, scheduled for Monday night and Tuesday night at 7:05pm, are available at the Mohegan Sun Arena Box Office, by calling 570-208-7367, or online at TicketMaster.com. Once again, children ages 14 and under can get in to Pens playoff games for FREE with a paid adult ticket.
The Pittsburgh Penguins defensive corps was beset by injuries during the 2014-15 season, and as the team closed in on the playoffs, it saw the loss of two of its biggest cogs - Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.
But those unfortunate circumstances led to opportunity for Taylor Chorney.
Now in his seventh professional season, Chorney was a huge part of the top-rated defense in the American Hockey League this season, leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with a plus-26 rating in 62 games. He saw spot time in the NHL midway through the season, appearing in two games with the parent Penguins during late December and seeing 11 minutes of combined ice time in those contests.
But he took on a more prominent role with the big club after the injuries to Ehrhoff and Letang, when he averaged more than 14 minutes on the ice over the final five-games of the regular season.
His steady play in those contests led to an even bigger chance to show his shutdown style in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he posted an even rating and average 16.6 minutes per game.
“Personally I think it was a great experience,” Chorney said of his first taste of the NHL playoffs. “Just to kind of get a chance to go up there and test your game at that level and in those pressure situations, it was a lot of fun.”
Chorney has been paired with Brian Dumoulin in Wilkes-Barre for most of the season, and that duo combined to post a plus-51 rating in the regular season. So, when Pittsburgh needed to add an another body on the blue line as the playoffs got underway, it was only natural that Dumoulin was summoned to pair with his AHL partner.
“For us to be able experience that type of atmosphere and big circumstances, it was a lot of fun for both of us,” Chorney said. “We’ve had talks about it throughout the year, we’ve been playing together for a long time now in a lot of games. We were saying it would be cool to get a chance up there together and kind of see how our game translates. And I think both of us were pretty happy with the way things went.”
Chorney and Dumoulin were two of the four players reassigned to Wilkes-Barre from Pittsburgh after the NHL team’s season came to an end (Scott Wilson and Derrick Pouliot were the others). During Chorney’s absence from the AHL roster, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 7-2-0-0 regular season mark, and two impressive wins over the Syracuse Crunch in the postseason. Still, he’s not concerned about disrupting the club’s current chemistry by being reinserted back into the lineup.
“The team’s been doing great for a month while we’ve been gone,” he said. “It’s just a matter of kind of transiting back in and doing the same things I was before I got called up and trying to contribute in those little ways.”
FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHER’S SKATES: When he suited up for Game One of the series against the Rangers, Chorney became the second member of his family to appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game with Pittsburgh. His father, Marc, was a defenseman on the Penguins for parts of four seasons (1980-84), and appeared in seven postseason contests with the club. He and his wife were able to see their son in action during Pittsburgh’s brief run this Spring.
“They came into New York for Game Two, and then from there they flew down to Pittsburgh and they caught Game Three in Pittsburgh,” said the younger Chorney. “It was fun for me to be able to play in front of them like that in Madison Square Garden and also in Pittsburgh. They hadn’t been back there in 30 years since my dad played there, so it was kind of a nostalgic feeling for them to come back and see the city where he started playing his carer. Those were the first years they were married, so there’s probably a lot of memories. It was cool for them.”
Pens head coach John Hynes talked to the media after Monday's practice, and discussed how some of the returning and new faces will fit into the lineup for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
First, coach Hynes discussed the returns of Derrick Pouliot, Taylor Chorney, Brian Dumoulin and Scott Wilson, who had been suiting up for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
Hynes also talked about how adding NHL caliber talent might affect the Penguins lineup:
Hynes also addressed the arrival of Pittsburgh Penguins draftee Oskar Sundqvist, who just arrived in Wilkes-Barre after the completion of his team's playoff run in Sweden:
The Penguins 4-0 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first playoff shutout since May 22, 2013, when the Pens defeated the Providence Bruins 5-0 behind a 34 save performance from Brad Thiessen. It was also the team’s first home shutout since May 18, 2013 against Providence, when Thiessen made 30 saves in a 4-0 win over the Bruins.
Matt Murray became the first Penguins rookie to record a shutout since John Curry blanked the Portland Pirates, 2-0, on May 14, 2008 in Game One of the Eastern Conference Final. Curry made 19 saves in that win.
Defenseman Danny Syvret entered the 2015 postseason with 693 professional regular season games on his resume (59 in the NHL, 634 in the AHL), but had only appeared in 19 postseason contests (5 with Hershey in 2007-08; 4 with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2008-09; 10 with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010-11). And when he found the back of the net midway through the third period, the veteran blue liner picked up his first career playoff goal.
“I haven’t played very many games in the playoffs, and I said that to our team a couple of days ago,” he said after Saturday night’s win. “Playing here in Wilkes-Barre, they’ve made the playoffs 13 or 14 years in a row. I just sort of mentioned to them that I’ve been in the league a long time, and you can’t really take for granted your opportunities. Because you never know when and if they’ll come again.”
The Penguins defense for the first two games of the postseason featured Syvret, who joined the team at the trade deadline; Ryan Parent, who made his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut in Game One after signing a PTO; two players (Reid McNeill and Barry Goers) who had recently missed significant time due to injury; and Scott Harrington and Nick D’Agostino.
That rag-tag group did a tremendous job of limiting the Crunch to just one goal over 120 minutes of play.
“We have a pretty good system here in place, obviously good goaltending. But our forwards do a real good job tracking the puck and are real defensively responsible,” Syvret said, spreading the credit around the ice. “We just threw a bunch of D on the ice, but we can all play.”
But with the Pittsburgh Penguins being eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday night, and three defensemen (Derrick Pouliot, Brian Dumoulin and Taylor Chorney) being reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Syvret is well aware that changes could be coming to the lineup for Wednesday night’s Game Three in Syracuse.
“There’s guys sitting out that can all play. I’m sure the next few games there will be guys sitting out who can play. But as a team we’re pretty defensively responsible.”
The pairing of Syvret and Parent on the blue line was unfamiliar to almost everyone inside the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. Everyone except Syvret and Parent that is. Those two skated alongside one another with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2009-10 season.
Syvret joined the Pens from the Iowa Wild, who finished the 2014-15 regular season dead last in the league, while Parent suited up for the St. John’s IceCaps, who also found themselves sitting on the outside of the playoff field this postseason.
“We were fortunate to be able to get picked up here,” Syvret said of the veteran duo, “and hopefully go on a long run.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forward Oskar Sundqvist from Skelleftea of the Swedish League to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.
Sundqvist, 21, recently completed his second full season playing for Skelleftea in Sweden’s top professional league. He helped his club advance to its third-consecutive league championship series, where the Vaxjo Lakers ended Skelleftea’s bid for a three-peat.
During the regular season, the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Sundqvist tallied nine goals, 19 points, a plus-15 and 34 penalty minutes in 41 games for Skelleftea. His goal and point totals were improvements from the six goals and 16 points he registered in 2013-14.
Selected by the Penguins in the third round (81st overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Sundqvist added one goal, four assists, five points and a plus-3 in 15 postseason games for Skelleftea.
Sundqvist played in a team-high five NHL exhibition games for Pittsburgh during the preseason, scoring twice and adding an assist. His three points were tied for second-most on the team.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins currently hold a 2-0 series lead against the Syracuse Crunch in their best-of-five first round series. Game 3 is set for Wednesday night, April 29, at 7 p.m. in Syracuse.
We caught up with head coach John Hynes following Saturday night's 4-0 win over the Syracuse Crunch. Here's what he had to say about the victory which put the Pens up 2-0 in the best-of-five series:
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were buoyed by a two-goal performance from 18-year old rookie Kasperi Kapanen and a three-point effort from Carter Rowney (1G-2A) in claiming Game 1 of the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal versus the Syracuse Crunch with a 5-1 final on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came into the second period holding a 1-0 lead and would break the game open with three goals in a span of 100 seconds. Making his North American postseason debut, Kapanen doubled the score for the Penguins at 6:03, pulling a puck out of the scrum in the near faceoff circle and sending a wrister to the top left corner of the Crunch net.
Thirty-one seconds later, the Penguins pushed the lead to three on a circle-to-circle feed from Barry Goers that Rowney one-timed past a sprawling Kristers Gudlevskis.
Kapanen capped off the flurry for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 7:43 of the period, gathering the rebound off a shot by Goers and depositing the puck into the open net for his second goal of the match and a 4-0 Penguins lead. Adam Wilcox would enter the game in relief of Gudlevskis, who took the loss after stopping 16 of 20 shots over 27:43 of play.
The Crunch would get the puck past Matt Murray with six minutes left until the second intermission as Mike Angelidis picked up a turnover in the left corner of the offensive zone and slid a pass to the crease that Matthew Peca tipped through the pads of the Penguins netminder.
Danny Syvret added another for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 12:32 of the final period on a fluttering shot from the center point that made its way through a screen and past Wilcox to put the Penguins on top by four once again.
The opening frame remained a stalemate between the two teams until the Penguins took control during the final five minutes of the period. Outshooting Syracuse, 7-0, during that stretch, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went ahead at 16:52 when Tom Kuhnhackl centered a pass from the behind the net that Dominik Uher banged past Gudlevskis.
Making his first start in the Calder Cup Playoffs, Murray turned aside 22-of-23 in the win for the Penguins. Wilcox allowed only one goal on 15 shots during the remaining 32:17 of regulation.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Syracuse continue their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with Game 2 on Saturday, Apr. 25 at 7:05pm.
Tickets for kids ages 14 and younger are FREE with a paid adult admission. Get your seats by calling the Pens at 570-208-7367, or place your order online via the form below:
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Friday, April 24, 2015
It's a hockey triple header on Friday night, and we're looking for the organizational sweep! Good luck to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wheeling Nailers in their playoff games this evening.
If it's playoff time, that must mean it's time for a new Penguins playoff t-shirt. We're going back to white tees for this season, and these official Pens Whiteout T-shirts are available at the Pens team store inside the Toyota SportsPlex (40 Coal Street) and at the Igloo Store inside the arena during our home games. Short sleeved shirts are just $10, while long sleeved tees are just $13.
