Dupont Regaining Form In Playoffs Notebook

The Penguins captain racked up nine points in a first-round series victory over Norfolk.

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – It took a couple of days, but Micki DuPont finally got his due.
After reviewing tape of the Penguins’ 8-1 win over Norfolk in Game 5, the AHL changed the scoring on three of the Penguins’ goals.
Two of those scoring changes were assists for DuPont, giving the Penguins’ captain nine points in the East Division semifinals, which gave him a share of the franchise record for points in a single season.
Not too shabby for a player who was slumping headed into the playoffs.
“I was worried about myself there, too,” DuPont said when told that head coach Todd Richards admitted to being worried about him after the way he played in the final two games of the regular season. “I don’t know what was going on. I don’t know. I just had a couple of bad games. I concentrated on trying to forget about them.
“I think after those two games I lost a bit of confidence in myself. But after those two games, we had a week of practice leading into the playoffs. I concentrated on having good practices and getting my confidence back. I think I did that and I had a good series.”
DuPont was the Penguins’ good-luck charm.
He scored four goals in the series. All four games that he scored in were Penguins’ wins.
“Your best players have to be your best players,” Richards said. “When you’re winning, usually your best players are at the top of their games.”
DuPont finished the series with four goals and five assists. In Game 5, he had a goal and five points, tying the team’s playoff and regular-season records for points in a single game.
Jensen makes his mark
Penguins winger Joe Jensen was a healthy scratch for the first four games of this year’s playoffs.
He finally got his chance to play on Friday in Game 5, taking Wade Brookbank’s spot in the lineup.
Head coach Todd Richards felt that Jensen’s speed could add an extra element to the Penguins’ game. In Game 6, Jensen proved him right by streaking down the left wing and blasting a shot over the glove of Norfolk goalie Corey Crawford to put the Pens up 2-0.
“The way you get more ice time is that the coach has to trust your play,” Richards said. “He made a great play – obviously a great shot – on the goal. Those are the types of plays in playoff hockey that you need players to make and he was able to do that.”
Jensen was just happy to finally get a chance to contribute. The goal on Sunday was his first since March 25.
“It felt great to put us up by two,” Jensen said. “It’s tough (not playing). But, you just have to go to practice every day and battle and try to get back into the lineup.”
Haviland: Series lost at home
Admirals head coach Mike Haviland thought he had the Penguins right where he wanted them.
In Game 1 of the teams’ best-of-seven series, the Admirals snapped a 15-game losing streak at Wachovia Arena to steal home ice.
Considering how good the Admirals had been at Scope this season (32-5-2-1), Haviland was fairly happy with where his team was headed to Norfolk.
Then the Admirals dropped two of three at home.
“We lost this series at home,” Haviland told the Virginian-Pilot. “We did what we needed to do here at the start. But we couldn’t get it done at home.”