Flustered Pens Fall To Citadelles For 5th Straight Defeat Wilkes-barre/scranton Allowed 5 Goals During A 9-minute Stretch Of The Third Period.
By STEVE SEMBRAT [email protected]
Monday, October 29, 2001 Page: 1C
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Don’t blame the ref.
Although a questionable penalty was the turning point in
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 6-3 loss to Quebec on Sunday, there were other factors
that led to the fifth consecutive loss for the Penguins (1-9-1-0, three
points).
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Peter Ratchuk took full responsibility for
the go-ahead goal, as the Citadelles (8-0-2-0, 18 points) scored five times in
the final eight minutes, 43 seconds of play to remain undefeated.
Plus, the Penguins got rattled once they gave up the tying goal.
“We didn’t handle pressure very well at the end,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
coach Glenn Patrick said. “We have to be able to handle pressure. We have to
be able to do that the last five or 10 minutes.”
Things started to come unglued for the Penguins when Alexandre Mathieu was
called for goaltender interference with 9:16 left and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
ahead 2-1.
As Quebec goaltender Luc Belanger went behind his own net to play the puck,
Mathieu tried to beat him to it. After Belanger flipped the puck to his right,
Mathieu, coming from the opposite direction, tried to squeeze between Belanger
and the boards to pursue it.
“He got in my way,” Mathieu said. “He ran into me. I thought it was a
bad call.
“I got the penalty. They got the goal. It changed the tempo.”
Quebec’s Arron Asham made it 2-2 at 11:17 off assists from Eric Chouinard
and Craig Darby. Asham put the Citadelles up 3-2 at 13:16 off assists from
Chouinard and Darby.
“I look at this loss as my responsibility,” Ratchuk said. “Everybody
watching this game, blame it on me.”
Ratchuk said that on the go-ahead goal, that Asham “was standing next to
me. I had my stick in the wrong position, and he was able to score. When
you’re going bad, things like that are going to happen.
“These are tough times. You have to look at yourself and find a way.”
Chouinard made it 4-2, beating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie Robbie Tallas
with a wrist shot at 14:28.
The Penguins, playing in front of 8,227, pulled within 4-3 when Tom
Kostopoulos took a nice pass from Shane Endicott and swept a shot past
Belanger at 17:32.
Quebec put it away on Marcel Hossa’s empty-net goal with 54 seconds left,
and Darby scored the final goal in the waning seconds.
“That was as tough a loss as we’ve had since we’ve been here,” said
Patrick, who has coached the Penguins since they entered the American Hockey
League in 1999-2000. “We outplayed them for 50-plus minutes.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton put together a solid effort in the first period and
created several great scoring chances, only to have each thwarted by Belanger.
His best stop in the first 20 minutes came when he robbed Kostopoulos of a
goal with a glove save at 9:01 of the opening period. Penguins center Michael
Sivek sent a pass out of the corner to Kostopoulos, who tipped the puck toward
a wide-open portion of the net. Belanger, though, was able to thrust his
trapper out and glove the puck.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s effort in the first period was peppered with three
glaring defensive mistakes, which gave the Citadelles a 2-on-1 break and a
pair of breakaways. Chouinard cashed in on one of the breakaways, scoring at
The Penguins solved Belanger early in the second period, scoring goals 24
seconds apart to grab a 2-1 lead. Billy Tibbetts tied the game at 1:10 when he
took a headman pass from defenseman Brooks Orpik. As the crowd was cheering
the announcement of the first goal, Alexander Zevakhin put
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in front by jamming home a pass from Kostopoulos at
The Penguins managed to survive two defensive miscues late in the second
period and keep the 2-1 lead. Goalie Tallas made a nice poke check to break up
a 3-on-1 break with about two minutes left in the period. Seconds later,
Tibbetts hustled back to help thwart a 2-on-1 rush by the Citadelles.
