Goalie Takes The Blame For Pens’ Loss
By STEVE SEMBRAT [email protected]
Sunday, October 21, 2001 Page: 1C
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – After Robbie Tallas was unable to stand tall in goal
for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, he did so in the locker room.
The 28-year-old goalie stood up in front of his teammates following a 5-3
loss to Philadelphia and placed the blame for the loss squarely on his
shoulders.
“This was my loss,” Tallas said. “I’ll take responsibility for this.”
The Penguins outplayed the Phantoms in front of 8,295 fans at the First
Union Arena. Three soft goals made the difference as Philadelphia (7-1-0-0, 14
points) snapped a 2-all tie and sent Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (1-6-1-0, three
points) to its second consecutive defeat.
“This was the best game we’ve played all season,” Tallas said. “I told
the guys to keep doing what they’ve been doing.”
Philadelphia broke a 2-2 tie when Brad Tiley scored on a 65-foot shot at
blue line that handcuffed Tallas.
“If it doesn’t hit my stick, maybe that one goes wide,” Tallas said.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tied it one more time when Shane Endicott scored his
second goal of the game. Endicott made a steal during a Philadelphia power
play and scored a short-handed goal at six minutes of the third period.
“He has been one of the top guys in our ratings every game,”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Glenn Patrick said of Endicott. “No matter who we
put out there with him, that line seems to be productive.”
Philadelphia went ahead to stay when Mike Lephart’s shot right off a
faceoff went through a forest of legs and into the goal at 7:16 of the third
period. The killer was Jim Vandermeer’s weak goal at 12:05 that gave the
Phantoms a 5-3 cushion.
“That last goal should have never gone in,” Tallas said. “I have to go
home and look myself in the mirror over that one.”
The Penguins had the edge in play during the first period, outshooting the
Phantoms 11-4 and emerging with a 1-0 lead on Endicott’s first goal of the
game.
Martin Sonnenberg had the puck behind the Phantoms goal to the right of
goalie Maxime Ouellet, and attempted to send it out in front. The puck hit the
side of the net and deflected out into the left offense circle. Endicott was
steaming toward the goal in that direction, took the puck in stride, and fired
a laser beam past Ouellet at 9:06.
“You may get tired of hearing me say this, but I was pleased with the
effort,” Patrick said. “The only thing that isn’t going well for us right
now is that we’re not winning. We will put some wins together sooner or
later.”
Philadelphia wiped out deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 in the second period on a
pair of goals by Mark Greig.
The first was set up by a turnover behind the Penguins net. Mark Freer,
playing his 1,000th professional game, pounced on a loose puck behind the net.
He fed it out front to Greig, who was camped out on the edge of the crease to
the right of Tallas. Greig took a pass from Freer and chipped the puck over
Tallas’ shoulder to tie the score at 1 at 3:25.
The Penguins regained the lead on Tomas Surovy’s first professional goal.
Surovy took a pass from Michal Sivek and zipped a one-time shot past Ouellet
at 5:13 of the second.
The Phantoms tied it at 2 on Greig’s breakaway goal at 10:42 of the second.
He picked off an ill-adviced pass by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Rob
Scuderi at the Penguins’ blue line, skated in and deked Tallas to score the
equalizer at 10:42.
Then came a heartbreaking third period for the Penguins.
“It was very deflating to lose that game,” Patrick said. “Very
frustrating.”
After the game, however, Patrick would not criticize Tallas publicly. He
said that he would not do that to either of his goalies even if he felt one
had a bad game.
“We have to have our goalies to win,” Patrick said. “We’re sticking in
their corner.”
