Ice Caps

Thursday, March 23, 2000     Page: 5C

Here is a capsule look at Wednesday’s game against the Syracuse Crunch.
FIRST PERIOD: Goalie Michel Larocque starts in net for the Penguins. Just
1:39 into the period, John Slaney scores his 22nd goal of the season. Dennis
Bonvie battles with a Syracuse defenseman behind the Crunch’s goal and comes
away with the puck. He wheels to the left of the net and feeds Slaney with a
pass. Slaney is crashing from his left defensive position and fires a wrist
shot through the five hole of goalie Corey Schwab. Darcy Verot also assists.
Only 1:08 passes when Syracuse ties the game after Artem Chubarov one-times a
slap shot through Larocque’s five hole. The play begins when Valentin Morozov
turns the puck over to Steve Kariya in the Penguins’ zone. Kariya then passes
to Chubarov. Syracuse takes a 2-1 lead after the Penguins receive a
four-minute power play. Chubarov flips a pass to a breaking Jarkko Ruutu at
the red line. Ruutu races around Sven Butenschon and slides the puck under
Larocque for his 22nd goal of the season. Zenith Komarniski also assists. It’s
the AHL-leading 17th short-handed goal the Penguins have allowed this season.
The Penguins tie the game when Mark Murphy steals the puck at the Syracuse
blue line, skates to the high slot and blasts a slap shot over Schwab’s right
shoulder. The unassisted goal is Murphy’s 11th of the season. The Penguins
take a 3-2 lead at 18:45 when Slaney scores his second of the night. The shot
of defenseman Andrew Ference hits traffic in the slot. Slaney races in from
the point, picks up the puck and zips a wrist shot past the right skate of
Schwab. Ference and Martin Sonnenberg assist. The Penguins outshoot Syracuse,
11-8. Penguins 3, Syracuse 2 SECOND PERIOD: It appears Syracuse scores just
56 seconds into the period, but it was ruled that Reggie Savage’s shot did not
get past Larocque. Exactly a minute later, the Penguins take a two-goal lead
when Boris Protsenko gathers a loose puck in the slot and fires a wrist shot
past Schwab’s blocker for his 15th goal of the season. Sonnenberg and Tom
Kostopoulos assist. Josh Holden’s power-play goal at 11:37 cuts the Crunch
deficit to one. Holden gets the puck from Brad Leeb in the slot. He wheels and
beats Larocque low on the glove side for his 17th of the season. Sean McCann
also assists. Just 14 seconds later, Syracuse ties the game on a similar
play. Pat Kavanagh circles out from the left of the Penguins net and feeds
Brian Bonin in the slot. Bonin’s one-timer beats Larocque past the glove for
his 16th of the season. Ryan Ready also assists. The Penguins outshoot
Syracuse, 17-11. Penguins 4, Syracuse 4 THIRD PERIOD: There is no scoring in
the period. The Penguins outshoot Syracuse, 9-8. OVERTIME: This is the
Penguins first overtime game since Feb. 1 against Albany. Albany won that
game, 4-3. The Penguins are 3-2-7 in overtime games. Alexei Kolkunov is
called for slashing just 39 seconds into overtime. Sixteen seconds later,
Chris O’Sullivan gets a cross-ice pass from Holden and beats Larocque over the
glove for his 14th goal of the season. McCann also assists. Syracuse outshoots
the Penguins, 1-0. For the game, the Penguins outshoot Syracuse, 37-28.
Syracuse 5, Penguins 4