Kostopoulos, Penguins power past Phantoms
During his first stint with the team, Tom Kostopoulos saw the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins take their share of beatings against the Phantoms, who then played in Philadelphia.
More than a decade later, things have changed quite a bit. The Phantoms are now based in the Adirondacks, and the Penguins are their whipping boys no more.
Kostopoulos had two goals and an assist and goalie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 31 saves as the Penguins beat the Adirondack Phantoms 4-1 Friday night in Glens Falls, N.Y.
Brian Dumoulin, Harry Zolnierczyk and Nick Drazenovic all had two-point nights for the Penguins.
The difference in the game proved to be special teams. Both teams had a 5-on-3 power play lasting a full two minutes in the first two periods. The Phantoms failed to score on their opportunity, while the Penguins cashed in twice.
With plenty of physicality and emotion and a couple of fights, the game was reminiscent of the old-school matchups Kostopoulos and the Penguins used to face when they visited the Spectrum.
One flare-up midway through the first led to the first turning point in the game. Defenseman Harrison Ruopp was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at 8:08 and the Penguins bench picked up an additional minor for arguing the call.
The Penguins successfully killed the two-minute 5-on-3 power play, allowing just two shots, then took a 1-0 lead about two minutes later.
Drazenovic stole a D-to-D pass behind the net and made a quick centering pass to Kostopoulos for a goal at 13:32.
After Kris Newbury won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Jason Akeson for a one-timer goal that tied the score 1-1 about seven minutes into the second period, more bad blood led to another key moment in the game.
At 8:43, Adirondack's Zack FitzGerald leveled Bobby Farnham with a hit, picking up a double minor for roughing in the process.
A minute later, Adirondack's Matt Mangene was called for goaltender interference.
The Penguins scored twice on the 5-on-3 power play that followed.
Drazenovic made a cross-ice pass to Kostopoulos at the bottom of the left faceoff circle to give the Penguins the lead for good at 10:20. Then, less than a minute later, with the Penguins on the counter-attack after Deslauriers stopped Rob Bordson on a breakaway, Kostopoulos hit a trailing Dumoulin for a goal on a 3-on-1 rush that made the score 3-1.
The Penguins were outshot 13-4 in the third period as the Phantoms tried to mount a late comeback, but Deslauriers didn't flinch.
He outplayed Adirondack's Cal Heeter, who was the hottest goalie in the league coming into this weekend. The reigning AHL player of the week, Heeter was coming off back-to-back shutouts of Hershey and Albany.