PENGUINS HALFWAY HOME - 40 Games Down, 40 To Go

WHERE WE STAND - MISCELLANEOUS FIRST HALF NOTES

• The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins took five of a possible six points over the weekend, and reached the 40-game mark with a record of 24-13-1-2, good for 51 points and third place in the East Division.  Overall, the Penguins rank sixth in the American Hockey League in total points, and seventh with a .637 points percentage (51 of 80 possible points).

• The Penguins rank sixth in the AHL in penalty minutes per game at 21.03 (841 pim/40 games).  They also rank second in the league with 65 major penalties, trailing only the Norfolk Admirals (77 majors).

• The Penguins have scored the first goal of the game 24 times so far.  That’s the third-highest total in the league behind only Hershey (25 first goals in 40 games) and Grand Rapids (26 first goals in 39 games).  The Penguins have a 17-6-0-1 record when scoring first. 

• The Penguins rank 16th in power play success (37 goals/219 attempts, 16.9%) and fifth in penalty killing (183 kills/214 times shorthanded, 85.5%).  The Penguins lead the league in road penalty killing at 91.3 % (94 kills, 103 times shorthanded).

• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is tied for third with eight shorthanded goals on the season, and tied for first with five shorthanded goals on the road.

• The Penguins rank third in the league with 3.58 goals per game (143 goals/40 games), trailing only Hamilton (3.62 gpg, 141 goals/39 games) and Hershey (3.98 gpg, 159 goals/40 games).

• The Penguins have scored more goals in the third period (54) than any other club in the AHL this season.  Their 46 goals in the second period trail only the Grand Rapids Griffins (49).

UPCOMING GAMES:
Friday, January 16 @ Binghamton Senators, 7:05pm - The Senators (20-12-3-3, 46 points, fourth in East Division) have been one of the hottest teams in the AHL during the past month, posting a 7-3-0-0 record in their past 10 games.  Two of those losses (6-3 on December 28 and 4-2 on January 9) came at the hands of the Penguins.  Friday night’s game will be the fifth of eight between the teams this season.

Saturday, January 17 @ Albany River Rats, 7:00pm - The River Rats (15-18-3-2, 35 points, seventh in East Division) may be in least place in the division, but have been playing much better of late.  Albany has won four of its past five games, including a 3-2 win over the Pens on January 2, and has a winning record (9-6-3-1) on home ice this season. 

Sunday, January 18 @ Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 1:00pm - Bridgeport (24-10-2-2, 52 points, second in East Division) has allowed just 101 goals in 38 games this season, the third lowest total in the AHL.  The Penguins are one of just two teams (Norfolk) to record more than four goals against the Sound Tigers this season (5-4 win on December 27).

All Penguins games can be heard live on 102.3 the Mountain and on-line at www.wbspenguins.com.  Penguins games can also be viewed on-line at www.ahllive.com, the official video provider of the American Hockey League.

LEAGUE LEADERS
Jeff Taffe is tied for third in points (42), tied for 15th in goals (16), tied for 13th in assists (26), tied for eighth in game-winning goals (4)

Chris Minard is tied for fifth in points (41), second in goals (26), first in power play goals (13) and first in game-winning goals (7)

Janne Pesonen is tied for eighth in points (40), ninth in assists (27).

Connor James is first in shorthanded goals (4) and tied for first in shorthanded points (5)

Dustin Jeffrey is first in shorthanded assists (4) and tied for first in shorthanded points (5)

Luca Caputiis tied for fifth in rookie scoring (28)

Ben Lovejoy is tied for 10th among defensemen in points (21) and is first overall in plus-minus (plus-23)

Joey Mormina is tied for eighth in plus-minus (plus-15)

Adam Berkhoel is first in shutouts (4) and 12th in goals against average (2.43)

PESONEN PRODUCING:  Janne Pesonen recorded a career-high four points (1+3) in the Penguins 6-2 win against the Hershey Bears on Sunday afternoon, moving him into the top 10 in league scoring with 40 points on the season. 

Pesonen has six goals in his past eight games, and seven goals in his past 10 contests.  His 13 goals are third on the team, and his 40 points trail only Chris Minard (41) and Jeff Taffe (42). 

 TAFFE TEARING IT UP:  Jeff Taffe has appeared in 35 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, recording 42 points (16+25) in those contests.  In parts of two seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Taffe has recorded 63 points (27+38) in just 62 games.  That’s an average of 1.01 points per game with the team, fifth all-time on the team among players who have played at least 10 games.

TOP POINTS PER GAME
1.             John Slaney                   1.24 (110 points/89 games)
2.             JANNE PESONEN          1.18 (40 points/34 games)
3.             Billy Tibbetts                  1.10 (68 points/62 games)
4.             Robert Nilsson                1.05 (20 points/19 games)
5.             JEFF TAFFE                   1.01 (62 points/61 games)
6.             Milan Kraft                     1.01 (89 points.88 games)
7.             Krystofer Kolanos            1.00 (18 points/18 games)
8.             CHRIS MINARD               .954 (83 points/87 games)
9.             Alexander Daigle            .95 (38 points/40 games)
10.          Marc-Antoine Pouliot       .939 (31 points/33 games)

LUCA ON THE LOOSE:  Luca Caputi has 12 points (3+9) in his past 10 games, and has recorded 20 points (6+14) in his past 18 games (Dec. 3-Jan. 11).  He has six multi-point games in that span, and two game-winning goals.  He now ranks tied for fifth among AHL rookies in points with 28.

LETESTU MAKING HIS MARK:  Mark Letestu had his career-high five-game point streak (2+6=8; Dec. 27-Jan. 3 ) snapped on January 7 vs. Syracuse.  His previous best for a scoring streak was three games, set from Jan. 9-12, 2008 (4+0=4) and equaled Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 2008 (1+2=3).

Letestu tied his goal mark from last season by netting his sixth of the year on Jan. 3 vs. Houston.  He then set a new high with his seventh goal of the year on January 9 at Binghamton.  That goal was also Letestu’s 18th point of the season, tying his career high set last year.

His goal on January 10 vs. Syracuse set a new personal high for points in a season (8+11=19).  He added two assists on January 11 to set new career highs across the board.

CLEAN SLATE FOR CURRY:  John Curry recorded his first shutout of the season on December 26 at Philadelphia, giving him four for his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton career.  That total is tied for fifth all-time with Jeff Deslauriers.

Curry’s victory December 30 vs. Philadelphia was the 32nd of his Penguins career, moving him into fourth place on the team’s all-time wins list:

PENGUINS ALL-TIME WINS LEADERS
1.             Sebastien Caron                 48
2.             Marc-Andre Fleury              39
3.             Dany Sabourin                   38
4.             JOHN CURRY                    34 (11)
5.             Andy Chiodo                      31

BEN’S BEST:  Defenseman Ben Lovejoy tied his career high with three points (2+1) on December 30 vs. Philadelphia.  That was his first multiple-goal game in the AHL, and the three points gave him 20 for the season (6+14), tying his point total for all of last season.

Lovejoy, who led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with a plus-16 rating last season, leads the AHL with a plus-23 mark through January 11 and has been plus or even in 31 of his 38 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season.

STONE GOING STRONG:  Ryan Stone picked up an assist in the Penguins 6-2 win over Hershey on January 11, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the Penguins all-time assist list.

PENGUINS TOP FIVE ALL-TIME ASSIST LEADERS
1. Tom Kostopoulos              149
2. Toby Petersen                   105
3. Kris Beech                           97
4. Matt Murley                         97
5. RYAN STONE                      94 (18)

Stone’s three assists on December 27 gave him 130 points for his Penguins career, and moved him ahead of Colby Armstrong and into 10th place on the team’s all-time scoring list.  He now trails Martin Sonnenberg by one point for ninth place.

PENGUINS TOP 10 ALL-TIME POINTS LEADERS
1.             Tom Kostopoulos               246
2.             Tomas Surovy                   178
3.             Toby Petersen                   177
4.             Shane Endicott                 166
5.             Kris Beech                         150
6.             Matt Murley                       145
7.             Michel Ouellet                   144
8.             Eric Meloche                      138
9.             Martin Sonnenberg            135
10.          RYAN STONE                      134 (26)