Amerks Pull Past Pens 4-2

The way the season has been going for the Penguins, with winning streaks followed by losing streaks, I asked head coach John Hynes what the message was to the guys in the locker room after tonight's 4-2 loss to the Amerks.

"It's real simple," said Hynes. "We gotta take care of the puck. The 2nd period we wanted to play a soft game, over pass the puck and it ends up in the back of our net."

After Zach Sill scored his first of the season halfway through the 2nd period, giving the Pens a 2-1 lead, it seemed to go downhill.  Bobby Farnham takes a slashing minor after digging for a rebound on Amerks netminder David Leggio. Brian Flynn scores a goal on a bad bounce off a skate and ties the game at the 13:26 mark of the 2nd frame.

Then with less than two minutes to play in the middle frame, the flood gates open. Adam Pardy blasts one top shelf on Brad Thiessen and then Kevin Sundher pokes one past Thiessen while laying on the ice with less than 10 seconds left, giving the Amerks three goals in the last 6:34 of the period and the 4-2 lead heading into the third.

Tom Kostopoulos, Mark Eaton and Chad Kolarik all made their WBS season debuts tonight. Kostopoulos played on a third line with Zach Sill and Bobby Farnham and had some chances in around the net, assisting one Sill's goal in the second period. Eaton was dressed as a 7th defenseman and logged 17:16 of ice time. Kolarik opened the scoring 1:36 into the game for his 17th of the season.

"A good veteran group in there," said Kolarik of his new teammates. "They were on a roll before I got here and I definitely don't want to be a problem. Hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow night."

After watching Kolarik play tonight, I have a feeling he is going to help the team much more than fans might have originally thought. Sure, he's an All-Star forward. But Kolarik adds a whole new dimension to the WBS attack. He was paired on a line with Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons tonight.

ROSTER NOTES

• Brad Thiessen got the start in net and was pulled after two periods. He allowed four goals on 18 shots. Jeff Zatkoff replaced him for the third and stopped all four shots he faced. After speaking with coach Hynes postgame, he told me Zatkoff will start in net tomorrow night in Toronto against the Marlies.
• Phil Dupuis, Warren Peters and Beau Bennett missed tonight's game up front for the Penguins, while Cody Wild was a healthy scratch on defense. Dominik Uher was also a late scratch after taking the warmups. Hynes said Bennett is still day-to-day and lists him as questionable for tomorrow's game. An upgrade to his "doubtful" status for tonight's game? We'll have to wait and see.