HAYDAR'S RECORD SETTING NIGHT PUTS PENGUINS DOWN 2-0

POST-GAME AUDIO: Todd Richards | Tim Brent

DES PLAINES, IL –Penguins coach Todd Richards has seen Darren Haydar score quite a few playoff points over the years.  The duo teamed up for four seasons as members of the Milwaukee Admirals – with Richards serving as an assistant coach while Haydar produced 33 goals and 73 points in the postseason.

It only seems fitting, then, that Richards was on hand to witness Haydar break the American Hockey League records for career playoff points and goals.  It’s just that Richards was probably hoping those tallies wouldn’t come until next year.

Hayday posted three points (2+1) to help the Chicago Wolves to a 4-2 victory against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday evening, giving the Western Division Champions a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven Calder Cup Finals.  Game Three will take place this Wednesday night at the Wachovia Arena at 7:35pm.

Like Game One, the Penguins fell behind by three goals, and then rallied to make a game of things.  Unfortunately, this comeback attempt also came up a little bit short.

“It’s tough to come back from three goals,” said Richards.  “I didn’t mind our first period, despite being down 2-0.  I thought we played hard, I thought we spent the majority of the period in their zone.  We did a lot of things that I think we wanted to do.  And I think the most frustrating thing of all is we had some success but weren’t able to score.”

Haydar had no such problem, netting the first two goals of the evening before tacking on an assist to Joel Kwiatkowski’s insurance marker in the third.

The Wolves’ captain was the recipient of some good luck on the first score, as a bouncing puck skipped over Ben Lovejoy’s stick and hit Haydar all alone as he broke to the Penguins’ cage unhindered for his 52nd career AHL playoff goal, one better than Jody Gage’s 51.

“The first goal was a gift,” said Richards, “a neutral zone puck that gets deflected, pops into space and he’s on a breakaway.”

Less than six minutes later, Haydar scored with a more conventional approach.  He picked up a rebound off a Kwiatkowski point shot and swept behind a prone John Curry, giving the Chicago forward his 120th career playoff point, one more than Hall-of-Famer Willie Marshall’s total.

Colin Stuart extended the lead to three goals 14 minutes into the second period when he picked up the rebound off a Jason Krog wraparound in front of the Penguins net and flipped the puck over Curry’s left arm for his third goal of the postseason.

The Penguins could have laid down with 20 minutes to play, but instead came out on the attach in the third period.  And when they were given a two-man-advantage early in the final frame, they didn’t let it go to waste.

Mark Ardelan picked up a loose puck at the top of the slot with just 15 of the 28 seconds in the five-on-three gone, then dinged a shot off the cross bar for his fourth playoff goal at 4:28.

Thirty-seven seconds later, the Penguins found themselves right back in the game, as Brent redirected a Ryan Stone pass behind Ondrej Pavelec for his league-leading 12th tally of the postseason.

“Going out for the third, I wasn’t sure of what we were going to get, because of the mood in the locker room,” said Richards.  “And I think that had to do with feeling like we played pretty good for two periods and being down 3-0.  We had nothing on the board to show for the hard work.

“You get your opportunities on the power play, you get two quick goals and now you’re back in the game and you believe you have a chance to win.”

That chance was snuffed when Kwiatkowski scored a power play goal in his sixth straight game, this one coming with less than two minutes to play.

The Penguins now face the daunting task of overcoming a two-game deficit, but have the luxury of beginning their climb out of the hole back on home ice.

“As frustrating as it is, we’re still confident in here,” said Brent.  “We’re going back to our rink now for three games.  It was a close game at the end.  We feel comfortable at home.  I think our fans are going to give us a little bit of an edge and a boost.  We’ll be back here for Six and Seven.”

NOTES:  Alain Nasreddine appeared in his 100th career AHL playoff game…Ryan Stone moved into sole possession of second place on the team’s all-time playoff scoring list at 33 points with his third period assist.  It was his 22nd career playoff assist, third on the team’s all-time list…Goligoski’s assist was his 21st of the playoffs, fourth all-time in team playoff history, and his 25th point, tied for eighth in team playoff history…Tim Brent’s goal was his 12th of the postseason (fourth all-time in team playoff history) and seventh power play goal (third all-time in team playoff history).