From: lli+@cs.cmu.edu (Lori Iannamico)
Subject: Pens-6 Sabres-5
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 20:33:20 GMT

Sorry if this appears twice.  We're having network trouble and I'm not 
sure if this was posted the first time.
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Wow, what a sports night in Pittsburgh!  The Pens edge past the Sabres 6-5 and 
the Bucs throttle Atlanta 13-4 to force a 7th game in the NLCS.  And the Pens
credit their win and the Sabres their loss to the Pirates.  More on that 
later.  

First, a Martin Straka update.  The reason he isn't playing has nothing to 
do with injury or poor play.  The Pens are currently having problems with
Straka's Czech team over (monetary) compensation.  Until contract problems are
resolved, Straka can't play in the NHL.  Supposedly the Pens are close to 
resolving their differences with the Czech club.

Rick Tocchet was scratched due to a foot injury.  No further information is
available at this time.  With Tocchet scratched, Jagr moved into his slot on
the Stevens-Lemieux line.  Needham moved up from the 3rd line to play with
McEachern-Francis.  The third line was Loney-Stapleton-Leach.  McEachern
sometimes centered this line.  The fourth line wasn't really a line, it was
kind of a mix of Tippet, Daniels and every other line.  But, as you all know,
lines under Bowman do a lot of changing.  So all the lines were subject to 
change at one time or another.

Bryan Fogarty finally saw ice time, as the Pens went with 7 defensemen last 
night.  Fogarty was very shakey at first, but settled down as the game wore
on.   He even had an assist.

Ken Wregget was in the nets last night.  The reason given was "to keep him
sharp".  He played alright, but he makes me kind of nervous.  It's like 1/2
the time he doesn't seem to be aware he's even made the stop.  He's in the
right place, but he doesn't really play the puck.  It just kind of bounces
off various body parts.  And he was caught out of the net at least twice last
night, and was very lucky that no goals were socred.

Lemieux was hot, he had his second 5 point night of the young season. He 
currently has 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) in 4 games.

The game was wide open all night long, hardly any defense played by either 
team.  Although the score was 6-5, Puppa didn't have a bad night.  He faced
44 shots, and stood tall during a late second period flurry by Lemieux, Jagr and
Stevens.

The Pens got on the boards at 3:38.  On a textbook perfect setup, Jagr passed
to Lemieux who passed to Stevens, who was in front of the Buffalo net.  He 
slapped the puck past Puppa.

The Pens scored again, 37 seconds later.  Mike Needham slid a Francis rebound
under Puppa at 4:11.  McEarchern had the 3rd assist.

At 7:54 Buffalo scored when ???? Gordijuk deflected a Doug Bodger slapshot 
from the right faceoff circle past Ken Wregget.  It was actually pretty neat
to see.  The puck looked to be going wide, it hit Gordijuk's stick and made
a right angle turn into the net.

The Sabres scored again at 12:37.  Dave Anderchyuk(Bodger, LaFontaine), working
from the slot, put the puck between the legs of a partially screened Wregget.
It was a power play goal.

The Pens started the second with a goal of their own.  While working on a 
power play Mario, while standing near the lower part of the right faceoff
circle, fired the puck and beat Puppa on the short side.  The puck just zipped
between the post and Puppa.  It happened so fast. (Francis, McEachern 1:36).

But Buffalo answered back barely a minute later.  Dave Anderchyuk (LaFontaine)
walked in on Wregget from the left faceoff circle, and fired what looked like
a lazy little shot.  Wregget actually stood there and watched the damn thing
trickle between his legs.  He at one point lifted his left leg because he
had lost sight of the puck.  He then realized it was in the net.  But all the
blame can't go on Wregget, because Andrechyuk was Paek's man (No pun intended.)
and he blew the coverage.(2:30)

At 9:54 the Sabres took their only lead of the night.  Bob Sweeny got the 
puck from behind the Pens' net and fed it to ???? May, who was in front of the
net.  May stuffed the puck past Wregget, who was bit dazed and confused. 
(Gordijuk had the other assist).

Shortly after this, the Pirates started to influence the game.  According to
clari.sports.hockey, Sabres coach John Muckler was quoted as saying "We lost
this game because of the Pittsburgh Pirates."  The Pens were in the Sabres'
end when Barry Bonds cracked a home run in the top of the second.  The entire
Arena went nuts. (Hey, word spreads fast.)  At first, no one on the ice was
sure of what was going on.  Then the score was flashed on the score board and
the crowd really went wild.  The Pens started to feed off of this and began to
work harder than they had been.  The Pirates score was flashed again, at that
time it was 3-0.  

And at 11:47 while working on a power play, Jagr (Stevens, Lemieux) scored.
I missed this goal because the guy in front of me had a tv tuned to the 
NLCS game, and I was watching it at the time.  

The Pirates score now read 4-0, and the Pens answered that with a score of 
their own.  Kevin Stevens, taking a pass from Bryan Fogarty, rammed the 
puck past Puppa to make the score 5-4.  Speaking after the game (according
to KDKA this AM) Stevens said "At first we didn't know what was going on( in
 reference to the Pirates score). But we started to get into what was happening
with the crowd."  Also, I noticed that every time a roar went up from the 
crowd, Stevens looked at the scoreboard. (Lemieux had the other assist).

The Pirates score was now 8-0, and the Pens finished their scoring with a flair.
Mario, standing at near the right boards between the blue lines, fed the puck
to a breaking Jagr.  Jagr broke in, with Murphy trailing the play.  Jagr skated 
in on Puppa and took a backhander, which Puppa deflected to his right, and 
right to a waiting Larry Murphy, who tapped in the rebound. (14:40).

Scotty Bowman said that "The Pittsburgh Pirates really helped tonight.  When
the score was up on the scoreboard, the crowd became excited.  The game took
off from that point."

The Pens then had a late period rally, but Puppa stood his ground and kept the
score from getting any high.

The only scoring in the 3rd came at 17:00 when Wayne Presley flipped a Doug
Bodger pass over a stickless, sprawled Ken Wregget.

Scratches: Joey Mullen (knee surgery), Bob Errey (torn ligament, left foot),
Rick Tocchet (bad foot), Martin Straka(contact problems), Jay Caufield, Jeff 
Chychrun.

Lori
Contact for the Penguins
lli+@cs.cmu.edu

BOX SCORE REPRINTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM CLARI.SPORTS.HOCKEY

Buffalo                          2 2 1--5
Pittsburgh                       2 4 0--6
        First period--1, Pittsburgh, Stevens 3 (Lemieux, Jagr), 3:38.
2, Pittsburgh, Needham 1 (Francis, McEachern), 4:11. 3, Buffalo, Gordijuk
2 (Bodger), 7:54. 4, Buffalo, Andreychuk 3 (Bodger, Lafontaine), pp,
12:37. Penalties--Francis, Pit, 10:49; U.Samuelsson, Pit, 11:10; Sweeney,
Buf, 13:13; Svoboda, Buf, 13:47; Svoboda, Buf, 16:52; Sweeney, Buf,
19:37.
        Second period--5, Pittsburgh, Lemieux 5 (Francis, McEachern),
pp, 1:36. 6, Buffalo, Andreychuk 4 (LaFontaine), 2:30. 7, Buffalo,
May 2 (Sweeney, Gordijuk), 9:54. 8, Pittsburgh, Jagr 2 (Stevens, Lemieux),
pp, 11:47. 9, Pittsburgh, Stevens 4 (Fogarty, Lemieux), 13:25. 10,
Pittsburgh, Murphy 3 (Jagr, Lemieux), 14:04. Penalties--Paek, Pit,
4:28; McEachern, Pit, 7:23; Moller, Buf, 10:37.
        Third period--11, Buffalo, Presley 2 (Bodger), 17:00. Penalty--U.
Samuelsson, Pit, 10:32.
        Shots on goal--Buffalo 13-12-13--38. Pittsburgh 17-22-5--44.
        Power-play conversions--Buffalo 5-1. Pittsburgh 5-2.
        Goaltenders--Buffalo, Puppa. Pittsburgh, Wregget. A--15,575.
        Referee--Paul Stewart.