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Boys All-Star Classic: Hazleton Area players lead the way

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Local roundup: Wyoming Seminary softball’s Romanchick throws perfect game

WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; In their first game since Tom Kostopoulos announced his upcoming retirement, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had a lot at stake on Friday.Facing the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, all the Penguins needed was one point to clinch a playoff spot and boost Kostopoulos into the postseason one last time.But after a 4-3 loss on Friday, the Penguins find themselves facing a similar scenario for Saturday&#8217;s game but with more on the line as it will be Kostopoulos&#8217; last regular-season home game.Kostopoulos admitted as much.&#8220;It&#8217;s big for us. We want to try to clinch at home in front of our fans,&#8221; he said. &#8220;(Friday&#8217;s loss) was disappointing, but we have a strong opportunity to do it tomorrow.&#8221;The Penguins played a strong a game against a Bridgeport team desperately clinging to slim playoff hopes. The power play scored twice, Daniel Sprong notched three points and Kostopoulos scored the first goal.Unfortunately for the Penguins, they couldn&#8217;t match Bridgeport&#8217;s desperation while netminder Christopher Gibson came up big for the Sound Tigers.&#8220;You could see their determination,&#8221; Kostopoulos said. &#8220;They&#8217;re fighting for their lives. They outplayed us and they deserved to win.&#8221;In his second-to-last regular season home game, Kostopoulos got the Penguins on the board first when he tipped a Sprong shot past Gibson during an early first period power play.The momentum was short-lived as Bridgeport answered with three straight goals. The Sound Tigers scored on the power play and added an even strength tally to take a 2-1 lead into the second period. Mitchell Vande Sompel beat Tristan Jarry with a seemingly harmless wrist shot in the second to make it 3-1.&#8220;I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;d like to have a couple of those back,&#8221; said head coach Clark Donatelli, adding that he probably won&#8217;t start Jarry in back-to-back games this weekend.The Penguins drew to within one when Teddy Blueger won an offensive zone faceoff to Sprong in the slot, who one-timed a shot under the crossbar to make it 3-2.After that, the Penguins pressured Gibson relentlessly, but he held his own and maintained a one-goal lead.The Sound Tigers withstood another Penguins attack early in the third period and capitalized on an ensuing rush up the ice to take a 4-2 lead.Any hope of clinching a playoff spot was starting to fade as the Penguins continued to fire shots on Gibson to no avail.&#8220;We had a lot of chances and a lot of traffic around the net. He played a strong game and didn&#8217;t give up a ton of rebounds,&#8221; Kostopoulos said. &#8220;He kept us at bay.&#8221;Blueger made it interesting when he scored a power-play goal with less than five minutes to play to cut Bridgeport&#8217;s lead to 4-3, but the Penguins couldn&#8217;t beat Gibson again after that.Now, with the last regular-season home game of his career rapidly approaching, Kostopoulos laid out a simple plan of attack for Saturday against the Binghamton Devils.&#8220;We&#8217;re going to lay it all out there tomorrow,&#8221; he said.NOTES&#8212; With Donatelli essentially ruling out Jarry for Saturday, that leaves with him a choice of Michael Leighton or Anthony Peters to start in net. Leighton has made four starts for the Penguins, and three have come against Binghamton and he won them all.&#8212; With two power-play goals on the night, Donatelli said things are back on track, but &#8230; &#8220;We still lost the game. I&#8217;m glad we scored a couple goals, but it wasn&#8217;t a momentum changer one way or the other.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Pens will try again on Saturday to clinch a playoff spot</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom Veneskytvenesky@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>Bridgeport 4, Penguins 3Bridgeport`2`1`1&#8212;`4Penguins`1`1`1&#8212;`3 First PeriodScoring &#8211; 1. WBS, Tom Kostopoulos 5 (Sprong, Czuczman) power play 4:48. 2. BRI, Mitchell Vande Sompel 6 (Ho-Sang, Bourque) power play 6:43. 3. BRI, Steve Bernier 19 (Stevens, Bourque) 11:45. Penalties - BRI, Bernier - served by Ho-Sang (goaltender interference) 4:14; WBS, Dea (boarding) 5:17; WBS, bench - served by Sprong (too many men) 16:56; BRI, St. Denis (slashing) 18:04; WBS, Wilson (cross-checking) 18:04.Second PeriodScoring &#8211; 4. BRI, Mitchell Vande Sompel 7 (Ho-Sang, Burroughs) 5:48. 5. WBS, Daniel Sprong 29 (Blueger) 7:50. Penalties - WBS, Blueger (tripping) :59; BRI, Lafranchise (cross-checking) 14:40.Third PeriodScoring &#8211; 6. BRI, Ben Holmstrom 11 (Schempp) 6:28. 7. WBS, Teddy Blueger 30 (Sprong, Czuczman) power play 15:14. Penalties - BRI, bench - served by Ho-Sang (too many men) 1:49; WBS, Summers (tripping) 11:44; BRI, Bailey (hooking) 14:46; BRI, Jones (slashing) 19:50.Shots on goalBridgeport &#8211; 11-7-4-22Penguins &#8211; 8-13-7-28Power-play OpportunitiesBridgeport &#8211; 1 of 4Penguins &#8211; 2 of 5GoaltendersBridgeport &#8211; Christopher Gibson 19-11-3 (25 saves &#8211; 28 shots)Penguins &#8211; Tristan Jarry 8-5-2 (18-22)StartersBridgeport &#8211; G Christopher Gibson, D Seth Helgeson, D Mitchell Vande Sompel, LW Ryan Bourque, C John Stevens, RW Steve BernierPenguins &#8211; G Tristan Jarry, D Andrey Pedan, D Lukas Bengtsson, LW Garrett Wilson, C Jean-Sebastien Dea, RW Daniel SprongThree Stars1. BRI, Mitchell Vande Sompel (two goals) 2. BRI, Ryan Bourque (two assists) 3. WBS, Daniel Sprong (goal, two assists)Referee &#8211; Reid Anderson, Jason Faist. Linesmen &#8211; Tom DellaFranco, Scott Pomento.Attendance &#8211; 6,653</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TomVenesky</shirttailMeta></div>

WBS Penguins loss to Bridgeport puts playoff hopes on hold