Saturday, April 01, 2000
Cyclones 5, Cleveland 2
BY JOHN P. WISE
Enquirer contributor
What's happened to the Cleveland Lumberjacks?
Cincinnati earned its second convincing victory over the Lumberjacks in two nights, and its fifth straight defeat of Cleveland since Feb. 21. Friday's 5-2 win before 8,637 at Firstar Center was an example of how things are going for the teams on the Ohio corners of Interstate 71.
The Cyclones are 41-27-7, and are now eight points ahead of the Lumberjacks — the same team they trailed by 12 points six weeks ago — for third place in the Eastern Conference. Since Feb. 19, the Cyclones have been by far the best team in the conference, having gone 15-2-3 in their last 20 games.
Cincinnati is 14 games above .500 for the first time this season, and just one game from the franchise record of 15 games above even.
Cleveland is 7-16-1 in its last 24 games, which has seen the team score only 34 goals.
Craig MacDonald and Brian Felsner each scored a pair of goals for the Cyclones.
Cleveland ....... 0 0 2—2
Cincinnati ....... 2 3 0—5
First period: Cin, MacDonald 11 (Dionne, Esau) 10:51; Cin, Felsner 19 (Ritchie) 18:04.
Second period: Cin, MacDonald (2) 12 (Esau, Dionne) 1:15; Cin, Felsner (2) 20 (Cole) 7:53; Cin, Rucinski 3 (penalty shot) 11:35 (shg).
Third period: Cle, Herperger 19 (Paul, Calder) 5:54; Cle, Peters 10 (Hankinson, Rohloff) 15:09.
Shots: Cle, 13-16-8=37; Cin, 6-16-8=30. Goalies: Cle, Lamothe (25 saves); Cin, Petruk (35). Power plays: Cle, 0-2; Cin, 0-0. Attendance: 8,637.
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