Chirps from Center Ice

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This is becoming a theme.

Penguins sleepwalk through 40 minutes in Worcester, get three goals in the third, Peter Mannino makes 28 saves and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are off to a 5-0 start after beating the Worcester Sharks 3-2.

Tom Kuhnhackl scored two of those goals. Tom Kostopoulous left the game at some point with an injury. Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons had an off night, by their standards and the Penguins still manage to come away with victory.

Peter Mannino vs. Harri Sateri

Mike Carman and Reid McNeill were in for Bobby Farnham and Nick D’Agostino, respectively.

First Period: 48 penalty minutes before the game was two minutes old. For some reason, both teams were ornery to start. I don’t think it benefitted anyone in particular. Freddie Hamilton scored a goal later on a wicked wrister on busted coverage by the Penguins. Penguins managed only four shots on goal in this forgettable period.

Second Period: Pierre-Luc Letournau-Leblond fought twice. The first fight was with fellow heavyweight Jimmy Bonneau, later with 6’7 behemoth Taylor Doherty. The Pens had three chances to get the score even in the period. Andrew Ebbett off the cross bar, Adam Payerl all alone in the slot then Zach Sill poke checked and tripped by Sateri with Sateri well out of his crease. They also had three power play opportunities but came up empty.

Third Period: I pinch hit for Jonathan Bombulie tonight and wrote a story for the Citizens’ Voice which will be in the Sunday paper. My lede was don’t bother showing up on time for a Penguins game. Why? The Pens do all their damage in the third period. The Pens have outscored their opponents 14-4 in the season. It’s clearly the reason they are 5-0 this season.

Tom Kuhnhackl scored his first of the game at 1:48 then his second with 39.6 left. His goals were bookended by a John McCarthy goal by the Sharks on a setup from Sena Acolatse who wheeled around the Penguins net and fed McCarthy on the doorstep. Andrew Ebbett scored his first goal of the season set up by a Letourneau-Leblond big hit on a Shark.

Pens bus to Worcester for a 3 p.m. start in New Hampshire.

Three Stars: 3) Andrew Ebbett (goal, assist, +1) 2) Freddie Hamilton (goal, +1) and 1) Tom Kuhnhackl (two goals, +1)

Tom Kostopoulos came into tonight with points in all games played so far. He was pointless tonight, as was Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons.

Around the Division: Hershey is in the win column. They shut out the IceCaps in Newfoundland 4-0. Syracuse avenges a loss the prior night by the Binghamton Senators by beating the B-Sens 4-1 in Binghamton. Albany wins in a shootout in Norfolk and drop the Admirals 2-1.

Standings: Penguins 10 — Admirals 8 — Binghamton 6 — Syracuse 5 — Hershey 3

Conference: 1) HFD (11) 2) WBS (10) 3) MCH (10) 4) SPR (10) 5) NOR (8) 6) ALB (7) 7) BNG (6) 8) PRO (6)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in Cincinnati tonight and lost 4-2.

SendToNews Highlights: Here they are.

Manchester is a good team and the Penguins are in for a fight tomorrow afternoon. But, the Monarchs have gone to a shootout for a total of five of the six games played. So it will be a really good test for both squads tomorrow and one I am looking forward to.

Gameday for that will be up at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!