vs.      

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Two things that I take away from the game tonight, a 6-3 Wilkes-Barre romp.

1) The Penguins are really, really good right now and are clicking on all cylinders while other teams are finding their sea legs.
2) Adirondack is a bad hockey team. One that got out worked and out muscled from the drop of the puck. A good team like the Penguins should have manhandled this team and did.

I guess point one could be obscured a bit because of point two. But it doesn’t matter in the short term. The Pens are 4-0 and firing on all cylinders right now. The long term will sort itself out.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. Cal Heeter

Chris Conner was called up to Pittsburgh before the game. My guess is that Harry Zolnierczyk will be back in time for tomorrows game in Worcester. We’ll see. Paul Thompson and Bobby Farnham took Conner and Zolnierczyk’s spots in the lineup.

First Period: Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons look like two entirely different players this season. They have some magic going early on. Gibbons steals an Adirondack exit attempt then passed to Jayson Megna who fished the puck out of his skates and scored to put the Pens on the board first.

Minutes later, Bruno Gervais beats Deslauriers with an NHL-style slap shot that tied the game. It would be the closest that the Phantoms would get the rest of the night.

I say that because this next goal was a thing of absolute beauty and should be the postage stamp of things early on and a look to the future. Dominik Uher and Tom Kuhnhackl win a battle up the ice and score a goal. Uher outworks a Phantoms defender, then centers to Kuhnhackl who beats his guy and scores a goal to make it 2-1.

If that goal is any indication of how the season is going to go, that is, manufacturing blue collar goals by outworking your opponent, watch out.

The Pens nearly let the Phantoms back into the game with some sloppy play late in the first, but it broke 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Second Period: Philip Samuelsson shot a puck from the blueline that Adam Payerl deflected in to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Jayson Megna scored his second of the night shorthanded setup by, who else, Brian Gibbons. That set off a line brawl of sorts that sort of woke up the Phantoms enough to see Nick Cousins score a goal on the doorstep to cut the deficit to two, 4-2.

Dominik Uher again with a slap shot bomb after he, again, outworked his guy to score a goal.

Link here to the picture of the scrum of the line brawl and here to the fight that Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond had with Zack FitzGerald.

Third Period: Brian Gibbons finished off a cross ice pass on the power play to put the Pens ahead 6-2. Pens buzzed after that, you could almost smell the killer instinct that the Penguins had. Rob Bordson scored a goal late when Deslauriers left a rebound.

Three Stars: 3) Dominik Uher (goal, assist, +1) 2) Brian Gibbons (gioal, two assists, +2) and 1) Jayson Megna (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey gives up four goals in the third period to lose to St. John’s on The Rock 5-1. Binghamton thumps Syracuse 6-2. Norfolk beats Albany in a shootout down in Virginia 2-1.

Standings: Pens 8 — Norfolk 7 — Binghamton 6 — Syracuse 3 — Hershey 1

Conference: Hartford 9, Wilkes-Barre, Manchester and Springfield 8, Norfolk 7, Binghamton 6, Albany and St. John’s 5

Wheeling Update: The Nailers kicked off their season at home vs. the Elmira Jackals and won 3-2. Christiaan Minella was named first star, with two goals.

SendToNews Highlights: Here they are. Pardon the terrible pun from Brian Coe.

Pens bus to Worcester overnight. The Sharks will be playing in just their second game of the season and tomorrow is their home opener. They lost to Springfield in their last game so you know they are going to be amped and ready to go. Tomorrow may be a trap game for the Pens if they aren’t careful….

Gameday for that game will be up tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

          @          

6                                                3

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A five goal third period explosion in Syracuse by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins is enough to get by a tough Syracuse Crunch team and the Penguins are off to a perfect 3-0 start and are tops in the East Division in this very young season after topping the Crunch 6-3.

The Penguins have outscored opponents 10-1 in the third period this season.

The Penguins got goals from all types of players today. Quick players like Jayson Megna, gritty players like Harry Zolnierczyk and leadership players like Tom Kostopoulos, twice.

They scored shorthanded, even strength and on the power play. Even an empty netter.

Goals from all forms of players in all forms? I’ll take it.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. Riku Helenius

No lineup changes for the Pens from last night. Reid McNeill took warmups, Bobby Farnham did not.

First Period: Jeff Deslauriers stole the show early. Stopping a Crunch shot from a cross ice pass, bailing out the Pens on careless outlet passes. Late, Tom Kostopoulos scored his 101st goal in a Penguins sweater on a deflection of a Nick Drazenovic shot from the blue line while on the power play.

Second Period: Helenius traded some saves with his counterpart Deslauriers in this period, a period dominated by the Crunch, who outshot the Pens 13-4 in the period and got two goals, one from Vlad Namestnikov on a power play and another from Cedric Paquette shorthanded.

Third Period: Simon Despres and Artem Sergeev fought to a draw to open the period. Then the goals came….

– Tom Kostopoulos again. On the power play, again.
– Nick Drazenovic, while the Pens were on a 5:00 major power play.
– Jayson Megna shorthanded, which really tilted the tide the Penguins way and took all air out of the Crunch and the building.

(Matt Taormina scored a goal from the blue line that Deslauriers was screened on in between this flurry of goals)

John Hynes used his timeout at this point, as you could feel the dam breaking for the Pens as the Crunch were pressuring and just scored. A well placed timeout.

– Harry Zolnierczyk even strength.

Jeff Deslauriers made a point blank save on JT Brown late, then Dominik Uher potted an empty netter for good measure.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Taormina (goal, assist, -1) 2) Nick Drazenovic (goal, two assists, -1) and 1) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, even)

Around the Division: No one else representing the East Division skated.

Standings: Penguins 6 — Norfolk 5 — Binghamton 4 — Syracuse 3 — Hershey 1

Conference: Hartford / Manchester 7, Penguins and Springfield 6, Providence / Norfolk 5, Binghamton 4, Syracuse 3.

Wheeling did not skate today.

SendToNews Highlights: Aren’t up yet. I will look later if I remember.

Penguins get a week off before hosting Adirondack Friday, then traveling to Worcester Saturday then Manchester Sunday.

Content wise, my Week 2 AHL Power Rankings are coming together nicely. It’s nice to have an idea that fills space when there isn’t anything original to blog about during the week. Check those power rankings out sometime around dinner time Monday.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

1                                                3

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Yep. This one felt like a playoff game.

But it’s only both teams second game of a 76 game journey.

Not to mention the first of a dozen meetings.

Penguins get yet another third period push and skate past the Hershey Bears tonight by a score of 3-1.

Two old faces are really making an impact on this team. They are Jeff Deslauriers, who was stellar in goal tonight for the Penguins, robbing the Bears of  many chances and Chris Conner, who just makes players like Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons that much better on the ice. Conner buried a drop pass from Gibbons on a breakaway to push the Penguins up 2-1 late in the third. Gibbons finished a cross ice pass from Megna in the second while shorthanded to tie the game for the Pens.

Zach Sill buried any chances of a Bears comeback late when Dominik Uher wheeled around the Hershey net and fed Sill who picked a corner.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. David Leggio.

Lineup notes: Bobby Farnham took warmups, but with Joel Rechlicz scratched on the other side, did not play. Paul Thompson did not dress either.

After a scoreless first filled with a lot of back and forth and a few near misses for both sides, Penguin Killer Tomas Kundratek scored for the Bears early in the second.

Tom Kostopoulos took a penalty, and the Bears right here could have buried the Penguins. Instead Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons work shorthanded magic and Gibbons finishes off a pass from Megna to tie the score at one a side.

Real high intensity, end to end hockey between the two clubs after forty minutes of play.

Jeff Deslauriers and David Leggio were stealing the show, both making stunning saves for their respective clubs. Leggio on Chris Conner on a mini breakaway and Deslauriers time after time for the Penguins. Deslauriers was the reason the Penguins were in the game this late on into the third period.

As always between these two teams, things boiled over. Game had a powder keg feel to it at the time, like one shot or one kit would blow things up in favor of the team that shot or the team that threw the big hit.

Brian Gibbons steals a Hershey D-to-D pass, skates in, drops to a trailing Chris Conner, who buries it to push the Pens up 2-1.

1:25 later, Zach Sill picks a corner off a feed from Dominik Uher to seal it for the Penguins late. It seemed to me that the Pens kept pushing after the goal because you knew Hershey was going to make it interesting but instead they stalled out and the Penguins took advantage.

Three Stars: 3) Jeff Deslauriers (18 saves on 19 shots) 2) Brian Gibbons (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Chris Conner (game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: Binghamton avenges a 5-0 whooping the night before by the Norfolk Admirals and win 4-1. Syracuse thumps Rochester 5-1.

Standings: Norfolk 5 — Penguins 4 — Binghamton 4 — Syracuse 3 — Hershey 1

Conference: Hartford and Manchester have 7, Norfolk and Providence 5, Penguins, Springfield, Binghamton 4, Syracuse 3 are your Top 8.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are still in preseason. They lose 6-2 to the Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana. Local product Patrick McGrath with 9 PIMs, including a fight.

Pens back at it Sunday afternoon in Syracuse at 5 p.m. for another huge test against a division rival. Gameday for that will be up at 1 p.m. here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!