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The following tweets by the men that write about this team for a living in the papers should tell you all you need to know about how this one went…

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/680922200132743168] [tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/680921412417273856]

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So it was predictable. A 5-0 shutout, blowout loss ushers in the Clark Donatelli Era for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Nothing went right tonight. Let’s get right to it.

Lines were…

Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Brian Foster – Casey DeSmith

Injury Updates: Mike O’Brien stated that Matia Marcantuoni was off of injured reserve and was the healthy scratch as well as Harrison Ruopp. Steve Oleksy and Tom Sestito were, “close” and Tristan Jarry was, “week-to-week.” Tyler Biggs jobs Barry Goers in the, “month-to-month” category.

First Period: Bad first period for the Penguins, who 1:23 into the game, were down 2-0, then later 3-0 on another Bears goal, this time on the power play and the rout was on. Aaron Ness with a bomb of a shot at :34, Chris Brown from high slot at 1:23 then Madison Bowey skating in unmarked on the power play for Hershey. Wilkes-Barre only registered one shot on goal in the games first eight minutes, and the game conceivably could have been 5-0 with the Bears hitting two posts in the process.

Things settled in the games last five minutes and the period ended with the Bears outshooting the Pens 15-7.

Second Period: Penguins couldn’t cash in on their only power play of the period and the Bears cashed on theirs when Paul Carey swept in a rebound left by Foster that made it 4-0. Erik Burgdoerfer scored his goal against the Penguins (all of his goals this year have come against Wilkes-Barre) and it was 5-0.

Donatelli called time out and was very animated on the bench with his team which was in a 5-0 hole on the ice at their biggest rival.

Third Period: Casey DeSmith came in on relief for Brian Foster, faced a power play to open the period then a brief 5-on-3 but was able to keep the Bears out of his net. It was the most settled that the Pens looked all game, but at this point the game was lost.

Pens couldn’t score on a power play, the Bears were blocking tons of shots. Wilkes-Barre later hit a post when Reid McNeill narrowly missed breaking up the Ellis shutout.

Dan Ellis was in some pain with about two minutes to play in the period, but gutted it out for his first shutout of the season, a 22 save performance, and the first time all season that Wilkes-Barre has been shutout all season.

Three Stars: 3) Madison Bowey (goal, assist, even) 2) Carter Camper (three assists, +1) and 1) Dan Ellis (22 save shutout)

Around the Division: Binghamton beat Hartford at home 4-2…Lehigh Valley lost at home to Bridgeport 2-1…Albany beat Providence 4-1…Syracuse beat Springfield 3-1 and Portland was off.

Standings: Penguins (.768 points percentage) — Hershey (.633) — Bridgeport (.578) — Portland (.574) — Lehigh Valley (.467) — Providence (.467) — Springfield (.448) — Hartford (.433)

Wheeling Update: It was Dave Gove’s head coaching debut and that too was a sour one as Gove’s Wheeling Nailers were defeated by the Toledo Walleye in Toledo 4-1. That will cost the Nailers as they will now be seven back of division leader Toledo in the North Division.

Penguins are back in action tomorrow against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at home. Gameday for that will be up on the blog at noon for the 4:05 start.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Looking at the standings in this league, I can tell you that there are a lot of bad teams in the American Hockey League.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are not one of them.

Don’t believe me? The Toronto Marlies came into Wilkes-Barre last night as the second best team in the League and needed a shootout to beat the Penguins. They scored three shorthanded goals to even get to the shootout but how often do you see teams in professional hockey give up three shorthanded goals? It doesn’t happen often.

Anyway, that same Marlies team short of AHL points leader William Nylander and short Antoine Bibeau who was recalled to the parent Maple Leafs today rolled into Hershey tonight with Ray Emery in goal, who just signed his PTO an hour and a half before the start of the game Friday and beat the Bears 6-2. Hershey had won seven in a row at home coming in and were bolstered by the addition of Chris Brown who had cleared waivers earlier Saturday.

A 3-0 shutout in Syracuse tonight against a Crunch team decimated by call ups and injuries. Brian Foster, up from Wheeling and forced into the starting goaltender position with the injury to Tristan Jarry earlier this week in Allentown, recorded his first shutout at the AHL level, the Penguins recorded their fourth shutout in five games and the Penguins have not allowed an even strength goal in 305:29.

Again, there are a lot of bad teams in the AHL. The Penguins aren’t one of them.

Foster was opposed by Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Scott Wilson was recalled by Pittsburgh earlier today as a result of Daniel Sprong getting sent back to his junior team, so it was an all hands on deck situation forward wise for the Penguins. Here is a look at the lines:

Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Brian Foster – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: With Wilson recalled to Pittsburgh, Josh Archibald was slotted into the top line. The second and third pairs were left untouched and Sahir Gill, making his WBS season debut, took Archibald’s spot in the fourth line. The defense pairing was also untouched.

First Period: Penguins muster not much offense in the period but for this Oskar Sundqvist centering attempt to Tom Kostopoulos that went in:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678368288213237760]

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The Crunch would outshoot Wilkes-Barre 17-3 in the period and go 0-for-2 on the power play, threw everything but the kitchen sink at Foster but were unable to score. It’s the microcosm of the Crunch’s season, really, one that has been crippled by injuries and call ups.

Second Period: Sleepy periods by both teams. Penguins had this would be be power play goal taken away when referee Garrett Rank ruled that the net was knocked free of the moorings before the puck had crossed:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678383092709593088]

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Brian Foster stayed active in net, denying Jeff Tambellini and Philippe Paradis Grade A scoring attempts. The Pens outshot the Crunch 11-6 thanks to an 8-0 headstart to begin the period.

Third Period: Feeling going into the third was that the 1-0 lead was not safe. So what do the Penguins do? Score twice in a span of 1:46.

First, Will O’Neill scored from the blue line when the Crunch turned it over right to him…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678395131460980737]

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Then Carter Rowney with a strong forecheck which forced a turnover which resulted in Tom Kuhnhackl which made it 3-0:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678396189046349824]

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Tampa Bay prospect Anthony DeAngelo is going to have nightmares on the bus to Hershey tonight of Brian Foster. Foster denied him with the pad about halfway into the period…

…then in the dying seconds of the game with Vasilevskiy pulled:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678403112093229057]

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Three Stars: 3) Matthew Peca (no shots, -1) 2) Will O’Neill (goal, +1) and 1) Brian Foster (30 save shutout)

Around the Division: I gave you the Hershey final in the open. The other finals were Hartford beating Utica in a shootout 2-1…Portland beat Bridgeport 2-1…Springfield beat Providence 4-2 and Binghamton beat Lehigh Valley 2-1, speaking of bad teams.

Standings: Penguins (.796 points percentage) — Hershey (.607) — Bridgeport (.583) — Portland (.540) — Providence (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.483) — Springfield .464) — Hartford (.429)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at three all late but lose 5-3 in Moline, IL against the Quad City Mallards. Riley Brace had a goal and two assists, John McCarron had a goal and an assist. Toledo beat Manchester 2-0 at home tonight to expand their lead on the North Division by 4. The Walleye are in Indy tomorrow.

Pens are now off until December 26 in Hershey against the Bears. I’ll have my chart refreshes Sunday and the Week 11 AHL Power Rankings up Monday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I’ll use the lede in my Rapid Recap one post down for the lede here.

The Penguins were cruising in the third period of tonight’s game and heading to a power play up 3-0.

Then the bottom fell out.

A 4-3 shootout loss for the Penguins tonight to the Toronto Marlies. The game leading in was dubbed as a matchup between two heavyweight teams that were about as evenly matched from top to bottom. Even so in goal with the Penguins bringing in Casey DeSmith from the Wheeling Nailers this morning and the Marlies signing Ray Emery to a PTO hours before puck drop. It was a battle backups tonight in goal with Brian Foster squaring off against Antoine Bibeau.

To see it end in a shootout is mildly disappointing, to say the least.

The lineups were unchanged forward wise and defense wise. But in case you forgot…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Brian Foster – Casey DeSmith

First Period: Wilkes-Barre would jump out to a 2-0 lead but not before a long 5-on-3 for the Penguins that seemed rushed, panicked and disorganized. Brian Foster was called into the game early, denying a Nikita Soshnikov breakaway attempt on the 5-on-3.

Clark Seymour scored on a rocket of a shot from the top of the circles to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678014373772808197]

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Scott Wilson would double the Penguins lead when he outworked Stuart Percy on this play…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678014146374430720]

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At this point the Penguins were firing on all eight cylinders. They wanted to win for their coach Jay Leach, the injured Tristan Jarry and probably for Brian Foster in goal.

First Intermission: I always look for people to give me insight as to what they are seeing. There is a man by the name of John that I always visit on the concourse of nearly every home game. After the first period, I went over and visited. He cautioned me that the Penguins were getting worn down by the Marlies and that it was something that the Penguins used to do to opponents all the time. It was just something he gave me to watch out for as the game went on.

Second Period: The Marlies were working the Penguins again, forechecking them hard, but about half way through, Toronto was without a shot. The Penguins outshot the Marlies 16-7 in the period but were not able to extend the lead further.

Third Period: Penguins cash on a power play when Derrick Pouliot gets one past Bibeau to make it 3-0. The Pens were rolling and about to head on another power play.

Then my buddy John’s premonition came true.

Mark Arcobello scored on a wired wrist shot that beat Foster at 4:38 and the Marlies were on the board. The goal snapped a shutout streak of 225:07 that the Penguins as a team were on.

Hockey is a funny game. You can go three full games without allowing a goal, then give up two in the span of :39, while killing the same penalty.

That’s what Nikita Soshnikov did when he scored to make it 3-2.

The Penguins would not score on that power play, but Mark Arcobello gift wrapped another for them immediately after the one they got scored on twice shorthanded expired.

You knew it was coming…

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/678032092148707328]

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Rich Clune got a step on a Penguin defender and slipped it past Foster and the game was tied.

Collectively, you simply cannot allow something like this to happen. You just can’t.

Quick, blame the goaltender!

Wrong.

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/678057720881274881]

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The Penguins took that eight cylinder car I referenced in the first period and got it to the end of regulation overheating, with a crack in the windshield, a busted tail light and three flat tires heading into…

Overtime: Penguins would have to kill a too many men on the ice call and did. It was onto a…

Shootout: Dominik Simon’s attempt was poke checked away, Scott Wilson missed his chance high and J-S Dea’s chance went wide. Foster stopped Arcobello on a shot that went wide, William Nylander when he tried the five hole but wasn’t able to stop Soshnikov’s attempt…

[tweet https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/678044369828622340]

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Richard Clune (goal, +1) 2) Scott Wilson (goal, assist, -1) and 1) Nikita Soshnikov (goal, +1 and the game winning shootout goal)

Derrick Pouliot took two penalties tonight and was on the ice for two of the Marlies shorthanded goals. There is a lot of talk about whether he should be in the NHL with Pittsburgh or here. I don’t think he made a case to get called up tomorrow with tonight’s performance.

Around the Division: Utica beats Springfield 7-4…Hershey coughs up a 3-1 lead in Allentown and loses 6-4 to the Phantoms…Providence beats Bridgeport 3-2 in overtime and Rochester crushed Hartford 7-1.

Standings: Penguins (.788 percentage points) — Hershey (.630) — Bridgeport (.603) — Portland (.521) — Providence (.519) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.444) — Hartford (.429)

Wheeling Update: The only organizational team to win tonight, the Nailers defeated the Quad City Mallards 4-1 tonight in Moline, IL. Anton Zlobin played and had an assist. Derek Army and John McCarron both had a goal and an assist in the win. Franky Palazzese stopped 39 of 40 shots to collect his eighth win of the year. The Nailers are now just a point off the idle Toledo Walleye for the top spot in the North Division and rematch the Mallards on Saturday.

Here is the post game infographic…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/678064778045190148]

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Update on Tristan Jarry as told to Tom:

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/678050273886121984]

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If I see video highlights tomorrow I will edit them in.

Onto Syracuse tomorrow. Gameday setup for this hist the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!