Chirps from Center Ice

       vs.       

2                                          4

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Penguins continue to pile the points in the month of November, now points in twelve contests after a 4-2 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Wednesday night.

Small statement game for Wilkes-Barre here. Division leaders taking on the second place team at home go up early then get slapped down and trail after one period and are heavily outshot. But some adjustments made in the second period on and the Penguins mount a comeback and win and collect a point again in their twelfth straight contest.

Casey DeSmith opposed Alex Lyon.

Veteran option on lines / lineup notes tonight:

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Lineup Notes: Corrado was re-assigned from Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Freddie Tiffels was recalled from Wheeling Wednesday morning as the Penguins quietly have found themselves in a bind up front somewhat. From Tom, a couple days ago…

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First Period: :31 in, Ryan Haggerty scored his eighth goal in his eighth game.

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But the Phantoms responded quickly with goals 1:26 apart when Corban Knight scored the first even strength goal allowed by the Penguins in eight periods. Later, a shot from the point was stopped by DeSmith but then cue balled in by Greg Carey that made it 2-1 Lehigh Valley. Here they are for you:

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(Phantoms didn’t tweet a GIF of their second goal, so I asked them to nicely and they obliged)

The Phantoms didn’t tuck their tails in and hide after getting scored on :31 in, they responded with a ton of shots and a boatload of offensive zone time to take a 16-5 lead heading into the…

Second Period: Penguins had three power plays in this period but didn’t score on them. That offensive momentum though flowed into an 18-7 shot advantage in the period and two goals from J-S Dea and Colin Smith. First Dea’s, after some nice passing from Ryan Haggerty:

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Colin Smith found himself alone in the slot, made a move to freeze Lyon and sniped this one home for a 3-2 Penguin lead:

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Third Period: Teams traded power plays, neither able to score. Penguins looked like they wanted the final slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and desperately tried to get the fourth goal.

Ryan Haggerty got that fourth goal, his second of the night, into the empty net with Lyon pulled with no time left to make it 4-2.

Nice stat from Hart postgame…

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Three Stars: 3) Colin Smith (goal, even) 2) J-S Dea (goal, two assists, +3) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (two goals, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Belleville beats Charlotte 5-2 down in North Carolina….Providence beats Binghamton 2-1 in overtime on the Southern Tier….Springfield beats Hershey in Chocolatetown 2-1.

Standings: Penguins (.821 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.647) — Providence (.600) — Charlotte (.579) — Bridgeport (.563) — Hershey (.500) — Hartford (.472) — Springfield (.342)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win in a shootout 4-3 against Worcester in a game that saw the Railers on a 5-on-3 power play in overtime. Sean Maguire picked up the win. Garrett Meurs had a goal and an assist.

Video Highlights: 

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Tom had some injury updates postgame…

And Hart with some late night nuggets on Casey DeSmith creating milestones…

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Pens are off Thursday for Thanksgiving then back at it Friday in Syracuse. Happy Thanksgiving too everyone who reads here. Gasmeday setup for the Friday game at Syracuse will hit the blog Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!