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I’m sensing a trend here, and not a good one.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled back from an 0-2 hole Tuesday in Toronto to force overtime only to lose.

Same thing happened tonight in Utica, but it was an 0-3 hole tonight that the Penguins battle back from to tie it way late in the third period only to lose tonight 5-4 in overtime.

Wilkes-Barre was essentially asleep tonight against a stumbling Comets team who were 2-8 in their last ten games in the first period and through Tristan Jarry’s calm play in net for his team, the Penguins steal a point.

Jarry opposed Thatcher Demko.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Tom Sestito – Gage Quinney – Ryan Haggerty
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Kevin Czuczman
Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarrred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Tristan Jarry – Michael Leighton

Lineup Notes: Andrey Pedan returned from injury and as a result, Kevin Schulze was released from his professional tryout agreement….Josh Jooris was returned from Pittsburgh but was not in the lineup for the Penguins.

First Period: The game started at 7:05. Someone forgot to tell the Penguins.

Initial shot blocked by Tristan Jarry 1:31 into the game is kicked over to Mike Carcone who scores to put the Comets on the board.

Utica nearly makes it 2-0 but the puck somehow stays out, but in the chaos, Chris Summers takes a hooking penalty.

Michael Chaput makes it 2-0 Utica on the ensuing power play.

Later, Chaput scored his second of the period when Jarred Tinordi bowled over two men in the neutral zone and Chaput used the trailing defenseman as a screen to make it 3-0 Utica.

:19 later, J-S Dea scored to make it a 3-1 game.

Not quite the response as was Tuesday in Toronto when the Penguins went down 2-0 early then scored to make it 2-1.

Penguins looked goon on their only power play of the period but Thatcher Demko closed the door on several Wilkes-Barre opportunities.

Shots were 18-14 Penguins after the first. 32 shots in one period seemed like a lot.

Second Period: Penguins started the period out with great aplomb and scored a goal when Daniel Sprong stripped Ashton Sautner of the puck and raced up ice with Gage Quinney which became a 2-on-none. Sprong scored here on a nice give and go.

Busted line change by the Penguins, Chris Summers dives to break up a play then Sprong swooped in from out of the box to cut it to one.

Game turned on this play.

As you can imagine, that angered the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Not so much like a few weeks ago in Rochester but the game was past its boiling point with the referees losing control. Tristan Jarry did what he could coming up with big save after big save, but was finally beaten again this time by Zac Lynch that made it 4-2 Utica.

Penguins couldn’t score three times on the play before the Lynch goal. If you thought Tristan Jarry was having a bad game, think again.

Grand Theft Auto is probably frowned upon in the State of New York and Tristan probably doesn’t have a CDL license to drive such a lengthy vehicle anyway.

Pens were on tilt, Jarry was doing what he could to bail his team out and keep them in it. Wilkes-Barre needed to shake off the happenings in the second and come out with vim and vigor in the third.

Third Period: Penguins and Comets trade power plays to open, as Utica’s expired Tom Kostopoulos scored to draw Wilkes-Barre within one.

Penguins had a power play they didn’t score on, but the roles were reversed with Gage Quinney and Daniel Sprong with Quinney leading a two-on-one and scoring to tie the game at four a side.

It was then off to…

Overtime: Ashton Sautner scores for Utica.

Three Stars: 3) Gage Quinney (goal, assist, +1) 2) Micheal Chaput (two goals, assist, +1) 1) Ashton Sautner (overtime game winning goal, -2)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley is the first Atlantic Division team to punch a ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs and third team overall. They did it via a Bridgeport regulation loss (4-1 to Syracuse) while losing to Lehigh Valley 5-4 in overtime. Charlotte beats Laval 3-2 in overtime. Everyone else (Springfield, Hershey, Charlotte) were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.694 percentage points) — Penguins (.641) — Providence (.638) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.545) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers picked up a big two points with a 4-3 win over Brampton. Kevin Spinozzi scored what ended up being the game winning goal.

If the Comets put up video highlights, I will post them here.

Penguins will stay in Utica tonight and bus to Binghamton Saturday for their 7:05 start against the Devils. Look for the Gameday setup here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Gp Pens!

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Callback to 3 o’clock this afternoon when I wrote this in the Gameday setup for this game…

Call this a measuring stick game for Wilkes-Barre. Many times, it’s the opposition that is looking to measure up to these Penguins but tonight, it will be the Penguins chasing the bar set by Toronto who have just pillaged the North Division this season. If the Penguins in their current form want to advance far in Calder Cup Playoffs once they qualify, they will soon run into a team like Toronto if they want to advance to a Calder Cup. This should be a good one.

It was. After falling in a 2-0 hole, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battle back to tie it at 2-2 then again at 3-3 only to lose in overtime to the Toronto Marlies 4-3.

Greatness brings the best out sometimes. The Marlies are a fast, well built team. But, they can be beat as evidenced by the coming back from an 0-2 hole and then battling back to 3-3. But in all that quickness and greatness, if you make a mistake, the Marlies are there to capitalize.

Adam Johnson loses a foot race with Adam Brooks and Brooks scores in overtime to give the Marlies the extra point.

This game was extremely exciting, thrilling, edge of your seat type of hockey contest. Referees let them play, stayed for the most part out of the way and it was system vs. system and the better team won, barely.

This is a game that any lesser team goes down 2-0 in the first and loses something 5-1 or 6-2. Not the Penguins, who looked as good or better than the best team in the AHL all season in the Toronto Marlies.

Tristan Jarry opposed Garrett Sparks.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Tom Sestito – Gage Quinney – Christian Thomas
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Tristan Jarry – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: As you can see from the starters, Tristan Jarry returned to the Penguins after Matt Murray was cleared from his concussion. As a result, Etienne Marcoux was released from his PTO….Daniel Sprong was back in the lineup for Ryan Haggerty who was given the night off.

First Period: Brief feeling out period as there was no scoring after the first media break, then the Penguins got through a Toronto power play when Kyle Baun knocked in a puck to give the Marlies a 1-0 lead….

Good teams like Toronto come fast, and that speed was on display early on.

Marlies scored on a power play when Andrew Nielsen’s short through a screen found its way past a heavily screened Tristan Jar to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.

Would have been ideal if the Penguins were able to get one back before the end of the period and exactly that happened when Garrett Wilson stripped Martin Marincin in front and Daniel Sprong followed up and put it home to cut the deficit to one.

Penguins looked fantastic in the final two minutes of the period, so the only question was whether or not any of that momentum would carry over to the…

Second Period: Penguins continued to buzz out of the locker room, Garrett Sparks was never able to corral a puck, Martin Marincin broke his stick, Garrett Wilson parked in front an Jarred Tinordi fired a shot that Wilson tipped in.

Tie game.

Pens found themselves on some power play time but weren’t able to convert.

Calle Rosen scored to edge Toronto out by a goal and the Penguins were protesting that Lukas Bengtsson was being held.

Third Period: Ethan Prow scored through bodies in front of Sparks to tie the game back at 3-3.

Thomas DiPauli was setting the screen in front. DiPauli had one hell of a game.

Teams traded power plays and then it was end to end, edge of your seat play. But it was off to…

Overtime: Adam Brooks got a step on Adam Johnson and scored on a quick developing two on one play that secured the extra point for the home team.

Three Stars: 3) Calle Rosen (goal, +1) 2) Garrett Wilson (goal, assist, +2) 1) Adam Brooks (overtime game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.697 percentage points) — Penguins (.643) — Providence (.633) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.547) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins will remain in Toronto for the next few days before bussing to Utica to take on the Comets Friday. But for anything breaking between now and then, look for the next blog update to come for the Friday Gameday setup at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I looked at the first period of today’s game and saw positives. In sum, they were:

Penguins were down 3-1, but controlled play after Clark Donatelli replaced Anthony Peters with Etienne Marcoux, limiting Hershey’s chances. It sounds strange to say at the time given the score line and the loss the night before to Hartford and the loss Wednesday to the Checkers.

But Wilkes-Barre battled and battled, led by Thomas Di Pauli and some big stops by Marcoux, and beat the Hershey Bears 6-4 in Wilkes-Barre to reduce their magic number to clinch a playoff spot with Providence beating Bridgeport to 15.

Anthony Peters opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Ryan Haggerty
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Tom Sestito – Gage Quinney – Christian Thomas
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Anthony Peters – Etienne Marcoux

Lineup Notes: 

Jooris went up bin emergency recall around noon Sunday. Daniel Sprong, good for 12 points against Hershey this season, was a healthy scratch. Tom with more postgame from Donatelli…

First Period: Liam O’Brien scored a goal when he found a ray of light when Peters was sealed off near post. Then the Penguins saw the Bears score again on a play I thought was offsides that made it 2-0. That was the end of Peters who was pulled for Etienne Marcoux. Things settled from there.

Cramarossa slammed home a rebound on a Burton shot and the Pens were back within one.

Jona Siegenthaler scored one of his two goals of the day when he put a shot on through bodies that re-established the two goal Hershey lead.

Wilkes-Barre went 0-for-4 on the power play in the period and it was starting to cost them.

Second Period: What won the game for the Penguins was this period here. The reason? No penalties at all called by referees Terry Koharski and Andy Howard. Penguins just went after the Bears 5-on-5 and started to come in waves.

Tom Sestito slammed home a Quinney round to make it 3-2…

Ol’ Tommy Sestito, noted goal scoring machine against the Hershey Bears…

Penguins continued to roll in waves. It was becoming apparent that Thomas DiPauli was taking a beating every shift. Then, with time dwindling,. DiPauli puts a shot on net that goes in at the buzzer.

After a brief video review, the goal stood. It was 3-3 and a whole new game heading into the…

Third Period: Jarred Tinordi and Liam O’Brien fought early to try and set the tone. O’Brien hung in there with Tinordi who won on points.

Christian Thomas scored while Sestito was clearing bodies in front of Copley that made it 4-3 Wilkes-Barre.

Tom Kostopoulos slid a pass over to DiPauki who quickly one timed the shot at net that got in and it was 5-3 Wilkes-Barre.

On a busted assignment while the sides were four on four, Siegenthaler scored his second of the game that made it a one goal game again.

{Penguins could have packed it in from there and rode defense the rest of the way. They did, in part. Let me set this up.

Hershey, pressing late for a tying goal in the third period of a three in three, emptied out the gas tank and set up shop in the Penguins defensive end. Cyling shot after shot, pass after pass through the zone, it was only a matter of time before they scored.

A pass in front set to be one timed into a yawning Penguins cage was stopped by Etienne Marcoux. I mean just a ten bell, highlight reel save that Marcoux had no business making. Later, Tom Kostopoulos clears the puck out of the zone and Teddy Blueger put on a power skating exhibition and finished off the Pens three on one.

Ballgame.

DiPauli had a chance on a hat trick bid, but his effort went wide. Hershey never got closer.

Three Stars: 3) Teddy Blueger (goal, two assists, +2) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (three assists, +2) and 1) Thomas DiPauli (two goals, +1)

First AHL win for Etienne Marcoux, fifth Penguins goaltender to beat Hershey this season (Sean Maguire, Anthony Peters, Casey DeSmith, Tristan Jarry) — Lukas Bengtsson returned to the lineup after injury and picked up two assists also.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley with another shutout, this time 3-0 to the Springfield Thunderbirds….Binghamton earns a split in Charlotte and beat the Checkers 4-1…Providence beats Bridgeport 4-1 which reduces the Penguins magic number even further. Hartford gets a late goal to push past the Rochester Americans and win 6-4.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.697 percentage points) — Penguins (.645) — Providence (.633) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.547) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins are bussing to Toronto Monday for their game with the Marlies and staying there the rest of the week. They will return to the States Friday when they play up in Utica then bus down to Binghamton Saturday before returning home to take on the Sound Tigers at home.

Power Rankings here Monday and then we will see you Tuesday for the Toronto game.

Let’s Go Pens!