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A pair of goals from guys who either haven’t scored one yet (Taylor Fedun) or haven’t scored since the first game of the season in Charlotte way back in October (Xavier Ouellet) are enough to carry the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to a 3-1 victory in Sunday afternoon in Allentown.
Here is what it means in the short term. The magic number drops to 9, the Penguins bump back ahead of the Charlotte Checkers by a point for third in the Atlantic, although the Checkers have a game in hand now. Charlotte will be in Hartford Wednesday and in Bridgeport Friday before the Penguins play these Phantoms at home again Saturday.
34 saves for Joel Blomqvist, some of them highlight reel, included below. Vinnie Hinostroza drew the dagger late in the third on a power play with a goal, the Penguins only of the contest.
Here’s how they lined up…
Lineup Notes: They went back to the 11F-7D setup with Connor Brickey from The Ohio State University making his AHL debut. Justin Addamo was the forward from yesterday that was out of the lineup Sunday. Taylor Fedun replaced Owen Headrick.
First Period: Joel Blomqvist bailed out his team early.
But later Raivis Ansons had a turnover and that turnover ended up in the back of his net when Adam Brooks scored.
But the Penguins went undeterred and Taylor Fedun scored his first goal of the season that tied the game at one.
Second Period: If you watched the first you’d agree with me in saying that the Penguins were the better team. While there was no scoring in the second period, the Penguins continued to prove that they were the better team. First, Joel Blomqvist goes post to post to deny Penguins pest Rhett Gardiner, then Tanner Laczynski hit both posts but the puck stayed out. Then the Penguins cycled a puck for a good two minutes in the Phantoms zone but didn’t score. Then finally, Ty Smith was called for a 4:00 double minor and the Penguins killed it, quite easily in my opinion.
Third Period: Just :44 in, Xavier Ouellet scored his second goal of the season with this shot that put the Penguins ahead 2-1.
Joel Blomqvist had a ten bell save, probably his best save in a while, if not the entire season, with this right pad stop on Helge Grans.
Tuo on hyvää*
The Penguins then found a power play after a routine Blomqvist save later on led to pushing and shoving which persisted. In the power play that followed, Radim Zohorna connected with Vinnie Hinostroza who scored to make it 3-1 for Wilkes-Barre.
Ian Lapierriere pulled Parker Gahagen for the extra skater, but the Phantoms were unable to find the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Adam Brooks (goal) 2) Joel Blomqvist (34 saves) 1) Radim Zohorna (two assists)
The Good: They got scoring from unlikely places from Ouellet and Fedun. Anytime you get that and win you run to the pay winda, daddeh.
The Bad: Honestly can’t think of anything with the way they played as a whole. Nitpicking that Ty Smith had an uncharacteristically quiet weekend. The rest of the expected offense really wasn’t there all weekend, but it’s a net positive.
Turning Point: Take your pick between the Ouellet goal that made it 2-1 or the Hinostroza that made it 3-1. I wouldn’t fault you if you went to the Fedun goal that came 1:16 after the Adam Brooks goal that the Penguins weren’t going to have what happened to them at home against Utica Saturday night replicate on them Sunday afternoon in Allentown.
Around the Division: Hartford finally breaks their seven game losing streak with a 3-1 win in Belleville…Syracuse beats Providence in a shootout 3-2.
Standings: Hershey 97 – Providence 79 – Penguins 73 – Charlotte 72 – Hartford 69 – Lehigh Valley 62 – Springfield 61 – Bridgeport 51
Wheeling Update: Nailers are in action against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Box here.
Video Highlights: If I see them and can work in the edit, it will run here.
Back at it Saturday against Lehigh Valley at home in the only action they will see this week.
Let’s Go Pens!
* – in case you were wondering where the idea of the title of the blog post came from
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 