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This is not a good road trip for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

In the four games now on the road for Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins have not led at all and are 0-4 after tonight’s 2-1 setback in Utica.

I still haven’t put my finger on what it is that’s been crippling the Penguins. Remember that the loss in Albany that set off this losing streak was a game that the Devils blocked a ton of shots. The Penguins ran into Reto Berra in Springfield who always plays the Penguins good and played run and gun in the third game in less than three days in Providence Sunday.

If you have a solution, please, leave me a comment here on this blog piece.

Tristan Jarry opposed Thatcher Demko.

Lines were…

Sahir Gill – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Christan Hilbrich – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Ryan Haggerty

Derrick Pouliot – Barry Goers
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Brett Stern and Patrick McGrath were the scratches. Obie listed Lukas Bengtsson as ill, with Garrett Wilson and Thomas DiPauli among the injury scratches.

First Period: Jarry and this counterpart Demko traded some big saves to open. Pens controlled offensive zone time in bursts but were unable to solve Demko for the period. Utica chipped the puck out, transitioned and found Jordan Subban who ripped one past Jarry to make it 1-0 Comets…

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Pens had two cracks at the power play which came and went.

Second Period: The Utica Comets came into the game with the worst goal differential in the second period and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins came into the game boasting the best goal differential in the second period.

That’s a stat that didn’t matter at all in this period.

Shots at the end of the second were 15-13 favoring the Utica Comets, but if you watched this game you would have sworn that it was more like 28-0 Comets with the way that the Comets dominated the offensive zone percentage this period, moreso than the Penguins in the first period.

Ryan Haggerty got a step on a guy and couldn’t score on an excellent Demko save. Referee Furman South reviewed the call on replay and confirmed his initial call on the ice of no goal.

Utica had the Penguins on their heels. Nick Hart described on color commentary that the Comets were playing the Penguins with a playoff like intensity.

Darren Archibald works Stuart Percy to put the Comets yup a pair…

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Ethan Prow, who had his left arm injured in the first period, finally exited to the locker room right after the Archibald goal.

Penguins just couldn’t get anything going in the period.

Third Period: Prow did not rejoin the team for the third period.

Tom Kostopoulos scored on a power play that put the Penguins on the board. I don’t have a GIF of this, sorry. Dominik Simon assisted on that Kostopoulos goal and has three goals and two assists over his last six games and I would argue that he was the lone bright spot for the Penguins of late.

Penguins get a late power play and pull Jarry for an extra attacker in the games final minutes but were unable to score at all in a theme that I am picking tip here in this four game losing streak.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, even) 2) Thatcher Demko (27 saves on 28 shots) and 1) Darren Archibald (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Springfield pays the Penguins a favor beating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at home 5-3. The Phantoms will now bus back to Allentown for Saturday’s matchup against the Penguins….Providence ends the Bridgeport Sound Tigers winning streak by beating them 2-1 in regulation and Hershey thumps last place Hartford 6-1.

Standings: Penguins (.700 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.660) — Providence (.657) — Bridgeport (.654) — Hershey (.602) — Springfield (.481) — Hartford (.406)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are currently trailing the Toledo Walleye 6-0. Box here.

If the Comets put up YouTube video of highlights of tonight’s game that I see I will run the edit here.

Pens will bus back to Wilkes-Barre, stay over night then catch a bus to Lehigh Valley Saturday afternoon for tomorrow night’s big matchup against the Phantoms at 7. Gameday drops here on the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Well, let’s just forget about that weekend.

Three games. Three losses. Zero leads. A 3-2 loss in Providence this afternoon.

Trust the process. The Penguins are in the midst of a losing streak for the first time of the season. It’s the middle of February.  March starts next Wednesday. Head Coach Clark Donatelli and company will use this week of practice and the Penguins will come back back and better than ever this Friday in Utica.

Just trust the process.

Tristan Jarry vs. Zane McIntyre

Lines were…

Danny Kristo – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Jarrett Burton – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Tom Sestito – Ryan Haggerty – Patrick McGrath

Derrick Pouliot – Barry Goers
Brett Stern – David Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Three changes for the Penguins. Brett Stern was in for Stuart Percy on defense, Sahir Gill and Christian Hilbrich were out for Ryan Haggerty and Danny Kristo. Kristo was placed on the top line.

First Period: Tommy Cross avenged the Kevin Porter hit on Rob O’Gara the last time these two teams met just :16 into the game with a fight with Porter.

Danton Heinen opened the scoring for the Bruins at 12:21 on a shot from Ben Marshall that put the Bruins on the board first…

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The tweet says Marshall’s goal, but that was later changed. You can’t edit tweets.

Penguins would head to a power play and Dominik Simon would snipe one home to tie the game at one for Wilkes-Barre….

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Nice find by Ethan Prow to hit Dominik Simon high in the slot. Simon did the rest.

Bruins started to push back on the Penguins to conclude the period and caught up and then passed Wilkes-Barre on the shot board. The Bruins weren’t able to score on a 4:00 double minor power play caused by a Derrick Pouliot high stick.

Second Period: Penguins were still held to one shot for a while to begin the middle frame. Then David Warsofsky’s stick breaks on a breakout that sent the Bruins up ice. Sean Kuraly then scored to make it 2-1 for the Bruins….

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At the end of the period the physical play picked up. Tyler Randall and Patrick McGrath fought…

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First time in a while I have seen McGrath get beat like that. He really couldn’t leverage and was a passenger.

Penguins would find themselves on a power play to conclude the period and then Sundqvist was slashed at the whistle which would give the Penguins over a minute of two man advantage leading into the…

Third Period: Derrick Pouliot would score on not the first two man advantage to open the period, but another penalty called by referees Mike Campbell and Jarrod Ragusin on this snipe of a shot that made it 2-2…

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Relentless pressure by the Penguins looking for the third goal but the Bruins defense and Zane McIntrye kept the Penguins off the board.

Both McIntyre and his counterpart Tristan Jarry traded some ten bell saves. First was Jarry making a ridiculous stop on Anton Blidh after a linesman inadvertently took out David Warsofsky, and later was McIntyre with the two pad stack on a shot by Jarrett Burton off of a nice feed by Josh Archibald.

Jordan Szwarz one timed a Wayne Simpson pass past Jarry  to give the P-Bruins the lead with 4:04 left to play…

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The Penguins with Jarry vacated and on another 6 on 4 power play, late were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Dominik Simon (goal, -1) 2) Danton Heinen (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Jordan Szwarz (game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley crushes Utica 7-4. T.J. Brennan had a hat trick in that one…Bridgeport continues to roll, 5-1 over Hershey. The Bears playoff chances are fading quickly…Springfield sweeps the weekend, beating Hartford 4-2. Future AHL Hall of Famer Mike McKenna picked up his 200th AHL win.

Standings: Penguins (.713 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.673) — Bridgeport (.667) — Providence (.651) — Hershey (.594) — Springfield (.471) — Hartford (.413)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They host the Brampton Beast Monday afternoon at 2.

If Providence puts out a highlight package I will run the edit in this spot.

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The Week 19 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at special President’s Day time at noon and the Wheeling Wrap will follow Tuesday at noon as well.

Trust the process.

Let’s Go Pens!