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Daniel Sprong is a highly touted prospect that was mismanaged in Pittsburgh earlier in the season and sent to his junior team. It’s been an up an down year and no doubt an emotional roller coaster ride for the 19 year old. No idea what is going though is head when his junior team, Charlottetown, is dismissed from the QMJHL playoffs and he heads to Wilkes-Barre and suits up for the Penguins in the span of about 48 hours.

Score goals. Big goals.

Two goals from Sprong, one the overtime game winner, and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Providence Bruins in the best of five series as the series shifts to Providence Saturday night with a 4-3 overtime win Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre.

The footnote in the game and the series is going to be what is going on in goal for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Casey DeSmith led the team out for warmups and started and won his second straight game. Tristan Jarry was the backup again after initially being pegged to be the Game 2 starter.

You ride the hot hand if you are Clark Donatelli. The worst the Penguins could have done was a 1-1 split heading to Providence. If things fell apart for DeSmith, Jarry is right there.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Niclas Andersen – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: There weren’t any. Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Bad luck bit the Penguins.

They got the first power play of the game early but a Daniel Sprong turnover to Noel Acciari led to this…

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…and the Bruins were up 1-0 on another shorthanded goal.

But the Penguins continued to pressure and hit the Bruins forwards at every opportunity. Pens couldn’t do anything with a full power play. It was looking like it was going to be 1-0 Bruins after one but then this happened…

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Will O’Neill’s stick snaps in two on a clear and the puck sat there for Chris Casto to collect and score to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Providence just robbed the hen house with the wolf watching. Or something.

Second Period: But then the wolf woke up. And he was angry.

Penguins killed off a carryover 5×3 to start the period. Then they got one back when Tim Erixon unleashed a slapshot from the blue line.

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Then Daniel Sprong atoned for his first period turnover and tied the game. Nice centering pass by Kael Mouillierat, Jeremy Smith didn’t know what hit him.

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Shots were 8-3 Pens through half way of the second period. Every time Providence touched to puck, there was a Penguin player there ready to lower the boom. I counted one Providence shift where they turned the puck over three times on account of hits by the Penguins.

The offense wasn’t finished. The opposite of what happened last night in overtime happened when Tom Kostopoulos finished off this service by Carter Rowney.

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I called it a meat grinder period by Wilkes-Barre with the home team playing the role of butchers and the Bruins playing the role of ground chuck. It was one of the most aggressive periods played by the Penguins all season and arguably the best period played under Clark Donatelli’s tutelage thus far.

Third Period: Providence didn’t take long to even the score at three. Frank Vatrano.

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Providence needed to score a dirty goal and got one. Puck may have deflected off of DeSmith’s skate and in but nonetheless, the Bruins showed life.

Pens did a good job of killing a Bruins power play. Hitting picked up. Some borderline illegal, but it’s playoffs.

Nothing was decided. It was off to…

Overtime: DeSmith made a pad stop and the Bruins were hunting to finish the game. Then Nic Anderson took a puck over the glass delay of game penalty. Bruins to the power play with fresh ice. The Penguins appeared to have scored when Kael Mouillierat beat Jeremy Smith to a puck. Mouillierat knocked Smith over and the Penguins scored on the empty net. Referee Keith Kaval initially signaled goal but consulted with the linesmen and trailing referee Kendrick Nicholson and rightly washed the goal out on account of contact with Smith.

The Penguins killed the penalty.

Sprong ended it shortly there after…

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That one counted.

The Penguins have played nearly perfect hockey so far this postseason. They have brought it to the Providence Bruins and the Bruins have not responded at all, other than to make the Penguins work that much harder to win. The Penguins have, the Bruins haven’t. The Penguins have all the momentum now. The Bruins are one or two sequences away now from their season being over.

Three Stars: 3) Carter Rowney (assist, -1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, -1) and 1) Daniel Sprong (two goals, +1)

Video highlights…

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The series now shifts to Providence for Game 3 at 7:05. I will probably bring back my postseason charts for Friday with analysis of anything that the data I chart gives me. I may make a blog post out of it. I don’t know yet. Stay tuned.

Bruins in 4? Huh. What idiot said that.

Oh, wait.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Regular season accomplishments are fine and all, but when the playoffs start, all of the regular season accomplishments, records and what have you don’t mean a thing. Playoffs are their own animal.

For the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, they started the animal in the eye tonight, and it blinked.

A Carter Rowney overtime goal at 1:09 is enough to give the Penguins a 1-0 series lead and a 3-2 overtime win tonight.

The Penguins still need to win at least a game in Providence. Games 3 and 4 are there and if there is a Game 5 it is in Rhode Island as well.

Even if the Penguins would have lost this game tonight, they were only one or two adjustments away from completely turning the series around. Now that they have the series lead, they can really focus on putting the Bruins down for good when the series restarts for Game 2 Thursday.

It was Casey DeSmith vs. Jeremy Smith tonight in goal.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Niclas Andersen – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched. Tristan Jarry was reassigned by Pittsburgh in the morning and was the backup tonight and is pegged as the Game 2 starter.

First Period: Pens set the tone early getting the first four shots of the period. Providence quickly caught up on the shot board but DeSmith was up to the challenge. Much like Saturday the physicality and hitting was dialed up with the Pens dishing out the majority of the blows.

Carter Rowney won a face off to Will O’Neill. O’Neill put it towards goal and Jake Guentzel got a stick on it and it was 1-0 Pens.

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It was the perfect reward for the Penguins who matched Providence’s speed. DeSmith played a solid 20 minutes with some tough saves.

Question was, could the intensity be sustained?

Second Period: The second period started out very well for the Penguins. :18 in, Dustin Jeffrey knocked one past Jeremy Smith to double the Penguins lead.

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Casey DeSmith continued his sorcery in net denying Max Talbot twice in quick fashion.

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But Providence is too stacked of a team to go one, no less two periods without scoring. The Pens were caught in a miscommunication and Seth Griffith knocked one in far post for an easy tap in and the Bruins were dangerously back within one.

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The final five minutes were crucial here for the Penguins to either re-establish the two goal lead or take it to the break as it was and not get scored on again. They escaped up 2-1 heading into the…

Third Period: Penguins played well, but got bit on a shorthanded goal by Colby Cave that tied the game at two:

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The Bruins were trying to slow the game down and it worked. They were looking for their spot and found it when Cave scored shorthanded. Again, the Pens played well, but could not muster another one past Smith and it was heading to…

Overtime: Carter Rowney.

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Pens chipped a puck in deep. Tom Kostopoulos got to it, centered to Rowmey who knocked it in. I don’t think Providence touched the puck once in the overtime only just to knock it out of their zone.

Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (31 saves on 33 shots) 2) Dustin Jeffrey (goal, even) 1) Carter Rowney (overtime game winning goal, assist, +1)

Video highlights….

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I do not think that there is any doubt that Clark Donatelli goes to Tristan Jarry for Game 2. Casey DeSmith did what he was supposed to do, stop pucks while the starting guy was on recall to Pittsburgh. He did a fine job of it and if Jarry were to fall ill or get recalled back to Pittsburgh at some point down the line I have the full faith in his abilities. But Pittsburgh wants Jarry to get the playoff experience and that is what they will get.

Expect Providence’s best Thursday. They did not play a great overall game and at times were frustrated by the Penguins physicality. Expect them to crank it up looking to even the series up heading back to Rhode Island Saturday for Game 3.

Gameday for Game 2 hits the blog Thursday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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In a game that meant nothing to Hershey seeding wise and a game that still had substance to a Penguins team who needed to win and get outside help to overtake the Providence Bruins for the two  seed in the Atlantic Division and home ice, it was the play of Bears ECHL callup Vitek Vanecek that helped the Hershey Bears defeat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 2-1 in a shootout.

Vanecek is a name that Penguins fans need to get familiar with as he is next in the Hershey pipeline of excellent goaltenders that have gone through there. With half of a team in front of him with the Bears resting regulars like AHL MVP Chris Bourque, he stopped 25 of 26 shots and was perfect in the shootout round to help his team win a meaningless points game for them but showed a preview of coming attractions of sorts for the Bears fans, coaching and management.

He opposed Casey DeSmith.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Jarrett Burton
Josh Archibald – Teddy Blueger – Patrick McGrath

Ryan Parent – Steve Olesky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers

Casey DeSmith – Sean Maguire

Lineup Notes: Tom Sestito was sent down from Pittsburgh in the morning. Niclas Andersen and Harrison Ruopp played Saturday but were out of the lineup for Ethan Prow and Ryan Parent. Adam Krause and Tyler Biggs were out as well with Jarrett Burton and Patrick McGrath in for Krause and Biggs. Casey DeSmith started his third game in a row, making it the first time since John Curry did it for the Penguins back in January 2011.

First Period: No scoring but the Penguins had two power plays they couldn’t do anything with on Vanecek making is AHL pro debut up from South Carolina in the ECHL. Pens looked like they carried the momentum in the period but couldn’t get anything past. Shots after one were 10-5 Penguins.

Second Period: It was shaping up to be one of those games where the only thing that happened was a team taking a penalty. The Bears took one, the Pens took three. Neither team scored. The Penguins only had two shots on goal through about 11:30 played in the period. One sequence that happened was Ryan Parent chipping a puck past a Bears defensemen and centering to Patrick McGrath that nearly chipped one past Vanacek.

Third Period: Riley Barber finally broke the scoreless deadlock with a rocket of a shot on the power play…

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…that game the Bears a 1-0 lead.

J-S Dea took a penalty and Vanecek denied Dustin Jeffrey shorthanded.

Then a moment which may be a bit of a concern for the Penguins going forward, Madison Bowey took a shot that clipped DeSmith up high…

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…DeSmith would finish out the shift but at the next stoppage was replaced by Sean Maguire who was making his pro debut. Talk about getting tossed out of the frying pan, into the fire, right?

Casey DeSmith would go to the locker room and was not seen at all the rest of the game.

Dustin Jeffrey scored on a nice drop pass by Josh Archibald that tied it and spoiled the Vanecek shutout…

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Pens took two penalties late which gave the Bears a 5-on-3 power play heading into…

Overtime: Wilkes-Barre was able to kill it all off then after a stoppage played three on three with 1:40 to play. No one scored.

Shootout: Christian Djoos and Riley Barber scored in Rounds 2 and 3, Carter Rowney and Dustin Jeffrey were both denied in their attempts and the Bears took home the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (21 saves on 22 shots) 2) Jakub Vrana (power play goal, even) and 1) Vitek Vanacek (25 saves on 26 shots)

Donatelli to Tom postgame on the status of DeSmith:

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Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Syracuse 5-2…Providence beats Bridgeport 6-1 and as a result are the two seed…Portland beats Springfield 3-1.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were actually pulling into Wheeling, West Virginia just as the Pens / Bears game went final. They took a sleeper bus down and back to Estero, Florida. Game 3 is this week between the Nailers and Everblades.

Note: Daniel Sprong’s junior team was eliminated from the playoffs tonight. Sprong is tabbed to join the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins fairly soon.he was 4-11-15 in 12 games for his Charlottetown Islanders side.

Here is the first round playoff schedule for the Penguins and Bruins:

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AHL only makes teams travel once in the first round. It must be a building issue for the Bruins with the Penguins opening up playoffs Wednesday.

Anyway, if I see video highlights of tonight’s game and can work in an edit, I will put them up later.

I will update my charts for the final time this regular season and have the final AHL Power Rankings up on the blog sometime Monday. I haven’t decided when. I would like to do a quick AHL Calder Cup Playoff Preview for all the teams and offer predictions before the full workup for Pens / Bruins on Tuesday. Stay tuned here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!