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 5                                                3

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The Penguins will probably clinch a spot in the playoffs this week. They could have today with a win. They didn’t. They lose 5-3 to the Portland Pirates. 

When they do, with the style of play that they have been exhibiting of recent, it doesn’t look like they will be in it for long.

Call ups. Injuries. Riding Tristan Jarry like a rented mule. No viable backup they trust. The beat goes on.

Hopefully the problem gets fixed and soon or else the Penguin will be looking at a very early exit out of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Lines were…
Dominik Simon – Dustin Jeffrey – Kael Mouillerat
Jake Guentzel – Jarrett Burton – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Adam Krause

Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster

Lineup Notes: Jarrett Burton was in for Carter Rowney. Rowney is day to day with an upper body injury. He took warmups and was 50/50 to play and couldn’t. Head Coach Clark Donatelli shook up the lines a bit otherwise.

First Period: Had the feeling that if the Pens were going to reverse fortune from last night, they would need to strike first. That they did.

Tom Kostopoulos drove to the net and Brittain made the initial save. Jake Guentzel swiped home a rebound for his first goal as a professional.

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Later, Dustin Jeffrey busted down the near side, threw a pick at the net that deflected off of a Pirate skate and into the net for a 2-0 Penguin lead.

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That was Jeffrey’s 100th AHL goal.

Dylan Olsen cut the Penguins lead to one on a nice shot on the power play that made it 2-1 late in the first.

The Pens were the better team as played a better period. Shots after one were 9-5 Pens.

Second Period: Pens could score on a power play early on then could stop Portland from scoring on their second power play of the game when Connor Brickley finished off a tic tac toe play that tied it at two.

Pens would jump ahead when J-S Dea knocked one home on a nice rush by the Pens that made it 3-2.

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Pirates weren’t going away. Brett Olson scored when he finished off a cross ice pass on a shot that bled through Jarry that re-tied the game at three a piece.

The game hit a dangerous lull. Neither team was standing out. Then Logan Shaw got in behind everyone and scored to make it 4-3 for the Pirates.

Was that the death knell in the game for the Pens?

Third Period: Yes. The Pens could not score on a power play to open the period and Portland extended it to 5-3 when Shane Harper finished yet another cross ice pass. The Pens defense was getting worked.

Wilkes-Barre had the majority of shots in the period but never could get anything past Brittain to make a game of it.

Three Stars: 3) Logan Shaw (goal, +1) 2) J-S Dea (goal, assist, +2)  1) Connor Brickley (goal, two assists, +1)

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears sew up a Calder Cup Playoff berth with a 2-1 overtime loss up in Providence. Springfield beat Bridgeport 3-1. Hartford and Lehigh Valley were idle.

Standings: Hershey (.643 percentage points) — Penguins (.621) — Providence (.607) — Portland (.593) — Bridgeport (.593) — Hartford (.550) — Lehigh Valley (.493) — Springfield (.414)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Toledo Walleye 2-1 in overtime. Anton Zlobin had the only goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Coal Street infographic…

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I’ll have an update to my charts tonight and the Week 26 AHL Power Rankings Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

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3                                                4

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Dustin Jeffrey’s goal and two assists was what the Penguins needed to hold off a pesky Springfield Falcons team 4-3 on a Tuesday night home game in Wilkes-Barre.

It’s the type of game that probably eludes the Penguins two months ago with the lack of a dynamic playmaker like Jeffrey. Springfield has nothing left to play for but they came in and put up a heck of a fight against a Penguins team that has been elite pretty much all season.

Tristan Jarry, making his eighth straight start, opposed Marek Langhamer

Lines were…

Dominik Simon – Dustin Jeffrey – Adam Krause
Mattias Plachta – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – J-S Dea
Tom Sestito – Oskar Sundqvist – Jarrett Burton

Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Tristan Jarry – Franky Palazzese

Lineup notes: Teddy Blueger and Jake Guentzel were given the night off as Oskar Sundqvist and Jarrett Burton replaced them in the lineup. Reid McNeill was back and took the place of Harrison Ruopp.

First Period: Took the Pens about 90 seconds to get going, Steve Oleksy found Dustin Jeffrey skating down the slot and Jeffrey scored five hole on his old team to put the Pens up 1-0.

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Springfield got one back when Dominik Monardo parked himself in the driveway of Jarry’s crease and waited when Greg Carey put a shot in from along the far wall. Jarry made the initial save with the pad but Monardo swept it in to even the game at one.

Minutes later, Jeffrey and Dominik Simon worked a little give and go when and Simon tapped it in to restore the Penguin lead.

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Speedy period. Both teams were quick.

Second Period: :58 in, Greg Cunningham put a shot on Jarry that seemed harmless but it got by the Penguins goaltender that tied the game.

The Pens answered when the Falcons scored in the first and they did again in the second. This time, Nic Andersen had his shot blocked but still had enough on it to get it by Langhamer which made it 3-2 Pens.

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Both teams had chances via power play to capitalize but neither was able to. The Pens on back to back power plays and the Falcons with 1:01 of two man advantage.

A big scrum ensued at the end of the second period. Justin Hache and Steve Oleksy fought. Josh Archibald jumped into a pile of bodies.

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Third Period: The Penguins finally capitalized on the man advantage when Tom Sestito deflected a Will O’Neill shot from the point that went in to make it 4-2 Penguins.

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Falcons were spilling turnovers all over the place as the Penguins forechecked extremely hard. But, with less than a minute to play with Langhamer pulled got back to within one with a goal by Greg Carey that made it 4-3 with 54.4 seconds to play.

But with time dwindling and with Langhamer pulled, Springfield was unable to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Will O’Neill (two assists, even) 2) Dominik Simon (goal, assist, even) and 1) Dustin Jeffrey (goal, two assists, even)

The news of the day was that Pittsburgh signed defenseman Ethan Prow to a two-year deal that kicks in for 2016-17. He is headed to Wilkes-Barre on an Amateur Tryout Contract. Jonathan had some words on him here and Jesse Marshall from Pensblog broke it down here. Marshall is excited about the signing, given the fact that the majority of assets that Pittsburgh had were all traded away at some point or already in the system. Depending on when he gets here and how he practices, I’d expect Prow to see game action fairly soon.

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Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Portland in a morning kids day game by a score of 5-2….the only other game in the division was Hartford visiting Albany a game that the Wolf Pack lost 3-0. Box here. Everyone else was off.

The Magic Number to clinch is 4 on account of the Hartford loss and the fact that the Pens own a tiebreaker over them. Conceivably, Wilkes-Barre can lock up its fourteenth consecutive trip to the playoffs this weekend.

Standings: Hershey (.649 percentage points) — Penguins (.640) — Providence (.612) — Bridgeport (.596) — Portland (.575) — Hartford (.551) — Lehigh Valley (.478) — Springfield (.403)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Coal Street infographic:

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Video highlights:

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Pens are off Friday, next game Saturday at home against Bridgeport.

Let’s Go Pens!