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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have been slumping as of late. They just sloughed off a six game losing streak when they beat the St. John’s IceCaps at home back in Wilkes-Barre.

You don’t all of a sudden just snap out of a losing streak and look like world beaters again. You may have gotten lucky in the game that saw your losing streak end. A bounce here or there and, you got lucky. Usually, what plagued you in the losing streak rears its ugly head once again.

Well, for the Penguins, they almost got caught in the closet with the ghosts that brought them that losing streak.

Enter Andrew Ebbett. Down from Pittsburgh during the NHL All-Star break. Ebbett has been a point producer for the Penguins at the AHL level. That continued tonight as his two goals ignites the Penguins over the Norfolk Admirals by a score of 4-2.

Ebbett wasn’t the only player down from Pittsburgh. Derrick Pouliot and Scott Harrington were down too. It was the strongest lineup in months for the Penguins. Lines looked like this…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Dominik Uher – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers
Scott Harrington – Derrick Pouliot

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Injured G Jeff Zatkoff’s status is “officially week-to-week” per Obie. Adam Payerl started skating this week and is still, “week to week” and is on the trip with the Penguins.

Josh Archibald took warmups but was scratched. Other healthy scratches were J-S Dea and Nick D’Agostino. Pierre Leblond served the second of his three game suspension.

First Period: Penguins really jumped on the Admirals from the start, getting pucks and bodies behind the Norfolk defense. Finally Nick Drazenovic chipped this pass to Conor Sheary who had John Gibson out of position and backhanded it by him for a goal and a 1-0 Penguins lead. Wilkes-Barre was the beneficiary of two power plays, but failed to score. Bobby Farnham was in the middle of everything early on and drew the second penalty called on the Admirals.

Second Period: Felt like an exact opposite of the first period for the Penguins, who looked lifeless at times during the period. They got scored on. Twice. The first goal was a weird one. The Penguins just killed a penalty and the Admirals were streaking up ice, Chris Wagner tries a cross ice pass that deflects off of Scott Harrington and in past Murray and in.

Teams traded some more power plays. Late, Barry Goers goes into the box for a high stick and Andrew O’Brien slams home a big rebound left by Matt Murray to put the Admirals up 2-1.

In the final minute, with 37.1 left, Andrew Ebbett scored this goal to bring the Penguins even again. It was a nice shot that went cross bar and in.

Wilkes-Barre was lucky to come out of the period tied. Just a forgettable period by Wilkes-Barre standards.

Third Period: Penguins had to kill about 1:45 of a Norfolk power play to open and nearly got scored on. Louis Leblanc appeared to have scored a goal, but referee Mark Lemelin lost sight of the puck and ruled that the puck had entered the net after the whistle had blown.

Huge break for the Penguins there. Wilkes-Barre had to go back on the kill again and Norfolk came dangerously close to scoring again, but the Penguins killed the penalty successfully.

Then, the Penguins edged ahead on a Norfolk turnover. Scott Wilson was looking for a streaking Carter Rowney but instead found the stick of Andrew O’Brien who inadvertently directed the puck into his own net past Gibson to give the Penguins the lead. 

Penguins had a late power play. I have said it on a number of occasions before, but if Wilkes-Barre had anything that resembled a decent power play, they could use that to put teams away. Tonight would have been a prime time to do so.

With under a minute to play, the Penguins possessed the puck for a good :30. Norfolk finally got Gibson out of the net, but Ebbett won a neutral zone face-off that went the length of the ice and into the empty net to extend the lead for the Penguins to 4-2 with about 10 seconds left to play.

Three Stars: 3) Mark Fistric (-1) 2) Andrew Ebbett (two goals, +2) and 1) Scott Wilson (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey was idle tonight, so the Penguins have played now three more games than the Bears. St. John’s beat Binghamton 5-2 and Syracuse beat Lehigh Valley 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 49 — Penguins 48 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 36

Conference: 1) MCH (58) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (49) 4) SYR (55) 5) HFD (53) 6) POR (49) 7) ALB (48) 8) WBS (48) 

Wheeling Update: Nailers win at home 5-4 over the Fort Wayne Komets. Riley Brace had 4 assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Admirals put out a YouTube package, so let’s run that instead…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W3xeWCTGd0&feature=youtu.be]

These two teams rematch tomorrow at 7:15 in Virginia. Gameday for that will be up at 3:15.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It had to end sometime. It did tonight. Penguins win 5-1 against a good St. John’s team that plays better than its last-in-the-Atlantic-Division record indicates.

Goals from the veteran leader, Tom Kostopoulos, two from rookie Conor Sheary, one from Bobby Farnham, on a breakaway of all things. 25 saves by Matt Murray and the Penguins are back to their winning ways.

Before the game, a bunch of news items were announced. First, Bobby Farnham and Derrick Pouliot switched places. Eric Hartzell was recalled to Wilkes-Barre in place of Jeff Zatkoff who was hurt in practice Tuesday. Also, the AHL announced starters for the AHL All-Star Classic to be played in Utica on this coming Monday. Both Tom Kostopoulos and Derrick Pouliot were named starters. There hasn’t yet been an announcement or a final decision on whether Jeff Zatkoff will participate in the events or if a replacement will be named. If I am the Penguins and Zatkoff, I call Springfield and tell them to look for a replacement and let Zatkoff have the time off. Who knows what will happen.

I wrote that last paragraph this afternoon so I didn’t have to throw the links in at 10:30 on a work night, but Tom Venesky from The Times-Leader tweeted after the game that Zatkoff is out till after All-Stars. Jonathan also had more here. I stand by what I crossed out, Zatkoff shouldn’t play. Let someone equally deserving and healthy go to Utica.

Matt Murray vs. Connor Hellebuyck

Taking the veteran option on handwriting out the lines tonight, as I have to get up for my big boy job Thursday morning. So here are Mike O’Brien’s tweets of the line rushes…

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/558043646629380099]

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/558043928541147136]

With Jeff Zatkoff and Bryan Rust injured and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond serving the first of his three game suspension, the Penguins has no healthy scratches.

First Period: Penguins killed an early penalty, then Nick Drazenovic won an offensive zone faceoff to Tom Kostopoulos who blasted it past Hellebuyuk and in for a 1-0 Penguins lead.

Moments later, Bobby Farnham scored on a breakaway. I wish I had a Vine of this, I am sure that Coal Street will have that as part of the highlight package. Farnham picked up the puck at center ice and zipped down the ice and put the puck over Hellebuyuk’s glove and in.

Penguins must have gotten the message. Jump on them. Finish your chances. The shots were 12-5 Wilkes-Barre.

Second Period: Penguins manufactured a goal out of thin air. Literally. Drazenovic passed it straight to Sheary who put the puck past Hellebuyuk and in for a 3-0 lead. This was a play that didn’t look like it was going to develop into anything and Sheary got the goal.

After that, St. John’s picked it up. To this point, the IceCaps had just 6 shots on goal. They began to pepper Murray and forced him into some rapid fire saves from all angles. Late, with Nic Blanchard in the penalty box for an elbowing call, the IceCaps quickly transitioned into a two on one rush and Keaton Ellerby scored a shorthanded goal against the Penguins, the second allowed this season by Wilkes-Barre.

Third Period: Felt at the time that the next goal, whenever it was scored, would be a huge goal. Penguins got a power play and the IceCaps turned it over tight to Conor Sheary who wasted no time and scored to make it 4-1 Wilkes-Barre. Penguins clamped down from there, time melted off and Scott Wilson tacked on an empty net goal to put it away for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Bobby Farnham (goal, +1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Conor Sheary (two goals, even)

Around the Division: The Bears keep it three ahead of the Penguins with a 7-2 drubbing of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown….Josh Manson’s goal at 7:00 of overtime (don’t know how that’s possible) give the Norfolk Admirals a 3-2 overtime win over the Charlotte Checkers at Scope tonight. The Penguins travel there tomorrow. Binghamton was off.

Standings: Hershey 49 — Penguins 46 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 36

Conference: 1) MCH (57) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (49) 4) SYR (53) 5) HFD (51) 6) WOR (47) 7) POR (47) 8) ALB (46) 9) WBS (46)

Penguins still are out of a playoff spot as virtually everyone ahead of them won a game or got points.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off on the All-Star break for the ECHL.

SendToNews Highlights: YouTube instead….

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZYSC9KcmI4]

Pens travel to Norfolk tomorrow for the 7:30 start Friday against the Admirals. Unless there is anything major Thursday, expect the next blog update to be your Friday Gameday setup against the Admirals at 3:30 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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When it rains, it pours.

The Penguins have been struggling to score goals in this winless slump. They have scored just five goals in the last games.

So they go to Providence today, and score four. Two on the power play, three in the second period.

They largely dominated puck possession today vs. Providence and allowed the P-Bruins just four shots on goal in the third period of a 4-4 game.

So it’s only fitting that in a, “kick ya when you’re down” world that the Penguins would turn the puck over in the neutral zone, and Penguin assassin Alexander Khokhlachev scores with 1:29 to push the Bruins ahead of the Penguins late in the game and win 5-4.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Jeremy Smith

Lines were…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Bobby Farnham – Matia Marcantuoni – Josh Archibald
Pierre Leblond – Dominik Uher- Tom Kuhnhackl

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Derrick Pouliot
Nick D’Agostino – Barry Goers

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Lines were jumbled from last night. Drazenovic was up centering the first line, Rowney was up centering the second line with Wilson and Megna, down from the first line. Farnham was bumped from the fourth line to the third with Matia Marcantuoni and Josh Archibald. Pierre Leblond was on a fourth line with Dominik Uher and Tom Kuhnhackl.

The defensive pairings remained the same.

Bryan Rust was a surprise scratch and the explanation given was a lower body injury. Rust was injured in the third period in Worcester. He’s yet to be evaluated and with the Penguins off till Tuesday they won’t know anything until at least then.

Jean-Sebastien Dea took warmups but was a scratch. Alex Boak was the 7th defenseman who was scratched.

First Period: Pierre Leblond was dismissed from the game with this hit he laid on Seth Griffith. Leblond was thrown out of the game and assessed a 10 minute match penalty for boarding. By rule, Leblond is suspended pending league review. Griffith left the game with an upper body injury and P-Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told Mark Divver of The Providence Journal after the game that the Bruins will submit tape to the league to review.

The AHL can do two things. 1) Nothing and say that the punishment fit the crime or, 2) Leblond is suspended x amount of games.

We will see what happens. The AHL usually announces punishment on Tuesday.

In the full five minute power play that the Bruins had as a result of the Leblond penalty, they only managed a single shot on net.

Another thing that the box got wrong was this goal scored by Tom Kostopoulos that was credited to Scott Wilson. Wilson took the shot that Kostopoulous appeared to have tipped. This was on a power play that the Penguins scored on right after the kill on the Leblond major.

Second Period: Six goals scored this period. They went,

– Ben Youds pinching and scoring on a blind pass to make it 2-1 Providence on a power play at 3:42.
– Tom Kuhnhackl at 9:37 on a power play through a pile of bodies in front off of a Brian Dumoulin shot.
– Carter Rowney spin-o-rama shot at 10:59 even strength that put the Penguins ahead 3-2.
– Ben Youds booming slap shot at 12:09 on a power play for the Bruins.
– Scott Wilson from a ridiculous goal line angle at 13:22 to make it 4-3 Penguins.
– Matt Lindblad tip of a Steve Eminger shot from the half wall that made it 4-4.

Third Period: Penguins had two power plays in this period and failed to score on them. Closest they got was a Nick Drazenovic knee drop one timer that hit the post. The Penguins only allowed the Bruins a single shot on goal in the first ten minutes.

Late, Nick Drazenovic was mugged by two Bruins in the neutral zone, was dispossessed and then Khokhlachev scored to make it 5-4 Bruins to essentially seal it with 1:29 left.

Three Stars: 3) Scott Wilson (two goals*, assist, +1) 2) Alex Khokhlachev (game winning goal, -1) 1) Ben Youds (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley at home 5-2 to extend their lead over the Penguins to three points. Hershey still has a game in hand on the Pens and the Phantoms have three. The Phantoms have a game on the Bears. Binghamton beat Springfield 6-3.

Standings: Hershey 47 — Penguins 44 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 34

Conference: 1) MCH (57) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (47) 4) SYR (53) 5) HFD (49) 6) POR (47) 7) WOR (45) 8) ALB (44) 9) WBS (44)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were stunned in the final seconds by the Brampton Beast and lost 2-1.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Penguins are off till Tuesday, then play host to the St. John’s IceCaps on Wednesday before taking to the road again for a Friday and Saturday matchup in Norfolk.

My Week 15 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog tomorrow at a special time, 12 p.m., with Chicago and Rockford playing in a 2 p.m. Martin Luther King Day kids game Monday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – maybe