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Penguins power play late in the third period was Pierre Leblond, Bobby Farnham and Carter Rowney. Not three guys that are necessarily offensive forces. But with the way this game went, a 4-0 loss to the Rochester Americans, Head Coach John Hynes would figure to give it a whirl and see how it goes.

Surprisingly, they did not score a power play goal.

Shocking, Wilkes-Barre as a whole hasn’t scored one, still, since Portland two weeks ago.

Whenever the team is shutout, there isn’t really a whole heck of a lot to recap. But, giving it the ol’ college try, I offer the following….

— Eric Hartzell vs. Nathan Lieuwen in net. Lieuwen came into this game with a 2.47 GAA and a nice .923 SV% which has got to be up there in the AHL as a top five or at the very least top ten save percentage.

— Hartzell’s night lasted 7:46, after giving up a goal to Luke Adam at 1:21 and one to Freddy Roy at 7:46. The goals weren’t necessarily all Hartzell’s fault. Rochester came out guns blazing to start and Adam cashed on a rebound for the 1-0 lead. Then Joel Armia shakes off two Pens players at the blue line and passes to a cutting Roy for a 2-0 lead. It was really a nice move by Armia that set up that goal that chased Hartzell.

— Penguins settle after that, but Rochester never really stopped with the pressure. In between a tussle with Bobby Farnham and Freddy Roy and some power play chances for both teams, Luke Adam puts a long shot off the net that Jeff Deslauriers saves with the pad, but also puts out an enormous rebound to Johan Larsson who scored to put the game away for the Amerks.

— I can’t really remember a good chance for Wilkes-Barre tonight. Denver Manderson and Carter Rowney had some looks in the second killing a penalty but that was about it.

— Penguins couldn’t do a thing in the third to mount any kind of a comeback. Armia shoots in a put away goal off a nice feed from Adam late to seal it. Ballgame.

— Seven wins in a row for the Rochester Americans.

Three Stars: 3) Freddy Roy (goal, assist, +2) 2) Luke Adam (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Nathan Lieuwen (26 save shutout)

Around the Division: Binghamton pastes Portland 7-1….Norfolk beats Syracuse 3-2 in a shootout….Hershey loses 4-1 to Adirondack in Philly 4-1.

Standings: Binghamton 61 — Norfolk 56 — Penguins 56 — Hershey 52 — Syracuse 41

Conference: 1) MCH (65) 2) SPR (61) 3) BNG (61) 4) NOR (56) 5) WBS (56) 6) STJ (55) 7) ALB (55) 8) HER (52)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose a tough one to Kalamazoo 3-1. Peter Mannino stopped 28 of 30.

SendToNews Highlights: Not much to look at from a Penguins perspective. They are here if you are brave enough to look.

My Week 18 AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday. Something to watch Sunday though (besides the obvious) is Norfolk and Hershey from Hershey at 2 p.m. Whenever there is a game like this drawing so much interest from a market outside of both, you hope for a regulation win. Since Norfolk has a game in hand on the Penguins, this may be the only time you see this, but let’s go Bears!

No.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Once upon a time, the Norfolk Admirals never won in Wilkes-Barre. They had lost several games in a row and every time they came to Wilkes-Barre, you could chalk up the “W” before you even left your house to go to the game.

Nowadays, entirely different story. The Admirals call the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza their second home. They have won 12 straight games in Wilkes-Barre after a 2-1 win again tonight.

John Gibson was so-so in goal. I say that because if the Penguins had anything resembling a power play, he’d need to be spectacular. The saves he made were on point, and he was lasered in all night. Gibson’s only blemish came from a Reid McNeill shot from the point that came when he didn’t have his stick. The Penguins simply weren’t able to solve Gibson at all.

The Penguins power play is now 0-for-24, dating back to January 18 in Portland. Many thanks to crack researcher Ian Heely for that tidbit.

Eric Hartzell vs. the aforementioned John Gibson

First Period: Anton Zlobin his high sticked and draws blood. Pens to a 4:00 power play. Offensive zone face-off to Brian Dumoulin who must have had his laces tied together by a Norfolk player as he falls down trying to corral a puck. Max Sauve skates in unabated and scores to put the Admirals on the board first.

Next, Devante Smith-Pelly leads a charge up ice. He centers to Charlie Sarault who I don’t think ever shot the puck, but rather just acted as a pylon as the puck caromed off of him and Hartzell has a hard time controlling it and it goes in for a 2-0 Norfolk lead.

So what happens when you have a physical team out physical a physical team with a line that is deadly, big bodied defensemen and a brick wall on skates in goal? You have the Norfolk Admirals. The Admirals know how to play and beat the Penguins better than anyone else in the division or on the schedule right now.

Second Period: Brian Dumoulin goes hard into the boards and stayed down. Helped off the ice by the trainer and Tom Kostopoulos not putting any weight on his left leg. He did not return. I don’t expect for there to be any updates on his condition in the immediate future. If there are, Jonathan Bombulie’s the guy to follow.

Anyway, the Pens get one back on the McNeill shot on a stickless Gibson. The ice was slowly tipping the way of the Penguins but John Gibson stood tall in net and the Penguins couldn’t establish any kind of pressure on the power play so the scored stayed where it was. The Admirals, for about the first fifteen minutes, only had one shot on goal.

Pens killed off a 1:58 of 5-on-3 late, rather easily.

Third Period: Teams trade power plays. Things looked a bit better for the Penguins but they couldn’t find the equalizer. The sense of urgency didn’t really look like it was on their faces late, because it seemed like they thought they had double the time remaining when looking at the clock. Oh, and that 5,000 piece puzzle of John Gibson in goal standing in front of them was hard to solve.

Three Stars: 3) Reid McNeill (goal, +1) 2) Max Sauve (goal, even) 1) John Gibson (25 saves on 26 shots)

Around the Division: Binghamton goes into Manchester and is pasted 5-1 by the Monarchs. Hershey wins their sixth straight in Glens Falls 5-3 over the Phantoms. Both clubs now racing to Philly for a 1 p.m. game in the Flyers living room. Syracuse loses 3-1 to Utica and after the game both Syracuse goaltenders were called up to Tampa Bay. Meanwhile G Riku Helenius was suspended by the team. The American Hockey blog has the story covered here.

Standings: Bingahamton 59 — Penguins 56 — Norfolk 54 — Hershey 52 — Syracuse 40

Conference: 1) MCH (65) 2) SPR (61) 3) BNG (59) 4) WBS (56) 5) ALB (54) 6) NOR (54) 7) STJ (53) 8) HER (52)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. We should all be as good at our jobs as John Gibson is at his.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win in a shootout 3-2 to the Kalamazoo Wings at home in a shootout. Peter Mannino was in goal and stopped 35 of 37.

Pens back at it again at home Saturday night vs. the Rochester Americans. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3, for the game at 7 on Dennis Bonvie Hall of Fame Statue Night.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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Eric Hartzell is emerging as the number one goaltender for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. It’s a fact really, with Tomas Vokoun out long term and Jeff Zatkoff up as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup that Hartzell is the goalie of the future for the Pittsburgh organization. It was something that was bestowed upon him when Pittsburgh signed him out of college last season.

In the present, he’s earning it and making the most of the opportunities given.

His third shutout of the season, tied for second in the AHL, and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins roll the listless Syracuse Crunch by a score of 4-0.

The aforementioned Hartzell vs. Kristers Gudlevskis

Announced yesterday that Zach Sill had surgery to his wrist. Pittsburgh tweeted that he will be out 8-12 weeks. That puts his return at late April, beginning of May.

First Period: Pens did not take long to jump out to a 1-0 lead when Mike Carman puts a shot on net that Gudlevskis cannot smother. Paul Thompson is there to put the fluttering puck home for an early 1-0 lead. Later, Philip Samuelsson point shot gets tipped home by Tom Kostopoulos and the Pens were up 2-0. Pens were all over Syracuse in the first period, something that usually spells well for Wilkes-Barre, leading into the….

Second Period: Syracuse started to push back but Hartzell would have none of it, focusing in on a few Syracuse odd man rushes up ice and smothering any chance for a rebound attempt. Really this period was more of the Crunch trying to get on the board and the Penguins and Hartzell not letting them and trying themselves but not having any luck to extend their lead.

Third Period: Harry Zolnierczyk with what could be goal of the year candidate:

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That was in slo-mo taken from my iPhone on the big screen at the arena, but Zolnierczyk makes a power move at the net, splits D Artem Sergeev and D Joey Mormina, and roofs the puck falling down. A spectacular goal and effort by Zolnierczyk.

The rest of the period had some chippyness. Tom Kostopoulos sets up Denver Manderson for his first of his AHL career late to ice it.

The Pens are now 15-0 leading after two periods.

Three Stars: 3) Denver Manderson (goal, +3) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Eric Hartzell (20 save shutout)

Around the Division: Binghamton was the only other East Division team on the ice tonight. They were in Worcester and won 6-3 over the Sharks. It was the Mike Hoffman Show tonight in Massachusetts: 4-1-5, +2 was his line.

Standings: Binghamton 59 — Penguins 56 — Norfolk 52 — Hershey 50 — Syracuse 40

Conference: 1) MCH (62) 2) SPR (61) 3) BNG (59) 4) WBS (56) 5) ALB (52) 6) NOR (52) 7) STJ (51) 8) HER (50)

Wheeling Update: The Naiers hosted the Fort Wayne Komets and lost 3-1.

SendToNews Highlights: Here’s a link to the period-by-period highlights of the shootin’ match. Zolnierczyk’s goal came in the third period.

Norfolk is in Friday for what is sure to be a doozy. But for anything that breaks Thursday, I’ll have the Gameday for the Friday matchup with the Ads at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!