The slide continues.

The Penguins are now 1-8 in their last nine games. I can’t explain any one thing that could be the problem. Let’s walk through the basics:

1) Goaltending.  I don’t think there is an issue here. Jeff Zatkoff won goalie of the month in November. You don’t all of a sudden forget how to play goal. Brad Thiessen is a former AHL Goaltender of the Year as well.

2) Defense. An issue, but not a concern at this point. Okay, maybe a concern, because there have been more that a few times that a defensive gaffe has led to a turnover which in turn leads to a goal against. Still, a top unit in the AHL.

3) Forwards. John Hynes shook up the lines. It’s late, so I am not going to individually go through each players performance, but there really doesn’t seem to be an established fourth line. Second and Third lines rotate almost game to game, situation by situation, opponent to opponent.

4) Special teams. Big concern here. power play is running at a 1 for 41 clip at this time. Penalty kill is ranked third in the league, however.

5) Coaching. John Hynes is the all time winningest coach in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins history. If you think he is the problem, please never read my blog again.

So in short, I don’t know.

The problem which scares me though is, I don’t think the Penguins do either.

They lost tonight and were swept in the mini-two game series against the Bears 4-1. Not a lot to get into here but I will do my best.

Lines were shook up. They were as follows:

Dupuis – Peters – Tangradi
Megna – Smith – Gibbons
Thompson – Ferriero – Holzapfel
Sill – Farnham – Uher

Dumoulin – Reese
Strait – Bortuzzo
Morrow – Despres

Zatkoff – Thiessen

First Period: Garrett Mitchell scores his 981st goal against the Penguins this season to make it 1-0 Bears early. Bobby Farnham and Kevin Marshall fought shortly thereafter. Farnham riled up his team and the crowd. It worked in part, as the Penguins would sustain offensive zone pressure throughout the remainder of the period but would be unable to crack netminder Dany Sabourin. Shots after one were 11-6 Penguins.

Second Period: Shots quickly jumped to 10 for the Bears in the opening minutes of the second period. They adjusted and quickly extinguished any pressure Wilkes-Barre had hoped to carryover from the first period. On a rush, Jeff Taffe sets up Steve Oleksy on a drop pass he wristed home past Zatkoff to put the Bears up 2-0. Seemed at the time to stop all momentum Wilkes-Barre had mounted or hoped to mount. Later, the Bears miss an open net, maintain pressure and capitalize on another and make it 3-0 via Mathieu Beaudoin.

Third Period: Brad Thiessen came in for relief of Zatkoff, who allowed three goals on fifteen shots. Penguins finally break through on a power play goal by Paul Thompson. Going back on my tweets from that point, all it was after that was tweeting time and score. Literally nothing was going on for the Penguins offensively the last ten minutes of the game. Boyd Kane picks a corner on Thiessen late and put the game away at 4-1.

Going back the last couple of games, it really hasn’t been Penguin hockey. It really has been hard to watch at times because nothing is going the Penguins way.

Three Stars: 3) Boyd Kane (goal, assist, +1) 2) Jeff Taffe (two assists, +2) and 1) Garrett Mitchell (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: We were the only divisional action on the schedule.

Standings: Syracuse 40 — Binghamton 35 — Hershey 34 — Penguins 30 — Norfolk 27

Saturday’s game against the defending champion Norfolk Admirals is HUGE in the scope of things.

Conference: 1) SYR (40) 2) SPR (37) 3) POR (34) 4) BNG (35) 5) HER (34) 6) BRI (33) 7) PRO (32) 8) MCH (32) 10) WBS (30)

So not only do the Penguins have to worry about last place they also have to worry about losing touch with the 7 and 8 seeds in the Conference.

SendToNews Highlights: Not much to see here, and they aren’t up at 11:05 p.m. on Thursday yet. Morning after edit: The highlights are up. They include all five goals and two fights including Simon Despres and Bobby Farnham.

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in a shootout to the Greenville Road Warriors 5-4 at the Bi-Lo Center in South Carolina. The Nailers were up 4-2 at one point but the Road Warriors were able to tie it late and win in the shootout. Chris Barton had a goal and two assists and was a +2 in the loss. The same two teams meet again tomorrow night in Greenville.

Hang in there. That’s all I can say.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pens lose this game 2-0 tonight in Hershey.

Thoughts:

1) The Penguins sorely miss Beau Bennett. It is apparent that the rookie runs the Penguins special teams unit. The Penguins were 0-for-6 tonight on the power play. Tom Grace said on radio pregame that he is day to day.

2) Braden Holtby is a very good goaltender. He has no business in the AHL. Due to the NHL lockout, he is here. He has six shutouts of the Penguins in his career. If fan bloggers like yours truly had all-star votes, he and Springfield’s Curtis McElhinney would be two of the three sent to Providence to represent the Eastern Conference next month.

3) Garrett Mitchell loves playing against the Penguins. He scored a goal in the first period after an uncharacteristic Brian Strait turnover early in the first period. He has three goals in the season series so far which is tops amongst head-to-head goal scorers.

4) I said at the beginning of the year that if the NHL lockout goes all season that either Hershey or Wilkes-Barre will not make playoffs. It certainly looks, with how bleak the NHL labor strife is at this time and how inert the Penguins have looked the last 10 games, that Wilkes-Barre will have a short Spring.

Penguins could not generate any offense despite only allowing the Bears 20 shots on goal. Yes, defense wins championships. But before you get to playoffs which allow you to win a championship, you have to win games. Offense wins games. The Penguins aren’t generating any offense right now which is a huge concern.

I said earlier today on Twitter that the results of the next four games the Penguins play will paint the picture of what the Penguins will look like overall for the remainder of the season. They played Hershey tonight, rematch against them tomorrow, have Norfolk and Syracuse Saturday and Monday. Win all four, back in the division hunt. Lose all four, the basement is calling. Play .500 hockey, you are right where we started, while the division lead gets larger and the margin of error gets smaller. That would be indefensible for even I to defend.

That’s about it. These two teams rematch again tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre.

Three Stars were Ryan Potulny (assist, +2), Garrett Mitchell, game winning goal, +1 and Braden Holtby (33 save shutout) in that order.

Syracuse beat Binghamton 5-3. Norfolk was off.

Crunch lead the East Division with 40 points. B-Sens are in second with 35 points. Bears are in third with 32 points. Penguins are fourth with 30, Norfolk is in fifth with 27 points.

Conference is Syracuse, Springfield, Portland, Binghamton, Providence, Hershey, Manchester, Worcester in that order. Penguins sit tenth. Currently out of a playoff spot.

The Wheeling Nailers were off tonight.

Scott Stuccio hasn’t uploaded the SendToNews highlights yet, but he will and when he does I will link in. SendToNews.com is where you can see the highlights. Edit: Here they are.

Gameday for the rematch will be here tomorrow at 3 p.m.

He’s done it.

After six tries, John Hynes has finally done it.

Win 116 is in the books after beating not only the best team in the East Division but the best team in all the AHL as the Penguins beat the Crunch 3-2 in a thrilling game.

John Hynes is the winningest head coach in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins history.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Dustin Tokarski. Brian Dumoulin, Jayson Megna, Beau bennett, Tom Kuhnhackl, Steve MacIntyre, Keven Veilleux and Simon Despres were your scratches. Alex Grant moonlighted at forward tonight.

First Period: One of the things that were handcuffing the Pens in the losing streak was 0-27 on the power play. Well, Paul Thompson finally broke through to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Alex Killorn then tied the game but :14 later off a faceoff Joey Mormina shot a  puck which must have surprised Tokarski and it beat him, giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead. Jeff Zatkoff was really sharp and on form this period and really all game, making save after saves.

Second Period: Penguins power play was really scrambly after the Thompson goal. Syracuse easily killed every chance afterward and nearly scored shorthanded on a few. Even strength, Eric Tangradi shot a puck that Trevor Smith scored on a rebound giving the Pens a 3-1 lead. Later, Tyler Johnson copies the rebound goal and makes it 3-2.

Third Period: No scoring, but the period and game overall really felt like a heavyweight fight. Crunch don’t register a shot on goal until about 7:44 left in the third period. Pens really clamped down and didn’t allow the Crunch to get to Zatkoff, and when they did, Zatkoff was up to the task. Crunch pulled Tokarski late, got a power play, but the Pens held on and won.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Killorn (goal, even) 2) Radko Gudas (two assists, +2) and 1) Trevor Smith (game winning goal, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey is shutout at home by the Springfield Falcons 1-0. Binghamton rolls Rochester 5-1. The Norfolk Admirals won in overtime 2-1 vs. the Albany Devils.

Standings: Things are getting tight in the division. Syracuse 38 — Binghamton 35 — Pennguins 30 — Hershey 30 — Norfolk 27

Conference: 1) SYR (38) 2) SPR (37) 3) POR (34) 4) BNG (35) 5) PRO (32) 6) WOR (31) 7) WBS (30) 8) HER (30)

SendToNews Highlights: May be up at some point. I will link in if I see them.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers have won six games in a row. They beat the Elmira Jackals 4-2.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Next blog update may not be until the Gameday setup against Hershey on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) – You can always follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or now on Instagram and have a see at the terrible pictures I take and put up there. I am late to all this popular stuff.

As a child, I always was intrigued by the sight of a building being imploded. I don’t know, I was a weird child. I guess thats why I am still single. Anyway, tell me that this isn’t cool:

–

The sight I saw tonight, however, was far less cool from a Penguins fan perspective.

The Pens, up 3-0 to start the third period, lose 4-3 and now have lost six straight games.

I can’t explain it. In fact, I shook my head all the way home from Binghamton on I-81. Unbelievable. The atmosphere at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena was inert at best. The fans weren’t into it. It didn’t look like the B-Sens were either. They had 14 shots on goal through 40 minutes.

Then, as I sat down for the third period, I had an uneasy feeling. Sure enough, Jakob Silfverburg scores to put the B-Sens on the board. I didn’t like the goal. Jeff Zatkoff, who returned from injury and looked stellar all game, got 80% of the puck and lost out to the other 20%. :59 later, in between the B-Sens buzzing and on a power play from a Brian Strait cross-check, Shane Prince scored a goal to make it 3-2. Pens finally put their foot down and allow the Senators just one shot on goal for about seven minutes. Then, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his first of the season off a tip from a Patrick Wiercioch shot from the point on a shot which could best be described as a flub shot. Then, Cole Schneider feeds Shane Prince in the slot for a 4-3 Binghamton lead.

Unbelievable.

Pens got goals from unlikely players tonight. Warren Peters slipped a rebound under Robin Lehner for the first goal, Bobby Farnham scored on a sick wrist shot for the second goal and Philip Samuelsson scored the third goal in the second period.

Beau Bennett and Philippe Dupuis did not play. The Penguins went with 10 forwards and eight defensemen.

Three Stars: 3) Warren Peters (goal, +1) 2) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (goal, +1) and 1) Shane Prince (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey shuts out Norfolk at home in front of a large crowd 4-0. Syracuse was off.

Standings: Syracuse 37 — Binghamton 32 — Hershey 30 — Penguins 28 — Norfolk 23

Conference: 1) SYR (37) 2) SPR (35) 3) POR (34) 4) BNG (32) 5) PRO (30) 6) HER (30) 7) WOR (29) 8) BRI (29) 9) WBS (28)

Wheeling Update: Nailers played a morning game vs. the Greenville Road Warriors and won 4-1. Carl Sneep had a goal for the Nailers, who have won four games in a row and look to be righting the ship.

SendToNews Highlights: Are slowly being curated by Kate Krenzer and the B-Sens staff, but are here if you want to put video to the description above.

Where do we go from here? Good question. I have no idea. Having Zatkoff back helped, but it looked like he fought the puck in the third period. The 10 forwards / 8 defensemen project looked great, until the third period. I don’t know. I really don’t. Really a bad time to be losing, when every game right now is against a divisional opponent. This is not a time to fumble valuable points in the standings.

Pens back at it Saturday in Syracuse.