Chirps from Center Ice

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911 what is your emergency?

Yes, I would like to report a robbery.

What is your location?

Utica, New York

Go ahead sir.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, badly out played and outshot 37-25 against a Utica Comets team that won four in a row coming into this Tuesday night contest defeat the Comets by a score of 4-3. The Penguins dressed the same lineup from Saturday, the same lineup that lost to a Bridgeport Sound Tigers side 3-2, on home ice but still managed a way to steal two points from out of Utica tonight.

If you watched this game, the Penguins capitalized on their offensive opportunities and were up 3-0 at one point in the game but the Utica Comets, dressing a full AHL lineup, were too good and pressured the ECHL heavy Penguins lineup and eventually tie the game 3-3 but a 34 save performance from Matt Murray and Carter Rowney’s overtime heroics again, this time :33 seconds in, give the Penguins the victory.

Lines were…

Ty Loney – Kael Mouillierat – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Derek Army
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
John McCarron – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Clark Seymour – Niclas Andersen
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: As stated in the lede there were no changes up front. Only Clark Seymour was in for Ryan Parent on the Penguins blue line.

First Period: Pens started out with attempts by Tom Sestito on the door step of Bachman and two mini breakaways by Josh Archibald and Kael Mouillierat but the Utica netminder denied all comings. Then the Comets turned it up on Murray and the Penguins defenders with lots of offensive zone time and pumping shots at the net of the Penguins goaltender.

But the Penguins fourth line of McGrath / Mccarran and Burton cycled a puck and forced an offensive zone face-off to Bachman’s right. J-S Dea won the face-off back to Reid McNeill who pumped a shot at Bachman. Bachman left a big rebound to Derek Army who scored his first as a Penguin:

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Utica came out ablaze again and nearly scored on this nice tic tac toe play but Murray was strong:

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Penguins went on the first of two power plays in the period. Josh Archibald hit a post like he so often does, occasionally:

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Utica applied for pretty much the entire first period the basketball version of a full court press. The Penguins weren’t able to exit the zone and it led to a few turnovers but Murray was up to task.

Utica took a penalty with under a minute to play and Kael Mouillierat scored to make it 2-0 Penguins:

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J-S Dea won that face-off too.

Second Period: Tale of two halves this period.

Derek Army added his second goal of the game when Tom Sestito forechecked Bachman playing a puck out of his crease. The turnover that ensured spilled right to Army who scored his second of the game:

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Here is another (better) view of the Army goal.

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Comets began the comeback. A turnover by Anton Zlobin caused by Wacey Hamilton saw Chris Higgins wrap around a puck around the net and in for a 3-1 Penguin lead:

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The Comets stuck to the game plan and the Penguins never adjusted and Jordan Subban scored to cut the deficit to one:

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So again, a tale of two halves for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Janus Penguins.*

Third Period: Clark Donatelli benched Ty Loney, Anton Zlobin and Patrick McGrath in the third period. Penguins collectively as a team were outshot 10-3 in the period; and Brendan Gaunce eventually tied the game with this sequence:

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That was three unanswered goals by the Utica Comets. Pens hung on, killed two Utica penalties and forced…

Overtime: :33 in, Carter Rowney dispossessed Richard Bachman and scored to win the game…

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I honestly don’t know if the Penguins were lucky, the Comets just too unlucky digging out of a 0-3 hole (like the Penguins Saturday against Bridgeport) or what. Utica is as a good team that is playoff bound in my opinion. If this lineup is going to be like this for a while, there is no reason to believe otherwise that Donatelli and Associate Coach Jay Leach can’t make necessary adjustments to ensure that when this Penguins team as constructed gets a lead, they keep the lead.

Three Stars: 3) Carter Bancks (two assists, +1) 2) Carter Rowney (game winning overtime goal, even) and 1) Derek Army (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Providence beat Albany 3-2. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Penguins (.681 points percentage) — Hershey (.643) — Portland (.589) — Providence (.574) — Bridgeport (.564) — Hartford (.532) — Lehigh Valley (.490) — Springfield (.457)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Pens are back on the road again Friday against Hartford. If there is news to blog about between now and then, I’ll have it here. If not then the next update will be the 3 o’clock Friday Gameday setup against the Wolf Pack.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – if you didn’t get the reference

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Understaffed is the wrong word for this one. So is undermanned. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins skated with a full contingent of players tonight in a 3-2 loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Pink in the Rink Night.

Inexperienced is probably a better term to use or disjointed maybe with all of the roster shuffling in recent weeks.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers now have won six games in a row. The Penguins meanwhile dig out of a 0-3 hole at the end of the first period and nearly came back to win.

Penguins played terrible in the first half of the game then started to turn it on with starting goaltender Tristan Jarry settling into a grove.

Jarry opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were…

Ty Loney – Kael Mouillierat – Josh Archibald
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Derek Army
John McCarron – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Niclas Andersen – Ryan Parent

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

Lineup Notes: Jarrett Burton was signed earlier in the day to a PTO with Matia Marcantuoni down with injury. Burton was Wheeling’s leading scorer at the time. He took Marcantuoni’s place centering the fourth line. That was the only change for the Pens coming off Friday’s win against Springfield.

First Period: Pens took three straight penalties in the period. They get scored on even strength when a defender loses Jared Gomes streaking down the far side. Gomes went up the wing and scores on a shot that beat Jarry clean and it was 1-0 Sound Tigers.

Then the Sound Tigers league worst power play scored seconds after a Ryan Parent hook when an Alan Quine shot from the point found its way in for a 2-0 Bridgeport lead. Jarry was badly screened on that attempt by Quine.

The Penguins were running all over the place and almost into each other trying to match the pace of the Sound Tigers. Then, they lost Ben Holmstrom behind Jarry’s net for a second. Holmstrom finds Justin Vaive on the far side and Vaive connects for a goal that made it 3-0.

Shots after the first period were every bit of 14-5 in favor of the Sound Tigers. Jarry was the reason that it wasn’t 6 or 7-0. The Penguins looked and played overmatched and were not playing as a team. How could they when it’s constantly one or two guys out of the lineup because of injury or call-up.

Second Period: Penguins kept it a 3-0 deficit and killed a couple of Bridgeport penalties. Then, Carter Rowney scored to put the Penguins on the board at 3-1. Off of the ensuing face-off the Penguins nearly scored again and were starting to come alive when the horn sounded to end the period. Of note here, Will O’Neill picked up an assist on the Rowney goal. O’Neill has 13 points in his last 13 games.

Third Period: Carter Rowney picked up a bouncing puck, took it to his right through some Sound Tigers defensemen, drew Gibson out of his net and beat him to cut the deficit to one with 13:12 to play in the period.

Penguins then got a power play and nearly scored on it with several chances. Pens were continuing to push when Steve Oleksy was called for slashing. They killed that then Gomes was called for a slash of his own. Wilkes-Barre called their timeout, but with Jarry eventually pulled and the Penguins skating six men to four, they never found the equalizer.

Moral of this one is that a 0-3 hole after the first period is tough for even the healthiest of teams to battle back from because you are constantly chasing the game.

Three Stars: 3) Ben Holmstrom (two assists, +2) 2) Justin Vaive (game winning goal, +1) 1) Carter Rowney (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey inches closer to surpassing the Penguins for tops in the Atlantic. They beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a score of 5-1….Albany shuts out Hartford 3-0….Providence beats Portland 3-1….Springfield doubles up Syracuse 6-3.

Standings: Penguins (.674 percentage points) — Hershey (.635) — Portland (.589) — Providence (.565) — Bridgeport (.564) — Hartford (.532) — Lehigh Valley (.490) — Springfield (.457)

In case you are wondering, the Hershey Bears cannot surpass the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins for first place this weekend no matter if they win in the only AHL game on the schedule on Super Bowl Sunday against the Binghamton Senators. Even if the Penguins lose Tuesday to the Utica Comets, the percentage points then would be .660. It’s mainly because the Penguins have games in hand on Hershey that is the difference in the percentage points thing that the AHL has us ranked by this season (thanks, California) so while the margins are going to be close, Hershey still has work to do.

That’s right, the Pens and Bears still have to play each other eight more times.

Wheeling Update: Predictably, the undermanned and understaffed Wheeling Nailers lost 6-0 to the Reading Royals tonight. The Nailers played with eight forwards.

I doubt there will be video highlights but if I see any and can work and edit in, I’ll put it here.

Pens have a date in Utica Tuesday. My Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4 at their usual time. The big board chart refresh will update sometime Sunday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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With half of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins normal roster either injured or on call-up to Pittsburgh, the Penguins needed a big game from a role player tonight.

They got that in the form of Anton Zlobin tonight, on recall from Wheeling this morning. Zlobin’s performance was supplemented by none other than Carter Rowney and the Penguins beat the Springfield Falcons in overtime in a late nail biter on a power play goal by a score of 4-3.

The game plan tonight was ride a strong performance by Matt Murray in goal and get scoring from somewhere, anywhere, and hope for the best. 42 saves on 45 shots by Murray tonight and the third line of Zlobin, Rowney and Tom Kostopoulos were a combined +6 tonight.

It was Matt Murray vs. Niklas Treutle.

Friday morning, the Penguins called up two and signed one. Up from Wheeling were Anton Zlobin, Patrick McGrath and Derek Army. Army was signed to a professional tryout agreement.

Lines were….

Ty Loney – Kael Mouillierat – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Derek Army
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
John McCarron – Matia Marcantuoni – Patrick McGrath

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Ryan Parent – Niclas Andersen

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Ryan Parent was making his Wilkes-Barre season debut. He last appeared in two games for the Pens in playoffs last season. Harrison Ruopp and Clark Seymour were the healthy scratches as was Brian Foster. Tyler Biggs, Barry Goers and Dominik Uher (week to week) along with Sahir Gill and Dominik Simon (day to day) were the injury scratches.

First Period: Penguins needed a quick start to set the tone and the pace and got it, twenty seconds in, when Steve Oleksy scored his first of the season with Tom Kostopouls providing interference in front:

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I thought at the time that Tom Kostopoulos scored that goal, but the house scored it and kept it Oleksy’s.

The next part of the game plan was take advantage when the opponent gives you a power play opportunity. With half of the firepower in Pittsburgh, Clark Donatelli has been improvising recently with Tom Sestito parked in front of the crease on the power play.

It worked.

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Nifty redirection by Sestito there.

Springfield would outshoot the Penguins 12-8 in the period thanks in large part to being on the power play three consecutive times to close out the period but the Penguins penalty killing led by Matt Murray kept them off the scoresheet.

Patrick McGrath and Stefan Fournier fought to close out the period in what Mike O’Brien called on radio, “one of the best fights we have seen all year.”

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Second Period: Matia Marcantuoni was injured in the first period and did not come out for the second so the Penguins skated a forward short and may need to dress seven defensemen tomorrow against Bridgeport.

Niklas Treutle settled into the game nicely and denied Tom Sestito on a mini breakaway. Sestito tried to go five hole but was stopped. Tretule then stopped Anton Zlobin on a mini break also. It was clear that the Falcons netminder was settling into the game.

Springfield continued to press and finally got a goal when Steve Delisle threw a puck at Murray from the far wall and past him to cut the lead to one. The Falcons continued to press and Murray was needed to make some more big time saves. Reid McNeill blocked a shot in an unprotected area of the leg and went of the ice into the locker room with assistance.

Here is video if it in slow motion:

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Third Period: But a shot off of a leg / ankle wasn’t going to faze McNeill, as he would return to the ice and assisted on this goal by Zlobin which made it 3-1 Penguins just :28 into the period…

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It was Zlobin’s first goal in the AHL since March 14, 2014 when he scored against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

But the Falcons continued to press with loads of time left in the period and eventually tied it.

— Greg Carey cashed in on rebound left by Matt Murray on a Philip Samuelsson shot that made it 3-2 on a power play.
— Carey then struck when the Penguins won a defensive zone face-off, tried to clear but Carey put a shot on net that may have deflected off of Steve Oleksy and in that tied the game:

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Pens got a power play but couldn’t cash on it. Mike O’Brien succinctly noted that the last place Falcons were playing with nothing to lose and the depleted, first place Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were playing and looking tense.

Corey Potter dumped a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Will O’Neill hit the post on the ensuing late power play but the teams headed to overtime tied 3-3.

Overtime: Pens won a faceoff, got it in the offensive zone and moved the puck around and, well…see for yourself…

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So ends the four game losing streak that the Penguins were on coming in. So ends the four game losing streak that Matt Murray was on.

Three Stars: 3) Anton Zlobin (goal, assist, +2) 2) Tim Erixon (assist) 1) Greg Carey two goals, +2)

No idea on those selections. Carter Rowney was 1-2-3. Matt Murray made 42 saves, a career high for him.

Around the Division: Hershey continues its tear with a 6-2 thrashing of the Binghmaton Senators on the Southern Tier. After a scoreless first, the Bears scored six times on eight shots to win….Bridgeport battles through a Danick Martel hat trick to overcome the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a score of 6-3…The Hartford Wolf Pack continue their tear, beating All-Star goaltender Mike McKenna and his Portland Pirates by a score of 5-0 and Albany overcomes a loaded Providence team 4-3 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins (.689 percentage points) — Hershey (.628) — Portland (.602) — Providence (.556) — Bridgeport (.554) — Hartford (.543) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.444)

Wheeling Update: Good on the Wheeling Nailers, who have been pillaged on the low end of all of these call-ups, on beating the Reading Royals 3-2 tonight on the road. Casey DeSmith stopped 24 of 26.

Pens bus back home for a Saturday night game against Bridgeport. Gameday setup for this will hit the blog Saturdsay at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Tonight felt a lot like the early years of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins existence.

– Home black jerseys in livery not seen in these parts in 15 years.
– Sellout crowd.
– Hated, long time rival in the Philadelphia Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
– Fights and penalties. 60 minutes in total.
– Controversy with the officiating and questionable calls.
– The opponent walking away with the two points.

A 5-3 loss, the Penguins third in a row and six of the last seven for an all of a sudden slumping Penguins team that is without it’s number one goaltender due to injury (Matt Murray) and number one defenseman due to call up (Derrick Pouliot)

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins once robust lead in the Atlantic Division has been trimmed to mere percentage points now by none other than the other big time rival in this state, the Hershey Bears. The Bears have not lost in regulation in ten games.

Lots of things to get to in this one.

Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Ty Loney – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Josh Archibald – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – John McCarron

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster

Lineup Notes: John McCarron was in for Dominik Uher who was out with injury. J-S Dea is now the only Penguins player to appear in every game this season. Defenseman Ryan Parent skated the extra man in warmups. Josh Archibald replaced Uher on the third line and McCarron took Archibald’s spot on the fourth.

Before the game John Slaney became the fourth member of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame Class. He was inducted into the Class by original members Kevin Blaum and Dennis Bonvie:

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First Period: Penguins jump ahead on a Will O’Neill power play goal with Tom Kostopoulos screening in front of Stolarz that made it 1-0 Penguins. Pens think they score again but have the goal taken away by referee Olivier Gouin as he either new the whistle or had the intent to while Kostopoulos was whacking away on Stolarz as the puck squirted through. A back and forth period saw the Pens ahead 1-0 with the shots being 12-11 Phantoms.

Second Period: Phantoms cashed on a carryover power play on fresh ice that tied the game. Taylor Leier got the last deflection on an Andrew MacDonald blast from the point that made it 1-1.

Then, after a Lehigh Valley power play had just expired, Colin McDonald scored to make it 2-1. What happened here was Tristan Jarry made a diving, poking save on an Andrew MacDonald attempt that got him out of position. With McDonald right in front with time and space, Jarry had no chance. It was a goal I’m sure he would want back, but the Penguins needed to dig out of a 2-1 hole.

Things didn’t get any easier as Chris Conner stole a puck at center ice, put a deke on a Penguins defender and scored an NHL caliber roof job on Jarry that made it 3-1.

That was your turning point.

It was your turning point because the Penguins would get on tilt (a poker term for playing on the edge after being dealt a bad hand) and it would see J-S Dea tangled up with a Phantoms player, Dea giving words to the Phantoms bench coming off, slowly, while play was going on in his end. Linesman Bill Lyons sees all of this and correctly whistles the idling Dea for too many men.

Now every whistle and stoppage was escalated. Reid McNeill and Maxim Lamarche engaged in a fight that McNeill easily won via uppercut. Anything to spark an all of a sudden lifeless Penguins team. It worked. Scott Wilson cashed on a big rebound left by Stolarz on the power play and it was a one goal game again.

Then the play and sequence which will get talked about at the water cooler Monday.

Pavel Padakin scores his first goal of the season while Tristan Jarry has a Phantoms player laying on top of him. With Jarry prone on the ice and the puck in the net, there is no way that referee Gouin is going to allow the goal to stand, right?

Wrong.

After brief consultation with Linesman Lyons and Luke Murray, the goal was allowed to stand. Apparently, Gouin ruled that a Tom Sestito pushed Tyrell Goulbourne on top of Jarry, thus not allowing Jarry to play his position but the goal standing anyway because Sestito pushed Goulbourne into Jarry.

I thought the call sucked. If it was reversed, I would openly say that the Penguins got away with one. I think at the very least there needs to be some moderation of the rules that either takes both players off the ice like you see with hooking and diving plays or just a penalty to the player that puts the opposing player on the goaltender thereby not allowing the goaltender to play his position.

I was mad on Twitter about it, but I have seen it happen before where goals like that are allowed to stand. It’s a terrible sequence to be on if you are the team that is getting scored on.

Anyway.

Third Period: Scott Wilson brought the Penguins to within one when he received a pass from Conor Sheary that hit his skate and kicked to his stick and in the net.

With time dwindling, the Penguins never found the equalizer. Josh Archibald had all the time and space in the world but fired wide late. With Tristan Jarry vacated Colin McDonald hit an empty net at center ice that salted the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Chris Conner (goal, assist, +2) 2) Scott Wilson (two goals, -2) 1) Andrew MacDonald (three assists, +2)

Two point nights for Wilson, Sheary (two assists) Kael Mouillierat (two assists) and Will O’Neill (goal, assist)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Albany 4-1. The Sound Tigers have now won four in a row…Hartford beats St. John’s 4-1…Hershey beats Syracuse 5-1 and Springfield beats Portland 6-2. Providence was off.

Worth noting that with the win tonight the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have now won five games in a row.

Standings: Penguins (.682 percentage points) — Hershey (.620) — Portland (.616) — Providence (.557) — Bridgeport (.544) — Hartford (.533) — Lehigh Valley (.511) — Springfield (.443)

Wheeling Update: Elmira beats Wheeling in a shootout 4-3. Paul Cianfrini had two goals.

Pens now are at the All-Star break and will report next Thursday for practice before getting on a bus bound for Springfield, Massachusetts for next Friday’s game against the Springfield Falcons.

As for me, the Week 17 AHL Power Rankings will be up here on the blog Sunday at 3 p.m., the big board chart refresh will be up sometime soon and I am heading to Syracuse for AHL All-Stars as a fan. I’ll have a bunch of stuff on the Twitter side and probably the blog so keep it locked here on the blog this weekend.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I won’t blame you if you put this game in on cruise control heading into the third period of tonight’s game.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were up 2-0 and in complete control of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms heading into the third period at PPL Center, a place where the Penguins have had much success in the past two seasons.

But hold on. You still need to play a full 60 minutes. The Penguins didn’t and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms played their best period of the game, maybe the season against the Penguins and come all the way back and win 4-3 in overtime.

The Phantoms now have won four games in a row.

It was Tristan Jarry vs. Jason LaBarbera

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Ty Loney – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – Josh Archibald

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Niclas Andersen

Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster

Lineup Notes: Brian Foster backed up, John McCarron skated the extra in warmups which meant that neither Sahir Gill nor Dominik Simon took warmups tonight. Harrison Ruopp was sent back to Wheeling. Mike O’Brien on the pre game show offered little that you don’t already know if you read a paper this morning or happened to check out Seth’s blog or mine yesterday. Barry Goers is close to playing again and so too a healthy Ryan Parent. I’d expect that he may see a game this weekend just given the fact that Coal Street shipped Ruopp to Wheeling earlier today.

First Period: The Penguins are just a better team when they have Conor Sheary and Scott Wilson in the lineup. It was their line that generated the most offense early on in the period. Penguins would get carryover power play time late in the period when Tom Kostopoulos cashed to make it 1-0 Penguins….

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Feels like a while since the Penguins scored the first goal of the game, doesn’t it?

The period overall was the best that Wilkes-Barre played in twenty minutes then they did all sixty minutes in Wednesday’s game against Hartford.

Second Period: The penalty killing by the Pens would be the story of the period. An early kill, then Tom Sestito hit Josh Archibald with a pass and Archibald doubled the Penguins lead…

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They then had to kill a Steve Oleksy delay of game. Then Tristan Jarry made a big save to keep the Phantoms off the board…

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Because he is always in position, he downright looks mechanical. Tristan Jarry is flat out fun to watch play goal, folks.

Penguins had to then kill 1:47 of Lehigh Valley 5-on-3 but Lehigh Valley never registered a shot on Jarry and the Penguins and their top rated road penalty killing easily killed it.

Third Period: Pens were rolling coming into the third period until they weren’t. The Phantoms outshot the Penguins 17-9 in the period and started to chip away.

– A Davis Drewiske shot from the blue line snuck through at 5:55 when the Penguins were scrambling in their zone. It was a precursor of things to come.
– Dominik Uher left the game with an apparent upper body injury. Obie said that Uher went in for a hit on Colin McDonald and missed and went straight into the boards and was followed into the Pens locker room by the medical staff holding his left shoulder.
– Cole Bardreau tied the game when he was left unmarked at the top of Jarry’s crease.
– The Penguins top line of Sheary, Mouillierat and Wilson were the only line that generated anything that looked like offense from a Wilkes-Barre perspective.
– You know that you are in trouble and things aren’t going your way in the third period of a tie game when your captain takes a boneheaded penalty like Tom Kostopoulos took at 14:55 of the third (a slash) – Chris Conner re-directs a puck off of the stick of Tristan Jarry and in to make it a 3-2 lead for the Phantoms.

Full on implosion by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. But then, :26 later…

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Will O’Neill with the shot that Sheary redirects and Mouillierat cleans up and it’s a tie game again. The top line for the Pens comes through.

Nothing was solved in regulation so it was onto…

Overtime: Chances on both ends, but the Penguins give up a puck in their own zone on the three on three, Clark Seymour falls down which leads to a three on two rush by the Phantoms. Nick Cousins takes the shot, Tristan Jarry makes the initial save but the puck pops up on him, he tries to bat the puck clear standing up, misses, and Cole Bardreau puts it by him for the game winner.

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As luck would have it, the Pens had the Phantoms hemmed in. Chris Conner was on the ice but playing without a stick as it broke on him. LaBarbera made a few pad saves to keep it tied then the Phantoms took it the other way and won the game.

Three Stars: 3) Kael Mouillierat (goal, assist, even) 2) Chris Conner (goal assist, even) and 1) Cole Bardreau (two goals including the game winner, +3)

Around the Division: Portland beats St. John’s 4-2…Hershey battles back from a 2-0 hole and beats Syracuse 5-3…Providence crushes Springfield 8-1 and Bridgeport ends the Hartford Wolf Packs eight game winning streak beating the Pack in Hartford by a score of 4-1.

Standings: Penguins (.698 percentage points) — Portland (.631) — Hershey (.611) — Providence (.557) — Bridgeport (.534) — Hartford (.523) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.430)

The Penguins once insurmountable lead in the division is paper thin now over the likes of Portland, Hershey and Providence. The P-Bruins are off for the All-Star break. The Pirates travel to last place Springfield and the Bears play host to the Syracuse Crunch Saturday.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers won 4-1 in Elmira tonight and it was Head Coach Dave Gove’s first road win as coach of the Nailers.

Pens will host the Phantoms for the back end of the home and home series tomorrow in front of what is likely to be a sellout crowd. Gameday setup will be at 3 p.m. tomorrow here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Missing their top two scorers tonight, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins dropped this game by a score of 3-1. Here are the quick hits…

– For large parts of this game, the Penguins were the better side. Hartford came in winners of seven straight.

– Matt Murray has lost his third straight game, after winning seven straight.

– Penguins gave up another shorthanded goal tonight.

– The Penguins lost their fourth game in five games.

Matt Murray vs. Magnus Hellberg.

Lines were…

Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Dom Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – John McCarron

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Niclas Andersen

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: John McCarron, recalled from Wheeling Wednesday morning, was in for Ty Loney. Tim Erixon returned from injury, replacing Harrison Ruopp. Erixon last played January 8. The top two scorers I mentioned earlier, Scott Wilson and Conor Sheary, were sent down from Pittsburgh earlier in the day but were not in the lineup.

First Period: Snoozy start for both teams. Hartford carried the edge in play. Neither team scored on their only power play of the period but it was Hartford striking shorthanded when ex-Penguin Jayson Megna capitalized on a Penguin turnover by the bench. He skated in unabated and roofed a backhander over a sprawling Murray. It was the seventh time this season that he Penguins allowed a shorthanded goal this season.

Second Period: Penguins were a much improved side to start and were able to clamp down on the Wolf Pack and got a goal from Niclas Andersen to tie the game at one. He hopped on a loose puck in the slot and wristed it top corner to bring it level once again.

The Penguins came in waves and had a pair of chances to jump ahead. Kael Mouillierat with a Grade A chance in the slot then Sahir Gill broke in but Hellberg was able to make the save.

Third Period: Adam Tambellini jumped on a puck that the Penguins couldn’t clear and wired a shot past Murray to put the Wolf Pack ahead 2-1. Hartford was starting to make a bit of a push in the period for more goals but Murray and the Penguins defense kept it just a one goal lead.

Then the Penguins came alive and started getting some chances. Big pressure by the Penguins but Hellberg was on point and maintained the lead for his side.

With Murray pulled in the final minute and a half, the Penguins were unable to find the equalizer and Hartford tacked on an empty netter.

Three Stars: 3) Niclss Andersen (goal, +1) 2) Magnus Hellberg (27 saves on 28 shots) and 1) Adam Tambellini (game winning goal, +1)

Mike O’Brien said on postgame that Dominik Simon was not seen on the ice after the Tambellini goal. He wasn’t on the bench, so it’s something to watch, especially with Simon going to All-Stars this weekend.

Around the Division: Portland wins 4-1 at home against St. John’s…Hershey loses up in Albany 3-2 in overtime…Bridgeport beats Springfield 1-0 and Lehigh Valley beats Binghamton 6-3.

Standings: Penguins (.702 percentage points) — Portland (.622) — Hershey (.602) — Providence (.547) — Hartford (.535) — Bridgeport (.523) — Lehigh Valley (.489) — Springfield (.440)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off today.

Here’s the Coal Street infographic….

Pens travel to Allentown Friday for the start of a home and home against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms before breaking for All-Stars this weekend. But for big time news, look for the next blog post to come Friday at 3 for the Gameday setup against the Phantoms.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins will probably be thankful that they will be able to get in their own beds and stay there for a while. A six game road trip ends in a loss to the Providence Bruins Sunday afternoon by a score of 5-2.

I can’t put my finger on this one other than the fact that the Pens were gassed at the tail end of a three in three having to drive into the remnants of a blizzard after last night’s 5-0 whitewash of Portland. The Pirates are a better team than the Providence Bruins when you look at the standings, but both teams are really good. The Penguins rarely get blown out of games, so to say that it was just being gassed from a ton of bus time these past two weeks is a probable result.

The Bruins, no slouches, were 6-0-3 in their last nine games coming into today’s matchup against the Penguins.

Matt Murray vs. Malcolm Subban.

Lines were…

Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – Ty Loney

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour
Niclas Andersen – Harrison Ruopp

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Obie was up front and said that the reason Scott Wilson was held out of the game today was to protect him from injury against the need for his services in Pittsburgh. Wilson has not been officially recalled and Pittsburgh does not play until Tuesday against New Jersey.

First Period: The Providence Bruins came into the game today with the AHL’s top ranked power play, so giving them two chances at the man advantage early on was probably not in Clark Donatelli’s game plan. The Penguins, however, were able to kill the penalties by the P-Bruins.

Matt Murray had a big save on Noel Acciari during the period…

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Apologies for the blur.

Penguins started to come alive with chances at and in front of Subban but then Reid McNeill tried to chip a puck out of his zone which was read perfectly by Frank Vatrano who wasted no time in going short side on Murray to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Second Period: Weird period. Back and forth she went with goals then a stoppage due to glass breakage.

J-S Dea quickly tied the game at 1:30 of the period on this nice shot…

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:50 later, Harrison Ruopp and Nic Andersen got crossed up and Colby Cave broke in and Colton Hargrove broke the tie and scored on the rebound.

1:31 after that, Josh Archibald floated in and picked a corner and the Penguins were even again…

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Later, Matia Marcantuoni blew a tire in his own end which led to an odd man rush the other way which saw Andrew Cherniwchan make it 3-2 Bruins. It was the first time in seven games that Matt Murray allowed a goal beyond the first period.

The period ended prematurely when Shair Gill broke a pane of glass.

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The teams headed to the locker room and added the remaining 5:43 on the clock to the…

Third Period: Technically still in the second period, the Bruins tacked on two quick goals. Anton Blidh led a rush up the ice and Colby Cave put the rebound in for a 4-2 lead.

Then the Bruins added a backbreaker when they scored shorthanded. Brandon DeFazio led a two on one with Austin Czarnik and Czarnik cashed to seemingly put the game out of reach for the Penguins as it was 5-2.

The Penguins had been outshot 14-3 since the score was 2-2.

The Penguins were unable to get anything going on the tail end of a three in three and the last of a six game road trip and Providence shut things down after that.

Three Stars: 3) Tommy Cross (+4) 2) Andrew Cherniwchan (goal, +1) 1) Colby Cave (goal, assist, +2)

Tom Sestito was a -4 today. Eech.

Around the Division: The only game in the division was Hartford, extending their winning streak to seven in a row with a 4-1 win at home against Portland.

Standings: Penguins (.720 percentage points) — Portland (.613) — Hershey (.607) — Providence (.547) — Hartford (.524) — Bridgeport (.512) — Lehigh Valley (.464) — Springfield (.439)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers game against Brampton was postponed due to snow.

Pens will bus home and we will await word on the status of Scott Wilson. My charts will update sometime later tonight and then the Week 16 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog at their usual 4 p.m. slot Monday.

Let’s Go Pens!