Chirps from Center Ice

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Here’s the deal tonight, a 5-0 Wilkes-Barre win that ended a bunch of streaks for the Portland Pirates.

– The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins ended the Portland Pirates six game win streak.
– Mike McKenna’s thirteen game win streak is over.
– The Penguins struck three times on the power play.
– Tristan Jarry picked up his third shutout of the season for his 11th win of the season.

Last night, the Penguins power play could not come alive for them in a tight game and it cost them. Tonight? The Penguins power play struck twice, back to back in the first period and this spring boarded the Penguins to the win tonight.

Tristan Jarry opposed Mike McKenna.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – 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
Niclas Andersen – Harrison Ruopp

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

Lineup Notes: Matia Marcantuoni was in for Ty Loney…top line was unchanged…Sahir Gill replaced Josh Archibald on the second line, Archibald was dropped down to the fourth line.

First Period: The open of the game felt like a chess match. Then the Pirates went on the power play and nearly scored. The best sequence the Pirates had was Rocco Grimaldi blasting out of his own zone down the far wall, passing to Shane Harper for a shot but Jarry was there to make the save. Then the Penguins went on the power play and scored when Kael Mouillierat, with the patience of a saint, stickhandled around McKenna’s net and found Scott Wilson in the high slot for a shot and a goal that put the Penguins up 1-0.

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Two milestones with this goal. First, Scott Wilson was the first AHL player to 20 goals on the season and with an assist on the Wilson Goal, Will O’Neill collected his 100th AHL point.

John McFarland put an elbow into Steve Oleksy and the Penguin went straight back to the power play. This week in practice, Clark Donatelli had Tom Sestito out on the power play unit this week to put the big bodied Sestito out in front of the net. The plan worked. Clark Seymour wound up and took a shot, Tom Sestito had a tip-in goal that put the Pens up 2-0.

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Penguins nearly cashed a third time as they had :44 of five-on-three time, but the Pirates third ranked penalty kill was able to not allow the Penguins to triple or quadruple the lead.

Second Period: Pens had to kill 1:01 of a five on three of their own and did so. Then Tom Sestito found Josh Archibald for this long breakaway and the puck slid across the line and in which made it 3-0 Penguins.

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First two point game for Tom Sestito since January 14, 2012.

J-S Dea was snakebit by McKenna twice in the period with a big glove save on one high slot on one sequence then again on a one timer from Carter Rowney left all alone in front.

Tristan Jarry was great again in the period, making this memorable stop on Portalnd bearing down trying to muscle one past him.

The Penguins scored three or more power play goals in a game for the third time this season.

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Third Period: What Dea wasn’t able to get in goals he was able to create in turnovers. He stripped Brett Regner trying to exit and Carter Rowney pounced on it and dished to Sahir Gill who scored to make it 4-0…

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The Penguins made it 3-for-6 on the power play when Will O’Neill took the shot and Tom Kostopoulos tipped it in for a 5-0 Penguin lead.

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It was the tenth time that the Penguins have scored five goals or more this season.

Jarry stopped all 10 Portland shots sent his way in the period picked up his 11th win of the season.

Three Stars: 3) Will O’Neill (two assists, +1) 2) Tom Sestito (goal, assist, +1) 1) Tristan Jarry (34 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey, Lehigh Valley, Hartford and Bridgeport were all snowed out tonight. Springfield beat Providence in overtime 5-4.

Standings: Penguins (.738 percentage points) — Portland (.628) — Hershey (.607) — Providence (.536) — Hartford (.512) — Bridgeport (.512) — Lehigh Valley (.464) — Springfield (.439)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 4-1 to Kalamazoo. Sunday’s game with the Brampton Beast was postponed due to snow and was rescheduled to March 8.

Pens bus to Providence tonight for a 3 p.m. start against the Bruins Sunday. Gameday for that will hit the blog Sunday at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!

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You probably don’t hear as much about the Portland Pirates as much as you do about the Lehigh Valley Phantoms or the Hershey Bears.

But this team is a divisional rival and the last opponent the Penguins have yet to play this season on the matrix. They are a damn good team as noted in my blog post from early Friday.

The Pirates beat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins by a score of 2-1 tonight, and could not score more than one goal against veteran Mike McKenna who is playing probably the best hockey of his career. McKenna won his thirteenth straight game and had not allowed more than one goal in now five straight starts.

So the first place Penguins run into a hot team in second place and an even hotter goaltender. Looking at the stats in the newspapers tomorrow, the Penguins went 0-for-3 on the power play and you could say that this cost them the game, but they were a better team at even strength and couldn’t beat McKenna more than once, firing 39 shots at the Portland netminder.

Matt Murray vs. Mike McKenna.

Lines were…

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

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

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Sundqvist was back in the lineup from illness for the first time since January 8 … Matia Marcantuoni, Brian Foster and Ryan Parent were the healthy scratches while Tim Erixon, Tyler Biggs and Barry Goers were the injury scratches.

First Period: Brett Regner won a board battle with Josh Archibald, floated to the high slot and backhanded a shot at Murray that Brett Olson tipped in for a 1-0 Pirates lead at just 1:57 into the period. The Penguins tried the same thing with Tom Kostopoulos the other way, but McKenna held the Penguins at bay. McKenna looked shaky to start, but settled in for the period.

Wade Megan scored on a seemingly harmless, low angle shot that he fired through a tight window that doubled the Pirates lead. The Penguins seemed to carry the play, but you would never get anyone to buy that statement from you looking at the scoreboard.

Second Period: Clark Seymour made it a one goal game with a blast from the point…

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Assists to Will O’Neill and Dominik Uher, who drew the delayed penalty that Seymour scored on. That was Clark’s third goal in nine games with the Penguins and extended Uher’s little point streak to 4-2-6 in his last seven games.

Pens had two consecutive power plays but could not score on either. They continued to roll with chance after chance at McKenna but were unable to solve the Pirates goaltender, who had only allowed just one goal in his last four starts.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre started the period on a power play but were unable to cash in on the man advantage and were 0-for-3 on the night. Pens then needed to kill a Scott Wilson high sticking penalty and did. Portland nearly made it 3-1 but Murray made this weird save off of a carom of the wall…

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Seth mined a gem during the game which was that Murray hasn’t allowed a second or third period goal in his last six, now seven, games.

Pens did all they could, outshooting Portland 12-7 and 39-29 overall, but were not able to solve McKenna at all after nearly getting to him in the first period and finally getting to him in the second.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Murray (27 saves on 29 shots) 2) Wade Megan (goal, +1) and 1) Mike McKenna (38 saves on 39 shots)

Ice Chips: Just the second time all season that Matt Murray lost two games in a row. Also, the first time that the Pirates beat the Penguins in three years. The Pirates power play goal streak was snapped, Portland had scored at least one goal on the man advantage in five straight games coming into tonight but were 0-for-2 Friday.

Around the Division: Well, the Bears got four players back from injury and recall and pounded Binghamton tonight 4-0. They are off now as their game with Lehigh Valley Saturday was postponed to Monday….Providence beats Springfield 4-1, Frank Vatrano had two goals to continue his torrent pace here at the AHL level after his reassignment from Boston…Lehigh Valley, Hartford and Bridgeport were off.

Standings: Penguins (.731 percentage points) — Portland (.645) — Hershey (.607) — Providence (.537) — Hartford (.512) — Bridgeport (.512) — Lehigh Valley (.464) — Springfield (.425)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win in overtime 2-1 over the Kalamazoo Wings, Andrew Cerretani scored the game winner. Casey DeSmith picked up the win.

Pens are back at it again in Portland at the same time, 7 pm, up in Maine. Gameday will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins had won seven straight games coming into Saturday night in Syracuse and were the toast of the Atlantic Division and held the current longest winning streak in the American Hockey League.

No one in a Syracuse Crunch jersey was impressed or cared enough to notice.

Playing from behind didn’t seem to matter midweek in St. John’s but it finally caught up to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Saturday as they lose 4-2 in Syracuse against the Crunch. The last team to beat the Penguins before the streak beat them again. Thankfully for the Penguins, this is the last regular season meeting between the two teams.

Matt Murray vs. Adam Wilcox

Lines were…

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

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Harrison Ruopp

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Conor Sheary was recalled to Pittsburgh Friday in the wake of the Nick Bonino injury….Dominik Simon jumped up to the top line wing spot in place of Sheary….Dea took Simon’s spot on the second line wing….Matia Marcantuoni centered Loney and Sestito on the fourth line. On defense, Ruopp was in for Clark Seymour. No Oskar Sundqvist again who was with the team but technically a healthy scratch.

First Period: Physical period. Nearly every stoppage led to pushing and shoving. The Penguins found themselves on a double minor penalty kill when Derrick Pouliot was called for hooking, didn’t like the call from referee Keith Kaval, and was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty for disputing the call. The Crunch scored twice on both ends of the power play and were up 2-0. Adam Erne scored his third goal of the season against the Penguins with a tip-in then Tye McGinn then stuffed the second Crunch goal past the pad of Murray that doubled the Crunch lead.

Here are the goals, that occurred :49 apart…

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Penguins got one back when Steve Oleksy lowered the boom on Philippe Paradis with a big hit. Dominik Simon picked up the puck, dished to Josh Archibald who zipped the puck past Wilcox and in which brought the Penguins to within one…

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Then in the final minute, Kael Mouillierat tried to force a pass deep into the Penguins offensive zone which caught the Penguins defensive corps deep and the Crunch capitalized.

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Matt Peca set up Mike Blunden on the two on one and the Crunch were able to bring a two goal lead into the…

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre took three penalties in the period and trailing by two goals is never a recipe to mount a comeback. However, the Penguins were able to generate a lot of shorthanded chances and actually outshot the Crunch 10-6 in the period despite being on the penalty kill three separate times in the period. No scoring in the period, but the trailing Penguins started to pick the pace up on the Crunch heading into the…

Third Period: J-S Dea cashed on a Carter Rowney shot and a rebound that brought the Penguins within one on the power play…

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The Penguins were on the come seemingly all period, but Wilcox was more than up to the challenge, in this instance stoning Sahir Gill in close then later robbing Kael Mouillierat on a Penguin power play. But the penalties and undisciplined play by the Penguins handcuffed them, as they kept taking penalties.

With Murray off, Wilcox continued to make big stops on Penguins furious rushes and chances. Wilkes-Barre weren’t able to find the equalizer and Tanner Richard hit an empty net to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Blunden (goal, assist, +2) 2) Matthew Peca (assist, +1) and 1) Adam Wilcox (25 saves on 27 shots)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Springfield in a shootout 4-3….Portland continues their tear and sweep Bridgeport at home 3-1 tonight and Hartford beat Lehigh Valley 2-1. Providence was off.

Standings: Penguins (.750 percentage points) — Portland (.625) — Hershey (.600) — Providence (.526) — Bridgeport (.526) — Hartford (.487) — Lehigh Valley (.451) — Springfield (.421)

Wheeling Update: Nailers fall 4-3 to the Toledo Walleye in Ohio tonight. Anton Zlobin had a goal and an assist and was a +1 and extended his point streak to 7 games.

Pens now have a week to regroup and prepare themselves for what is brewing as a big, big test in Portland against the second place Pirates next Friday and Saturday.

I’ll have my big board chart refresh on the blog sometime Sunday afternoon and the Week 15 AHL Power Rankings on a special time on Martin Luther King Day, at noon Monday. Check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Here’s why I think tonight’s game, a 6-4 Wilkes-Barre win over the St. John’s IceCaps, is a statement win for the Penguins.

– If you want to play a defensive battle like last night, a 2-1 win for the Pens, it doesn’t matter.
– If you want to play run and gun and just score ten goals combined like tonight, it doesn’t matter.
– If you want to score first, like the IceCaps did last night and again tonight, it doesn’t matter. The Penguins have allowed the first goal four times during the seven game winning streak.

Good teams win games that they are good at winning. Great teams adapt to whatever the opponent throws at them and still find ways to win.

Bolstered by a career high three assist night by Derrick Pouliot, a goal and two assists both by Scott Wilson and Conor Sheary, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins come from behind twice tonight and win their seventh straight game under Head Coach Clark Donatelli and remain undefeated in 2016.

Tristan Jarry vs. Zac Fucale

Lines were the same as they were Tuesday night but for one change besides Jarry in goal. Maria Marcantuoni was in for Ty Loney on the fourth line. In case you forgot…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

First Period: Penguins didn’t get scored on :21 in tonight. But they got scored on. This first goal took just one minute, exactly.

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Josiah Didier flubbed a shot from the blue line collected by Lucas Lessio which he backhanded at Jarry. Jarry made the save but the puck pinballed to Jacob de la Rose who dished to Max Friberg who scored to make it 1-0. It was the first even strength goal allowed by Tristan Jarry in 195:59.

Then, after the teams traded some penalties, Charles Hudon, who was in the penalty box for the IceCaps, walked out of the penalty box and dropped to Gabriel Dumont who passed to Mark MacMillan who put it off of Jarry and into the net to make it 2-0…

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The Penguins would respond in kind with two goals in the span of :25. The first one by Dominik Uher after Sahir Gill won a hard board battle on the near wall…

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Then Conor Sheary scored this goal…

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It was the seventh straight game for Sheary in which he has recorded at least a point.

To this point, it was a tale of two halves of the period. The Penguins were trampled underfoot in the first ten minutes, then came alive with the quick strike offense in :25 then started taking control.

But then the Kael Mouillierat Penalty Machine™ fired up. He took a lazy slashing penalty. The Penguins bench wasn’t happy with the officiating crew of Garrett Rank and Mike Mullen. Tom Sestito expressed his displeasure and :25 into the St. John’s power play and was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty and it was a 5-on-3 for the IceCaps.

Thankfully, just two seconds into the 5-on-3, John McCarron took a tripping penalty but it mattered little as Gabriel Dumont scored on the 4-on-3 power play with Tristan Jarry screened in front…

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Mouillierat has been playing professional hockey for the better part of six years. He’s what you would consider a veteran, yet every single game it seems he takes a penalty. Out of the 31 games he has played this season for the Penguins, he has taken a penalty in 16 of those games. If he was a younger player, he would be scratched because of the penalties.

St. John’s would outshoot the Penguins 17-7 in the period.

Second Period: Both teams came out firing in the middle frame, chances were back and forth and quick. But then Steve Oleksy took a penalty and Bud Holloway wasted no time in extending the IceCaps lead by two once again…

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But the Penguins struck quickly again as Oleksy would take a shot from the point that totally missed the net. But the carom was perfect to Matia Marcantuoni camping out on the far post to Fucale’s right and he stuffed the puck in to bring the Penguins to within one…

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1:19 later and on a power play, Kael Mouillierat atoned for his penalty in the first with this goal…

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Scott Wilson cycled around the net, centered quickly to Mouillierat unmarked low slot and it was a tie game once again heading into the…

Third Period: 1:20 into the third period, Scott Wilson dropped to one knee and proposed that the Penguins take the lead on this knee drop, one timer, power play goal…

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Josh Archibald added another goal for the Penguins with this deflection from a Clark Seymour blast from the blue line…

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This goal chased Fucale in favor of Eddie Pasquale and was the fifth time that the Penguins have scored six ore more goals this season.

Period seemed to crawl along as compared to the second period.

The Penguins took two consecutive penalties towards the end of the game. With Pasquale pulled for an extra attacker, the IceCaps were unable to convert thanks to Tristan Jarry. He had one save that stood out, this one on a shot by Bud Holloway…

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Notes: The Penguins were outshot in the game 40-19 but end up sweeping the IceCaps in the four game season series this year and are 9-1 all time against the IceCaps at Mile One Centre in the regular season….The 36 saves made by Tristan Jarry were a career high for the Penguins rookie, who wins his 10th game….The Penguins power play is 5-for-12 in the last three games….The seven game winning streak the Penguins are on is the longest current streak in the American Hockey League….The Penguins have had one eleven game winning streak, two four game winning streaks and this current seven game winning streak.

Three Stars: 3) Morgan Ellis (goal, assist, even) 2) Derrick Pouliot (three assists, +1) 1) Conor Sheary (goal, two assists, -1)

Around the Division: For the second time in as many nights, they all watched us.

Standings: Penguins (.770 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.579) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.514) — Lehigh Valley (.474) — Hartford (.459) — Springfield (.431)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Here are the video highlights…

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And the Coal Street post game infographic…

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The Penguins will travel back to the States Thursday and practice Friday in Syracuse in advance of their only game of the weekend against the Crunch Saturday night. But for anything breaking, look for the next blog update to be the 3 p.m. Gameday setup for the game against the Crunch Saturday at 7.

Let’s Go Pens!

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On the first shot of the game tonight, St. John’s IceCaps captain Gabriel Dumont scored a goal on Matt Murray :21 in. It was the fastest goal allowed by the Penguins this season and injected a ton of energy into an IceCaps side that came into the game losing four of their last five.

Any mortal team with any mortal goaltender probably rear another goal, then possibly another, then likely pack it in this far away from home all the way out in Newfoundland and lose the game.

Not the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Backstopped by a 33 save performance by AHL All-Star goaltender Matt Murray and a goal ahead goal by IceCap killer J-S Dea in the third period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win their sixth straight game by a score of 2-1.

It was the aforementioned Matt Murray vs. Zach Fucale.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Clark Seymour was in for the recalled Adam Clendening. No other lineup changes. Oskar Sundqvist did not make the trip as he is still ill. Also not on the trip is Tim Erixon, who is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Obie said on radio that his status for Syracuse Saturday is still to be determined.

First Period: As noted in the lede, :21 in Gabriel Dumont scored the fastest goal allowed by the Penguins this season…

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Penguins were caught straight out flat-footed for the start of the period. Later, caught in a line change, St. John’s pounced on the opportunity to go tic-tac-toe passing but the shot went wide. Murray needed to be sharp and was.

The Penguins finally started to come alive as the period wore on. Scott Wilson stepped into a shot on a one-timer that went off of Fucale’s mask and caromed to Steve Oleksy but the puck deflected out.

Murray was again called upon late when Lucas Lessio took a shot that rebounded to Stefan Fournier but Murray got over in time.

Then, Nic Andersen shot a puck at the blue line at Fucale that Josh Archibald deflected in, but it was ruled immediately that the puck was deflected in via a high stick…

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Second Period: Much better period by the Penguins who controlled play early and often. Derrick Pouliot would bring the Penguins even on the power play with this shot…

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Wilkes-Barre would continue to come in waves and nearly went up 2-1 but Zach Fucale made this timely save while down and seemingly out…

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The Penguins would outshoot the IceCaps 8-5 in the period. Scott Wilson fought Mac Bennett in the period and his presence was missed when the Penguins were on a late power play and did not register a shot on goal.

Third Period: J-S Dea became the fourth Penguins player to reach double digit in goals with this shot…

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Dea took the initial shot, followed his rebound, shot again and that went in.

Nick Hart had this gem…

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IceCaps could not convert on two power play opportunities. The Penguins were undisciplined with constant penalties but St. John’s was unable to convert. After a timeout with Fucale pulled, St. John’s was never able to find the equalizer.

Some out the door notes…

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Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (assist, even) 2) Gabriel Dumont (goal, +1) 1) Matt Murray (33 saves on 24 shots)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins (.764 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.579) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.514) — Lehigh Valley (.474) — Hartford (.459) — Springfield (.431)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Here is the infographic from Coal Street…

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And the video highlights…

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One more thing, John Slaney was announced as the fourth member to be enshrined in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame. Release here. Slaney is already an AHL Hall of Famer and is currently an assistant coach with the Arizona Coyotes. The Hall of Fame Ceremony will be held January 30 when the Penguins host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Meanwhile, the rematch tomorrow vs. the IceCaps goes off at 6 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time. Gameday setup will hit the blog Wednesday at 2.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It’s the case of two teams passing each other going in different directions. The Utica Comets came into this game having lost four in a row (0-3-1) and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins came into the game having won four in a row.

No one turned around to say hello tonight, as the losing streak continues for the Comets and the winning streak rolls on for the Penguins after a 4-2 win Saturday night at home.

Credit Utica for playing an equal style of hockey with the Penguins all night. Physical, in your face all night long that would knock another team off it’s game if that team wasn’t the Penguins who do the same thing night after night after night. The game was really decided via the power play, with the Penguins striking twice.

Tristan Jarry opposed Joe Cannata tonight. It was Jarry’s first appearance for the Penguins since December 16.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Adam Clendening

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

Changes Since Last Night: Kael Mouillierat and Tom Sestito were back from injury. Mouillierat missed about two weeks (December 27) and Tom Sestito missed about a month and a half (November 28) – the Penguins went back to the standard 12 forwards, 6 defensemen. Tim Erixon was scratched on defense. John McCarron skated the extra in warmups. Mouillierat was up with Wilson and Sheary on the top line, the second and third lines were untouched, J-S Dea centered Sestito and Loney. Oskar Sundqvist missed his second game due to illness.

First Period: Both teams opened with early, quality chances which were stopped by the goaltenders. Teams then settled in then the Penguins were off on a power play. Pens cycled the puck around and Tom Kostopoulos finished this feed from Conor Sheary…

[tweet https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/685982256847024129]

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Kostopoulos became the third Penguins to reach double digits in goals this season, joining Dominik Simon (12) and Scott Wilson (16)

Utica responded with a long offensive shift. Hitting picked up a bit. Then, with 5 seconds left, Will O’Neill found the back of the net to double the Wilkes-Barre lead.

Had to think that was a bit of a crushing blow to the Comets, who were building something that may have resulted in a tie game, but they never did and trailed by two heading into the…

Second Period: If you weren’t aware of the hitting that went on in the first period, you started to notice it in the second period. Nearly every puck put deep or whistle blown led to bodies getting smashed into other bodies or into the wall. Then, late, the Penguins find themselves having to kill 1:27 of 5-on-3 time. With four seconds to go in the period, Hunter Shinkaruk scored to give the Comets life and it was a 2-1 game all of a sudden. The goal ended Tristan Jarry’s shutout streak at 183:59.

So how the Penguins responded going into the third period would be key.

Third Period: Penguins miss on the first power play given in the third period but not the second as Scott Wilson would score to give the Pens some breathing room and make it a 3-1 game. Conor Sheary won a face-off back to Derrick Pouliot who passed to Wilson who one -timed it home for the goal.

Tristan Jarry came up big for the Penguins as Utica was pressing. But with Cannata pulled, Alex Friesen scored with 1:45 left to bring the Comets to within one again. This was the first even strength goal allowed by Tristan Jarry since October 28.

Scott Wilson though iced the game away with an empty net goal with seconds left and the Penguins held on.

Three Stars: 3) Jordan Subban (two assists, even) 2) Conor Sheary (three assists, +1) and 1) Scott Wilson (two goals, assist, even)

Scott Wilson became the AHL league leader in goals scored tonight with 17 and 18.

Around the Division: The Portland Pirates are all the way up to second place in the division and are 8-2 in their last ten games after beating St. John’s 4-1 tonight in Newfoundland….Hartford beats Bridgeport at home 5-4….Albany beat Lehigh Valley 4-2….Providence beats Springfield 4-2….Syracuse beats Hershey 4-2.

Standings: (Penguins .757 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.568) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.487) — Hartford (.444) — Springfield (.429)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 6-3 to the Orlando Solar Bears. Brian Foster took the loss. Matia Marcantuoni had a goal.

Here is the post game infographic….

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/686037335050448896]

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And the video highlights…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1xiV2_1ccA&feature=youtu.be]

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The Penguins travel tomorrow to St. John’s for the first of two starting Tuesday. The game is 7:30 Newfoundland time, which is a 6:00 start in Wilkes-Barre.

I’ll have the charts updated on the page Sunday sometime and the Week 14 AHL Power Rankings on the blog Monday at 4. Look for the Hall of Fame Announcement to come sometime Monday as well. When that happens, I will have a blog about the two newest enshrinees.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I have seen my fair share of hockey games where a team would go up by some crazy amount early on in a game only to see the other team gradually chip away and ultimately pull ahead and win the game.

I suppose you could say that this happened tonight, but all of the action happened in the first period, instead of the entire sixty minutes which is played in a hockey game.

A wild, 4-3 Wilkes-Barre win in Lehigh Valley where all the goals were scored in the first period, the Penguins remain undefeated in 2016 and have now won four in a row under Clark Donatelli.

Matt Murray opposed Anthony Stolarz.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – J-S Dea – Comor Sheary
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – John McCarron

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Adam Clendening
Tim Erixon

Lineup Notes: Penguins skated 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. With Tom Kuhnhackl and Bryan Rust recalled to Pittsburgh, the lines were jumbled. Here are the cliff notes:

– Wilson and Sheary on the top line centered by J-S Dea.
– Josh Archibald replaced Tom Kuhnhackl on the Rowney / Simon line.
– Sahir Gill centered Uher / Kostopoulos
– Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched.

Oskar Sundqvist was out of the lineup because he was sick. With all of the travel that the Penguins will be on (to St. John’s, Newfoundland next week) the Penguins told him to stay home and get better. Makes sense. Obie stated that everyone has been upgraded to day-to-day but for Tyler Biggs and Barry Goers who are still month-to-month.

First Period: This was supposed to be a battle of the two Atlantic Division AHL All-Star goaltenders. At the end of the period, it sure didn’t look like it. Seven goals were scored in the period.

In sum, the period was all goals.

Josh Archibald with a pretty redirect of this shot by Niclas Andersen…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685616745026052096]

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:51 later, Dominik Uher scored on this odd angle re-direct of a Tom Kostopoulos shot…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685617142729981952]

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Yes, I know that none of my captions are right in those videos.

Lehigh Valley got on the board when Taylor Leier scored when the Penguins were in the middle of a line change. Leier’s shot hit two posts and went in. It was the first Phantoms goal scored at home against the Penguins this season. Derrick Pouliot mishandled a pass from his D partner Steve Oleksy which led to the goal.

Sam Gagner scored a few minutes later to tie the game at two a piece at 8:23. :23 later, a shot by Cole Bardreau went off of the pads of Murray right to Sam Morin who slammed it home for a 3-2 Phantoms lead.

Clark Donatelli called his time out, and the Penguins didn’t allow the Phantoms a single shot on goal for the remainder of the period.

Conor Sheary floated a puck harmlessly past Stolarz that the Phantoms netminder never tracked and Scott Wilson swept in and tied the game at three at 11:50…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685621119878053888]

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Penguins would go on the power play but not score. However, they dominated time in the offensive zone. After the penalty expired, Josh Archibald beat Stolarz on a low angle shot that hit the far post before going in…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685622513225863168]

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That was all for Anthony Stolarz, who stopped just 4 of 11 shots. Enter Jason LaBarbera.

Seth had this nugget:

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/685622059100188672]

Second Period: No scoring this period but the chances were there. Penguins had to kill 1:40 of 5-on-3 and did so with both Tom Kostopoulos and Reid McNeill breaking their sticks. Lehigh Valley used their time out, but almost looked like they were looking for the perfect shot.

Then Jason LaBarbera was beat by a backhand shot by Josh Archibald for a hat trick, or was he?

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685636765793824768]

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[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/685637108892078080]

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Ref Jake Brenk waved off the goal, and either he or the other ref Terry Koharski looked at it on the replay and ruled no goal.

[tweet https://twitter.com/BobRotruck/status/685639143297265669]

[tweet https://twitter.com/BobRotruck/status/685639279717027841]

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I don’t know why there isn’t more consistency in the AHL to have all feeds available to the officials no matter the building. I get that there has to be some type of uniformity, but isn’t the goal by the officials and the League to get the call right at the end of the day?

Besides that, both Murray and LaBarbera were sharp in the period with Murray stopping eight Phantoms shots and LaBarbera stopping five Penguin shots.

Third Period: Game ended up being another methodical performance by the Penguins. After the wild first period, the Phantoms outshot the Penguins 16-10 the rest of the way. Both the Penguins and the Phantoms had looks but neither could find the back of the net in the period.

Three Stars: 3) Jason LaBarbera (12 saves on 12 shots) 2) Scott Wilson (goal, even) 1) Josh Archibald (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Rochester beats Hershey 5-4…Portland beat St. John’s 5-1…Providence beat Bridgeport 5-4 and Springfield beat Hartford 3-2.

Standings: Penguins (.750 percentage points) — Portland (.591) — Hershey (.583) –Bridgeport (.554) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Providence (.486) — Springfield (.441) — Hartford (.429)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lost 5-2 at home to the Orlando Solar Bears. Anton Zlobin had a goal in the loss.

Gameday setup for the last home game before the longest road trip of the season for the Penguins vs. Utica will be up on the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!