Chirps from Center Ice

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3                                              1

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If the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have a problem right now, it’s special teams. Plain and simple, clear as day. Special teams.

If they don’t allow the Hartford Wolf Pack to score a power play goal tonight, they win 1-0. They allowed Hartford to score two, and needed to pull starting goaltender Tristan Jarry in the dying minutes of the game when the Wolf Pack added another.

Problems roll into problems. Despite having the strongest team of the season to this point, the once undefeated at home Penguins have now lost their second straight contest at Mohegan Sun Arena by a score of 3-1. They were absolutely shut down in the third period, only shooting at Wolf Pack starter Magnus Hellberg just four times.

Lines were the same from last night save for Tom Kuhnhackl in for Bryan Rust. The thought was that you would let each play two, not three games. Mike Sullivan told Seth Lakso after the game that both should play Sunday in Hershey.

So Carter Rowney was back up on the second line with Kevin Porter and Dominik Simon. Kuhnhackl essentially took Rowney’s spot on the fourth line. The D pairings were untouched.

First Period: Much like last night, a ragged start. Teams traded some early power play chances. Finally it was ex-Penguin and Chirps from Center Ice Hall of Famer Jayson Megna with a power play goal that put Hartford ahead 1-0.

:36 later, Conor Sheary scored on a nice wrist shot from the high slot that went in. It triggered a storm of teddy bears that flew onto the ice:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/673302697982992384]

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The first period actually ended with 1:43 left on the clock so they played the…

Second Period: … with 1:43 to begin, blew the whistle, the teams switched ends and began play again. Two posts were hit on both ends. One by Kevin Porter and the other by ex-Penguin Chris Conner.

Temas traded more power play chances, but it was Hartford cashing again when an Adam Tambellini shot deflected off of a Derrick Pouliot skate which changed the angle for Tristan Jarry and got by him for a 2-1 Wolf Pack lead.

Seth had these gems on the current state of the Penguins penalty kill and the man that put them on the kill to start with…

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/673315892277608448]

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/673314688034181121]

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Dominik Uher got in a fight late in the period with Adam Graves. I said and hoped at the time that the fight may inject some life into an otherwise lifeless game for the Penguins.

Shots through two periods were 25-14 Penguins. It seemed like they were getting all the looks they wanted, but were crippled by special teams ineptitude.

Third Period: Penguins couldn’t get anything going at all in the period; be it on special teams when Hartford had more shorthanded chances than anything or even strength with the Pens only taking 4 shots at Hellberg. More trading of power plays ensued. Time was running out. Conor Sheary worked a puck in all alone and Sullivan called Jarry to the bench. Sheary was dispossessed and Chad Nehring hit an empty net to ice the game away.

With about a minute to play and with Jarry out again, the Penguins couldn’t even enter their own zone. That’s how bad it had gotten.

Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (goal, even) 2) Jayson Megna (goal, assist, even) and 1) Magnus Hellberg (28 saves on 29 shots)

Around the Division: Portland got two goals in the span of ten seconds with one minute left to play in the third period to defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-1…Anthony Stolarz stole the show again in net for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but it was Chris Bourque scoring with 20 seconds left to put the Hershey Bears ahead for good 2-1. Stolarz stopped 42 of 44 shots…Providence beats Springfield 3-1 in a game where the Falcons did not get a single power play and one where there were only three all game (bless you, Tom Chmielewski)

Standings: Penguins (.800 percentage points) — Hershey (.614) — Bridgeport (.604) — Springfield (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.479) — Hartford (.478) — Portland (.475) — Providence (.432)

One more Seth gem for the road before we go…

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/673349383836962816]

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Seth, I don’t know if you read my blog or not, but you have to stop calling them the “Baby Penguins.” It’s my Grade A, number one pet peeve. Relevant tweet otherwise.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were blitzkrieged tonight by the South Carolina Stingrays by a score of 6-1. Zack Torquato scored the only goal in the loss for the Nailers.

If Coal Street puts up an info graphic or video highlights, I will edit those in. If not, look for the Gameday setup vs. Hershey Sunday at 1 here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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You have the best car in the employee parking lot. Everyone from accounting down to the mail room is talking about your new wheels. You are the talk of the office, the envy of your co-workers. Everything is great until you go to step into the car and it won’t start.

Why won’t it start? Well, for one thing, you forgot to put gas in the tank and it won’t turn over. Even if it will turn over, the oil hasn’t been changed in over 10,000 miles and so the internal parts won’t turn anymore. Oh, and two of the four tires are flat.

So all you are left with is a hunk of something that looks good, but when you ask that something to execute, you are disappointed.

That, in a nutshell, is what happened tonight at the Penguins game, a 3-1 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the first loss on home ice this season and the third overall this season.

Going 0-for-6 on a power play is enough most nights to make teams lose when the battle is special teams. That is what the fourth ranked Penguins power play went for tonight against the Phantoms 27th ranked penalty kill.

Matt Murray opposed Anthony Stolarz.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Dominik Simon – Kevin Porter – Bryan Rust
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Josh Archibald – J-S Dea – Carter Rowney

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

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Tyler Biggs skated the extra. With Tom Sestito out with injury, Bryan Rust replaced Carter Rowney on the second line who replaced Sestito on the fourth.

First Period: Felt like a jagged start with face-off, stoppage, face-off, stoppage for the first two and a half minutes. Finally, Conor Sheary worked a puck from behind Stolarz’s net and whacked one in for a 1-0 Penguins lead early on.

It is usually rare that you get a games turning point within the first ten minutes of a game but the Penguins, when they came up empty on two consecutive power plays, set the tone for the Phantoms that they had at least something that can stop the Penguins on the man advantage. Wilkes-Barre came close a couple times with J-S Dea loudly ringing the post on a power play, but never scored another goal for the remainder of the contest.

Second Period: Anthony Stolarz is a 6’6 goaltender and a really good one at that. His numbers match those of Matt Murray’s but you rarely hear anything about him because of what Murray has accomplished with all of his awards. He was tremendous tonight for Lehigh Valley. The Penguins had a power play within the first five minutes in the second period and looked to have scored but Stolarz kept the Penguins from doubling the lead at the time.

Lehigh Valley hadn’t been on a power play advantage at all to this point. The Penguins top five power play hadn’t scored in three prior attempts. The Phantoms were about to go on one when Kael Mouillierat roughed Danick Martel near the benches. You guessed it! The Phantoms would score on the power play. Somehow the Penguins let Aaron Palushaj get about a fifteen foot headstart from his own blue line and score unabated on Murray to even things at a goal a piece.

The Penguins were on tilt at this point. Looked disjointed and frustrated. After referee David Banfield lost control of a situation where Conor Sheary gets bulldozed by Palushaj right in front of him in the neutral zone and after the eventual four on four that ensued, Mark Alt received a cross ice pass from the near wall and wasted no time in putting his team ahead 2-1.

Third Period: Both teams trade early power plays but come up empty. Penguins try a Steve Oleksy shot pass to the tape of Conor Sheary for a deflection type shot on Stolarz but he makes the save. Later, all types of shots from all different angles and he closes the door yet again.

Finally with 1:59 left in regulation, Davis Drewskie puts a puck into the stands from his own end and the Penguins head to a power play. Coach Mike Sullivan calls his time out, draws something up, thirty seconds later Matt Murray heads to the bench, but the Penguins salt away the game with a 180′ empty net goal scored by Taylor Leier which will also go down as a short handed goal against the Penguins.

What’s the old saying? When it rains, it pours?

The streak dies at 11 games. No other AHL team had been undefeated at home until tonight.

Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (goal, +1) 2) Mark Alt (game winning goal, +1) and 1) Anthony Stolarz (35 saves on 36 shots)

Around the Division: Bridgeport is shutout again, this time to the Springfield Falcons by a score of 4-0…Providence beats Portland 3-2 in overtime…Hartford downs Hershey 4-3 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins (.842 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.630) — Hershey (.595) — Springfield (.525) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Hartford (.455) — Portland (.447) — Providence (.405)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers hosted the South Carolina Stingrays tonight at Wesbanco Arena and won 3-2. Brian Foster stopped 38 of 40 shots. Zack Torquato picked up first start honors with a goal and an assist. The Nailers rematch against the Stingrays tomorrow night.

Here is the infographic. If they Penguins put up video highlights and I can edit them in, I’ll do so.

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/672989484573720576]

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Penguins host the Hartford WolfPack tomorrow at 7:05. Gameday for this will be up Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Much closer this time for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears but if you just watched the first 19:45 of the second period, you wouldn’t have thought that. That was when the Penguins scored three goals in their most productive period of the season for them and held on and defeated the Hershey Bears for their tenth consecutive win on home ice by a score of 3-2.

No lineup changes for the Penguins from Friday nights win over Providence.

Tristan Jarry opposed Justin Peters. If I asked you coming into this game who the better goaltender was statistically between Jarry and Matt Murray, who would you say that it was?

If you said Matt Murray, you are wrong:

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Jarry has Murray beat in every statistical category but you would not think for a second about starting Jarry over Murray when it comes to say a playoff game. It’s a dangerous two-headed monster.

Anyway, to the game. The teams traded chance after chance in the first period with neither finding the back of the net. It was a show put on by the goaltenders who were really good with glove saves on both ends of the ice. There were sticks in passing lanes too.

In the second, the offense came to life for the Penguins. Kevin Porter got a step on the Bears defenders at the blue line, raced in and backhanded one past Peters at :26 of the first to put the Penguins ahead 1-0. It was his 200th point at the AHL level.

Later, Niclas Andersen scored from the blue line off a perfect screen by Dominik Uher in front that doubled the Penguins lead. About five minutes later on a power play, J-S Dea flipped a casual backhander at the net that somehow slipped past Peters and in for a 3-0 Penguins lead.

Peters would come up with a big save on Kevin Porter while the Penguins were on another of their six power plays of the night, this time robbing Porter with the glove as Porter was left unmarked on the near side.

The Penguins had held Hershey to just one shot in the second period until the Bears got a late barrage on Jarry and one of them snuck in for a goal. It was Erik Burgdoerfer scoring it at 19:46 that seemed to slow all momentum built by the Penguins at the time carrying over to the third period. The goal ended a goalless drought of 129:34 for the Bears in Wilkes-Barre.

In the third. Riley Barber threw a seemingly harmless shot at Jarry that squeaked in for a goal that gave the Bears life as all of a sudden it was a one goal game. Hershey had opened the period with lots of pop in their skates and were really flying.

But the Penguins slowed that momentum by going on the power play. Paul Carey clipped J-S Dea with the stick, drew blood and the Penguins were on a 4:00 power play that they ultimately would not score on. Peters came up big for his team in net. Penguins would get another chance on the power play later but would not be able to score a goal on the leagues worst road penalty killing unit. Tristan Jarry had to stop Dustin Galley shorthanded.

Hershey would get the games last power play as Dominik Simon was stick handling near the Penguins bench during a change leading to a too many men on the ice call. Chris Bourque hit the post with Peters vacated but that was as close as the Bears came to tying the game before time ran out on them.

Three stars were 3) Kevin Porter (goal, +1) 2) Tim Erixon (two assists, +1) and 1) J-S Dea (game winning power play goal, even)

Patrick Williams from of the Winnipeg Sun was in town tonight. Williams covers the Manitoba Moose for the Sun and used to cover the Penguins a long time ago for the Times-Leader. He’s an AHL observer and has a weekly feature on the AHL on NHL.com. He had this to say about the Penguins:

https://twitter.com/pwilliamsahl/status/670777997511688192

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Obviously I don’t see the amount of Western Conference teams that Williams does, so I will gladly take him for his word and say here that it was an honor meeting the man.

Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Hartford 5-2 to stay in second place in the Atlantic behind the Penguins….Utica beats Portland for the weekend sweep of the Pirates 6-3…Albany beats Springfield 4-3 and Providence shuts out Lehigh Valley 3-0.

Standings: Penguins (.889 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.690) — Hershey (.600) — Springfield (.528) — Lehigh Valley (.452) — Hartford (.429) — Portland (.412) — Providence (.375)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Brampton Beast 6-3 tonight. Eight Nailers recorded points. Matia Marcantuoni did not have a point.

I have given up on waiting for the Penguins to put infographics out timely or video highlights in time for the blog to publish. That said, if I get a chance to work an edit in I will, if not, if you really want to see the highlights you will need to go to them direct.

Check out the Week 8 Power Rankings come Monday at 4 p.m. here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The most methodical win the Penguins have had in a while is also a record setting one as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the Providence Bruins to set a franchise record for consecutive home wins in any season, winning their ninth at home by a 3-0 score over the Providence Bruins on Friday night.

Since the Penguins were so methodical with their game plan tonight., let’s not waste any time and get right to the meat on this blog post, shall we?

Lines were the same from Wednesday in Binghamton but since I didn’t share those, let’s do so now.

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Kevin Porter – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestet – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald

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

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry.

Scratches were Clark Seymour and Tyler Biggs. Maria Marcantuoni was sent to Wheeling before the game. Injury scratches remain Barry Goers and Tom Kuhnhackl.

First Period: Providence came in with the leagues best shots against total at 24.89 per game and the Penguins got to half of that with twelve shots in the period. One of them went in when Conor Sheary wired a shot past Providence starter Malcolm Subban and in when the Penguins were working hard down low. They actually wanted to swing the puck up to a defenseman but the passing lane was blocked so Sheary worked a little give and go with Kael Mouillierat and finished for a 1-0 Penguins lead. The Bruins only had 5 shots in the period.

Second Period: Mouillierat deflected in a Scott Wilson slap pass in for a 2-0 lead at 8:13 for the Penguins only power play of the game. Penguins just didn’t give the Bruins anything in the way of open opportunities. I don’t know if it is a systems thing or if the Penguins are really that good. But everything that they wanted to do tonight from an execution standpoint seemed to have worked.

Third Period: Providence came out with fire to open the period and hit a post but the Penguins and Murray made sure that they wouldn’t make it a 2-1 game. You had the sense that if the Bruins made it 2-1, the Penguins would lose all momentum, start to panic and then next thing you know it’s a 2-2 game. That never happened. Later, Reid McNeill shot a pass deliberately wide to Dominik Simon wheeling around the net and he snuck it past Subban to make it a 3-0 Penguins lead. Even with the P-Bruins going full 6-on-4 on a late power play with Subban pulled, they were never able to solve Murray.

Three Stars: 3) Kael Mouillierat (goal, assist, +1) 2) Conor Sheary (goal, +1) and 1) Matt Murray (29 save shutout)

Around the Division: They don’t play in our division anymore but the Binghamton Senators were shutout tonight by the Albany Devils tonight in Albany by a score of 4-0. That’s not the storyline here. What is is that the Senators had only SIX shots on goal in the entire game. No, really. Six.

Had to give that it’s own paragraph. And to think that the Penguins struggle at times against Binghamton. Go figure.

Anyway, Lehigh Valley needed a shootout to get past Hershey tonight in a wild game, 6-5 the final there…Springfield blanked Hartford 2-0….Utical beat Portland 4-1. Bridgeport was off.

Standings: Penguins (.882 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.675) — Hershey (.632) — Springfield (.559) — Lehigh Valley (.475) — Hartford (.450) — Portland (.438) — Providence (.342)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight. They host the Brampton Beast tomorrow.

Here’s an infographic of the team record winning streak:

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/670434790961750016]

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You’ll have to wait on video highlights cause I am still waiting on them at 10:45 p.m. If I can get to an edit tomorrow, I will certainly throw those in.

Gameday for Pens / Bears will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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If the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins had gone on to lose this game, the optimist would have said, “eh, we only play them six times this year, maybe it’s a matchup problem. styles make fights, you know!” while the pessimist would have said that the Penguins are a great team that struggle with bad ones and that way to give the AHL a nice blueprint on how to beat the Penguins.

Thankfully, none of that will happen as the Penguins beat the Binghamton Senators by a score of 4-3 in overtime with Derrick Pouliot scoring the game winning goal 3:55 into overtime.

Here’s how this one started. The Penguins were facing a kid by the name of Matt O’Connor, a rookie out of Boston University who is looking for his first AHL win of his career. Wilkes-Barre rolled out Matt Murray who has won every goaltending award imaginable in the AHL in the past year or so. So it was a matchup that heavily favored the Penguins.

4:23 into the game and the Penguins are up 2-0 from goals by Carter Rowney on his own rebound and Kael Mouillierat, his 300th pro point in just a span of 1:10. It was all falling apart for O’Connor, who couldn’t stop a nose bleed if he wanted to.

But then the Penguins just stopped attacking. Travis Ewanyk fights Reid McNeill to fire his side up, later Will O’Neill slashes Cole Schneider on a breakaway and the Binghamton Senators league worst power play strikes when Eric O’Dell one times a puck in past Murray and the Senators have life.

In the second period, the Penguins get some momentum going, but it’s halted on a transition play when Scott Wilson is whistled for holding the stick. Binghamton goes back to the power play and, you guessed it, scores again to tie the game at two a piece. It was Cole Schneider redirecting a Pat Mullen shot from the point past Murray and in for a tie game.

Shots in the second period were 20-3 Wilkes-Barre. It was an exact copy of last Friday where the Penguins were controlling the play and all the chances but could not get anything past the goaltender of the Binghamton Senators. All of a sudden O’Connor, who couldn’t stop a beach ball in the games first five minutes, was into a groove and stopping everything.

The Penguins had a 5-on-3 for :26 that I called a turning point of the game in the second period with the score tied. Binghamton and O’Connor kept the Penguins power play from striking the entire game.

I said before the third period started that it was a game that to this point would look like was being decided on special teams but really shouldn’t be with the way the Penguins were getting the chances but O’Connor just denying chance after chance but the Senators power play did strike twice to make it a 2-2 game.

Interesting sidenote, the Penguins have allowed a grand sum total of nine power play goals this season. The Binghamton Senators account for five of them.

In the third, Dominik Uher couldn’t get all of a perfect Tom Kostopoulos setup that would have made it 3-2. Instead it would be the Senators making it 3-2 when Ryan Dzingel stripped a Penguin and scored on Murray to make it 3-2.

The Penguins would get a power play but not register a single shot on goal. While the face-offs looked improved from last weekend, some were lost in key moments.

Dominik Simon finally cracked O’Connor and the game was tied. Carter Rowney was providing a screen in front and the puck went in.

Wilkes-Barre outshot Binghamton 29-6 in the last to periods. It wasn’t for a lack of effort or offensive chances, O’Connor got into a groove that he didn’t get out of.

In overtime, Matt Murray made three huge saves, two in succession, and Derrick Pouliot ended it a few minutes later:

[tweet https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/669709487373201408]

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Three stars were Cole Schneider with a goal, assist and a -1, Dominik Simon with a goal, assist and a +2 and Derrick Pouliot with the game winning goal and a +2 in that order.

Good teams find ways to win. I guess that’s the moral of the story.

Around the Division: Hershey beats Providence 2-1 in overtime…Lehigh Valley gets smoked in Utica 7-1…Albany beat Bridgeport 3-1. Hartford, Portland and Springfield were off.

Standings: Penguins (.875 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.675) — Hershey — (.639) — Springfield (.531) — Hartford (.474) — Portland (.467) — Lehigh Valley (.447) — Providence (.361)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers shutout the Reading Royals at home 1-0. Franky Palazzese had a 28 save shutout and Zack Torquato had the only goal of the game. The Nailers lead the North Division at the Thanksgiving break with 21 points over second place Toledo with 17. The Walleye have two games in hand, though.

Here are highlights of tonight’s game from the B-Sens…

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Providence is in on Friday. Gameday for that will hit the blog Friday at 3 p.m.

Have a nice Thanksgiving everyone!

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The worst thing about losing last night to the Binghamton Senators last night was not only did it snap a history making 11-game winning streak for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins but that the Penguins played okay against an overly bad Binghamton team that played extremely well against the AHL’s best team.

If you would have asked me on Thursday of this week which team this weekend posed the biggest threat to the Penguins winning streak, it would have been Albany. Here is why:

– The Devils were on an 8 game point streak coming into tonight.
– The Devils were second in the AHL in both penalty killing and power play.
– It’s a much, much improved Devils team that has veteran netminder Yann Danis anchoring the nets with speedy forwards.

So an extremely good, “measuring stick” game for both teams and one that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins get a passing grade after a 5-3 win tonight.

Tristan Jarry vs. Yann Danis.

The only lineup change was on the fourth line with Tom Sestito returning from injury and taking the place of Tyler Biggs.

First Period: The Devils had some early odd man looks but Jarry closed the door. None finer than this save on Corey Tropp with the Devils bearing down on a 2-on-1:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/668190267195981825]

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The Devils were really bottling up the Penguins in the neutral zone, so much so that the Penguins just could not establish anything that resembled an offensive zone chance. But the Pens adjusted and received two straight power plays that they could not convert on. The looks were there but nothing got past Danis.

Second Period: The Penguins used their most productive period to take a 3-1 lead. Josh Archibald started a two one one, dished to J-S Dea who finished this play to put the Penguins on the board first:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/668201709446037504]

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Off the ensuing face-off, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond fought Tom Sestito in a spirited bout between the two heavyweights.

Penguins would kill the first Albany power play but not the second as Mike Sislo scored a power play goal for Albany with Blake Pietila providing the screen in front. The face-off dot has been none too kind to the Penguins these past few days.

Scott Wilson scored on a power play for Wilkes-Barre as this puck kicked right to him and he knew exactly what to do:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/668206026819260416]

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Penguins tacked on their third goal of the period when Carter Rowney singled to right field…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/668207149693169664]

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Nice hand / eye coordination by Rowney there.

Wilkes-Barre has outscored their opponents 32-7 in the second period.

Third Period: The Penguins woes on the face-off circle continued as Reid Boucher scored off of one to bring the Devils to within one. Then the Devils would get back on even footing when Tim Erixon turned a puck over to Boucher who was off to the races with ex-Penguin Paul Thompson. Jarry made the stop on the Boucher offering but could not stop the Thompson rebound and the Penguins were reeling a bit.

Penguins couldn’t get anything by Danis. They tried and tried but he continued to close the door. It was going to take a freaky gaol to beat him. It happened.

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/668220456810504192]

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Through the blur there, that is Conor Sheary with the shot. The Devils showed a different angle that showed Joe Faust in front trying to knock down the puck with his glove. Instead, it caromed off of it and changed the angle on Danis and went in the net.

Time started to become the enemy of the Devils, with Danis pulled Tom Kostopoulos dished to Oskar Sundqvist who scored on the empty net to seal it for the Penguins.

I guess the moral of the last two days is that the Penguins play really well against great teams and against bad ones like Binghamton, they struggle. Once they get over that hump, and I have every reason to believe that they will, they may be unstoppable and the win streak set just last week may be in jeopardy again.

Hey, who do the Penguins play next? That’s right! Binghamton! In Binghamton on Thanksgiving Eve! We won’t have to wait long to see if the Penguins can get over that hump.

Three Stars: 3) Reid Boucher (goal, assist. -1) 2) Conor Sheary (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Scott Wilson (goal, assist, +1)

Derrick Pouliot chipped in two assists. Tristan Jarry improves to 5-0. It will be interesting to see who jumps out of that tunnel Wednesday evening in Binghamton.

Here’s video highlights courtesy of the Devils:

[youtube https://youtu.be/gQqLhjcpU8c]

Around the Division: Hershey wins 4-2 to sweep Portland this weekend….Bridgeport beats Utica 4-2. If the AHL didn’t rank teams by percentage this year, the Sound Tigers would be leading the Atlantic Division and not the Penguins…Hartford beats Lehigh Valley 3-1. The Wolf Pack have all of a sudden won two in a row….Providence beats Springfield 4-1. The win snaps a seven game losing streak for the P-Bruins.

Standings: Penguins (.867 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.750) — Hershey (.618) — Hartford (.500) — Springfield (.500) — Portland (.467) — Lehigh Valley (.441) — Providence (.375)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers tried to sweep the Florida Everblades but were unsuccessful tonight, losing 5-2. Anton Zlobin left the first period win an apparent injury. The Nailers take two of three wins back with them back to West Virginia when they host the Reading Royals Wednesday night.

My Week 7 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It has been 40 days since the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost a hockey game. It was bound to happen sometime. It happened tonight as the Penguins lost an extremely frustrating game to the Binghamton Senators by the score of 3-1.

There were sticks in every passing lane for the Penguins tonight and despite the very liberal shot totals that Binghamton is known for up here, the Penguins couldn’t manufacture anything that resembled a good look all night. The AHL’s best power play was 0-for-6.

I called this a trap game in my gameday setup. I was right.

Matt Murray opposed Chris Dreidger, who was outstanding in net for the home team.

Lines were:

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Kevin Porter – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Josh Archibald – J-S Dea – Tyler Biggs

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

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Tom Sestito skated the warmups but was the scratch.

First Period: Murray got beat on the first shot he faces which came on the power play. It was scored by Mike Kostka from the point that tipped on its way towards and tripped up Murray. Just a frustrating period all around for the Penguins who got all the offensive zone time that they could have desired plus four chances on a power play but for every opportunity Binghamton had a stick in a lane or a body blocking a shot or a pass.

The B-Sens doubled their lead at 18:19 when Cole Schneider’s shot was tipped in by someone in front of Murray. The Pens trailed 2-0 heading into the…

Second Period: Penguins would get one back when Tim Erixon pinched deep and backhanded a pass to Dominik Simon who corralled the puck, settled it and waited out Driedger and put it upstairs to cut the Penguins lead to one. Prior to that, Binghamton bottled up the Penguins and kept with the sticks in lanes and bodies in front. One close call for Wilkes-Barre was when the B-Sens found themselves on a quick three on one that ended up with Ryan Dzingel air mailing a shot over a sprawling Murray which would have made it 3-0.

Third Period: Penguins did not do themselves any favors taking three penalties to start. They held the leagues worst power play with out a goal and began to chase the game. To Binghamton’s credit, they kept putting sticks and bodies in passing lanes and only allowed the Penguins 7 shots on goal.

Then Wilkes-Barre found itself on a 1:01 of 5-on-3 power play time. Head Coach Mike Sullivan used his time out to draw something up but the Senators managed to kill it all off, not before J-S Dea hit the post. Matt Murray did a fine job in the third in keeping it a two goal game but was pulled for the extra attacker. It wasn’t long until David Dziurzynski hit the empty net to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Kostka (goal, assist, +1) 2) Cole Schneider (goal, assist, +2) 1) Chris Driedger (40 saves on 41 shots)

Here’s the Coal Street info graphic:

[tweet https://twitter.com/wbspenguins/status/667900987550625792]

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Around the Division: Tomorrow’s opponent Albany shutout Springfield 4-0….Hershey gets a goal with 14 seconds left to beat Portland 3-2….Hartford beats Utica 3-2…Lehigh Valley beats Providence 4-1 and Rochester beats Bridgeport 1-0 in overtime.

Standings: Penguins (.857 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.735) — Hershey (.594) — Springfield (.536) — Portland (.500) — Hartford (.471) — Lehigh Valley (.469) — Providence (.333)

Wheeling Update: Wheeling wins 5-3 in Foorida over the Everblades. Newly assigned Evan Wardley scored on his first shot this season. Brian Foster picked up the win.

Here’s some video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/lD7qm772USk]

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Pens travel to Albany to face an even tougher Devils team. With gamete at 5 pm Saturday afternoon, the Gaameday setup for that hits the blog Saturday at 1.

Can’t win em all.

Let’s Go Pens!!