Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Category Archives: Postgamer

Gator Huntin’ — Nailers WIN 6-5

WHL      @      FLA

6                                 5

In keeping with trying to watch as many Wheeling Nailers games I can this season and keep tabs on the ECHL affiliate, I was able to take in the Wheeling Nailers taking on the Florida Everblades in Estero, Florida Wednesday night. The Nailers are there for three straight games this week. Florida leads the ECHL South Division and the Eastern Conference with a record of 11-4.

Someone forgot to tell the Nailers. They beat the Everblades 6-5 in a high scoring affair.

Franky Palazzese opposed Anthony Peters. The Everblades are an affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes / Charlotte Checkers.

The Nailers jumped out to a 3-0 lead just 4:17 into the game.

– John McCarron got the party started at 1:41 with a nice wrist shot from the top of the right circle through Everblades defenseman Corey Syvret’s legs that handcuffed Peters.

– Harrison Ruopp scored his first professional goal from the point with lots of bodies in front and it was 2-0 Nailers at 3:02.

– Florida tried to energize themselves after the face-off so Rob Florentino fought Shane Bakker. It didn’t work. Bakker pummeled Florentino with punches and pulled his jersey over his head before being separated by the linesmen.

– Jarrett Burton scored to make it 3-0 Nailers and the rout was on. Or was it?

Florida came into the game with a +29 goal differential. With their 3.73 goals scored per game, good for second in the ECHL in offense, no lead is safe.

Two Everblades goals in the span of :52 to cut the Nailers lead to 3-2 late in the first. Gabriel Desjardins scored from in close then defenseman Matt Stanisz scored his first goal of the year after a desperate clearing attempt by Wheeling found his stick and he wasted no time in wristing home a shot that cut it to one heading into the second period.

It only took Wheeling 4:08 to score three more goals in the second period.

Zack Torquato scored at :53 and the two goal lead was re-established for the Nailers. Nice wrist shot that beat Peters. I had the sense that the Nailers wanted to get the first goal in the period because of the high octane offense of the Everblades.

Nailers scored on a power play when John McCarron caused a turnover and made it 5-2. This was the first time all season that Florida had given up five goals.

:16 later, Ty Loney found himself alone on a breakaway somehow and it was 6-2 Nailers.

Ethan Werek scored for the Everblades and it was a 6-3 game. Too much time and too much space for Werek there. Nine goals scored before the game had reached the halfway point, 6:39 to be exact.

Florentino drilled Zack Torquato with a hit and fought Clark Seymour. It was Florentino’s second fight of the night and he lost both of them. Seymour one punched him.

In case you were wondering there is no, ‘two fights and you are done’ rule in the ECHL like there is in the AHL.

Wheeling killed off a total of 1:52 of two separate 5-on-3’s on Florida’s top power play unit late in the second period.

Brant Harris scored the first of his two goals in the period for the Nailers on a play that looked offsides. About 12 minutes later, he scored on a power play when Palazzese tried to cover a rebound but Harris chipped it over him.

Florida had a lot of chances and created a lot of rushes. Florida outshot Wheeling 14-5 in the period but Palazzese stood tall in net.

Three stars were Ethan Werek with a goal and an assist, Brant Harris with two goals and John McCarron with two goal in that order.

No one else in the Nailers division, the North, played tonight. The Nailers lead the division with 15 points followed by Kalamazoo with 13, Toledo with 12 and Brampton with 11.

The Nailers rematch against the Everblades on Friday.

Winning in the Eleventh Hour — Pens WIN 7-6 (OT)

WBS          @          button_hfd200

7                                              6

–

Down 5-1 after twenty minutes tonight, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you shut the radio off and went back to your Sunday afternoon.

But this is proving to be a special group of Penguins. A five goal second by the Wolf Pack, a five goal period by the Penguins in the second, a game tying goal by ex-Penguin Jayson Megna with 1:09 left to tie it and Scott Wilson scored in overtime to seal the stunning, come from behind overtime win by the score of 7-6 and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin have won 11 games in a row.

Matt Murray opposed Mackenzie Skapski.

The only lineup changes that the Penguins made were Reid McNeill for Niclas Andersen on defense and Tyler Biggs for Josh Archibald up front.

First Period: Hartford was the rested team, having not played last night while the Penguins were bussing up playing their third game in less than three days. It showed in the first period.

At 1:39, Marek Hrivik opened the scoring after he dispossessed Dave Warsofsky in front of the net.

1:05 later, Nick Tarnasky scored to make it 2-0, and the early rout was on.

Hartford scored what appeared to be a disputed goal, but he call on the ice was right, take a look at three looks here…

It was Ryan Bourque on the left hand side of the third replay that scored the goal and not Chad Nehring. The Penguins were disputing whether Nehring played the puck in the air with a high stick.

Tom Kostopoulos put the Pens on the board finishing this three on one…

Hartford tacked on two more goals before the end of the period. Ryan Bourque cashed his second goal of the night when the Wolf Pack won an offensive zone draw, the save by Murray popped right to Bourque who swept it past Murray and in.

For good measure, Chad Nehring got a step on two Penguins defenders and scored to make it 5-1 before the period expired.

Second Period: Matt Murray was relieved by Tristan Jarry to open the second and the Pens are done, right? There is no way that they come back from four goals on the road after playing three games in less than three days right?

Wrong.

They needed 16:06 to turn a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead.

It started with a carryover power play from the first period. The Penguins did not score on the power play, but the relentless pressure remained and Kael Mouillierat banged home a ping ponging puck and the Pens were down three…

Later, Derrick Pouliot cross checked Ryan Bourque in the corner. Innocent enough, the referee raised his arm and the Wolf Pack were getting a power play out of it. But Wolf Pack were particularly mad with Pouliot, setting off a giant scrum. Here’s where I think the game turned in the Penguins favor.

Said this at the time:

Nothing came from the four-on-four that followed, but then Hartford took a penalty, and the comeback was officially on when Derrick Pouliot scored this goal from the point to make it 5-3.

It got worse for Hartford. Steve Oleksy took a high sticking call, Hartford put their league worst power play on the ice, and Kevin Porter scored his first goal in a Penguin sweater shorthanded…

Tom Kuhnhackl would get injured when he was slashed on a breakaway. Carter Rowney took the shot in his absence and missed. But the Penguins had all the momentum still down 5-4.

Scott Wilson with this neat wraparound goal that tied it.

Kevin Porter scored his second of the period and the Wolf Pack, and the rest of the American Hockey League, left their mouths agape…

The comeback was complete, but it was hard to believe that there was still a whole period to play.

Third Period: Magnus Hellberg relieved Skapski in the Hartford net. He came out sharp and denied J-S Dea in the slot. Jarry made a save of his own while Hartford was shorthanded.

Jayson Megna hit a post. Conor Sheary streaked past everyone and had a chance alone on Skapski but the Wolf Pack goaltender shouldered it clear. Jarry made a big save on the Megna – Brian Gibbons line. The chances were coming fast and furious for both teams.

With the teams skating four a side, Jayson Megna finally scored on his old team…

Celebrating emphatically after your rested team blows a four goal lead only to tie like it’s Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final?

Overtime: A Conor Sheary point shot rebounded to Scott Wilson all alone in the kitchen of Hellberg and won the game for the Penguins…

Comeback complete, for real.

Three Stars: 3) Jayson Megna (goal, even) 2) Kevin Porter (two goals, +1) and 1) Scott Wilson (two goals, including overtime game winner, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey finally breaks the goalless drought and beats Rochester 3-1…Portland beats Providence 3-2 in a shootout and Springfield beats Albany 2-1 in overtime.

Standings: Penguins (.923 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.750) — Springfield (.577) — Hershey (.567) — Portland (.500) — Hartford (.438) — Lehigh Valley (.433) — Providence (.357)

Wheeling Update: Two goals from Riley Brace, three assists from Ty Loney was enough to extract revenge and defeat the Evansville IceMen 4-2 at home for the Nailers.

I can edit in some Sullivan quotes. On Tom Kuhnhackl…

On the vibe in the room…

The Penguins will probably have a few days off before they take to the road again Friday up to Binghamton. The Week 6 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. I may have a special piece this week on the blog on the winning streak. I just haven’t put all the ideas together at the moment, so stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!!

Ten Straight. Ain’t it Great? — Pens WIN 3-1

RCH          vs.          WBS

1                                                  3

–

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins set a franchise record tonight in winning their tenth straight game with a 3-1 win over the visiting Rochester Americans tonight. It’s important in many ways.

One, it’s a record that is broken. It isn’t often that a team at this level wins ten straight. The Penguins have been around for 15+ years and prior to tonight, it hasn’t happened.

Two, try and find a weakness on this team. There isn’t one. There is no reason to think that the streak ends tomorrow when the Pens face-off in Hartford against the Wolf Pack Sunday afternoon.

Three, the Penguins have let other teams dictate how they are going to play and then countered that. St. John’s wanted to play run and gun. That’s fine. Hershey is a disjointed team that is a rival that gets obliterated. Rochester allows the Penguins 42 shots on goal. Andrey Makarov stops 40 of them. Rochester coming in was last in the AHL in defense. The Penguins shut down Rochester, only allowing them 16 shots at starter Tristan Jarry.

It’s fun. Yeah, it’s November and we aren’t at the quarter pole yet of the season, but this is fun.

No lineup changes for the Penguins tonight. Tristan Jarry started and was opposed by Andrey Makarov.

First Period: 90% of the period was spent in the Penguins offensive zone. Shots were 16-4. The Penguins far and away controlled every aspect of the period but had nothing to show for it. They failed to cash on the only power play of the period.

Remember when the Penguins would have a game one night and go 0-for-7 on a power play and only have like 3 or 4 shots on goal? Not anymore. When Wilkes-Barre goes on a power play, they get chances, and they are several and all good quality.

Second Period: The Penguins dominate the second period, outscoring opponents 21-6 coming into tonight’s game. It came through again for them when J-S Dea collects a puck at his own blue line, walked through the neutral zone and fires a shot at Makarov that went in. It was the baseball equivalent of a change-up. Makarov was sitting dead red (fastball) and instead got the change. The Penguins finally had they goal they were searching for.

Shots at one point were 27-7 in favor of Wilkes-Barre.

Dave Warsofsky scored on a power play to double the Penguins lead to 2-0. The League’s top rated power play connects again.

Shots were 32-8 Penguins heading into the…

Third Period: Rochester came out with pop but the Penguins and Jarry closed off any would be chances. Wilkes-Barre had a couple of power play opportunities, didn’t score on them but had several good looks. Going back to what I said at the open, this is a very, very positive sign going forward.

Jarry loses his shutout bid with 18.7 left when Phil Varone got in behind the defense and caught Jarry on his heels and slipped it five hole to cut the deficit to one.

Amerks head coach Randy Cunneyworth used his timeout and pulled Makarov. Off the ensuing face-off, Oskar Sundqvist dived to break up a pass up the ice at center ice and the momentum of the block knocked the puck into the empty Rochester net just seven seconds after the Americans scored to make it a closer game than the score line would indicate.

So not only do you have all of those things I mentioned at the open keeping this streak going, you have karma. Bring it.

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (15 saves on 16 shots) 2) Dave Warsofsky (power play goal, +1) and 1) J-S Dea (goal, +1)

Here’s perspective on the streak in the form of a Coal Street Infographic…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/665724667890638848]

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears were shutout again tonight, this time 5-0 to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Bears have not scored in 165:07 and face Rochester tomorrow. You have two teams playing their third game in three days and between them, just two goals have been scored all weekend by both teams…Springfield continues to win, this time 4-3 over Binghamton…Lehigh Valley loses 2-1 in overtime to Albany…Hartford, Portland and Providence were off.

Standings: Penguins (.917 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.750) — Springfield (.542) — Hershey (.536) — Portland (.455) — Hartford (.433) — Lehigh Valley (.433) — Providence (.346)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 2-1 to the Evansville IceMen tonight. Adam Krause had the only goal for Wheeling, Brian Foster took the overtime loss.

Here’s the video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/JjE2E31OOEc]

Pens wrap up the weekend with a 4:05 game in Hartford Sunday afternoon. Gameday will hit the blog at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

Seven from Seven — Pens WIN 7-0

HER        vs.        WBS

0                                         7

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The fact that Matt Murray collected his second shutout of the season, his 14th overall in 50 total career games played is probably the fourth or fifth thing that the papers or other blogs are going to write about after this 7-0 obliteration of the Hershey Bears by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Friday night.

– The power play connected three times tonight and still is tops in the AHL.
– Seven different Penguins contributed goals tonight. Only Will O’Neill, Kevin Porter, Dominik Uher, Tom Kostopoulos and Niclas Andersen failed to record a point tonight.
– The Penguins were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
– Bears top line was held in check. Chris Bourque and Carter Camper can put up points at will and at a moments notice but didn’t tonight.
– Oh by the way, Matt Murray made 24 saves.

You would think with two NHL caliber goaltenders and guys like Bourque and Camper on your team that you would win a lot more than you lose and put up more of a battle against your biggest rival. I think that the Bears flaws were exposed tonight, in a big, bad way. Their defenders were a total combined -8 this evening.

It was Matt Murray against Dan Ellis.

Lines were…

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

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – David Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Scratches were Matia Marcantuoni, Tom Sestito and Barry Goers, all hurt. Marcantuoni and Sestito could be back next week, Goers is shelved three months after having hip surgery. Healthy scratches were Reid McNeill and Tyler Biggs.

First Period: The Penguins went up 1-0 on a power play goal when Conor Sheary centered to Kael Mouillierat in the slot. It wasn’t until 10:50 of the first period that Hershey recorded a shot and were down 7-0 in the category at the time.

Bears started to wake up though but Matt Murray made the save of the night when he slid across to stop a shot that caromed out front to Paul Carey but Dave Warsofsky was in the right place at the right time to keep it out of the net. Bears quickly caught up with the Penguins in the shot category.

Second Period: But as we have seen time and time again in the second period, that is when the Penguins come out determined and accelerate past their opponent. It didn’t take long.

:19 in, Dominik Simon picks a corner in close on Ellis for a 2-0 Penguins lead. I am trying to remember the last Penguin that had a set of hands on him that came close to Simon’s. He has lethal hands on him.

Later, Conor Sheary powered past Bears defenseman Madison Bowey and roofed shot over Ellis for a 3-0 Penguin lead. It was a bad goal to give up for the Bears at the time because the last thing that you wanted to do was chase the game even more against a team like the Penguins.

The second power play goal of the game came when Scott Wilson fired a shot at the net that deflected off of Aaron Ness’ stick and in for a 4-0 Wilkes-Barre lead. That goal chased Dan Ellis and Justin Peters came in relief. I was actually surprised that Peters didn’t get the start in net for Hershey because he has the better numbers.

Peters would stop Dea on a breakaway. Murray would stop a Nathan Walker chance. The Bears settled a bit but the task ahead was steep.

Third Period: The Penguins would break it open when J-S Dea steals a puck in the neutral zone, wheeled around ex-Penguin Zach Sill and go bare down on Peters for a filthy goal and a 5-0 Penguin lead. I had the sense that if Hershey had scored to open the period that the floodgates would open and the game would be closer.

It wasn’t. Oskar Sundqvist would score a late power play goal to make it 6-0. Want to know how good the power play unit is? Sullivan sent out what I thought was the “C” unit for the power play that consisted of Tim Erixon, Dominik Uher, Steve Oleksy, Sundqvist and Dominik Simon.

At 6-0, there was a feeling after the face-off that the Penguins wanted seven. They got it when Tom Kuhnhackl scored at 18:46.

Three Stars: 3) Kael Mouillierat (goal, assist, even) 2) Conor Sheary (goal, three assists, +2) and 1) Matt Murray (24 save shutout)

Some reaction from around the AHL in the form of tweets on this game:

[tweet https://twitter.com/pwilliamsahl/status/665357083236171776]

Patrick Williams is one of my idols and covers every angle of this league.

[tweet https://twitter.com/_NickHart/status/665357516130250752]

[tweet https://twitter.com/_NickHart/status/665377608381526016]

Facts are fun, and color man Nick Hart drops them often.

[tweet https://twitter.com/ChocHockey/status/665359117456965632]

It isn’t often that you see the Hershey Bears get smacked around like this. In fact,

[tweet https://twitter.com/ChocHockey/status/665362258567000064]

–

Look, I don’t get too high when it comes to this franchise. It’s early. It’s November. But I am going to tell you. I cannot find a single weakness with this team right now. Every opponent be it Hartford who was once looking like a solid team or a hated rival like Hershey that comes in and always gives the Penguins fits and always spoils the party is water off of a ducks back. Wilkes-Barre will find your weakness and surgically tear you apart from the inside out. It may not be fun if you are an opponent, but as a Penguin fan that I am, this is fun to watch.

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/665372345104773120]

Scary.

[tweet https://twitter.com/kyle_mace/status/665381682640482304]

I threw that last one in for fun.

Video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/7wlibG6IZ_E]

Around the Division: Portland beat Hartford 3-2…Springfield continues to put up a ton of goals as they beat Utica 6-3…Lehigh Valley scored seven goals tonight as well as they punched Rochester in the mouth and won 7-1. The Amerks are in Saturday to face the Penguins…Albany beat Providence 4-2.

Standings: Penguins (.909 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.703) — Hershey (.577) — Springfield (.500) — Portland (.455) — Hartford (.433) — Lehigh Valley (.429) — Providence (.346)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat Reading 6-1 at home tonight Patrick McGrath took home first star honors with two goals.

The Pens finish out the home stand against the Rochester Americans Saturday at 7. Gameday for that will be up at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

Nailers 2 @ Norfolk 6 11/7

WHL       @       NOR

2                                6

With the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins off this Saturday night, I figured I would fire up ECHL.TV and watch the Wheeling Nailers play the Norfolk Admirals at Scope Arena down on Hampton Roads tonight.

The Nailers got smoked 6-2. They drop to 4-4 on the season. The Admirals are trending upwards of recent, winning their third game in a row. The Nailers have lost two in a row.

Wheeling’s Brian Foster opposed Norfolk’s Ty Rimmer.

:27 into the first period, Connor Rankin swept in a puck shot from the far wall past Foster to give the Admirals a quick 1-0 lead. When this happened, the officials noted that the Nailers sent out the wrong starting lineup and assessed a minor penalty on them. I had never seen anything like that and there were some people that I follow on Twitter that never saw it either.

Later, Sahir Gill won an offensive zone face-off and a shot from the point by Clark Seymour was deflected in by Zack Torquato for a tie game.

:34 later, the Admirals went right back ahead when they put a shot on Foster, got him out of position and swept the puck past him and in to re-take the lead.

Riley Brace dispossessed Norfolk defenseman Joe Marciano deep in his own end and passed to a cutting in Jarrett Burton who rocketed a shot over the shoulder of Rimmer for a tie game once again.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Patrick McGrath and Gabriel Verpaelst were willing combatants in a buckets off hockey fight, but before a single punch was thrown, the linesmen jumped in and both would be pugilists were assessed delay of game penalties. That was stranger than the penalty for icing an illegal starting lineup.

With 26.6 left in the first period, Norfolk edged ahead again when a Michael Pelech shot at Foster was erroneously deflected by Burton and right to Charles-Olivier Roussel who scored to make it 3-2. There wasn’t anything Foster could do on that one.

The second period was a much tamer period because you didn’t have a penalty for an illegal lineup or linesmen jumping in to bust up fights. Both goalies settled in, referee Mike Sheehan put his whistle away, and about ten minutes of game time melted off the clock without a whistle. Brian Foster was making some nice saves.

Alexandre Ranger got a step Harrison Ruopp and scored on Foster to double the Admirals lead. I thought that the Wheeling defense was letting Foster down considerably. I saw a player cut right through a four man box and get a shot off on Foster and other plays made where there shouldn’t have been a shot in the first place.

In the third, the play of the game.

With Wheeling on a power play, Josh Currie danced around Zack Torquato, Derek Army and avoided a stick check from John McCarron and scored a ridiculous shorthanded goal that deflated the Nailers and made it 5-2. The Nailers were pressing to this point, but could never recover after that highlight reel goal by Currie.

Here’s a late look at the goal:

Steve Whitney hit an empty net with Foster pulled to round out the final score at 6-2.

Three stars were Alex Ranger with a goal, assist and a +2, Charles-Olivier Roussel with a goal, assist and a +3 and Josh Currie with two goals and a +1.

Ty Loney and Zack Torquato were a -4. Paul Cianfrini and Sahir Gill were -3. Harrison Ruopp and Jarrett Burton were -2.

Toledo lost to Adirondack, Kalamazoo beat Fort Wayne and Brampton lost to Manchester, so your North Division standings look like: Toledo and Kalamazoo with 9 points, Wheeling with 8 and Brampton with 5.

Here’s the infographic but out by Wheeling:

–

My Week 5 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog at 4 pm. Monday.

Offense, Quickly — Pens WIN 4-1

   button_15stj200       vs.       WBS

 1                                       4

–

It looks like the perfect mix of offense at the right time and defense at the right time for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who won this game tonight by a score of 4-1. The game was much tighter than the score line would indicate. Make no mistake that St. John’s is a good, young team that will win hockey games and contend and most likely will be a playoff contender when all is said and done in the Spring.

But folks, don’t get it wrong, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are a great team. There isn’t anything that fazes them and they find ways to win. Example: St. John’s had been wearing down the Penguins in the second period of the game tonight leading 1-0. 6’6 center Michael McCarron was all over the place, creating and taking chances available to him. There was a scrum in front of Matt Murray’s net, which was an all too common occurrence all game long with the IceCaps taking liberties after a whistle.

This happened:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/662804607467417600]

Then this happened:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/662804875156332544]

That is your captain, Tom Kostopoulos, fighting the behemoth McCarron. He got him off the ice for a Penguin power play plus five more for fighting.

If the Penguins don’t cash on the power play, then St. John’s probably goes on to score again and the Penguins lose this game.

It didn’t happen.

The Penguins league best power play saved the day again and the Pens had tied the game and took all the momentum away from St. John’s and played a complete third period that saw them score three goals in the span of 2:23 late in the third to roll to the easy 4-1 win.

Longest lede in the history of the blog I think, but the Penguins have won eight in a row and are the best team in the AHL.

Matt Murray opposed Eddie Pasquale

Lines were…

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

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Dave Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: I was surprised by the Murray start. I would have figured that Tristan Jarry would have gotten the nod but the Pens don’t play again till next Friday, so why not start your number one….Derrick Pouliot returned to the lineup after being scratched last game…Niclas Andersen sat in place of Pouliot. Andersen leads the defensemen on the Penguins with a +7, which is good for Top 15 in the AHL right now. Tom Kuhnhackl actually leads the Pens with a +8 but my, oh my! The depth on this team right now where you are scratching a player who leads your defensemen in +/-. Matia Marcantuoni took the warmup but was also scratched.

First Period: St. John’s jumped to a 1-0 lead with a play in close. Dominik Uher tried to play a puck back to Murray to cover but Daniel Carr was there to poke it past to give St. John’s a 1-0 lead. Pens had a power play late but didn’t send out the first unit instead opting for the second unit and it didn’t work.

Second Period: Penguins took over and if you go back and look from there you will see that no matter what, the Penguins were going to find a way to win the game, only allowing St. John’s a grand sum total of 10 shots the rest of the way. Shots became a premium. Lots of icing calls. Late, Kostopoulos fights McCarron, who picked up an additional two minutes and the Penguins cash on the ensuing power play off a nice setup with Dominik Simon finishing it with a goal over Pasquale’s shoulder for a tie game.

Third Period: Simply put, the Penguins took over. Long offensive zone shifts. But once again, it was Matt Murray that set it all up 200′ down the other end of the ice.

Murray made a save with his mask on a redirect of a Greg Pateryn shot from the point. The Penguins collected and took off the other way. Steve Oleksy fed Tim Erixon who fired a low angle shot that went off of an IceCap defenseman and in for a 2-1 Penguin lead.

Before St. John’s knew what hit them, it was 3-1. Carter Rowney crashed the net and made it 3-1 1:16 later.

St. John’s pulled Pasquale and Derrick Pouliot scored the empty netter from deep in his own zone for a 4-1 lead and the rout was on.

It truly is amazing what can happen when you have a coach that is not all defense, defense, defense. This is not a knock against John Hynes in the least, but it is refreshing to see the Penguins give up more shots in the interest of creating more offense and chances when available. The power play is tops in the AHL? Wilkes-Barre has won eight straight to blast to the best team in the AHL in the middle of November? You take it, and hope that it continues all the way to June.

Three Stars: 3) Tim Erixon (game winning goal, +1) 2) Dominik Simon (goal, even) and 1) Carter Rowney (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley in Allentown 4-2. Stan Galiev scored a goal down on a conditioning assignment from Washington. Reports from there say that he will be down for the maximum two weeks allowed so you will see him if you come to the game next Friday when the Penguins host Hershey…Springfield crushed Portland 6-1. The Falcons offense has all of a sudden come to life. In the first five games, the Falcons only scored 5 goals. In the last 4 games? Try 22. Bridgeport, Providence and Hartford were all off.

Standings: Penguins (.900 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.667) — Hershey (.636) — Hartford (.591) — Springfield (.500) — Providence (.450) — Lehigh Valley (.400) — Portland (.333)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost at home to Kalamazoo 4-3. Ty Loney had a goal for third star honors. Sahir Gill had a goal and an assist. Anton Zlobin and Paul Cianfrini both had assists.

Here is the infographic and the postgame video highlights:

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/663025692490231808]

[youtube https://youtu.be/5w6jida6KCM?list=PLjK7Vm3sJ6fqmpXXcHT-C9FN1GRme4DIB]

Pens are off now until next Friday when they host Hershey. Nailers travel to Norfolk tomorrow, so maybe I will take a look at them and blog about them Saturday. Stay tuned. If not, the Power Rankings will be here Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

Icebreakers — Pens WIN 5-2

   button_15stj200       vs.       WBS

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We may have something special brewing here.

The Penguins used a great start in the second period to roar past the St. John’s IceCaps to a 5-2 final tonight. J-S Dea (1-3-4), Will O’Neill (3 assists) and Tom Kuhnhackl (2-1-3) all had strong games. The Penguins improve to 8-1 on the season and have won seven straight and sit atop the Atlantic Division.

The opponent doesn’t seem to faze the Penguins. Hard nosed Hartford? Obliterated 4-1. Young up and coming St. John’s? Blasted tonight 5-2.

I noticed, especially in the first period when it was back and forth, that the Penguins adjusted to the opponent. St. John’s wanted to go up and down and the Penguins simply adjusted. In prior years, maybe you see the opponent come out a certain way and the Penguins try to ride out the pace and try to swing it into the way that they want to play and come out on top. This year? Seems like they adjust to the style that the opponent wants to play and take advantage of their opportunities.

Matt Murray opposed Zac Fucale.

With this being a work night, taking the veteran option on the lines for tonight:

Kevin Porter made his Wilkes-Barre debut.

Derrick Pouliot was scratched tonight. This report from Jonathan Bombulie explains part of it. If you don’t want to click off, I’ll explain. He was cited on November 1 for public drunkenness in Wilkes-Barre, taken to Wilkes-Barre police headquarters and released a sober adult.

The other part is he also is apparently dealing with a lower body injury, picked up in yesterday’s practice.

I am not going to touch this story anymore than I have. Moving on…

First Period: IceCaps usually score first because they take advantage early and pump a lot of shots on net. The Penguins matched that tempo with shots of their own. Finally, Tom Kuhnhackl got a step on a guy and blasted a shot past Fucale for a 1-0 Penguin lead. It was Kuhnhackl’s fifth straight game with at least a point.

St. John’s would find themselves on a power play and 6’6 center Mike McCarron would waste no time in redirecting a shot from Bud Holloway in front of Murray for a tie game.

Late, Zac Fucale absolutely robbed J-S Dea on the far side. Fucale had no idea where the puck was before the last minute when he blindly dove over to deny Dea’s attempt.

The first period was an absolute track meet, with 22 total shots, 12 for St. John’s, 10 for the Penguins.

Second Period: It was an offensive explosion for the Penguins in every sense of the word.

At :44, Carter Rowney floats to the slot and rips one past Fucale. 2-1 Penguins.

At 2:30 on a power play, Will O’Neill drew everyone to his side and dished to J-S Dea who blasted one past Fucale and in for a 3-1 Wilkes-Barre lead.

Tom Kuhnhackl finished a breakaway on a backhander at 3:29 that chased Fucale, who did not register a save in the period. Enter Eddie Pasquale, who hasn’t seen AHL live fire in over a year.

Three goals in a span of 2:45 by the way.

Dave Warsofsky picked up his 100th AHL point with an assist on the Dea goal. Later, he picked up his 101st with a goal from the blue line through a screen that beat Pasquale for a 5-1 Penguin lead.

St. John’s put ten more shots on Murray, but he make quick work of all of them.

Third Period: St. John’s would pump 21 shots at Murray in the period and he would only get beat on one of them when Christian Thomas swept in a rebound. Pens would only manufacture 5 shots on net in the period.

I don’t know if it was laxity on the Penguins part or desperation on the St. John’s part, but Murray looked taxed and playing like it was a one goal game.

Three Stars:  3) Will O’Neill (three assists, +2)  2) J-S Dea (goal, three assists, +3) and 1) Tom Kuhnhackl (two goals, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Bridgeport in a kids day game up in Connecticut by a score of 4-2…Toronto shutout Hartford 5-0 in the Connecticut capital and Utica beat Portland 3-2.

Standings: Wilkes-Barre (.889 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.667) — Hershey (.600) — Hartford (.591) — Providence (.450) — Lehigh Valley (.444) — Springfield (.438) — Portland (.375)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off until Friday.

Here are the video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/DoXCtNZ0msI?list=PLjK7Vm3sJ6fqmpXXcHT-C9FN1GRme4DIB]

St. John’s and Wilkes-Barre rematch Friday night.

Let’s Go Pens!