Chirps from Center Ice

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You knew coming in to the night that the Hershey Bears were the East Division leaders. Up four points on the Penguins coming into tonight, the Bears are probably one of the hottest teams in the AHL. Let’s look at a quick rundown of some key points.

— 7-0-0-1 in their last eight games.
— 17 wins at home, leads the AHL.
— Have lost just once in regulation in 2015. (A 4-2 loss to Norfolk on January 11)

So you know coming into tonight that the Penguins were heading into an uphill battle tonight.

A 4-3 overtime loss to the Bears. You can add one to the first two points above. Hershey, down 3-1 to start the third period, get a shorthanded goal by Kris Newbury :17 in and build and build momentum until ex-Penguin Chris Conner scores with under five minutes left to tie the game then Mike Moore scores his first as a Bear to win it in overtime.

Jeff Zatkoff hasn’t won a game since beating the Bears on December 31. He opposed Philipp Grubauer.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Bobby Farnham – Matia Marcantuoni – Adam Payerl

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers
Nick D’Agostino – Alex Boak

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Harrison Ruopp took warmups but was scratched. The other healthy scratches were Dominik Uher and Pierre Leblond.

First Period: Penguins came right out and bltizkrieged the Bears with a long offensive zone setup and caught Hershey on their heels. They had two power plays that looked excellent, nothing like the mess that has become synonymous with power plays of Wilkes-Barre’s past. Conor Sheary had two misses of seemingly wide open nets….

Shots were somehow 8-8 in the period, but if you asked someone that watched the period that didn’t look at a shot board, it felt like the Penguins had more shots.

Second Period: Penguins came out sluggish to start but recovered nicely. Stan Galiev scored :57 in after lax neutral zone puck play by Wilkes-Barre. Ex-Penguin Chris Conner is the fastest guy on the ice and set the whole thing up perfectly to Galiev.

But the Penguins needed a response and respond they did.

Taylor Chorney took a cross checking penalty about three minutes after the Galiev goal. Bears to the power play. The Penguins haven’t scored a shorthanded goal all season.

Until….

There is only one team left in the AHL that hasn’t scored a shorthanded goal yet. It’s Oklahoma City.

Then the Penguins would head to a power play of their own. Conor Sheary found Nick Drazenovic in the slot. All Drazenovic did was angle his stick out and redirected the puck past Grubauer to make it 2-1 Wilkes-Barre…

Mike O’Brien said afterwards that finding time and space in the slot on the power play was something that the Penguins have worked on in practice recently. It paid off.

Penguins continue to pressure. I couldn’t remember anything resembling a Hershey chance after their opening goal by Galiev in the first minute. The Pens had late offensive zone time. Reid McNeill shot….

… Tom Kuhnhackl finish.

Third Period: The Bears prove to all why they lead the East Division. They were not going to lose this game. :17 in, Kris Newbury gets a breakaway and scores to make it a 3-2 Penguin lead. You knew that at some point the Bears would make a push, but didn’t expect it to be that quickly.

The turning point of the game was when the Penguins found themselves on a 5-on-3 for 1:17. Penguins nearly score one on the two-man advantage, but they made too many passes and Grubauer got to it. Then They took it too the perimeter and that was it.

Bears then get a power play. They get close, but don’t score. Penguins didn’t mount anything that resembled offense and tried to kill off Hershey’s momentum by constantly icing the puck.

It didn’t work. Conner found space in the slot and tied it, forcing…

Overtime: Mike Moore scored 3:24 into overtime sending the Bears fans home happy and Hershey a five point lead over the Penguins in the East Division race with two games in hand over the visitors.

Three Stars: 3) Kris Newbury (goal, assist, +2) 2) Stan Galiev (goal, assist, +2) 1) Chris Conner (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Binghamton wins 4-1 against Lehigh Valley at home, snapping a five game losing streak….Norfolk shuts out Worcester the night before but is shutout by the Sharks 4-0 tonight.

Standings: Hershey 60 — Penguins 55 — Lehigh Valley 47 — Norfolk 43 — Binghamton 40

Conference: 1) SYR (65) 2) MCH (64) 3) HER (60) 4) SPR (60) 5) HFD (58) 6) WOR (55) 7) WBS (55) 8) POR (55)

Wheeling Update: Blown leads must be rampant in the organization tonight as the Wheeling Nailers were up 3-1 in the third, but lost 4-3 to the Cincinnati Cyclones. J-S Dea had a goal for the Nailers. Eric Hartzell took the loss.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens bus to Bridgeport tonight. Game is at 3 tomorrow. Gameday for this will be up here on the blog at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Be honest, the pessimistic side of you wasn’t expecting tonight’s result.

After getting shellacked in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday night by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 6-2, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Head Coach John Hynes go right back to G Matt Murray Tuesday night and the Penguins shutout the Springfield Falcons for the third time this season and win 4-0.

The Falcons, in three games played against the Penguins this season, have yet to score a single goal against Wilkes-Barre. The Falcons have been shutout four times this season and three of them have come against the Penguins.

Murray, to his credit, was masterful in net for the Penguins. Several stops in close and stops on rebounds and in a pile of bodies. There was a sequence early in the second period where it looked like the Falcons had scored a few times on the power play but Murray and the Penguins penalty killing unit kept them off the scoreboard.

Scott Wilson and Bryan Rust had a three point night, Andrew Ebbett had two power play goals on a late 5-on-3 the Penguins had. Wilkes-Barre went 3 for 5 on the power play and 3 for 3 on the penalty kill. I guess when you have two players that put up three point nights, go 60% on the power play and have a goaltender that has a teams number, you win by the scoreline that the Penguins won by.

Same lineup as Saturday but for Pierre Leblond and Dominik Uher out for Adam Payerl and Matia Marcantuoni. We were expecting word on Leblond’s suspension for the instigator in the final five minutes of Saturday’s game but a suspension never came down from the AHL offices in Springfield. Hynes told Tom after the game that it was rescinded, so no suspension is coming. Also, there was some confusion this morning with the news that Harrison Ruopp was recalled by the Penguins. In the initial press release from Coal Street this morning it stated that Alex Boak and Eric Hartzell were re-assigned there. That was an error and a dated press release. Harrison Ruopp’s recall was the only transaction made by the Penguins today. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused with my tweets (since deleted) this morning.

First Period: Falcons came out flying. They blitzkrieged the Penguins and led in shots 6-1 thirteen minutes in. Springfield was doing everything right until Kerby Rychel hooked Nick Drazenovic putting the Penguins on the power play. Tom Kostopoulos set a nice pick on a Falcons defenseman, allowing Scott Wilson an easy path to the net of ex-Penguin Scott Munroe. Wilson went top shelf on Munroe and put the Penguins up 1-0.

Penguins weathered the early Springfield storm, earn a power play and cash on it. I love it when a plan comes together.

Second Period: Barry Goers is boxed for a puck over glass delay of game and the Falcons do everything but score on the ensuing power play. Murray battled. Then the Penguins swung the momentum in their favor with great offensive pressure.

Turning point of the game was the failed Springfield power play on the Goers infraction. Falcons did everything they could to score but couldn’t.

Third Period: Bryan Rust and Nick D’Agostino come up ice on an odd man rush. Rust centers D’Agostino who shoots, Munroe makes the save but leaves a juicy rebound to Rust who scores to make it 2-0 Penguins. Seemingly that was all the momentum and scoring the Penguins needed. The Falcons got a power play but it was the Penguins taking advantage of shorthanded opportunities. Sean Collins had a breakaway that was denied by Murray. They couldn’t put anything past him.

The Falcons took a series of high sticking penalties late, and Andrew Ebbett made them pay. The game, seemingly already decided was cemented in the Penguins favor with two power play goals by Ebbett on the far circle.

Three Stars: 3) Scott Wilson (goal, two assists, even) 2) Andrew Ebbett (two goals, +1) and Matt Murray (28 save shutout)

Since returning from Pittsburgh, Ebbett has 4-3-7 in four games, Wilson has 7-4-11 in eight games and Rust has 2-6-8 in six games.

Also, with his second power play goal tonight, Andrew Ebbett has 300 AHL points.

Matt Murray is tied with Portland’s Mike McKenna for shutouts with 5. That leads the AHL. He has stopped all 77 shots faced by Springfield in three games.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Hershey 56 — Penguins 54 — Lehigh Valley 47 — Norfolk 41 — Binghamton 40

Conference: 1) SYR (61) 2) MCH (60) 3) HER (56) 4) HFD (57) 5) SPR (56) 6) WBS (54) 7) POR (53) 8) ALB (53)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They take on the Reading Royals tomorrow night at 7.

SendToNews Highlights: YouTube instead…

[youtube http://youtu.be/6bS_f649xJc]

Penguins are off until Saturday when they play the Hershey Bears in Chocolatetown. The Bears get one of their three games in hand back Friday night in Binghamton. Lehigh Valley hosts Worcester Wednesday and is off Friday as well. The Penguins have played the most amount of games (47) than anyone else in the top 8, so there are games in hand. I will probably have a Friday night blog after all the games of importance go final as a setup to the weekend for the Pens then. Unless I can think of anything or there is newsworthy things worth blogging about, look for the next update then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I can’t for the life of me remember if I have use that headline once before here. If I have, I apologize.

Anyway, I have been blogging up this team long enough to see a game like this one coming. Let’s look at the elements….

— You have a Penguins team rolling, winning four straight games, coming off of a 5-0 laugher in Springfield last night.
— A goaltender in Matt Murray who has been hot as of late, and leads the AHL in goals against average coming into tonight’s action.
— A Lehigh Valley team that had its heads kicked in the night before at home against Hershey and the night prior against Albany.
— Andrew Ebbett down from Pittsburgh this afternoon after being re-assigned. Ebbett was a key contributor to the Penguins ending the then six game losing streak against St. John’s about ten days ago.
— You find yourself up 2-0 at home on a Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 8,217 people 10:23 into the first period on a game that is being locally televised, also.

You are going to roll, right?

Wrong. Instead, the Phantoms respond with six straight goals, chase Matt Murray in the process and win 6-2. The game devolved late in the third period with fights and misconducts being passed around like a hot potato at a summer camp. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond is facing at least a one game suspension, picking up and instigator penalty in the final five minutes of the third period.

Penguins went up quickly on the Phantoms with a Scott Wilson power move to the net on Lehigh Valley starting goaltender Robb Zepp at 6:24 of the first. Tom Kuhnhackl tacked on a power play goal off of a Bryan Rust shot that Zepp left a big rebound on.

Wilkes-Barre was cruising. Then they got complacent.

— Andrew Gordon made it a 2-1 game at 12:30 of the first with a dart of a shot while the Penguins were just going through the motions.
— Adam Comrie scored a power play goal at 15:47 to tie the game at two on a snipe of a shot that Murray could have saved.

Second period saw Jesper Pettersson score to make it 3-2. This chased Murray from the net, enter Jeff Zatkoff who was healthy enough to at least back up tonight. The Penguins didn’t allow any more shots the rest of the way, threw everything but the kitchen sink at Zepp the rest of the way, 16 shots total, but couldn’t get anything past.

There was a point in the game when the Penguins were down one where they clearly put the puck past Zepp but ref Keith Kaval ruled incidental contact on Zepp and washed out the goal. I thought that this was the turning point in the game. A 3-3 tie is a lot better than working and working and coming up empty and then getting scored on again and again.

In the third period, the Phantoms wasted no time.

Taylor Leier scored :20 in on the first actual shot that Zatkoff sees and you could feel the game getting out of hand.

Nick Cousins buries a juicy rebound left by Zatkoff for a 5-2 Phantoms lead on a power play goal at 3:53.

Jason Akeson on what must have been a blown assignment because he had all day to make a move and dance into the top of the circles and let go a shot with no traffic in front for a 6-2 Lehigh Valley lead.

Head Coach John Hynes took his timeout after that. Didn’t matter. Game ended up with fights and lots of guys getting tossed on 10 minute misconducts. I thought the pairing of Kaval / Tim Mayer did good as far as assessing 10 minute misconducts to anyone who stepped out of line with the game being well decided between two divisional rivals.

J-S Dea, Matia Marcantuoni, Eric Hartzell, Josh Archibald and Adam Payerl were the healthy scratches tonight. Hartzell will likely get shipped to Wheeling sooner rather than later. Derrick Pouliot was called up to Pittsburgh prior to the game for the injured Christian Ehrhoff.

Three Stars: 3) Andrew Gordon (goal, assist, +2) 2) Nick Cousins (goal, two assists, +2) and 1) Taylor Leier (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey loses in a shootout to Syracuse 3-2. Followed that one on Twitter and it sounded like an instant classic. Crunch were up 2-0, Bears claw back with a goal late in the second and tie it in the third…..Norfolk beats Binghamton in overtime 2-1.

Standings: Hershey 54 — Penguins 52 — Lehigh Valley 47 — Norfolk 41 — Binghamton 40

Conference: 1) SYR (61) 2) MCH (60) 3) HER (54) 4) HFD (57) 5) SPR (56) 6) POR (53) 7) ALB (53) 8) WBS (52)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 4-3 to Kalamazoo. Derek Army had a goal and an assist in the loss.

SendToNews Highlights: Not up yet. Doubt the Pens will offer YouTube. Doubt you’d click through to see them anyway on SendToNews. Let’s move on…

Bears host the Admirals tomorrow and burn off one of three games in hand on the Penguins. Wilkes-Barre is in action Tuesday against Springfield. My Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday at 4 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have won four straight games. G Matt Murray has collected four shutouts this season, surpassing his counterpart Jeff Zatkoff in doing so.

The Penguins won tonight 5-0 in Springfield. Matt Murray had a 28 save shutout. The Penguins have not allowed the Falcons to score a goal on them yet this season. The Penguins won 5-0 back in October and it was, ironically enough, Matt Murray’s first shutout of the season.

Oh, if you haven’t yet figured out the headline yet, it’s “Four is Important” translated over to English from Spanish. I might be the only AHL blogger to use the Spanish language as a headline this weekend, or season, for that matter.

Anyway, this post game recap includes some new things that I am experimenting with. Twitter recently implemented native video. In lieu of you clicking off and looking at a Vine of a goal or a highlight, I am able to embed the highlight straight into the blog recap without you, the reader, having to click off someplace else. Great timing, eh? The Pens scored five goals total tonight and you have five different highlights to look at, embedded right here in the blog.

The aforementioned Matt Murray vs. Oskar Dansk.

Lines were…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Carter Rowney – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Jayson Megna – Adam Payerl
Dominik Uher – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Derrick Pouliot
Barry Goers – Nick D’Agostino

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Alex Boak took warmups but was scratched. Other scratches were J-S Dea, Josh Archibald and Pierre Leblond. Jeff Zatkoff took morning skate but is still week-to-week, technically.

Adam Payerl’s first game since December 26 at Binghamton.

First Period: Penguins started out slow, but after a penalty to Springfield, Jayson Megna scored this goal on a rebound left by Dansk…

The Penguins weren’t done. Tom Kostopoulos scored this goal from a nice pass from Nick Drazenovic on a quick developing two on one…

Penguins add on another power play goal from Taylor Chorney…

Obie summed up the period succinctly. The Penguins didn’t dominate the period, but they were opportunistic.

Second Period: Penguins would kill off a double minor to Reid McNeill thanks to a few great saves in close by Murray. A Penguins power play would come and go, but then Derrick Pouliot would find Conor Sheary on this nice goal that made it 4-0 Penguins…

1:14 later, Bryan Rust would toast Nathan Oystrick and score this goal that chased Dansk…

Enter ex-Penguin Scott Munroe, who settled things down a bit for the Falcons. Murray had a great save on a defensive breakdown by the Penguins.

Third Period: Penguins put it on cruise control and played prevent. Penguins didn’t really push anything offensively but neither did Springfield. Shots in the period were 10-4 Penguins, ironically. Don’t be surprised to see Scott Munroe come out first Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre in the rematch.

Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (goal, assist, +2) 2) Bryan Rust (goal, assist, +1) 1) Matt Murray (28 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley in Allentown 6-1 to stay a point up on the Pens with  three games in hand. Binghamton loses to Norfolk 5-3 at home.

Standings: Hershey 53 — Penguins 52 — Lehigh Valley 45 — Binghamton 39 — Norfolk 39

Conference: 1) MCH (60) 2) SYR (59) 3) HER (53) 4) SPR (56) 5) HFD (55) 6) WBS (52) 7) POR (51) 8) ALB (51)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-1 in Kalamazoo. Zack Torquato had two assists and was a +3.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. You’ll need to click off to see ’em.

Penguins come home to a sold out crowd tomorrow night against the Phantoms, playing their third game in three nights. Gameday for that will be up her eon the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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Tom Kostopoulos celebrated his 36th birthday today. He’s heading to Utica Sunday to captain the AHL’s Eastern Conference in the league’s All-Star Classic.

But before he could sit back and celebrate a birthday and reflect on accomplishments that led him to be named captain of the AHL’s Eastern Conference and named starter, he had business to attend to tonight in Virginia.

His overtime game winning goal assured a sweep of the Norfolk Admirals by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins by a 3-2 score.

Lines looked like this tonight…..

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Dominik Uher – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers
Scott Harrington – Derrick Pouliot

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

J-S Dea took warmups but was scratched. Pierre Leblond served the third game of his three game suspension. So the lineup was unchanged from last night.

The Penguins opposed recent stone in the shoe known as Jason Labarbera.

First Period: Norfolk jumped all over the Penguins to start. Emerson Etem rang a post then later on a busted Wilkes-Barre clear, scored to put the Admirals ahead 1-0. Then, the Penguins started to push back and Jayson Megna scored when Brendan Bell snapped his stick attempting to maneuver the puck out of his own end.

Wilkes-Barre seemed ignited prior to the Megna goal after a fight by Bobby Farnham with Joseph Cramarossa after Etem scored.

Second Period: No scoring in this period. Penguins had a few cracks at the power play but Norfolk was great in blocking shots.

Third Period: Scott Wilson put the Penguins ahead with this shot from the high slot off of a nice feed by Bryan Rust to give the Pens a 2-1 lead. It was Wilson’s fourth game in a row where he has scored a goal. Norfolk was able to edge back even with a power play goal from Nic Kerdiles on a deflection. A frenetic pace by both teams to finish.

Quick observations, John Hynes told Mike O’Brien in the pre show that one of the focuses the Penguins were going to work on after the All-Star break was special teams. The Penguins had multiple chances this weekend to take a lead with power plays but never could connect….Jayson Megna is usually the butt of my sophomoric jokes on the blog and elsewhere, but he had a hell of a game tonight. Nearly every chance he had was a Grade A opportunity.

Overtime: Tom Kostopoulos scored this goal on a deflection. This came after a John Hynes timeout. Before this, the Penguins had an opportunity to score on a power play but let it pass.

Three Stars: 3) Nic Kerdiles (goal, -1) 2) Scott Wilson (goal, +1) 1) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Binghamton 3-2 in overtime to stay ahead of the Penguins by a point in the standings and lead the East Division at the break….Lehigh Valley beat St. John’s 4-3.

Standings: Hershey 51 — Penguins 50 — Lehigh Valley 45 — Binghamton 39 — Norfolk 37

Conference: 1) MCH (58) 2) SYR (57) 3) HER (51) 4) SPR (56) 5) HFD (53) 6) WBS (50) 7) WOR (49) 8) POR (49)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lost 4-1 to the Fort Wayne Komets.

SendToNews Highlights: Here is YouTube…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB3KqXgqidM&feature=youtu.be]

So that’s the break. Pens are in action again next Friday in Springfield. Here’s what you have coming at you this weekend and this week…

— Week 16 AHL Power Rankings at a special time, 2 p.m. Sunday.
— My big board chart page is already updated for your perusal.
— I may throw in a quick blurb of who won what at the Skills Competition Sunday night.
— I am pinch hitting for Tom Venesky from The Times-Leader Monday night. So buy a paper Tuesday to see my name and a bunch of words put together about the All-Star Classic. I will have a blog of the goings on Monday night after my duties for the paper conclude.
— I am planning on getting audio of the AHL’s Yearly State of the League. Stay tuned. I will probably make a blog out of that.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have been slumping as of late. They just sloughed off a six game losing streak when they beat the St. John’s IceCaps at home back in Wilkes-Barre.

You don’t all of a sudden just snap out of a losing streak and look like world beaters again. You may have gotten lucky in the game that saw your losing streak end. A bounce here or there and, you got lucky. Usually, what plagued you in the losing streak rears its ugly head once again.

Well, for the Penguins, they almost got caught in the closet with the ghosts that brought them that losing streak.

Enter Andrew Ebbett. Down from Pittsburgh during the NHL All-Star break. Ebbett has been a point producer for the Penguins at the AHL level. That continued tonight as his two goals ignites the Penguins over the Norfolk Admirals by a score of 4-2.

Ebbett wasn’t the only player down from Pittsburgh. Derrick Pouliot and Scott Harrington were down too. It was the strongest lineup in months for the Penguins. Lines looked like this…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Dominik Uher – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Taylor Chorney – Brian Dumoulin
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers
Scott Harrington – Derrick Pouliot

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Injured G Jeff Zatkoff’s status is “officially week-to-week” per Obie. Adam Payerl started skating this week and is still, “week to week” and is on the trip with the Penguins.

Josh Archibald took warmups but was scratched. Other healthy scratches were J-S Dea and Nick D’Agostino. Pierre Leblond served the second of his three game suspension.

First Period: Penguins really jumped on the Admirals from the start, getting pucks and bodies behind the Norfolk defense. Finally Nick Drazenovic chipped this pass to Conor Sheary who had John Gibson out of position and backhanded it by him for a goal and a 1-0 Penguins lead. Wilkes-Barre was the beneficiary of two power plays, but failed to score. Bobby Farnham was in the middle of everything early on and drew the second penalty called on the Admirals.

Second Period: Felt like an exact opposite of the first period for the Penguins, who looked lifeless at times during the period. They got scored on. Twice. The first goal was a weird one. The Penguins just killed a penalty and the Admirals were streaking up ice, Chris Wagner tries a cross ice pass that deflects off of Scott Harrington and in past Murray and in.

Teams traded some more power plays. Late, Barry Goers goes into the box for a high stick and Andrew O’Brien slams home a big rebound left by Matt Murray to put the Admirals up 2-1.

In the final minute, with 37.1 left, Andrew Ebbett scored this goal to bring the Penguins even again. It was a nice shot that went cross bar and in.

Wilkes-Barre was lucky to come out of the period tied. Just a forgettable period by Wilkes-Barre standards.

Third Period: Penguins had to kill about 1:45 of a Norfolk power play to open and nearly got scored on. Louis Leblanc appeared to have scored a goal, but referee Mark Lemelin lost sight of the puck and ruled that the puck had entered the net after the whistle had blown.

Huge break for the Penguins there. Wilkes-Barre had to go back on the kill again and Norfolk came dangerously close to scoring again, but the Penguins killed the penalty successfully.

Then, the Penguins edged ahead on a Norfolk turnover. Scott Wilson was looking for a streaking Carter Rowney but instead found the stick of Andrew O’Brien who inadvertently directed the puck into his own net past Gibson to give the Penguins the lead. 

Penguins had a late power play. I have said it on a number of occasions before, but if Wilkes-Barre had anything that resembled a decent power play, they could use that to put teams away. Tonight would have been a prime time to do so.

With under a minute to play, the Penguins possessed the puck for a good :30. Norfolk finally got Gibson out of the net, but Ebbett won a neutral zone face-off that went the length of the ice and into the empty net to extend the lead for the Penguins to 4-2 with about 10 seconds left to play.

Three Stars: 3) Mark Fistric (-1) 2) Andrew Ebbett (two goals, +2) and 1) Scott Wilson (goal, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey was idle tonight, so the Penguins have played now three more games than the Bears. St. John’s beat Binghamton 5-2 and Syracuse beat Lehigh Valley 4-2.

Standings: Hershey 49 — Penguins 48 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 36

Conference: 1) MCH (58) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (49) 4) SYR (55) 5) HFD (53) 6) POR (49) 7) ALB (48) 8) WBS (48) 

Wheeling Update: Nailers win at home 5-4 over the Fort Wayne Komets. Riley Brace had 4 assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Admirals put out a YouTube package, so let’s run that instead…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W3xeWCTGd0&feature=youtu.be]

These two teams rematch tomorrow at 7:15 in Virginia. Gameday for that will be up at 3:15.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It had to end sometime. It did tonight. Penguins win 5-1 against a good St. John’s team that plays better than its last-in-the-Atlantic-Division record indicates.

Goals from the veteran leader, Tom Kostopoulos, two from rookie Conor Sheary, one from Bobby Farnham, on a breakaway of all things. 25 saves by Matt Murray and the Penguins are back to their winning ways.

Before the game, a bunch of news items were announced. First, Bobby Farnham and Derrick Pouliot switched places. Eric Hartzell was recalled to Wilkes-Barre in place of Jeff Zatkoff who was hurt in practice Tuesday. Also, the AHL announced starters for the AHL All-Star Classic to be played in Utica on this coming Monday. Both Tom Kostopoulos and Derrick Pouliot were named starters. There hasn’t yet been an announcement or a final decision on whether Jeff Zatkoff will participate in the events or if a replacement will be named. If I am the Penguins and Zatkoff, I call Springfield and tell them to look for a replacement and let Zatkoff have the time off. Who knows what will happen.

I wrote that last paragraph this afternoon so I didn’t have to throw the links in at 10:30 on a work night, but Tom Venesky from The Times-Leader tweeted after the game that Zatkoff is out till after All-Stars. Jonathan also had more here. I stand by what I crossed out, Zatkoff shouldn’t play. Let someone equally deserving and healthy go to Utica.

Matt Murray vs. Connor Hellebuyck

Taking the veteran option on handwriting out the lines tonight, as I have to get up for my big boy job Thursday morning. So here are Mike O’Brien’s tweets of the line rushes…

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/558043646629380099]

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/558043928541147136]

With Jeff Zatkoff and Bryan Rust injured and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond serving the first of his three game suspension, the Penguins has no healthy scratches.

First Period: Penguins killed an early penalty, then Nick Drazenovic won an offensive zone faceoff to Tom Kostopoulos who blasted it past Hellebuyuk and in for a 1-0 Penguins lead.

Moments later, Bobby Farnham scored on a breakaway. I wish I had a Vine of this, I am sure that Coal Street will have that as part of the highlight package. Farnham picked up the puck at center ice and zipped down the ice and put the puck over Hellebuyuk’s glove and in.

Penguins must have gotten the message. Jump on them. Finish your chances. The shots were 12-5 Wilkes-Barre.

Second Period: Penguins manufactured a goal out of thin air. Literally. Drazenovic passed it straight to Sheary who put the puck past Hellebuyuk and in for a 3-0 lead. This was a play that didn’t look like it was going to develop into anything and Sheary got the goal.

After that, St. John’s picked it up. To this point, the IceCaps had just 6 shots on goal. They began to pepper Murray and forced him into some rapid fire saves from all angles. Late, with Nic Blanchard in the penalty box for an elbowing call, the IceCaps quickly transitioned into a two on one rush and Keaton Ellerby scored a shorthanded goal against the Penguins, the second allowed this season by Wilkes-Barre.

Third Period: Felt at the time that the next goal, whenever it was scored, would be a huge goal. Penguins got a power play and the IceCaps turned it over tight to Conor Sheary who wasted no time and scored to make it 4-1 Wilkes-Barre. Penguins clamped down from there, time melted off and Scott Wilson tacked on an empty net goal to put it away for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Bobby Farnham (goal, +1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Conor Sheary (two goals, even)

Around the Division: The Bears keep it three ahead of the Penguins with a 7-2 drubbing of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown….Josh Manson’s goal at 7:00 of overtime (don’t know how that’s possible) give the Norfolk Admirals a 3-2 overtime win over the Charlotte Checkers at Scope tonight. The Penguins travel there tomorrow. Binghamton was off.

Standings: Hershey 49 — Penguins 46 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 36

Conference: 1) MCH (57) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (49) 4) SYR (53) 5) HFD (51) 6) WOR (47) 7) POR (47) 8) ALB (46) 9) WBS (46)

Penguins still are out of a playoff spot as virtually everyone ahead of them won a game or got points.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off on the All-Star break for the ECHL.

SendToNews Highlights: YouTube instead….

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZYSC9KcmI4]

Pens travel to Norfolk tomorrow for the 7:30 start Friday against the Admirals. Unless there is anything major Thursday, expect the next blog update to be your Friday Gameday setup against the Admirals at 3:30 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!