Chirps from Center Ice

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When it rains, it pours.

The Penguins have been struggling to score goals in this winless slump. They have scored just five goals in the last games.

So they go to Providence today, and score four. Two on the power play, three in the second period.

They largely dominated puck possession today vs. Providence and allowed the P-Bruins just four shots on goal in the third period of a 4-4 game.

So it’s only fitting that in a, “kick ya when you’re down” world that the Penguins would turn the puck over in the neutral zone, and Penguin assassin Alexander Khokhlachev scores with 1:29 to push the Bruins ahead of the Penguins late in the game and win 5-4.

Jeff Zatkoff vs. Jeremy Smith

Lines were…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Scott Wilson – Carter Rowney – Jayson Megna
Bobby Farnham – Matia Marcantuoni – Josh Archibald
Pierre Leblond – Dominik Uher- Tom Kuhnhackl

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

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Lines were jumbled from last night. Drazenovic was up centering the first line, Rowney was up centering the second line with Wilson and Megna, down from the first line. Farnham was bumped from the fourth line to the third with Matia Marcantuoni and Josh Archibald. Pierre Leblond was on a fourth line with Dominik Uher and Tom Kuhnhackl.

The defensive pairings remained the same.

Bryan Rust was a surprise scratch and the explanation given was a lower body injury. Rust was injured in the third period in Worcester. He’s yet to be evaluated and with the Penguins off till Tuesday they won’t know anything until at least then.

Jean-Sebastien Dea took warmups but was a scratch. Alex Boak was the 7th defenseman who was scratched.

First Period: Pierre Leblond was dismissed from the game with this hit he laid on Seth Griffith. Leblond was thrown out of the game and assessed a 10 minute match penalty for boarding. By rule, Leblond is suspended pending league review. Griffith left the game with an upper body injury and P-Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told Mark Divver of The Providence Journal after the game that the Bruins will submit tape to the league to review.

The AHL can do two things. 1) Nothing and say that the punishment fit the crime or, 2) Leblond is suspended x amount of games.

We will see what happens. The AHL usually announces punishment on Tuesday.

In the full five minute power play that the Bruins had as a result of the Leblond penalty, they only managed a single shot on net.

Another thing that the box got wrong was this goal scored by Tom Kostopoulos that was credited to Scott Wilson. Wilson took the shot that Kostopoulous appeared to have tipped. This was on a power play that the Penguins scored on right after the kill on the Leblond major.

Second Period: Six goals scored this period. They went,

– Ben Youds pinching and scoring on a blind pass to make it 2-1 Providence on a power play at 3:42.
– Tom Kuhnhackl at 9:37 on a power play through a pile of bodies in front off of a Brian Dumoulin shot.
– Carter Rowney spin-o-rama shot at 10:59 even strength that put the Penguins ahead 3-2.
– Ben Youds booming slap shot at 12:09 on a power play for the Bruins.
– Scott Wilson from a ridiculous goal line angle at 13:22 to make it 4-3 Penguins.
– Matt Lindblad tip of a Steve Eminger shot from the half wall that made it 4-4.

Third Period: Penguins had two power plays in this period and failed to score on them. Closest they got was a Nick Drazenovic knee drop one timer that hit the post. The Penguins only allowed the Bruins a single shot on goal in the first ten minutes.

Late, Nick Drazenovic was mugged by two Bruins in the neutral zone, was dispossessed and then Khokhlachev scored to make it 5-4 Bruins to essentially seal it with 1:29 left.

Three Stars: 3) Scott Wilson (two goals*, assist, +1) 2) Alex Khokhlachev (game winning goal, -1) 1) Ben Youds (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley at home 5-2 to extend their lead over the Penguins to three points. Hershey still has a game in hand on the Pens and the Phantoms have three. The Phantoms have a game on the Bears. Binghamton beat Springfield 6-3.

Standings: Hershey 47 — Penguins 44 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 38 — Norfolk 34

Conference: 1) MCH (57) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (47) 4) SYR (53) 5) HFD (49) 6) POR (47) 7) WOR (45) 8) ALB (44) 9) WBS (44)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were stunned in the final seconds by the Brampton Beast and lost 2-1.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Penguins are off till Tuesday, then play host to the St. John’s IceCaps on Wednesday before taking to the road again for a Friday and Saturday matchup in Norfolk.

My Week 15 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog tomorrow at a special time, 12 p.m., with Chicago and Rockford playing in a 2 p.m. Martin Luther King Day kids game Monday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – maybe

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The Worcester Sharks are a really good hockey team of late. They had won four games in a row at home and are on a five game win streak coming into tonight’s game against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. They beat the Conference leading Manchester Monarchs twice this week, with a rematch tomorrow.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins got a cavalry back from Pittsburgh this week, were the rested team, but none of this mattered as Troy Grosenick and the Worcester Sharks defeat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins by a score of 4-0.

Whatever it is that is ailing the Penguins, they will need to figure this out on the road, as six of the next seven are away from the friendly confines of the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.

With five players re-assigned from Pittsburgh this week, the lineup looked drastically different. Here’s a look….

Tom Kostopoulos – Conor Sheary – Jayson Megna
Scott Wilson – Nick Drazenovic – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Josh Archibald
Dominik Uher – J-S Dea – Bobby Farnham

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

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Derrick Pouliot’s first action since December 19. Bryan Rust’s first since December 12 and Scott Wilson’s first Wilkes-Barre game since November 29.

Matia Marcantuoni was a scratch but participated in warmups. Alex Boak and Pierre Leblond were the other scratched. Anton Zlobin and Adam Payerl are still injured.

First Period: Period started out fine for the Penguins, who controlled the puck and the possession for the first ten minutes. After the midway part of the period, Worcester started to chip away…

— A J-S Dea turnover to Daniil Tarasov, who marched down the slot, made a bunch of moves and deked Zatkoff for a 1-0 Sharks lead at 12:11.
— Freddie Hamilton fires a puck at Zatkoff using D’Agostino as a pick to make it 2-0 at 15:05. A really nice shot by Hamilton that handcuffed Zatkoff.
— Ex-Penguin Bryan Lerg cleans up a rebound of a Jeremy Langlois shot from the blue line while the Sharks were on the only power play of the period that made it 3-0 at 19:31.

Three goals in a span of 7:20 in the final eight minutes of the period.

Second Period: Penguins would make a change in goal as Matt Murray would come in to relieve Jeff Zatkoff in goal. You really could not fault Zatkoff on any of the three goals he gave up in the first period, but the Penguins to this point were on a four game slide so Head Coach John Hynes decided to make the change in goal.

Wilkes-Barre would outshoot Worcester 12-4 in this period. Many of the shots from the Penguins would come on a power play where Grosenick was outstanding. Later, Taylor Fedun would finish off a tic tac toe pass as a Sharks power play had just expired to extend the lead to 4-0 for the Sharks.

Third Period: Nothing by the Penguins resembled any kind of comeback, and nothing by the Sharks resembled anything that looked like they wanted to pile on. What Grosenick saw, he stopped. John Hynes mixed up the lines that I listed earlier.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Taormina (two assists, +1) 2) Bryan Lerg (goal, +1) and 1) Troy Grosenick (25 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey takes over the East Division lead with a 5-4 overtime win against the Albany Devils. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms win at home in front of their largest crowd of the season with a 5-1 win over the Binghamton Senators. Hartford shutout Norfolk 3-0.

Standings: Hershey 45 — Penguins 44 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Binghamton 36 — Norfolk 34

Phantoms travel to Hershey tomorrow. It’s a Catch-22 for the Penguins. The Phantoms have three games in hand on the Penguins, so a win tomorrow by the Phantoms and Penguins would put the Penguins back over Bears by a point but the Phantoms would be in second place and trail the Pens by a point. A Bears win and a Penguins win would separate the Phantoms from the East lead but the Bears would still have a game in hand on the Penguins.

Bottom line, if the Penguins win tonight, none of tomorrow really matters. And the Penguins have lost five straight, so a guarantee that a win happens tomorrow in Providence is far from a guarantee.

Conference: 1) MCH (57) 2) SPR (56) 3) HER (45) 4) SYR (53) 5) HFD (49) 6) POR (47) 7) WBS (44) 8) WOR (43)

Pit of vipers from 7 on back. Expanding, Lehigh Valley is the 9 seed with 43 points, Albany is 10 with 43, Providence is 11 at 42. Bridgeport is 12 with 41. St. John’s is 13 at 40.

Wheeling Update: Nailers hang seven goals on the Brampton Beast tonight. The Beast are at the bottom of the Central Division in the ECHL and the Nailers were pummeled by call-ups to Wilkes-Barre, so the 7-2 win is welcome. Eric Hartzell stopped 22 of 24 to pick up the win.

SendToNews Highlights: Not up yet. Doubtful that I go back and make an edit here. If you’ve clicked through before, you know where to find them if you want to see them.

Penguins look to regroup tomorrow afternoon in Providence. Gametime is at 3 p.m. Gameday setup hist the blog Sunday at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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In case you aren’t friends with me on Facebook, I wrote the game story for the Citizens’ Voice tonight. Look for that in Sunday’s paper.

I wanted to lead that story with something like John Hynes must want his ECHL lineup back. That’s because the Penguins have lost again, this time 4-3 to the Syracuse Crunch with a lineup more similar to his November lineup than his December lineup, that won 7 games and extended their lead on the East Division.

I can’t really put my finger on what is up with this team. Norfolk is big up front and that caused the Penguins issues. It has to be more than, “Syracuse is a good team.” Maybe it is and the Penguins have gotten here on smoke and mirrors. I doubt it. Wilkes-Barre is just going cold as other teams around them in the division is getting hot. It happens.

Two lineup changes for the Pens tonight. Alex Boak was in for Nick D’Agostino on defense and was more noticeable than D’Agostino was last night. I had people ask me why Boak over D’Agostino and the answer is simple. He’s a draft pick and the AHL is a developmental league. The other lineup change was Sahir Gill for Nick Drazenovic. It was a surprising move, as Drazenovic was all set to play in the game on the top line but was scratched late for Gill, who took warmups but didn’t take part in line rushes.

This game was a “I told you so” game if I ever saw one. Here’s why…

— Jasyon Megna scored two goals for the Penguins in the first period, the only offense for Wilkes-Barre in the game. It’s no secret that I don’t really like Megna. Most of it is schtick at this point, I respect him as a player but at times he makes boneheaded moves. The AHL is a developmental league and I have to remember that next time Megna does something dumb.

— Andrei Vasilevskiy won AHL Goaltender of the Month for December and even collected his award pre-game. He played in just five games in the month of December and in my opinion didn’t deserve the award. He replaced starting goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis after the first period when Gudlevskis was beat by Megna twice.

Syracuse jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when ex-Penguin Joey Mormina fired through a crowd of bodies and Philippe Paradis tipped in in and past Zatkoff.

The Crunch jumped ahead of the Penguins in the second period. Jonathan (don’t call me Audy) Marchessault scored when he batted down a high pass and backhanded a shot over the right shoulder of Zatkoff then Mike Blunden tipped in a Luke Witkowski shot after he got free when Brian Dumoulin fell down on after a Syracuse offense zone face-off win.

Wilkes-Barre mustered nothing that even resembled a comeback in the third period. Syracuse held the Pens to just a single shot on goal for much of the period. Henri Ikonen added an insurance goal off of a pass from the wall by Joel Vermin.

Late, Carter Rowney scored a goal with eight seconds left on the power play with Zatkoff vacated. Too little, too late.

Vasilevskiy was the third star after stopping 10 of 11….Marchessault took home second star honors with a goal and an assist…Mike Blunden was the first star with a goal.

Around the Division: Nate Schmidt Hershey beat Norfolk 3-1. Nate Schmidt, down from parent Washington earlier today, nearly scored all three goals for the Bears in the win, his shot was tipped by Casey Wellman on the third Bears goal. The two teams rematch tomorrow and Hershey can jump ahead of the Penguins with a win. Lehigh Valley beat St. John’s on The Rock 4-2. The Phantoms have five games in hand on the Penguins and two games in hand on the Bears. Binghamton lost 6-1 to the Manchester Monarchs. The Senators have lost five in a row.

Standings: Penguins 44 — Hershey 43 — Lehigh Valley 39 — Binghamton 34 — Norfolk 31

Conference: 1) MCH (54) 2) SPR (53) 3) WBS (44) 4) SYR (51) 5) HFD (44) 6) HER (43) 7) POR (41) 8) LV (39)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win at home against the Elmira Jackals 4-2. Eric Hartzell picked up the win after stopping 24 of 26. Zack Torquato had three assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens get a week to regroup. They are in action again Saturday in Worcester, as they have two in New England next weekend against the Sharks and Sunday against the P-Bruins.

Content wise, I will have the Week 14 AHL Power Rankings on Monday, a post on this chart that I have been keeping up with on Tuesday and the Second Quarter Grades on Wednesday. This will be a good way to space out the content when the Pens aren’t on the ice.

In closing, thanks to the Great Jonathan Bombulie for allowing me to pinch hit for him tonight. Make sure you read all about in the paper tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Tom Venesky from The Times Leader summarized this game, a 2-0 Penguins shutout loss to the Norfolk Admirals nicely.

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/553739824067530753]

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Jason LaBarbera had a 27 save shutout tonight, and the Penguins have lost two straight to the Norfolk Admirals this week and three straight if you count shootout losses as losses going back to Saturday in Hershey.

After tonight, LaBarbera upped his stats against Wilkes-Barre to 4-1, with a 1.20 GAA and a .947 save percentage.

A couple things went wrong in this game that put the Penguins behind the 8-ball.

— They gave up two quick goals in the first period in a 1:37.
— One of the goals was shorthanded. It was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Penguins this season.
— They were, “on tilt” to use a poker term, when Max Friberg elbowed Nick Drazenovic in the head that dazed Drazenovic. The play went unpenalized by referee Fred Leblanc. Nearly after every whistle, the Pens were more focused on revenge on the hit on Steckel than they were trying to get back into the game they were already down 2-0 on.
— The power play continued to struggle. Late in the third period with the Penguins slowly building momentum, Marc Cantin draws a double minor for high sticking Drazenovic. Here is where you expect a team with a good power play to use this to their advantage and get back in the game. Not the Penguins, who went 0-for-6 tonight.

Matt Murray was shaky in the first half of the first period and solid the rest of the way. He stopped 9-of-11 shots in the first period and all twenty faced after that.

The Pens were held to just five shots in the second period. Norfolk did an excellent job of blocking shots and taking away shooting lanes. What LaBarbera did need to make a save on he did so without an issue.

On the two Norfolk scoring plays, the Pens were on a power play when there was a misconnect between defense and forwards entering the zone. A turnover to Emerson Etem resulted in Matt Murray making the initial save but Conor Sheary knocking in the puck inadvertently. The second goal game from Marc Cantin from the blue line with Murray screened.

Drazenovic returned in the second period and didn’t look worse for wear. Another scary moment was Conor Sheary getting in the way of a shot from his own man that crumbled him. Sheary would need assistance getting off of the ice, but returned.

Quick lineup note, with Bobby Farnham and Brian Dumoulin back in town, the Pens scratched Alex Boak and Sahir Gill. I don’t like scratching an offensive guy like Gill over someone like Farnham. And is Alex Boak better than Nick D’Agostino? That’s up for debate.

Three stars were Marc Cantin with a goal and a +1, Emerson Etem with a shorthanded goal, an assist on the Canton goal and a +2 and LaBarbera with a 27 save shutout.

Hershey beat Albany up in the Capital District by a score of 4-0. The Bears draw to three points on the Penguins for the East Division lead. They host Norfolk Saturday and Sunday.

Binghamton lost to Worcester 6-3. The B-Sens have lost four in a row. Lehigh Valley was off, they face off against the St. John’s IceCaps Saturday and Sunday.

Standings are:

1) Penguins — 44 points
2) Hershey — 41
3) Lehigh Valley — 37
4) Binghamton — 34
5) Norfolk — 31

Lehigh Valley has five games in hand. They have only played 33 games. The Pens have just played their 38th game of the season and are at the halfway point.

Conference is Manchester and Springfield for 52 points, Wilkes-Barre with 44, Syracuse with 49, Hartford with 42, Hershey and Portland with 41 and Bridgeport with 38.

I doubt anyone will want to look at highlights of this one.

Wheeling won a thrilling 6-5 game against Reading. Zack Torquato had a goal and two assists.

Syracuse tomorrow. The Crunch are a damn good team. Tomorrow won’t be easy. Gameday at 3 p.m. here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Apologies in advance for the terrible, somewhat confusing sorry effort for a pun headline tonight. I couldn’t resist the temptation.

Anyway, I called this two game series with Norfolk a trap series in my Week 13 AHL Power Rankings. Game 1 didn’t disappoint in my predictions, although this was a disappointing game, a 2-1 loss to the Norfolk Admirals.

The Penguins didn’t play bad, per se. They generated chances and got pucks on net, but a bad bounce in the first period and a costly turnover in the third period was all Norfolk and goaltender Jason LaBarbera needed.

If you missed the news earlier, Jeff Zatkoff and Derrick Pouliot are headed to Utica to represent the Penguins with Tom Kostopoulos in three weeks at the All-Star Classic.

Zatkoff started tonight and was opposed by the aforementioned Jason LaBarbera.

Lineup stayed the same from Sunday’s shootout loss in Hershey. Patrick McGrath took warmups but was a scratch.

First Period: A low shot from the point the Admirals put on net Jeff Zatkoff got a piece of. He wasn’t able to corral the rebound and put himself out of position. During that time, the puck finds its way to the stick of Charles Sarault, who puts the rebound in for a quick 1-0 Admirals lead.

Penguins had 3:20 of a double minor for a high stick on Josh Archibald to work with but couldn’t generate anything good towards LaBarbera. He wasn’t necessarily sharp tonight as much as he saw what was coming and is a professional, veteran goaltender who can make those types of saves at this level.

Second Period: Shots were 5-1 Norfolk to open the period. I got the sense that the Admirals were looking for the kill shot early on. A Penguins shot off the post. Penguins keep their legs moving to the final five minutes where Kevin Gagne holds Tom Kostopoulos in the neutral zone. Pens going to the power play .They cash on a Carter Rowney shot from the blue line that Jason LaBarbera makes a save on but loses the rebound to J-S Dea who puts in the rebound to tie the game at one each.

Third Period: Max Friberg works a puck off of Taylor Chorney and zig zags around Alex Boak and Jeff Zatkoff for an easy goal that turned out to be the go ahead and eventual game winner. Late fireworks when Tom Kuhnhackl runs Andrew O’Brien into the wall and a scrum ensues that sees referee David Banfield give Pierre Leblond a ten minute misconduct. Penguins would kill the penalty and Kuhnhackl would then fight John Kurtz.

In the final two minutes, Jayson Megna hit a post on a wide open net that would have tied the game. Penguins, with Zatkoff later pulled, would never find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Max Friberg (goal, +1) 2) J-S Dea (goal, even) and 1) Charles Sarault (goal, +1)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins 44 — Hershey 39 — Lehigh Valley 37 — Binghamton 34 — Norfolk 29

Conference: 1) MCH (52) 2) SPR (50) 3) WBS (44) 4) SYR (48) 5) HFD (40) 6) HER (39) 7) POR (39) 8) PRO (38)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Nothing much to look at from a Penguin fan perspective.

Hershey gets another game in hand on the Penguins and now can catch and pass Wilkes-Barre for the division without the Penguins having anything to say about it, provided it breaks that way. Norfolk is a better team that its record shows, and I think that was evident tonight. Rematch Friday should be fun.

Unless I can think of anything or something happens worth blogging about, check the blog again Friday for the Gameday setup against Norfolk again.

Let’s Go Pens!

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You expect games between Hershey and Wilkes-Barre to be tight checking, closely contested affairs. Tonight lived up to the expectations, as the Hershey Bears outlast the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 2-1 in a shootout and draw to five points behind the Penguins for the East Division lead.

The lead over Hershey has been extended now for a few weeks. It was four last weekend, it’s five now. The Bears have two games in hand on the Penguins but that no longer matters at this point, Hershey can win those games and still be a point behind the Pens. Breathing room, while slim.

The Pittsburgh Penguins sent down Jayson Megna today, so the lines looked like this:

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – Josh Archibald
Dominik Uher – J-S Dea – Jayson Megna
Pierre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Tom Kuhnhackl

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

Zack Torquato yielded to Jayson Megna in the lineup, Clark Seymour took warmups but was scratched. Also, in Pittsburgh, Bobby Farnham and Derrick Pouliot were healthy scratches.

First Period: This hit on Taylor Chorney by Dane Byers highlighted the period. Penguins would get 1:23 of 5-on-3 time at the midway point of the period but not convert. Shots were 12-4 Wilkes-Barre after one in a period dominated by Penguin pressure but one upped by Pheonix Copley being up to the challenge for the Bears in net.

Second Period: Bears would score and break the Penguins shutout streak at 167:24 when Bears defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer scored on a floater of a shot that Zatkoff never saw through a mangrove of bodies to put the Bears on the board. It felt at the time that it may be good enough to hold up, with the way that Copley was playing in net and the way that Hershey had turned the tides on the Penguins as far as puck possession.

But the Penguins generated a turnover in the Hershey zone and Matia Marcantuoni scored this goal 3:56 later to tie the game at one, Marcantuoni’s second goal in as many nights.

Third Period: More Hershey pressure and domination in the offensive zone. Jeff Zatkoff with highway robbery of a Chris Brown shot on his doorstep off of a nice centering feed by ex-Penguin Chris Conner. Later, Copley stops a Tom Kostopoulos one time from a nice setup from Barry Goers while the Pens were shorthanded. Neither team would find the back of the net here as we would then head to….

Overtime: Because of last minute penalties in the third period, the teams started three on three. The sides ended up back on three on three with 73 second to play, but jot was onto….

Shootout: Philippe Cornet scored on a snipe on Jeff Zatkoff in Round 5 and Tom Kostopoulos couldn’t respond and the Bears take the extra point home with them.

Three Stars: 3) Jeff Zatkoff (28 saves on 29 shots) 2) Erik Burgdoerfer (first AHL goal, even) 1) Pheonix Copley (25 saves on 26 shots)

Around the Division: Binghamton storms back from down 3-0, take the lead at 4-3, only to lose in overtime 5-4 to the Syracuse Crunch. Ex-Penguin Peter Mannino was in net for the B-Sens, making his debut for the Senators…..Lehigh Valley beats Norfolk 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins 44 — Hershey 39 — Lehigh Valley 37 — Binghamton 34 — Norfolk 27

Conference: 1) MCH (50) 2) SPR (48) 3) WBS (44) 4) SYR (48) 5) HFD (40) 6) HER (39) 7) POR (39) 8) PRO (38)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose a close one, 3-2 in Cincinnati. Eric Hartzell started the game but was pulled in favor of the backup after stopping 13 of 16.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens are off until Tuesday, when they host Dany Heatley and the Norfolk Admirals Tuesday and again Friday. My Week 13 AHL Power Rankings will go up Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Picture this. You get promoted at your job. You want to make an impression to show management that they made the right choice in promoting you and you want to prove to others that they can count on you when it hits the fan.

That’s exactly what happened tonight in the 5-0 Wilkes-Barre win over the Binghamton Senators.

Matia Marcantuoni and Sahir Gill both netted goals, their first in the AHL. Zack Torquato had an assist. The Penguins have shut out their opponents in back to back contests.

Matt Murray this time was the one with the shutout. His third on the season. Jeff Zatkoff sat this game out, and will probably get the net tomorrow in Hershey.

About Zatkoff, I was all set to blog about his Goaltender of the Month Award for December, before Andrei Vasilevskiy from Syracuse won it. Here’s the thing though, Vasilevskiy only played in five games! By rights though, Laurent Brossoit out in Oklahoma City probably earned it, he played in ten games and was just as good if not better than Zatkoff and Vasilevskiy.

Anyway, I don’t want to complain any longer. Murray was opposed by Andrew Hammond. Here’s the lines….

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – Josh Archibald
Tom Kuhnhackl – J-S Dea – Dominik Uher
Pierre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Zack Torquato

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

Matt Murray – Jeff Zatkoff

Patrick McGrath took part in warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Three goals in a span of 4:10, had the Penguins up 3-0. Drazenovic knee drop one timer on a tic tac toe pass from Conor Sheary on a deflection of a Taylor Chorney shot from the blue line, and a Derek Grant own goal on a Sahir Gill whiff of a shot he missed on when he cut to the net and missed.

Every time the Penguins scored, Binghamton came the other way and nearly scored. The B-Sens also had the benefit of two power plays but the Penguins did not allow them to cash in on them. If you are asking me where the game was won tonight, it was after the first period when Binghamton had failed to score on two power plays.

Second Period: Matia Marcantuoni got his first AHL goal on a rebound of a Taylor Chorney shot off a nice pass from Zack Torquato. Nick Drazenovic made it 5-0 on a rebound goal while the Pens were on the power play.

Third Period: Pierre Leblond had a hell of a game for himself. He nearly scored on a shot that Hammond made a toe save on. Carter Rowney had a game high seven shots and had severe chances to score on the oft scored on Hammond but the Binghamton net minder had his number all night. Teams traded power plays with no one taking advantage.

Three Stars: 3) Taylor Chorney (two assists, +3) 2) Nick Drazenovic (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Matt Murray (30 save shutout)

The Penguins have now held opponents scoreless for 122:14* going back to the Norfolk game last Sunday.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beat Norfolk in overtime in Virginia 3-2. The teams rematch tomorrow. Hershey was off.

Standings: Penguins 43 — Hershey 37 — Lehigh Valley 35 — Binghamton 33 — Norfolk 26

Conference: 1) MCH (50) 2) SPR (46) 3) WBS (43) 4) SYR (46) 5) HFD (40) 6) PRO (37) 7) HER (37) POR (37)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win in comeback fashion. Down 3-0 at one point in Fort Wayne, Wheeling wins in shootout fashion 5-4. Eric Hartzell stopped 31 of 35 and all 5 Komets shooters.

YouTube Highlights….

Pens travel to Hershey tomorrow. If the Pens win, it takes the two games in hand that Hershey has on Wilkes-Barre out of the picture entirely. Gameday for this will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – number may be wrong. I am a noted idiot when it comes to math.