Chirps from Center Ice

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The Penguins may have a lineup stripped of all of their scorers and stars, but one steady remains. His name is Jeff Zatkoff. His numbers this month? 6-1-0 with a 1.28 GAA and a .955 save percentage, including two shutouts.

If that isn’t enough to win AHL’s Goaltender of the Month for December, I would love to see the guy who does.

Zatkoff’s 24 save performance is enough to propel the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to a 2-0 win over the rival Hershey Bears and a four point cushion over Hershey in the East Division Standings.

Zatkoff was opposed by Philipp Grubauer, starting his second game in less than 24 hours. Grubauer aided the Bears to a 2-1 win over Norfolk last night.

Wilkes-Barre got help from Pittsburgh in the form of Dominik Uher and Brian Dumoulin. That said, this is what the lines looked like tonight…

Conor Sheary – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – Carter Rowney – Josh Archibald
Tom Kuhnhackl – JS Dea – Dominik Uher
Pierrre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Zack Torquato

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

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

Notes: Reid McNeill was back from his illness. It was reported yesterday that he was being isolated from his teammates and tested for possible mumps….Clark Seymour took warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Went scoreless. Wilkes-Barre had three power play opportunities in the period but were up against the AHL’s top penalty killing unit in Hershey.

Second Period: Hershey got a power play chance. Wilkes-Barre really took advantage of opportunities shorthanded, Carter Rowney had a Grade A chance. Fun fact, the Penguins have yet to score or be scored on shorthanded.

Conor Sheary was everywhere this game. He created chance after chance. Late, Cameron Schilling was booked for interference with under a minute to play. On the ensuing power play, Brian Dumoulin found space at the top of the blue line, fired and Tom Kostopoulos got a stick on it for the deflection goal to put the Pens ahead 1-0.

Big goal at the time, because to this point, it was a chess match.

Third Period: Grubauer would exit with a lower body injury. He would go down to make a save and not get back up. He needed assistance off. Just prior to, he absolutely robbed Sheary with the pad. Sheary never was able to elevate the puck.

Enter Pheonix Copley. Penguins power play. Nothing doing.

Tom Kostopoulos and Hershey captain Dane Byers fought. Byers took down Kostopoulos with a big overhand right.

Wilkes-Barre had to then kill two consecutive penalties. With shot blocking and big time saves from Jeff Zatkoff, they were successful.

Dominik Uher picked off a Bear right in front of Copley and scored with under a minute to play to make it 2-0. Uher’s birthday is December 31.

Three Stars: 3) Dominik Uher (goal, +1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, even) 1) Jeff Zatkoff (24 save shutout)

Around the Division: Binghamton beat Lehigh Valley at home 6-2. Norfolk was off.

Standings: Penguins 41 — Hershey 37 — Binghamton 33 — Lehigh Valley 33 — Norfolk 25

Conference: 1) MCH (48) 2) SPR (46) 3) WBS (41) 4) SYR (44) 5) HFD (38) 6) HER (37) 7) PRO (35) 8) POR (35)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off today. They are in Fort Wayne, Indiana Friday.

You Tube highlights…

Worth noting that Pittsburgh is finally getting healthy again. It looks like a defenseman and two forwards will be on the way back soon, likely in time for Friday’s game vs. Binghamton. I may drop a blurb in on the blog here Thursday. If not, next blog update will be the Friday setup vs. Binghamton.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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With literally half of the team either injured or on recall to Pittsburgh, if I told you that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins would only lose one point off of their five point lead coming into this weekend, do you take it?

If you say no, you are a liar.

The Penguins defeated the Norfolk Admirals Sunday afternoon by a score of 2-1. The Penguins once again enjoyed the services of Nick Drazenovic, returning from illness and Brian Dumoulin, retuning from Pittsburgh. It was announced during the game that Dominik Uher was recalled to Pittsburgh. The Penguins play the New Jersey Devils Monday night.

So the lead on the Bears shrinks one point to four, with Hershey having two games in hand on the Penguins. Wilkes-Barre plays the Bears twice this upcoming week.

Matt Murray started the game and was sharp when he needed to be. He was beat in the second period by a low shot by Dave Steckel after a busted Penguin line change.

The Penguins got goals from Conor Sheary in the first period and Nick Drazenovic in the third. The Sheary goal was a rebound of shots that Drazenovic and Tom Kostopoulos were peppering Norfolk starting goaltender Jason LaBarbera with. The Drazenovic goal was a laser that he unleashed on the far wall that went crossbar and in.

The Sheary goal ended a shutout streak that lasted 173:33 going back to last Saturday in Binghamton and two shutouts this Friday in Binghamton and Saturday at home against Bridgeport.

The Penguins had to kill :54 of a 5-on-3 late in the first and kept the Admirals off the board on special teams all night.

Wilkes-Barre used a team effort of shot blocking in the third period. Matt Murray only faced four shots.

Drazenovic’s re-entry into the lineup was felt immediately. He had a goal and an assist and factored into all of the offense tonight. He was the first star of the game. The second star was Conor Sheary, who has really been the only steady presence that the Penguins have had all season. Matt Murray stopped 26 of 27 shots to take home third star honors.

No one else in the division played tonight.

Standings are Penguins with 39 points, Hershey with 35, Lehigh Valley with 33, Binghamton with 31 and Norfolk with 25.

Conference is Manchester and Springfield with 46 points, Wilkes-Barre with 39, Syracuse with 44, Hartford with 38, Hershey with 35, Albany and Bridgeport with 34 each.

The Nailers played three skaters short and lost to South Carolina by a score of 5-1. The Nailers lost Tyler Murovich to recall to Wilkes-Barre early this morning. Murovich was probably insurance for Drazenovic, in case he couldn’t go. He participated in warmups but didn’t dress.

The only other lineup change was Paul Cianfrini for Brian Dumoulin.

Highlights, via Youtube…

My Week 12 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog at 4 p.m. Monday. Unless the calvary returns in time for the New Years Eve bash with Hershey, expect the next blog update after Monday’s Rankings to be the Wednesday Gameday setup against Hershey at 11 a.m., for the special 3:05 start.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Anyone with any kind of hockey sense will realize that this type of outcome and this type of performance was inevitable, with the injuries that are crippling the Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Let’s look around. Pittsburgh lost tonight to the Washington Capitals by a score of 3-0 with a lineup full of AHL caliber talent.

Wilkes-Barre meanwhile, loses this one by a score of 5-0 with a lineup full of ECHL caliber talent.

Wheeling finally, loses 3-1 to South Carolina with a lineup full of what’s left of an ECHL team and filled in with guys off the street and talent from the Southern Professional Hockey League.

Suffice to say, the results were typical and expected tonight.

You just hope that when the injury bug does hit, that you have build up yourself enough of a lead to sustain the rough times and endure the fall. For the Penguins, a five point lead coming into the weekend has been trimmed to two.

That’s the way that I as a fan looks at it. That’s the way anyone who doesn’t think that the Penguins of the NHL, the Penguins of the AHL or the Nailers of the ECHL should win every single game by ten goals should look at it.

Coaches are paid to win. So of course Mike Johnston, John Hynes and Clark Donatelli are going to give the Seth Rorabaugh’s, Jonathan Bombulie’s and Shawn Rine’s of the world some talk like, “we didn’t execute” or, “we don’t look at the lineup, we look at guys that can play and execute the system.” That’s what they are paid to say. Do you honestly expect John Hynes to say to Tom Venesky, “Tom, what they hell did you expect with half my team in Pittsburgh?” No.

Pittsburgh got Robert Bortuzzo and Bobby Farnham back from injury tonight but may have lost Patric Hornqvist and Kris Letang to injury in tonight’s setback to the Capitals. The hits keep on coming.

Anyway, this game. Wilkes-Barre has been scoreless now for 166:16 going back to their first period goal in Binghamton last Saturday night.

Personnel wise, Zack Torquato and Patrick McGrath joined the team today via PTO last night. Jayson Megna and Jeff Zatkoff were recalled to Pittsburgh this morning. Adam Payerl missed tonight’s game and is out, “a while” according to John Hynes as told to by Tom Venesky and Reid McNeill and Nick Drazenovic are, “sick.”

Bridgeport scored their first goal in the first period after an end-to-end start that resulted in Kael Mouillerat scoring off of a one timer that beat staring goaltender Matt Murray at 8:25.

Colin McDonald scored at the tail end of a Bridgeport 5-on-3 to make it 2-0 in favor of the Sound Tigers in the second period.

Then, Bridgeport scored two goals within :50 of one another.

Scott Mayfield shot the puck at the net but it deflected off of Barry Goers skates right to Sebastian Collberg in front to make it 3-0.

Scooter Vaughn then scored from a ridiculous angle to make it 4-0 fifty seconds later.

Penguins opened the third with a power play, closed with a power play but Wilkes-Barre was unable to capitalize. Late, with eleven seconds left, Colin McDonald scored to make it 5-0.

Three stars were, Sebastian Collberg with a goal and an assist and a +2, David Leggio with a 19 save shutout and Colin McDonald with two goals, an assist and a +3.

Bridgeport has shutout the weekend. Leggio tonight, Kevin Poulin last night against Providence.

Binghamton beat Hershey 4-3 in overtime and Lehigh Valley beat Norfolk in a shootout 3-2. Points for everyone in the division except Wilkes-Barre.

Division looks like this: Penguins with 37, Hershey with 35, Lehigh Valley with 33, Binghamton with 31 and Norfolk with 25.

Conference is Manchester with 46, Springfield with 44, Wilkes-Barre with 37, Syracuse with 43, Hartford with 38, Hershey with 35, Albany with 34 and Bridgeport with 34.

The Sound Tigers are in last place in the Northeast Division yet hold down the eight spot in the Conference. The East Division is no longer the best division in the AHL. The Northeast Division holds that distinction.

It could be worse. We could be all Iowa Wild fans and this blog could be named “Chirps from the Cornfield” or something. The Wild lost 9-2 in Grand Rapids tonight.

Back at it Sunday at 4 vs. the Norfolk Admirals. Gameday setup hits the blog at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!

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He didn’t get a star of the game tonight, but he should have. Jeff Zatkoff kept the Penguins in this game for about 50 minutes before Ryan Dzingel scored twice in 3:33 as the Binghamton Senators defeated the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in a bit of a role reversal by a score of 3-0.

The Penguins recalled Eric Hartzell and signed Paul Cianfirni to a PTO this morning. The initial thought with that move was that Jeff Zatkoff was heading to Pittsburgh, but that was not the case. He started tonight and opposed Scott Greenham.

Lineup looked like this…

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

I know what you are saying, that’s 13 skaters there. But, Drazenovic fell ill during warmups and was a late scratch.

Taylor Chorney – Barry Goers
Nick D’Agostino – Alex Boak
Clark Seymour – Paul Cianfrini

Add Reid McNeil to the ones who were ill that missed the game. Obie didn’t even tweet Cianfrini as part of the line rushes, so unless he was befuddled by who was in / out, he may not have taken warmups, thinking that McNeill was in.

Other news of the day was that the Penguins had signed center Jim O’Brien to an AHL deal out of the KHL, but it was announced at around 3 p.m. today that the Hershey Bears had claimed him off of AHL waivers. O’Brien, late of Binghamton, would have obviously helped the Penguins but he needed to stay on waivers for 72 hours for any other AHL team to get him. The Bears had been struggling of late to score goals so they claimed him. It is what it is.

First Period: Penguins played a strong period, but made one mistake. A Barry Goers exit pass to Matia Marcantuoni never connected and Max McCormick intercepted, snaked in and scored on a backhand shot that beat Zatkoff. Binghamton bent but didn’t break in the period. Dea led a charge with Sheary and he slid the puck on the goal line but not across and Jayson Megna found himself free for a second but fired high.

Second Period: As the period wore on, it was becoming more and more evident that Jeff Zatkoff was keeping the Penguins in the game. Wilkes-Barre was being outshot 14-5 this period and 31-14 aggregate for the game. What shots Greenham did face, he saved with ease. The one power play of the period was awarded to the Pens and Binghamton dealt with it handily.

Third Period: Pens could not manage to score on an early power play. Zatkoff made some more big saves before Dzingel sprung into action. Barry Goers fell down trailing him and he scored on to make it 2-0. Penguins would have to kill a Binghamton penalty and nearly scored their first shorthanded goal of the year with Dominik Uher and Jayson Megna doing work on the penalty kill. Later, Binghamton would lead an odd man rush up ice that developed into a 4-on-2 and Dzingel cashed again to ice the game at that point and make it 3-0.

Three Stars: 3) Darren Kramer (two assists, +3) 2) Ryan Dzingel (two goals, +2) and 1) Scott Greenham (31 save shutout)

Around the Division: Hershey defeats Lehigh Valley 4-2. Norfolk was idle.

Standings: Penguins 37 — Hershey 34 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Binghamton 29 — Norfolk 24

Conference: 1) MCH (44) 2) SPR (43) 3) WBS (37) 4) SYR (43) 5) HFD (36) 6) HER (34) 7) BRI (32) 8) PRO (32)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They play in South Carolina this weekend, meaning that Wilkes-Barre will likely need to look elsewhere for reinforcements if McNeill and Drazenovic are not healthy enough to go tomorrow or beyond.

SedToNews Highlights: Are packaged here.

No rest for the weary. Bridgeport is in tomorrow for a 7:05 start. Gameday for that will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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When I woke up to the news that the Pittsburgh Penguins had recalled Taylor Chorney and Derrick Pouliot from the Wilkes-Barre blue line, I thought that the Penguins were in trouble.

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The Binghamton Senators lead the AHL in goal scored with 3.41 goals scored a game. The Penguins were left with defensemen Reid McNeill, Alex Boak, Nick D’Agostino, Clark Seymour, Barry Goers and a guy they just signed to a PTO from Wheeling by the name of Paul Cianfrini who all have a combined number of NHL games as you or I have. Zero.

Suffice to say, Shimes didn’t have much to say tonight.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins scored three goals in the first period and got 35 saves from Jeff Zatkoff and cruised to victory tonight by a score of 3-0. It was Zatkoff’s third shutout and ties him for second overall in the AHL in that department.

They also killed off all five Binghamton power plays that referee Geno Binda awarded them tonight, including a 5-on-3 penalty late in the game with less than two minutes to play.

I’m convinced that Head Coach John Hynes can win with a pile of sand and a bunch of frayed rope.

Everything happened tonight in the first period. The Penguins had just gone 0-for-2 on consecutive power plays when Alex Boak put the puck on net. It deflected off of a Binghamton defenseman’s stick in front and rainbowed over the body of goaltender Scott Greenham and in for a 1-0 Penguin lead.

About four minutes later, the Penguins scored twice in the span of less than a minute. Nick Drazenovic and Conor Sheary scored. Drazenovic snaked through Binghamton defenders and Sheary scored his on a three on two rush. Goals came from nearly the same spot.

In the second, the B-Sens made a push to get on the board a few times but Zatkoff held them out with some dazzling pad stops.

In the third, the Pens held the B-Sens at bay and didn’t really take too many chances with the puck. That’s a nice way to say that they played a boring period. The final two minutes were anything but boring with fights everywhere, including a line brawl that washed out leaving the Penguins having to kill a 5-on-3.

Three stars were, all Penguins, Conor Sheary (goal, +1) 2) Alex Boak (goal, assist, +2) and Jeff Zatkoff (35 save shutout)

Worth noting here that the only lineup changes the Penguins made were Clark Seymour and Paul Cianfrini for Taylor Chorney (who was scratched tonight for Pittsburgh) and Derrick Pouliot (who scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot) Sahir Gill was the only healthy scratch the Penguins made.

Around the Division: Hershey lost 2-1 in overtime to the Springfield Falcons….Lehigh Valley did the same in Hartford by the same score and Norfolk beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers by the, you guessed it, same score only not in overtime but in regulation.

Standings: Penguins 37 — Hershey 32 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Binghamton 27 — Norfolk 24

Conference: 1) MCH (42) 2) SYR (41) 3) WBS (37) 4) SPR (41) 5) HFD (35) 6) PRO (32) 7) HER (32) 8) ALB (31)

Wheeling Update: You know, your heart goes out to Nailers fans and the team itself. A shorthanded Wheeling side lost 5-3 to the Greenville Road Warriors. Zack Torquato had two assists in the setback.

SendToNews Highlights: Are packaged here.

Penguins are off until December 26 when they face-off against Binghamton again in Binghamton. My Week 11 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog at 4 p.m. on Monday. Check those out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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All you need to know about this game, a 4-2 Penguins loss, is the following:

The Penguins allowed the Albany Devils to score three times on the power play tonight and it cost them. That was where the game was won and lost this evening. It was pretty equal at even strength in a tight checking, defensive battle. The Devils were just the better team on special teams tonight.

Let’s take a quick look around the AHL East at the other action before we get to the rest of the recap, shall we?

— The Hershey Bears couldn’t beat Phantoms goaltender Anthony Stolarz, even with 32 shots at him, including half in the first period (for a 16-1 shot advantage) and it cost them as they lost 2-0.
— The Binghamton Senators can’t play defense, up 4-1 at one point to the Springfield Falcons and lost 6-5. The fact that the B-Sens can’t play any defense at all cost them tonight.

So the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were extremely lucky to lay an egg tonight but still not have it cost them that badly in the division, as no matter what happens tomorrow, the Pens will still lead the East Division by Christmas.

It was 2-0 Albany after forty minutes of insomnia busting hockey before Conor Sheary connected in the third period on a power play goal that beat starting Devils goaltender Scott Clemmensen low to draw Wilkes-Barre within one with a lot of time to play.

But an Adam Payerl slash at 14:42 would put the Devils on the power play yet again and Brandon Burlon wasted no time in scoring the third Albany power play of the night that made it 3-1.

Fifteen seconds later, a soft floater off of the stick of Derrick Pouliot from the blue line beat Clemmensen to draw the Penguins to one again.

But time was the enemy of the Penguins and with starting goaltender Matt Murray pulled, ex-Penguin Paul Thompson buried the empty netter from center ice to squelch any comeback hopes.

John Hynes is in a tough spot. The Penguins sleepwalked through most of this game, but with half of his usual staff in Pittsburgh, how do you send a message? Clark Seymour and Sahir Gill were the healthy scratches tonight. Nick Drazenovic returned from injury and centered a line with Tom Kuhnhackl and Jayson Megna.

Jeff Zatkoff was reassigned from Pittsburgh this morning by the way. Eric Hartzell hasn’t been officially sent back to the ECHL yet, as he wasn’t with the Nailers tonight as they hosted Greenville, in a game that Wheeling lost 1-0.

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There was a bunch of stuff that went on Friday afternoon that I never got around to blogging about. In no set order,

On Thursday, it was announced that Bill Guerin will serve as one of the honorary captains of the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic in Utica. Guerin served as a player development coach here in Wilkes-Barre and now is an Assistant GM in Pittsburgh.

On Friday, it was announced that Tom Kostopoulos will serve as the honorary captain for the Eastern Conference All-Stars in Utica in late January. A dubious distinction for the veteran Kostopoulos, as the playing captains are selected by the AHL President, Dave Andrews.

Nice story here on Defenseman Derrick Pouliot.

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In other East Division action, the Norfolk Admirals were defeated 5-2 by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The two teams rematch tomorrow.

Penguin still lead the East with 35 points. Hershey trails by four, Lehigh Valley by five, Binghamton by eight and Norfolk by thirteen.

Conference is Manchester leading with 40, Syracuse with 39, Wilkes-Barre with 35 then Springfield with 39, Hartford with 33, Providence with 32 and Albany and Hershey with 31 each.

SendToNews highlights are packaged here. Unless your name is Tracey or Amy, nothing to see from a Wilkes-Barre perspective.

Pens are in Binghamton tomorrow night. I’ll be there. With two teams coming off stinkers the night prior, should be interesting.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The newspaper guys would love this one.

The Penguins, seemingly on their way to a five point weekend and a five point East Division lead over the rival Hershey Bears, are 2.7 seconds away from doing just that when Chris Brown walks into the Hershey offensive zone with time dripping off the clock, winds and fires and the puck somehow eludes starting goaltender Jeff Zatkoff. The Bears stun the Penguins and force overtime.

Enter Adam Payerl. A player who hasn’t scored a goal all season long and when the organization is healthy, has found himself a scratch more times than not. An overtime three on one leads to a four on one. A Conor Sheary shot off of Hershey starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer is saved, but Sheary follows his own rebound, dishes to Payerl who buries the shot past Grubauer sending the Penguins home with the win and Payerl and to a lesser degree Zatkoff, vindicated.

Someone with a journalism degree could write it a little differently than that, but the overall picture is painted and any reader to this blog should get the point.

A 3-2 overtime thriller win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and a four point cushion over the Bears to second with a ragtag scratch lineup bereft of stars. Five points out of the weekend. How John Hynes and Alain Nasreddine have managed this with the lineup pillaged from injuries to Pittsburgh stifles me.

Scott Harrington was recalled to Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. today. The Penguins didn’t have a single healthy scratch this afternoon. Here’s what the lineup looked like:

Tom Kostopoulos – Carter Rowney -Adam Payerl
Conor Sheary – J-S Dea – Jayson Megna
Tom Kuhnhackl – Sahir Gill – Josh Archibald
Pierre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Dom Uher

Reid McNeill – Taylor Chorney
Derrick Pouliot – Goers
Nick D’Agostino – Alex Boak

Jeff Zatkoff – Matt Murray

First Period: The goaltenders posts were the story of the period. Conor Sheary creates a turnover and rings one off the post. A while later, the Bears ding the post off a wacky shot from the blue line that rainbowed and clipped the top of Zatkoff’s net. Shots were 6-5 Penguins at the end of the first of a pretty even period.

Second Period: Bears get their first power play but don’t score but immediately thereafter went on another power play. You can’t do that if you are the Penguins. It cost them. Connor Carrick unloaded from the blue line and it went in.

The Penguins had a chance to tie it with a long period of 5-on-3 (1:53) but the Bears top penalty killing unit killed it all off.

Then, in a span of :38, the Penguins had the lead.

– J-S Dea cleaned up a rebound on a power play.
– Dominik Uher followed in similar fashion for the 2-1 lead.

Play opened up after that, but it went 2-1 into the….

Third Period: Penguins played that boring, don’t give up the lead, don’t make dumb mistakes style of hockey. The Bears hemmed Wilkes-Barre in a few sequences, but the time continued to drip down. With less than a minute and with Grubauer vacated, the Pens had a few shots at the empty net but didn’t capitalize. Brown came racing up the right wing and fired a shot that plum beat Zatkoff via the glove.

Overtime: A couple of chances both ways, but the Bears turn the puck over in their zone, Sheary and Payerl lead a two on one that developed into a three on one. Payerl overshot his pass to Sheary. Sheary needed to collect it, put a shot on net that Grubauer made a great save on that rebounded back to Sheary who passed to Payerl who ended it with a nice wrist shot on net.

Whew.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, even) 2) Dominik Uher (goal, +1) and 1) Adam Payerl (overtime game winning goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Albany finally wins a game in overtime, with a 4-3 win in Atlantic City against Lehigh Valley.

Standings: Penguins 35 — Hershey 31 — Binghamton 27 — Lehigh Valley 26 — Norfolk 22

Conference: 1) SPR (37) 2) MCH (36) 3) WBS (35) 4) SYR (35) 5) HFD (33) 6) HER (31) 7) PRO (30) 8) 8) ALB (29)

Wheeling Update: Nailers finally get a win against the Reading Royals by a score of 3-2. Eric Hartzell took home third star honors with 36 saves.

SendToNews Highlights: YouTube instead, cause it plays nice with WordPress…

Week 10 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog at 4 p.m. Monday. Check them out then. I’ll have whatever news or notes I can scrape throughout the week.

Let’s Go Pens!