Chirps from Center Ice

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Here’s a game that if the Penguins would have lost, it would have been a deserved loss.

With about 10 minutes to play in the second period, Josh Archibald picks off a D to D pass and springs Conor Sheary. Sheary breaks in and finishes on the backhand to make it 4-1. At that point, the Penguins were running away.

But the Pens forgot to take that next step in order to run, and Binghamton finally found the gas pedal. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. In soccer they call it possession time, well that’s all Binghamton had was possession time. Finally, they made it a 4-3 game thanks to two power play goals. But the time ran out in the second period, the Penguins clamped down in the third, and it was a 6-4 final tonight at the Broome County Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.

Wilkes-Barre’s penalty kill was awful. Every power play that Binghamton had, they scored on. Largely due in part to Matt Puempel and Chris Wideman, who were a combined 3-4-7

Matt Murray vs. Andrew Hammond.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Jayson Megna
Josh Archibald – JS Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Conor Sheary – Carter Rowney – Bryan Rust
Bobby Farnham – Dominik Uher – Tom Kuhnhackl

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Philip Samuelsson – Derrick Pouliot
Reid McNeill – Alex Boak

Murray – Hartzell

Lineup Notes: Beau Bennett had a planned night off in the three in three. He will likely play tomorrow vs. Syracuse….Andrew Ebbett was playing in his 300th AHL game and 500th game as a professional.

First Period: Crisp first period by both teams. Bryan Rust tipped in a Derrick Pouliot shot on the power play and Binghamton returned fire in a similar way minutes later when Patrick Mullen tipped in a Chris Wideman shot to even the score at 1.

Second Period: Pens poured it on later then got poured on late. Bryan Rust scored his second of the contest on a busted play by Binghamton, which looked like a crossed up, “hey you have that guy, no you do” play. Josh Archibald tipped in a Brian Dumoulin shot that made it 3-1, then Archibald sprung Sheary who made it 4-1.

Chris Wideman made it 4-2 on the power play. Matt Puempel made it 4-3 on another power play. Interestingly enough, all power play goals to this point scored by Binghamton came when Reid McNeill was whistled for some type of infraction.

Third Period: Penguins came out and played defense. Also, much, much more disciplined. Finally Andrew Ebbett scored on a rebound of a Jayson Megna drive to the net to make out 5-3 and give the Penguins breathing room. A big goal at the time. Carter Rowney busted in and made it 6-3 which sealed it. Binghamton pulled Hammond late and scored a power play goal when the Pens were skating with three men due to penalties. Guess who? Matt Puempel again.

Three Stars: 3) Josh Archibald (goal, assist, +2) 2) Chris Wideman (goal, three assists, -1) and 1) Bryan Rust (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Norfolk coughed up a 4-1 lead and lost 5-4 in Syracuse….Hershey fights back from being down 2-0 and beats Hartford 4-2…Lehigh Valley was shutout in Portland 3-0.

Standings: Hershey 15 — Penguins 15 — Lehigh Valley 11 — Norfolk 10 — Binghamton 10

Conference: 1) HFD (15) 2) WOR (15) 3) HER (15) 4) BRI (15) 5) WBS (15) 6) ALB (14) 7) POR (14) 8) PRO (13)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 4-3 in Cincinnati over the Cyclones for Clark Donatelli’s 100th win as a head coach. Zack Torquato had a goal and Matia Marcantuoni had an assist.

SendToNews Highlights: Packaged here.

Pens look for a perfect weekend when they host the Syracuse Crunch at 4:05. Gameday for this will be at noon Sunday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It would have been a shame if the Penguins lost this game tonight.

Wilkes-Barre badly outshot and outplayed the Hershey Bears tonight through two periods of hockey and faced a 2-0 deficit on the scoreboard despite the 19-9 shots advantage through 40 minutes.

The Bears, to this point though, were capitalizing on opportunities in the game. The Penguins were too, they just couldn’t get anything by starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

Then, in the third period, the luck changed.

Taylor Chorney would get the Penguins on the board first with a power move to the net and slipped one past Grubauer to put the Penguins on the board at about the 10 minute mark.

The Pens knocked, and knocked, and knocked some more.

Then, with under 1:17 left and starting goaltender Matt Murray vacated from his crease, Taylor Chorney put a shot on net that went through bodies and Jayson Megna got the last of it to tie the game at two.

Then, at 1:01 of overtime, Megna ended it to give the Penguins the thrilling and much deserved 3-2 overtime come back win. The play was set up by a nice down low cycle by Beau Bennett who passed to Derrick Pouliot who found a wide open Megna at the far post who buried the game winner.

Prior to all of this, the two teams skated to a scoreless draw in the first period where the Penguins held the Bears to just two shots on goal. In the second, Hershey got their two goals when they started the second period full of vim and vigor. A Jon Landry cannon shot from the blue line eluded Murray with traffic in front of him. The Bears later doubled the lead with a laser by Casey Wellman.

There was a play in between Bears goals where Beau Bennett rang the pipe loudly. The puck must have popped in the air and hit Grubauer’s back and slid in the net. Referee Ryan Murphy had, “intent to blow” because he must have lost the puck and the would be goal didn’t count and wasn’t reviewable.

The Penguins stayed disciplined tonight. Hershey was held to just one power play, and that came with a minute of four on four before it. My keys to the game were stay out of the box and limit Hershey’s big guns. The Penguins did just that.

Three Stars were: 3) Derrick Pouliot (two assists, +1) 2) Taylor Chorney (goal, assist, +3) and 1) Jayson Megna (two goals, +3)

I thought Philipp Grubauer played well enough to garner at least third star honors. But circumstances being what they were, he gets left out.

Bobby Farnham, Pierre Leblond, Nick D’Agostino and Conor Sheary were your healthy scratches. Carter Rowney, Josh Archibald and Beau Bennett made their WBS debuts. Bennett played on a line with Andrew Ebbett and Jayson Megna. How many points would those three put up in a 76 game AHL season? 100? 125? 150?

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley won up in New Hampshire 3-2….Norfolk beat Syracuse in overtime 4-3 and Binghamton’s losing streak is over as they beat Rochester 3-1.

Standings: Hershey 13 — Penguins 13 — Lehigh Valley 11 — Norfolk 10 — Binghamton 10

Conference: 1) HFD (15) 2) WOR (13) 3) HER (13) 4) ALB (14) 5) PRO (13) 6) BRI (13) 7) WBS (13) 8) SPR (13)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Evansville IceMen 6-3 in Indiana tonight. Matia Marcantuoni had all three goals for the Nailers in the loss.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here in YouTube fashion:

Pens head up I-81 for a date with the Binghamton Senators tomorrow. Gameday for that will be here on the blog at 3 p.m. I’ll be making the journey also. I’ll have pictures of the newly renovated place with new video boards and stuff.

* – ran a pun contest on Twitter off of the Megna goals and Kaitlyn won two tickets to an upcoming Penguins game with the headline suggestion. And apparently a Megalodon was an actual thing. It was a shark. We here at Chirps from Center Ice strive to educate and humor at the same time.

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The Penguins may only lose games to teams that play the way the Norfolk Admirals played tonight.

The Admirals, winners 2-1 tonight, bottled up the Penguins at requisite times, jumped out to a 2-0 lead and Norfolk Admirals starting goaltender Jason LaBarbera made the necessary saves late to preserve the big win for what was a floundering Admirals team and sweep the Penguins on Hampton Roads this weekend.

Matt Murray vs. the aforementioned Jason LaBarbera

Lines were….

Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Tom Kostopoulos
Conor Sheary – JS Dea – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Adam Payerl – Dominik Uher
Pierre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington – Philip Samuelsson
Reid McNeill – Alex Boak

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Sheary’s first appearance since October 12 vs. Manchester and Boak’s first appearance since October 18 at St. John’s.

Anton Zlobin and Barry Goers are the two latest names on the injury list. Goers took a shot in the game late and is out with an upper body injury. Zlobin is week to week with an upper body injury. The others are still the status quo.

First Period: Two things happened in this period that happen in nearly every Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins game this season:

1) Tom Kostopoulos took a dumb penalty (a cross-checking minor, his 10th minor penalty which leads the entire AHL)
2) On the ensuing Norfolk power play, Andrew Ebbett led a shorthanded rush up ice with Tom Kuhnhackl and DID NOT SHOOT. Rather, he tried to pass it to Kuhnhackl and over passed, on the ensuing odd man rush up ice, Jesse Winchester fired a low wrist shot that beat Murray five-hole.

Kostopoulos takes dumb penalties every game and Ebbett never shoots. Like clockwork.

Oh, the Penguins were held to just one shot on goal in the period.

Second Period: Not much happened the Penguins way. They had a sustained offensive rush of shots on net about halfway through the second, but that was about it. The teams traded power plays but neither capitalized. Late, Matt Murray turned a puck over behind his net that Dave Steckel picked off. Steckel centered a pass to Nic Kerdiles, who picked his spot and doubled the Admirals lead at 2-0.

Third Period: Penguins didn’t do themselves any favors in taking two penalties in the period to put themselves in a further hole. They would get the kills and started to chip away. Finally, Tom Kostopoulos steals an Admirals clearing bid and puts a shot on net that rebounds to a wide open Conor Sheary who scored to put the Pens on the board. LaBarbera would make two huge saves, one on his rump and the other with Murray pulled, to preserve the 2-1 win for the home team.

The Penguins, as fate would have it, manage to outshoot the Admirals 15-6 in the period, and 23-19 for the game.

I wouldn’t pin this loss on Matt Murray as much as I would the overall lack of team effort to generate anything resembling a solid offensive chance. Credit the Admirals, who came into the weekend with a game plan of limiting Wilkes-Barre shots, and sticking to it.

Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (goal, +1) 2) Jason LaBarbera (22 saves on 23 shots) and 1) Brad Winchester (goal, even)

Around the Division: The Penguins passed up a golden opportunity to pass the Hershey Bears for first in the division as the Bears lost 5-4 in Worcester in a wild one….Binghamton lost 6-3 to Syracuse and Lehigh Valley lost 4-2 to Hartford.

Standings: Hershey 12 — Penguins 11 — Lehigh Valley 9 — Norfolk 8 — Binghamton 8

Conference: 1) ALB (13) 2) HER (12) 3) WOR (11) 4) PRO (11) 5) HFD (11) 6) BRI (11) 7) WBS (11) 8) LV (10)

Wheeling Update: Nailers hold on and win 3-2 at home against the Reading Royals. Clark Seymour was a +1. Harrison Ruopp cancelled him out with a -1.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Make sure you turn your clocks back Sunday.

Pens are back in action again Friday at home vs. Hershey. Monday will see the Week 4 AHL Power Rankings. Tuesday I will have a blog piece about my Chart that I have a dedicated page on. Check that out if you haven’t already and see me Tuesday here on the blog for some thoughts once I update it from this weekends action on Tuesday.

But for breaking news, talk to you again Monday. Latest always on Twitter.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I really won’t know what to diagnose of this game, a 3-2 Penguins overtime loss to the Norfolk Admirals, until I see the two teams rematch tomorrow night.

The Admirals have been playing really poor hockey as of late. They went on a trip through New England last weekend and lost all three games played and were shutout twice. Not exactly a team that’s lighting the league on fire at current.

The Penguins meanwhile, jumped out to 1-0 and 2-1 leads and let them slip away, but earn the overtime loser point.

They do it over again at 7:15 in Virginia.

Matt Murray vs. Jason LaBarbera

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Andrew Ebbett – Anton Zlobin
Tom Kuhnhackl – JS Dea – Bryan Rust
Dom Uher – Zack Torquato – Tom Kostopoulos
Pierre Leblond – Adam Payerl – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington – Philip Samuelsson
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

Yes, that’s Reid McNeill’s name, on the third D pairing with Barry Goers. We all thought following the Lehigh Valley game Wednesday that McNeill for sure broke his hand blocking a shot. We were all wrong.

Derrick Pouliot is day to day with an upper body injury and did not make the trip. Obie said on radio that Pouliot could be ready to go next week….Alex Boak took warmups…..Conor Sheary took the morning skate but is still day to day. Sheary is apparently closer to a return than Josh Archibald who is skating but still listed as day to day. Archibald is closer than Nick Drazenovic, who is still week to week.

First Period: Pens get two tries on the power play but don’t score. Bryan Rust takes this hard hit from Bryan Allen for some Bryan on Bryan violence but was fine. No penalty was called on the play.

Later, Barry Goers scored this goal, his first in 10 months to put the Penguins on the board. Edit: The goal was changed to Dominik Uher.

Norfolk responded with their first real threat of the game with some shots towards Murray, but nothing came of it.

Later, Nathan McIver issued this hit on Anton Zlobin in the corner which only drew a 2:00 minor. Zlobin went to the dressing room and did not return.

Brandon Yip scored his first goal of the night off of a rebound which handcuffed Murray.

All of the action that was present in the first period was pretty absent in the….

Second Period: This fight between Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Steve MacIntyre highlighted an otherwise average second period. Here’s the embed of the fight…

Please let me know on Twitter or here in comments if you can see the video of the fight on your device. Whether it’s mobile or computer.

Oh, this 2-on-1 save by Matt Murray was another highlight of the second period.

Third Period: Tom Kostopoulos scored this goal to put the Penguins ahead 2-1. But :34 later, Chris Wagner scored to tie the game again. After a review, referee Geno Binda confirmed the call on the ice. It looked at first pass that Wagner kicked the puck in but Binda took one look at the replay and confirmed his call.

In hindsight, that goal took all the wind out of the WBS sails. I can’t recall another good scoring chance after the Kostopoulos goal.

Overtime: Yip ended it rather quick. A Penguin blocked a shot on net that they never tracked, the puck was passed over to Yip who buried it for the game winner.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1) 2) Chris Wagner (goal, assist, +2) 1) Brandon Yip (two goals, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey cruises in Manchester with a 4-0 win. The Bears have not allowed a goal in 159:36, when Jayson Megna scored a goal for the Penguins last Saturday….Binghamton wins in overtime against the Utica Comets 4-3. Comets goaltender Jacob Markstrom did not get the AHL all time shutout streak tonight. Lehigh Valley was off.

Standings: Hershey 12 — Penguins 11 — Lehigh Valley 9 — Binghamton 8 — Norfolk 6

Conference: 1) ALB (13) 2) HER (12) 3) WOR (9) 4) WBS (11) 5) HFD (9) 6) LV (9) 7) PRO (9) 8) BRI (9)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight. They host the Reading Royals tomorrow at WesBanco Arena.

SendToNews Highlights: Aren’t up yet. Check back soon.

The two teams rematch tomorrow. Gameday will be up Saturday at 3:15.

Let’s Go Pens!

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So this Penguins / Phantoms rivalry is going to be a great one. I’ve been following this team for the better part of five years and haven’t witnessed a regular season game that had such high tension and drama. If there were instant classics in the AHL for games in October, this game, a 2-1 Penguins overtime thriller, certainly would take the cake.

The Phantoms spoiled the party for the Penguins in their home opener two and a half weeks ago. The Penguins dealt the Phantoms their first loss on home ice tonight. J-S Dea had the game winner in overtime.

Matt Murray opposed Rob Zepp tonight. Murray is a rookie appearing in just his fifth pro start. You couldn’t tell tonight. Murray played like a seasoned veteran and kept the Penguins in the game all night long. Murray stopped 42 of 43 shots.

The Penguins may be dealing with more injuries as Reid McNeill left the game blocking a shot on the penalty kill and Derrick Pouliot left the game later when he was checked and tumbled into the boards. It looked almost like a whiplash of sorts.

Wilkes-Barre was 9-for-9 on the penalty kill including several Phantoms 5-on-3s that referees Mike Mullen and David Banfield handed out like Halloween candy.

Lehigh Valley was without its top three defensemen on recall to Philadelphia. Brandon Manning, Mark Alt and Shayne Gotisbehere to name two.

The Penguins scored on a five on three when Derrick Pouliot twirled around in the slot to a wide open Andrew Ebbett who pushed the puck across to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the first.

Murray made what was probably the banner save of the night diving across to deny Scott Laughton on a 2-on-1 in the first period.

Then with about five minutes left in the second period, Zack Stortini tied the game at one a piece with a trailing roof shot on Murray as part of a 2-on-1.

The third period felt like it was spent entirely on the penalty kill as the the Penguins were whistled for three infractions. They managed to kill them all with relative ease. What did get to Murray was stopped without much trouble, as Murray didn’t allow many rebounds.

Overtime didn’t stop the penalties. The Phantoms didn’t score on theirs thanks to more big time saves by Murray. The Pens did on theirs after a John Hynes time out.

J-S Dea ended it off of a face off play that came immediately after the timeout.

Three stars were 3) Rob Zepp (30 of 32 saves) 2) Matt Murray (42 of 43 saves) and 1) Zack Stortini (goal, +1)

Binghamton lost to Utica 3-2 in regulation. Hershey and Norfolk were off.

Wilkes-Barre heads to Norfolk Thursday. Hynes did not have an update on the conditions of McNeill and Pouliot after the game and Jayson Megna was recalled to Pittsburgh Thursday morning.

Here are the highlights from last night’s game…

Let’s Go Pens!

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Let me know if at the end of this game, a 3-2 Penguins victory, you stood up out of your seat at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza or out of your chair at home or apartment and breathed a sigh of relief.

The Penguins were badly outclassed the night before in Hershey and couldn’t get out of their own way. They soundly beat the fluttering Springfield Falcons Friday night but you just weren’t sure.

With Eric Hartzell back in net for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton today, more uncertainty. Hartzell has been bad in your recent memory, was shipped to Wheeling late last year and wasn’t seen at all when the Penguins went through the Calder Cup Playoffs last Spring.

You weren’t alone. As I got up out of my seat at the Arena, that feeling of a ton of bricks off your shoulders kicked in. Not just for me, but more likely for the man in goal tonight for the Penguins, that being Eric Hartzell.

This past weekend, the Penguins were 2-1. Not the greatest, but better than most.

Wilkes-Barre peppered Binghamton Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond, firing 40 shots at the netminder. They looked sound for a good majority of the game and controlled a great portion of it.

Hartzell, for what it’s worth, looked steady. He got beat twice, one by Chris Wideman as he drove to the slot and whipped a shot past Hartzell’s glove to cut the B-Sens deficit to one late in the first and again in the second, while Binghamton was on the power play. A rebound popped high in the air and was batted in the net legally by Cole Schneider.

The Penguins raced to a 2-0 lead in the first period when Matt Rust powered past a Binghamton defender and fired a shot on net that Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos cashed in on to make it 1-0. Later, on a power play, Derrick Pouliot would score his first professional goal to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Penguins were furious in the third period, outshooting Binghamton 16-5. Andrew Ebbett was camped out on Hammon’ds crease and popped home a rebound of his own shot to extend the lead to 3-2.

Wilkes-Barre had to kill a late Binghamton penalty with Adam Payerl in the box for interference on the goaltender. The B-Sens hit the post on the power play but never found the equalizing goal.

Bobby Farnham served his one-game suspension from his instigator penalty in the final five minutes of the Hershey game Saturday night. This topic was well covered here, so no need to rehash any of that.

Nick Drazenovic did not play either, he is week to week with a lower body injury, per Tom Venesky.

Essentially it was Adam Payerl and Anton Zlobin in for Farnham and Drazenovic.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal) 2) Derrick Pouliot (goal, assist) and 1) Andrew Ebbett (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-0. Norfolk was shutout in Hartford, 3-0. That is the second shutout the Admrials have suffered this weekend.

Standings: Hershey 10 — Lehigh Valley 8 — Penguins 8 — Binghamton 6 — Norfolk 4

Conference: 1) ALB (11) 2) HER (10) 3) WOR (9) 4) PRO (9) 5) HFD (9) 6) BRI (9) 7) STJ (9) 8) LV (8) 9) WBS (8)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They are in Reading Thursday.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

My Power Rankings hit the blog tomorrow at 4. I will have the Charts refresh Tuesday too. Pens travel to Allentown for the first time ever when they take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins lost this game, a 4-1 setback to the Hershey Bears, by way of special teams. Plain and simple.

The Hershey Bears go 3-for-9 on the power play tonight, and that was your ballgame. The Penguins were 0-for-5 on the power play themselves. No need to read anymore or get upset over the struggling Penguins losing another game or to place blame. But, since you are already here, may as well stay for the story, right?

Matt Murray vs. Philipp Grubauer

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Nick Drazenovic – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Kuhnhackl – Andrew Ebbett – Jayson Megna
Dominik Uher – Zack Torquato – Bryan Rust
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Derrick Pouliot – Philip Samuelsson
Reid McNeill – Scott Harrington

Matt Murray – Eric Hartzell

So essentially Matia Marcantuoni and Pierre Leblond for J-S Dea and Anton Zlobin.

First Period: Grubauer and Murray trade early big saves. Pens get a power play but don’t score. Bears get a power play and do. A diving Uher clear banks in off of Tim Kennedy and in. Then, :40 later, a Dane Byers pass ticketed for Chandler Stephenson hits a sliding Brian Dumoulin and in for a 2-0 Bears lead. Pens never established anything after that.

Second Period: :24 in, Jayson Megna scores to cut the Hershey deficit to one on a nice Andrew Ebbett pass of the Grubauer pads play. Pens get another power play immediately after the Megna goal but fail to cash. The Penguins would continue to pressure but would not crack Grubauer. Casey Wellman would score on a Bears power play to make it 3-1. Later, Dustin Gazley would get hooked down by Brian Dumoulin and cash on the penalty shot to make it 4-1.

Third Period: Bears don’t manage a single shot on goal for about fifteen minutes in, but they weren’t focused on tacking on more goals as much as they we’re about stopping any kinds of a comeback by Wilkes-Barre. The Bears let three quick goals get scored on them late yesterday against the Phantoms and lost a game that they otherwise controlled. The strategy worked and the Penguins didn’t get any closer.

Note: Nick Drazenovic did not finish the game. Tom Venesky of The Times Leader made mention that Drazenovic had been skating gingerly all night long. I saw on the AHL Live feed Drazenovic get hooked down on a face-off in the first period and he really wasn’t the same since. He did try to comeback in the second period but was not out for the third. Hynes told Venesky post game that Drazenovic will be evaluated on the bus ride back and they will know more tomorrow.

Also, Bobby Farnham was assessed an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of the game, which carries an automatic one game suspension. From the AHL Rule Book…

46.12 Instigator in Final Five Minutes of Regulation Time (or Anytime in Overtime) – A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime shall be assessed an instigator minor penalty, a major penalty for fighting, and a game misconduct penalty, subject to the conditions outlined in 46.22.

…

46.22 Fines and Suspensions – Instigator in Final Five Minutes of Regulation Time (or Anytime in Overtime) – A player who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at any time in overtime (see 46.12), shall automatically be suspended for one game. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent offense. This suspension shall be served in addition to any other automatic suspensions a player may incur for an accumulation of three or more instigator penalties.

When the one-game suspension is imposed, the player’s Coach and Club shall each be fined five hundred dollars ($500) – a fine that will double for each subsequent incident.

Three Stars: 3) Dane Byers (goal, +1) 2) Philipp Grubauer (26 saves on 27 shots) 1) Tomas Kundratek (three assists)

Around the Division: Binghamton gets two late goals real quick to force overtime against Lehigh Valley but ultimately lose in overtime, 5-4. Phantoms are looking like the real deal early….Norfolk loses 6-3 to Springfield, ex-Penguin Brian Gibbons was named first star of the game with a goal and an assist.

Standings: Lehigh Valley 8 — Hershey 8 — Binghamton 6 — Penguin 6 — Norfolk 4

Conference: 1) ALB (11) 2) PRO (9) 3) LV (8) 4) STJ (9) 5) HER (8) 6) WOR (7) 7) HFD (7) 8) SYR (7) 12) WBS (6)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers rebound from last nights 5-0 loss to Gwinnett with a 5-1 win in South Carolina against the Stingrays.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens are at it again tomorrow against Binghamton. Gameday for this will post to the blog at noon, with game action coming at you at 4 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!