Chirps from Center Ice

News of the day was that Jeff Zatkoff, Taylor Chorney, Andrew Ebbett, Zach Sill all cleared waivers. Zatkoff is headed down. Chorney, Sill and Ebbett remain up with Pittsburgh and can get sent here at any point within the next thirty days or ten NHL games, whichever comes first.

I think it’s a safe bet to say that Nolan Schaefer will be released at some point this week. Edit: Schaefer was indeed released.

Anyway, this game. 220 penalty minutes, 12 fighting majors and four game misconducts.

But none of this will matter, as this was just a preseason game. The Bears dressed a much more experienced lineup while the Penguins dressed, well let’s take a look…

Lines were:

Anton Zlobin-JS Dea-Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson-Matia Marcantuoni-Josh Archibald
Tom Kuhnhackl-Adam Payerl-Dominik Uher
Carter Rowney-Tyler Murovich-Pat McGrath

Reid McNeill-Alex Boak
Nick D’Agostino-Clark Seymour
Jonathan Narbonne-Kevin Ryan

Hartzell-Murray

Scratches were:

Nolan Schaefer, Philip Samuelsson, Brian Dumoulin, Conor Sheary, Nick Drazenovic, Jayson Megna, Harrison Ruopp, Bobby Farnham, Tom Kostopoulos, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Barry Goers

Bears basically blitzkrieged the Penguins from the jump. Stan Galiev on a power play early on, Joel Broda tacks on another off a rebound, Chris Conner toasting Jonathan Narbonne, Broda again on a nice tic-tac-toe pass setup, Garrett Mitchell on the third power play of the game and then Erik Burgdoerfer for the fourth power play of the game for the Bears. Bryan Rust scored in the third period on a power play goal that broke up Philipp Grubauer’s shutout bid for the Penguins.

In between, a lot of fights. I wasn’t at the game and it wasn’t being televised so I relied on my ears. Let’s just say that Patrick McGrath endeared himself to the Hershey faithful by engaging in agitation and fisticuffs. His shenanigans at one point gave the Bears a 9:00 power play. McGrath was ejected afterwards. Whether his performance this weekend was enough to win him a sport for next Saturday night remains to be seen.

Not much else to recap. The Penguins didn’t dress a lineup you should expect to see at any point this season, while the Bears dressed a more experienced lineup. The results showed.

So that’s all for preseason.

At midnight tonight, the first of my Chirps from Center Ice AHL Previews hits the blog. It’s where I do previews of each AHL team. I start in the Western Conference. Here is the schedule for that this week on the blog:

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Plus whatever newsworthy things worth blogging about this week, sandwiched in between these Previews. Be on the lookout for these all week.

First, the news of the day was Bobby Farnham and Brian Dumoulin were assigned to Wilkes-Barre and Taylor Chorney, Andrew Ebbett, Zach Sill and Jeff Zatkoff have been placed on waivers. We will know by noon Sunday whether they clear. I’ll leave the speculation as to what can happen amongst yourselves. I’ll have a blurb about what happens in tomorrows recap of the final preseason game in Hershey.

But about tonight’s game against Hershey, a 4-2 Penguins win. Another solid effort by the Penguins, who started out slow, finding themselves down 1-0 early after Nathan Walker was sprung on a breakaway and put one behind starting goaltender Matt Murray. Murray played the entire game and was backed up by Eric Hartzell. Hartzell will go the distance tomorrow in Hershey. These two are battling for the second spot in Wilkes-Barre, depending on what becomes of Jeff Zatkoff Sunday at noon.

The Penguins came to life in the second period. The Bears were on a power play and Jayson Megna stole a puck off of a Bear at the blue line, skated the length of the ice and dishes to Josh Archbald who scored. Murray, meanwhile, was making great save after save, in this sequence robbing Dustin Gazley after a nice setup by Kris Newbury.

Patrick McGrath, the local product in the lineup for the Penguins, fought Mike Cajkovsky, who had a size advantage. I Instagrammed the fight, which you can see here.

Penguins later score on a power play when J-S Dea cleaned up a rebound and pushed the Pens ahead 2-1.

In the third, Jayson Megna stepped by a guy and hit the post and the puck went high in the air, Scott Wilson boxed a guy out and knocked it in and scored to make it 3-1. Later, when the sides were 4-on-4, Nick D’Agostino took a shot from the blue line that never hit the net, but Bryan Rust was there to get the rebound off of the boards to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

Bears would get one back but no more as the Penguins would hold on.

Lines were:

Tom Kuhnhackl-Jayson Megna-Josh Archibald
Scott Wilson-Conor Sheary-Bryan Rust
Anton Zlobin-J-S Dea-Tom Kostopoulos
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Patrick McGrath

Philip Samuelsson-Barry Goers
Reid McNeill-Harrison Ruopp
Nick D’Agostino-Alex Boak

Murray-Hartzell

Scratches were:

Clark Seymour, Brian Dumoulin, Nick Drazenovic, Carter Rowney, Bobby Farnham, Dominik Uher, Adam Payerl, Kevin Ryan, Jonathan Narbonne, Tyler Murovich.

It’s hard to take anything away from preseason games. I thought that the rookie forwards showed themselves well. It’s probably going to come down to a numbers thing for guys like Alex Boak and Tyler Murovich. I’d like my chances with the first three lines we dressed tonight going into regular season play. No one was a glaring liability out there, really. We will have to see what Hynes & Company come up with this week as far as cuts go.

Pens wrap up the preseason with a 5:00 p.m. visit to Hershey. I’ll have some post game words then.

Programming note: The first of my AHL Previews hits the blog Monday at midnight. Be on the look for my North Division Preview at that time, then the Midwest Division at noon Monday as I go two-for-Monday. The schedule after that is West Division Tuesday, Atlantic Division Wednesday, Northeast Division Thursday and East Division Friday.

I don’t go heavy with the graphics or silly pun headlines when I type up preseason game recaps. Hey, it’s preseason for bloggers too.

The Penguins beat the Utica Comets tonight by a score of 4-2. Goals were scored by Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Scott Wilson and Nick D’Agostino. The Penguins defense really clamped down on the Utica offense, only allowing the Comets two even strength goals through nearly 30 minutes of playing time.

Eric Hartzell started the game for the Penguins in goal and stopped all nine shots faced. Two of those nine were even strength shots, seven came when Utica had extended 5-on-3 time. He split the net with Matt Murray.

Lines were…

Tom Kuhnhackl-Jayson Megna-Carter Rowney
Anton Zlobin-Conor Sheary-Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson-J-S Dea-Josh Archibald
Tyler Murovich-Matia Marcantuoni-Adam Payerl

Reid McNeill-Barry Goers
Nick D’Agostino-Harrison Ruopp
Clark Seymour-Alex Boak

The Penguins scratched Nolan Schaefer, Philip Samuelsson, Nick Drazenovic, Dom Uher, Tom Kostopoulos, Patrick McGrath, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Kevin Ryan and Jonathan Narbonne

Jayson Megna, Adam Payerl and Barry Goers wore the A’s tonight.

I liked the chemistry from the Sheary / Rust line. They played in sync with one another, and with a sniper like Zlobin, will be formidable for the opposition this season.

You don’t want to take much away from a preseason game, but the Penguins defense shut down Utica tonight and it showed. No shots for the Comets for about ten minutes in. What Hartzell saw with his team shorthanded he stopped.

Goals came like this…

— Conor Sheary set up Bryan Rust in the slot after he made a nice play on a pass off the pads of starting Comets goaltender Jacob Markstrom to give the Penguins the lead in the first period.

— Penguins scored a power play goal when Jayson Megna won an offensive zone face-off to Scott Wilson who fired it in from the blue line through traffic and past Markstrom for a 2-0 Penguins lead in the first.

— Another pass off the pads play that finds its way to Conor Sheary who scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead in the second period. Setup by a nice play by, who else, Bryan Rust.

— Matt Murray was beat by a slap shot which may have deflected off of a Penguin stick to make it 3-1.

— Nick D’Agostino scored a goal with a shot from the blue line that grew eyes and found its way through bodies, off the post and in. D’Agostino scored his first pro goal against Utica last December from almost the same spot.

— Comets get a late goal to make it 4-2. Murray didn’t look set and it almost looked like it caught him by surprise.

So that’s it. You don’t take too much stock in a preseason game, but the other team is an American Hockey League team with American Hockey League players, so it’s nice to see the Penguins control and dictate the pace of play regardless of whether there is points on the line or not.

Penguins get back at it Saturday night at home vs. the Hershey Bears. I’d expect some roster moves between now and then and if so, we will blog about them.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Here’s a synopsis of the series that occurred early in this game:

At 4:42 of the first period, IceCaps forward Kael Mouillierat high sticks defenseman Simon Despres and draws blood. It’s a 4:00 power play for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and an early chance to do some real damage on the man advantage.

Instead, the Penguins don’t manage much of an offensive stay in the zone, come in offsides a lot and looked jumbled, as they have all series long. The St. John’s IceCaps kill it.

The rest, is history.

Eric O’Dell would score on a power play late in the first when Brian Dumoulin turns over a puck in front of starting goaltender Peter Mannino. Simon Despres gets called for holding that leads to the IceCaps power play goal.

In the second period, the Penguins cycle and buzz around and St. John’s goaltender Michael Hutchinson faces a barrage of shots from Tom Kostopoulos and Barry Goers but withstand it.

The very next shift, Adam Lowry is left alone on the near post as a puck is wheeled around Mannino’s net and it’s 2-0 St. John’s.

Wilkes-Barre doesn’t manage much of an offensive threat the rest of the period. Hutchinson made a big save on Mike Carman somewhere in between. He later would stop a late rush by the Penguins in the final minute.

Any chances of a Wilkes-Barre comeback were squelched early.

A blast from the top of the blue line, Blair Riley tips it in for a 3-0 IceCaps lead.

Zach Redmond scores through a screen seconds after a St. John’s power play for a 4-0 IceCaps lead.

The rout was on.

John Hynes would pull Peter Mannino with about nine minutes left. Andrew Ebbett was absolutely denied by Hutchinson back door.

Through confusion, Wilkes-Barre would take a few too many men calls.

Late, IceCaps captain Jason Jaffray scores from his own blue line into a Wilkes-Barre open net in the final minute for a 5-0 victory as the St. John’s IceCaps defeat the Penguins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals and advance to the Calder Cup Finals. .

For the first time in over ten years, an East Division team will not represent the Eastern Conference in the Calder Cup Finals.

It will be the St. John’s IceCaps, who really have been the best team in the Conference all season long. Manchester and Springfield won their divisions but were both bounced in the first round. Binghamton won the East Division, but there are five great teams in that division that constantly beat the snot out of each other from October to April. Albany was surprise this season but relied more on defense and never could get the goals needed to win playoff games. Providence is a young, raw team that is a move or two away from being a powerhouse. Norfolk’s dreams went up in smoke when G John Gibson went up to Anaheim.

Untimely injuries to Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett with the inability to score a single power play goal in six games against the St. John’s IceCaps were the ultimate undoing for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins this postseason.

So here we are again, another playoff year with nothing to show for it.

If you are a fan that demands Calder Cups year after year, then yes. You have every right to be upset.

I like to look at the bigger picture. It helps me keep my sanity. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are a powerhouse AHL franchise. Twelve consecutive playoff appearances and back to back Conference Finals appearances are extremely hard for any rational person to argue against.

There’s likely to be a lot of roster turnover this offseason. Simon Despres, Andrew Ebbett, Brian Gibbons, Zach Sill, Chuck Kobasew and others look to be moving on.

But refresh. Conor Sheary, Matt Rust, Josh Archibald, Matt Murray and others are this teams immediate future.

Add those to the offseason acquisitions that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins will undoubtedly make this summer and it’s looking good for next season. If you are a free agent this summer with an eye on the AHL, Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre is where you will want to play, in the best division with one of the best teams out there.

A lot of people that I have to thank that make this easy and fun for a guy that works in a box and pushes paper for an actual living 9-5 Monday thru Friday. Here goes….

Personally, I’d like to thank Brian Coe and the whole Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins front office for another successful season.

Was a great first year for Mike O’Brien as the Voice of the Penguins. Russ Hryvnak doing the stories and compiling stats on game nights. It’s easy as a math illiterate as myself to have capable stats guys that do the work for you and all I have to do is hit the Twitter retweet button.

I model myself after true professionals like Jonathan Bombulie and Tom Venesky who write for the local papers and cover this team from all angles.

My best to the St. John’s IceCaps, their fans and media in the Finals.

Jason Chaimovitch and his staff in Springfield that run the behind the scenes of the AHL’s social media presence. I know I can be a pain in the rear and a critic sometimes, but the amount of work that Chaimovitch and his crew put forth year after year from start to finish is to be commended. They make it easy for a blogger without actual media credentials.

I’m the last blogger in the East Division that files a game story for their blog tonight. But I can’t forget Alex and Michael in Syracuse that run Chairman How’s Glorious Army in Syracuse…. Ever since Don Reiber left Binghamton for a warmer Florida climate, there hasn’t been a full-time blog covering the B-Sens on the Southern Tier. Bob Howard has a radio show he’s been doing for ages and occasionally moonlights with some words for a blog, but Howard has his finger on the pulse of the B-Sens and the AHL in general….My rivals in Hershey, Matt and Kyle who run Sweetest Hockey on Earth….All the guys down in Norfolk, Shawn, the dude that runs Beneath the Scope, Scott….

…..I bet you if I asked all these people I just mentioned if they would switch places with me with the success that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have had, that they would all say yes. Then they would realize that they are separating themselves from the allegiances from their team and quickly retract their decision as any good blogger would.

Biggest thank you goes to you, the reader. The countless crop of those who read, interact and share my work. Checked the page views this blog has had in its existence. It’s close to 150,000 views. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Time to wrap this up.

Oh, three stars were 3) Josh Morrissey (assist, +1) 2) Eric O’Dell (goal, +1) and 1) Michael Hutchinson (34 save shutout)

We will have our day. I know it’s been said year after disappointing year here on the blog, but I hold on to the belief that one night late in June well past my bedtime, I will be writing about the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins first ever Calder Cup Championship. It will happen.

Blog wise, I’ll have my Year in Review sometime later in the week. I’ll put up the 2014 Offseason Moves Chart soon too and track all the offseason defections to Europe, Free Agency in less than a month, and newsy type things to keep myself sharp for a great 2014-15 season of American Hockey League action.

“The longer it takes, the sweeter it will taste.” — Just remember that when you go to bed tonight or go into work tomorrow or drive by the Mohegan Sun Arena this week. We will have our day.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Zach Sill’s goal with 15.8 seconds left in the third period that broke a 2-2 deadlock was the culmination of hard work and determination that epitomizes Sill’s entire career.

What allowed Sill to break the 2-2 deadlock was something that will go down in Wilkes-Barre lore as something that I have gone ahead and labeled myself. I call it, “The Shift.”

With 8:56 to go in the third period and the Penguins trailing 2-1, the St. John’s IceCaps, after a long shift, ice the puck. Head Coach Keith McCambrige uses his timeout.

Coach John Hynes sends Brian Dumoulin and Simon Despres over the board on the blue line and Brian Gibbons, Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett up front.

IceCaps have Kris Fredheim, Andrew Gordon, John Albert, Kael Moulillierat and Jordan Hill on the ice.

The Penguins cycle the puck. They still cycle and cycle some more. The IceCaps try to clear and cannot. More cycling. Cycle, cycle. A shot maybe. A stick breaks. It’s belongs to an IceCap. More cycling. A couple saves from Andrew Hutchinson. More desperation clears for the IceCaps but the Penguins keep them hemmed in.

The crescendo was building. You could feel it. If we were going to win this series, it started here and now and we needed to score a goal here.

Finally, a pass to Kobasew, who darts a quick pass to a cutting Ebbett, who fakes like he is going to shoot and draws the IceCaps defense towards him, then a feather pass back to Kobasew who slams it home. Tie game.

That was 85 seconds of Penguins mastery in the offensive zone. The longest shift of the season and one that paid off. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win the game 4-2 and force Game 6, Tuesday in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Oh, on Ebbett and Kobasew. Those two re-appeared into the lineup and I guess it is safe to say that they made their presence felt, immediately.

I am hoping that Coal Street puts video of “The Shift” up on YouTube or somewhere.

Anyway, to the rest of the game.

The Penguins made two lineup changes. Kobasew and Ebbett for Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney. Kuhnhackl I think skated the extra in warmups. It was Peter Mannino vs. Michael Hutchinson in net. JC Lipon was scratched for the IceCaps, who skated 7 defensemen and 11 forwards with Josh Morrissey back in the lineup on defense for St. John’s.

The IceCaps open the scoring and connect on power play while on a 5-on-3 in the first period. Their third straight game of scoring on a two man advantage. Will O’Neill through bodies and it was 1-0 IceCaps.

Spencer Machacek knotted things up at a goal a piece in the second with a nifty shot over Hutchinson’s shoulder while the Penguins were in 2-on-1. He looked off his man and shot it top corner.

With Scott Harrington in the penalty box for a questionable tripping call, the IceCaps score on the power play to make it 2-1. It was a soft shot from the point that redirected past Mannino to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead.

The St. John’s IceCaps were undefeated when leading after two periods.

Not anymore.

Things got chippy in the third period. Brian Gibbons was kneed which led to a penalty on Jason Jaffray. The Penguins power play woes continued as they failed to score on the advantage. Then Gibbons was run over again, but this time no call from the officials. As he was skating off the ice, Gibbons punches a St. John’s player and is whistled for the obvious roughing penalty.

After the Sill score with 15.8 left, the IceCaps went with an extra attacker. The Penguins win the face-off and Chuck Kobasew scored an easy empty netter that led to bedlam. Will O’Neill cross checks Andrew Ebbett all the way to Newfoundland it seemed and a line brawl ensued. We will have to see if there will be any discipline from the League after that, as O’Neill was called for a match penalty for cross-checking and all match penalties are reviewed automatically, but I don’t think that there will be.

Three stars were Spencer Machacek (goal, +1) Chuck Kobasew (two goals, +2) and Zach Sill (goal, +1)

Honorable mentions go to Brian Dumoulin (+4) Simon Despres (two assist, +3) and Andrew Ebbett (two assists, +2)

Both teams share a charter tomorrow back to The Rock which should be interesting.

SendToNews highlights are here. It opens with, “The Shift” and rolls from there. Click through.

To think that the Penguins have won the series tonight would be foolish. They still need to gut out two wins on consecutive nights in St. John’s where the home team never loses two games in a  row. But these are your Cardiac Penguins, right? Nothing is ever easy.

One game at a time.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Here’s how I keep my sanity.

I don’t expect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to win every game.

I do expect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to be prepared and compete every game.

When the Penguins lose and aren’t prepared and don’t compete, I get really disappointed.

When the Penguins lose but are prepared and compete, I don’t get disappointed.

Tonight was one of those nights.

The St. John’s IceCaps take Game 4 tonight by a score of 2-1 and have a commanding 3-1 series lead in this best of seven and can close the series out Saturday in Wilkes-Barre.

None of the heroes named Andrew Ebbett or Chuck Kobasew came out of the tunnel for Wilkes-Barre for warmups. Bobby Farnham and Mike Carman were in for Pierre Leblond and Adam Payerl. For St. John’s, Kris Fredheim was in for Josh Morrissey as a late scratch. Peter Mannino opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Penguins came out hitting everything that moved in an IceCaps jersey. St. John’s was without a shot for the first ten minutes of the period.

If you are a fan of special teams, tonight was the night for you. The St. John’s IceCaps was 2/9 on the power play, and the Penguins continue the 0-for-the-series tonight as they were 0/6.

The Penguins never were able to capitalize on their man advantage. Take away the fact that Ebbett and Kobasew are sidelined, the Penguins just could not have any puck luck on the power play this evening.

Shots in the first were an even 5 a side. In the second, it was a different tale.

The IceCaps take 19 shots to Wilkes-Barre’s 2. One of those for the IceCaps went in, a Will O’Neill had shot from the point that got through Mannino while the Penguins were on a 5-on-3 disadvantage.

The Penguins finally get one by Hutchinson in the third period, a Dumoulin slap shot from the point that deflects off of Brenden Kichton’s skate and in. Tie game.

A minute later, Brendan Mikkelson takes a roughing penalty. St. John’s power play. Josh Lunden would corral a puck behind the Wilkes-Barre net and stuff it past Mannino for a 2-1 lead for the IceCaps.

Mannino would deny Josh Albert on a breakaway. The Penguins then sought to tie the game to force overtime, but never were able to establish enough time in the offensive zone to get Mannino off in time to get going. Finally, after an IceCaps hand pass, Mannino was off, but there was a scant 38.1 seconds left and the Penguins never got the equalizer.

The three stars were: 3) Michael Hutchinson (17 saves on 18 shots) 2) Peter Mannino (29 saves on 31 shots) and 1) Josh Lunden (game winning goal)

SendToNews Highlights are here.

I smell something. Let’s see….a team that cannot score on a power play, down 3-1 in a series. Hmmm…where have I seen this before…. oh, right! The New York Rangers were in this very same position that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in now, and are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Again, this is how I keep my sanity.

Game 5 is Saturday in Wilkes-Barre. I have no idea what I could have Friday for the blog. I may just run the charts that I have been infatuated with recently and link off of Jonathan’s Friday update if there is one.

Let’s Go Pens!

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A lineup devoid of Chuck Kobasew (12 points in 12 playoff games) Andrew Ebbett (power play point man) and Nick Drazenovic (power play point man) and you are left with this debacle tonight, a 5-0 whitewashing by the St. John’s IceCaps who take a 2-1 series lead in this best of seven series.

It was frustrating. You could feel it when you watched players pour onto the ice for warmups and you didn’t see Drazenovic (who we knew yesterday was ruled out) Kobasew and Ebbett (still listed as day to day) step out onto the ice for warmups. You could then see it on the players faces when they were down 2-0, 3-0, and beyond.

There was a sequence late in the second period that goes like this…

Already down 4-0 with less than five seconds to play in the period, Harry Zolnierczyk (I think) ices a puck. It was a blatant icing, as he fired the puck the length of the ice at the top of the rings in his own zone.

4.4 seconds left. Faceoff to goaltender Peter Mannino’s left.

With .1 second on the clock, Mannino doesn’t get all of a Zach Redmond shot from the point and it trickles past him for a 5-0 St. John’s lead. Review upheld the call, and they officially put one second back on the clock.

Prior to the setup for the icing, the Arena played “Breakdown” by Tantric. I don’t know if that band is still even together these days, but the song was popular when I was in college, some 13 years ago.

Anyway, a “Breakdown” by the Penguins and a 5-0 shutout on home ice. That kind of night.

No time to wallow in your sorrows. Game 4 comes at you tomorrow night at 7:05.

Peter Mannino vs. Michael Hutchinson.

Lineup Changes: Apparently Tom Kuhnhackl, Peter Merth and Dustin Stevenson were added to the WBS lineup at some point because Kuhnhackl was in and Merth and Stevenson were announced as healthy scratches. I missed that press release if Wilkes-Barre issued it, somehow. Carter Rowney and Pierre Leblond were also inserted into the lineup for Mike Carman and Josh Archibald (healthy) and Dominik Uher (injured) For St. John’s, they dressed the same lineup. It was tweeted by Brendan McCarthy that Jerome Samson was out with food poisoning else he would have dressed for the IceCaps. Samson missed Game 2.

First Period: The Penguins went 0-for-6 on the power play tonight and now are 0-for-the-series on the man up. Coach John Hynes was experimenting with a four forward and one defenseman setup and it just wasn’t working. Rookie Conor Sheary was acting as the “defenseman” on the back end and he was turning over pucks that led to chances the other way for St. John’s.

IceCaps score on a power play. Patrice Cormier the recipient of two-touch passing by Andrew Gordon and Josh Morrissey. Then, the IceCaps score again. Turnover behind Mannino, Jason Jaffray makes it 2-0.

Penguins get a 5-on-3 power play for 1:05. Obvious turning point of the game, right? They get no goal out of it. I don’t even think they registered a shot.

Second Period: More confusion behind the Wilkes-Barre net and Eric O’Dell makes it 3-0. Then, the Penguins take two consecutive penalties. Initial call was a Zach Sill trip. Tom Kostopoulos, who looked like he had a burr under his saddle all night, takes a silly after the whistle penalty and it’s a full 2:00 power play for the IceCaps. After some nice clears by the Pens, Kael Mouillierat picks a corner and it’s 4-0 IceCaps.

Seemed like the Penguins couldn’t establish a good offensive setup, and when they did it was rushed and saved by Hutchinson.

Wilkes-Barre fails to capitalize on two power plays late and then the late score by Redmond as referenced in my open.

Third Period: Rookie Matthew Murray replaced Peter Mannino and stopped all eight shots faced. Pens had to kill a 4:00 Zach Sill double minor. That was it. Murray, for what it’s worth, looked solid in net for the Pens in mop up.

Three Stars: 3) Eric O’Dell (goal, assist, +2) 2) Andrew Gordon (three assists, +1) and 1) Michael Hutchinson (30 save shutout)

Last year it was a buzz saw Syracuse team. The year before that was this very same IceCap team but the Category 5 hurricane known as the Norfolk Admirals waiting in the wings. Before that was the Hershey dynasty. Seems like the Penguins are facing the same issues, but from within, at the infirmary. Big names are missing and it is starting to show.

But it’s only a 2-1 IceCaps lead in the series. Button up a couple of things with what you have and come back Thursday a better team. If not, then it’s another exit. Players know this, coaches know it too.

SendToNews Highlight package is here, if you want to see it.

Game 4 tomorrow. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!