After Syracuse scored on two of their first three shots, they chased starting goaltender Eric Hartzell and led 2-1. This was after they had something like nine shots to Syracuse’s three with all the momentum, Hartzell just let in some tough goals.
Put the Penguins persisted, and finally cracked the dam that was the Syracuse defense and starting goaltender Cedrick Desjardins.
Gritty, hard-nosed, tough hockey. That’s what you come to expect when you buy the ticket.
Eric Hartzell vs. Cedrick Desjardins
With Brian Dumoulin and Harry Zolnierczyk back from recall yesterday, the lines looked like this:
Bobby Farnham was listed as an injury scratch, despite Coach Hynes telling Jonathan yesterday it was a, “maintenance day.” Also, Wheeling call-up Carter Rowney was a scratch as well.
First Period: Philip Samuelsson chips a puck out of his own zone, lasers a cross ice pass across the ice and banks it off the far boards to Paul Thompson, who zooms in and puts the Penguins on the board early. At one point, the shots were 6-0 in favor of the Penguins, who were all over the place early on. Then, the Crunch score two bang-bang goals. First on a power play then later on a seemingly harmless wrist shot from the point. Both shots seemed to confuse Hartzell. At this point, Jeff Deslauriers name was called.
As a professional goaltender, you always have to be ready, no matter if you are the starting goaltender or coming in cold, at any point of the action. When Deslauiers number was called, he did not let Syracuse score on him, stopping all 21 shots that came his way.
Second Period: The Harry Zolnierczyk / Nick Drazenovic / Tom Kostopoulos was dynamite all night long for Wilkes-Barre. A Philip Samuelsson blast from the point was deflected in front by Nick Drazenovic. It was really a neat deflection. Even neater, was a Tom Kostopoulos goal, on his stomach, sweeping the puck in at Desjardins goal crease.
Essentially, this was all that the Pens needed. Any Syracuse rush was short-lived and snuffed out promptly.
Third Period: Tom Kuhnhackl and Anton Zlobin come in on a 2-on-1. Kuhnhackl shoots, Desjardins leaves a big rebound (he was leaving them everywhere all night) and Zlobin stuffs in the rebound for his first AHL goal of his career for a 4-2 lead.
Another furious Syracuse rush, this time it dies on the pad of Deslauriers who could not be beaten tonight. Cody Sylvester pots an empty netter for a 5-2 win and that was all she wrote.
Three Stars: 3) Anton Zlobin (goal, +2) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1) 1) Jeff Deslauriers (21 saves on 21 shots)
Around the Division: Binghamton beats Norfolk 3-2 in the only other divisional action tonight.
Pens will probably skate Thursday before boarding a bus to Hartford for their Friday game vs. the WolfPack. I don’t know if there will be any blog updates till then, Happy New Year! I got my year end report from WordPress this year and my humble blog was viewed nearly 50,000 times during the year. I maintain that if the blog was only viewed by just 10 people all year, I’d still do what I do, so thank you, thank you, thank you for reading, sharing and interacting with me this year. I’m getting a feeling that 2014 will be the best year yet for the Penguins.
Comments Off on Bears Shoot Back — Pens LOSE 2-1 (SO)
Posted by nafsnep on December 28, 2013
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I used to dread when the Penguins played the Bears, It used to be one way traffic with the team in Chocolate and White usually having all the fun.
Not anymore.
Face it, the Penguins play their best hockey when they play the Bears. Undermanned or not, call ups be damned, these games between these two teams are fun to watch.
Yesterday, it was all about Norfolk goaltender John Gibson getting the two points for the opposing Admirals. Tonight, Eric Hartzell ground out at least a point and lost his first ever pro shootout, and the Bears skate away with the 2-1 shootout win Saturday night at home.
Eric Hartzell vs. David Leggio, who has appeared in 13 of the last 14 Bears games.
On the blue line, Dustin Stevenson was a scratch, Reid McNeill was back from injury for the Pens so Nick D’Agostino sat in his place. The Pens returned to the more formal 12F-7D format, so Tom Kuhnhackl was back in the lineup.
First Period: More penalty minutes (54) in this period than in all last nights game vs. Norfolk (52). Pens subdue an offensive bombardment by Hershey, then all of a sudden are 2-on-1 the other way and hit a post. Then, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond skates in on a breakaway about six feet behind center ice. In between the fights and fisticuffs in this period, the game had nearly a powder keg feel to it.
All of a sudden though, it seemed that the a penguins seemed disinterested in pursuing further action against the Bears. Hershey felt the opposite, and scored from a David Kolomatis boms from the point to make it 1-1. Then the Pens get two power plays handed to them in a row and are unable to convert.
Third Period: Felt like it was all Bears. Both Leggio and Hartzell made some ten bell saves on shooters. Both teams fail to score on power plays and it was onto…
Overtime: For as much as it was all Hershey in the third period, in the overtime period it was all Wilkes-Barre, outshooting the Bears 6-0 at one point. No scoring, so it was onto the…
Shootout: Tom Kostopoulos scores the only goal for the Pens, who roll with Zack Torquato, Brendan Mikkelson, Drazenovic and Anton Zlobin with half their big guns in the NHL. Bears win the shootout 3-1 and get the extra point in the standings.
Three Stars: 3) Mike Carman (goal, even) 2) David Kolomatis (goal, even) and 1) David Leggio (30 saves on 31 shots)
Around the Division: Norfolk beats Syracuse 6-3. Binghamton was off. Big time meeting between the Admirals and Senators looming on New Years Eve.
Content wise, bodies are finally starting to heal up top in Pittsburgh, so I am expecting some help for the Pens New Years Eve game vs. Syracuse. We will see. If anything major happens, I will have a blog about it when it does. If not, Week 13 AHL Power Rankings will be up Monday at 4. Then the Gameday setup vs. Syracuse Tuesday at 1 p.m., for the 5:00 special start at Mohegan Sun Arena on New Years Eve.
Comments Off on Admirals Sail — Pens LOSE 3-1
Posted by nafsnep on December 27, 2013
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No third period magic tonight.
Rather, it was Norfolk who had it late, and skate out of town with a 3-1 win.
Are the call-ups to Pittsburgh starting to show? I don’t really think so. Every game so far has been close, for the most part. It’s not like Wilkes-Barre is losing games 5-0 or 6-1. They have been close. But you need offense to win games and it just isn’t happening.
I’m actually doing a disservice to Admirals goaltender John Gibson, who was outstanding this evening. He was the reason that Norfolk won the game tonight. He kept his club in it, preserved their lead and made saves when called upon.
Jeff Deslauriers vs. the aforementioned John Gibson.
Personnel wise, Tom Kuhnhackl found himself a healthy scratch, Brad Thiessen for Norfolk was an injury scratch. CJ Severyn was an injury scratch for the Pens as well.
First Period: Nice back and forth between the two teams as it settled into a defensive battle. Then, Ric Rackell shoots from the point and Max Friberg collects the rebound and jams it home for a 1-0 Norfolk lead. Other than two fights, Joe Cramarossa vs. Paul Thompson and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond vs. Zack Stortini, a pretty uneventful period.
Second Period: Nolan Yonkman shoots from the point. As the puck was headed toward the net it deflects off of Cody Sylvester’s stick and changes the angle on Jeff Deslauriers and goes in for a 2-0 Norfolk lead. Nothing you could do about that one.
Then, the Pens stepped on it. Tom Kostopoulos steals a puck from Chris Wagner and scores to make it 2-1.
But Gibson was up to the task. 3 on 1? Save Gibson. Torquato feeding Farnham to a wide open net, right? Tie game you say? No, you’re wrong! Save Gibson. The last 10 minutes was the John Gibson Show.
Third Period: Strong start for the Pens, but Norfolk weathered whatever was thrown at the Penguins. I am half out of my seat waiting for a goal to come but never got up as Dave Steckel rushes down ice along the near board, waits for the traffic to pass, finds Steven Whitney all alone in the slot who scores late to push the Admirals to a 3-1 lead. Ballgame.
Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1) 2) Nolan Yonkman (game winning goal, +2) and 1) John Gibson (26 saves on 27 shots)
There is little room for error. 9 and 10 are Adirondack and Syracuse respectively with 30 points. Binghamton is off until New Years Eve. With a win tomorrow in Hershey, the Pens will tie the Sens in points again and may lead the division.
Pens go to Hershey tomorrow for what I am expecting to be a very interesting matchup. Hershey seems to be reeling, and the Penguins are slowing down and / or feeling the effects of the call-ups hard. 7 pm start in Chocolatetown which means the Gameday setup drops on the blog at 3.
Comments Off on Zack’s Immediate Impact — Pens WIN 2-1
Posted by nafsnep on December 21, 2013
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In Pittsburgh, they have a motto. It’s, “next man up” meaning that the next guy behind you in the depth chart is supposed to step up and fill your role and not look out of place.
Suffice to say, with the rash of injuries and such to the Pittsburgh organization, “next man up” is being tossed around a lot.
The situation applies, of course, to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, where all the “men” come “up” from.
The trickle down effect hits Wheeling. Sometimes hard.
Their leading scorer, Zack Torquato, was signed to an AHL contract today by the Penguins and had an immediate impact in the Penguins game vs. the Syracuse Crunch tonight, a 2-1 Wilkes-Barre win. Torquato’s power play goal in the first period was seemingly all the momentum the Penguins needed to get by the Crunch tonight.
Jeff Deslauriers vs. Cedrick Desjardins
Torquato was in for CJ Severyn, who did take warmups but was scratched.
First Period: A lot more pop in the skates of the Penguins, who were flat last night in the first two periods vs. Worcester. Finally, Torquato lets it rip from the top of the near side to give the Pens a 1-0 lead on the power play.
Second Period: Pens seemed to keep the Crunch off the scoreboard via stingy defense and some jumbo saves by Jeff Deslauriers all night long. Many times Syracuse would bear down, make a move and I thought that they would score to tie it, but Deslauriers played outstanding all game. The most interesting thing to happen this period was Dustin Stevenson handily winning a fight with Syracuse Captain Mike Angelidis.
Third Period: With the feeling that one goal would not be enough vs. Syracuse, Brendan Mikkelson scores from a shot from the point while the Pens were on a power play. Yes, that’s right, two power play goals tonight from the Penguins whose special teams unit with the man advantage was 20th in the League, overall. Anyway, Evan Rankin scores on a slam dunk with 1:43 left to spoil any aspirations of a Deslauriers shutout. With a time out by Crunch Head Coach Rob Zettler and Desjardins pulled, Syracuse never found the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Jeff Deslauriers (25 saves on 26 shots) 2) Zack Torquato (goal, even) 1) Brendan Mikkelson (goal, -1)
Not listed was Barry Goers, who assisted on both goals.
SendtoNews Highlights: Are here. The Pens may run a YouTube highlight package, which I like better anyway because it plays nicer with my blog than the Java mess that is the SendToNews packaging. If they do and I remember to go back and look, I’ll throw up an edit.
Pens all split and head home for the Christmas break. Next game for Wilkes-Barre isn’t until next Friday at home when they host the Norfolk Admirals. There may not be a lot to blog about until then. The Week 12 Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankins will be on the blog Monday at 4. That may be the only thing this week unless I get some kind of content that I feel would be good fodder for the blog during the downtime.
Comments Off on Sharkbit – Pens LOSE 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on December 20, 2013
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It was bound to happen.
The Penguins finally are starting to feel the ill affects of having half of their offense in Pittsburgh on recall. That, and the third period magic that flat out wins Wilkes-Barre games wasn’t enough to get by a determined Worcester team who skate into town and skate out of it 4-2 winners tonight.
The Penguins outshoot the Sharks 25-20 tonight, with 17 of those shots coming in the third period alone. Now, I’m not going to go all pessimistic on a team that is essentially a rag tag group of ECHL call-ups at this point held together with some rusty wire, but ask yourself the following question, if this was Hershey tonight is the result / shot total any different? I think it might be. You have to play a full 60 minutes and I don’t think any Penguin tonight who played will tell you that they played a full 60 minute game tonight.
Eric Hartzell vs. Harri Sateri.
No healthy scratches for the Pens tonight. It was all hands on deck.
First Period: Sharks come out and just catch the Penguins flatfooted. Outshooting them 10-3 for the period on the shot chart and 1-0 on the scoreboard on a Freddie Hamilton power play goal.
Second Period: You know its a bad night when Jimmy Bonneau, known more for his fists than his wrists, goes bar down and in on you to make it 2-0 Sharks. Penguins got completely bottled up by the Sharks to this point. The prime area seemed to be the slot, where no Penguin player ever was, as Worcester wouldn’t allow them.
Third Period: Penguins come out the sharpest they’d been to date and force the Sharks into multiple icings. But, Worcester would get the backbreaker as Marek Viedensky would deflect a shot from the point past Hartzell and in for a 3-0 Sharks lead.
Penguins continues the onslaught though, Sateri denies Paul Thompson point blank. Finally, Nick Drazenovic did this:
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Yeah, it was a penalty shot goal. After not scoring two in the span of like, 10 years, the Penguins score two in a month. Weird.
Anyway, it wouldn’t be enough, as Sateri would continue to make great saves and Worcester hit an empty net from center ice to seal it.
Three Stars: 3) Nick Drazenovic (penalty shot goal, +1) 2) Harri Sateri (24 saves on 25 shots) and 1) Marek Viedensky (goal, assist, +2)
Wheeling Update: The Nailers fared no better tonight being pillaged with call ups of there own here. Wheeling loses 6-3. Chaz Johnson had a goal in the loss.
Comments Off on To Catch a Comet — Pens WIN 1-0
Posted by nafsnep on December 14, 2013
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In a game delayed about 30 minutes for an ice issue (a zamboni ran over a puck after warmups during the flood and put a rink long gash in the ice) about 6″ of snow in Wilkes-Barre and Nick D’Agostino’s first pro goal and Eric Hartzell’s second AHL shutout, this 1-0 Wilkes-Barre win made for a nice birthday present.
But the eyes of the Wilkes-Barre world will be turning to Pittsburgh again, rather the eyes of the Pittsburgh world will be turning to Wilkes-Barre again, most likely taking two defensemen and possibly a forward.
Wait, huh?!?
Kris Letang was a late injury scratch, Deryk Engelland has an in-person hearing this week for a hit in Pittsburgh’s game against Detroit on Justin Abdelkader and Evgeni Malkin left the game with an apparent leg or lower body injury.
Great. Just great.
But I am taking a stance that I don’t care if injuries or suspensions occur. I don’t. What can you do about them? Nothing. Just let it happen and pray that it doesn’t.
Eventually, bodies heal. All of this time spent in the NHL will be excellent experience for the key elements of this Wilkes-Barre team and we will be better than ever.
Wait. We lead the East Division by four points now.
Bring it on.
As you can see, I’m stalling for space because there really wasn’t a whole heck of a lot to write about tonight. Nick D’Agostino scored on the tail end of a power play for the Penguins just past midway of the third period. The Penguins, in the third, doubled their shot total through the previous 40 minutes of play. The 21-18 shot comparison was a lot farther in favor of the Comets than it looked because the Pens only had 9 shots through two periods. They finally snapped out of what ever it was that it was keeping them from taking control of the game in their best period of hockey.
Hartzell, who is turning out to be a fiery competitor, stopped 21 shots for his second shutout of the season. He may be playing himself into the #1 role here in Wilkes-Barre.
Personnel wise, Reid McNeill injured himself in last nights game and is out again so Barry Goers made his WBS debut. CJ Severyn took warmups but was scratched.
Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in a shootout to the Florida Everblades by a score of 5-4. Zack Torquato had a goal and two assists. Carter Rowney had three assists for the Nailers.
SendToNews Highlights: I like the YouTube embeds better, but you can click here for the SendToNews package, which in essence is the same thing.
Pittsburgh plays again Monday, so if recalls are made, I’ll have a blurb about it here Sunday. Week 11 AHL Power Rankings out Monday at 4 pm also.
Comments Off on D – Pens WIN 5-3
Posted by nafsnep on December 13, 2013
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What’s the D for?
Well, a few things.
1) Tom Kostopoulos scored his 500th professional point tonight.
2) The Pens rode “D”efense to another victory, this time a 5-3 win over the Hershey Bears.
3) The Bears are back to .500.
D is the Roman numeral for the number 500.
Get it?
Anyway, a thriller tonight in Wilkes-Barre. After going up 3-0 in the first period on three power play goals (yes, I wrote “three” then “power plays” and mean in all one period) the Penguins slowed a bit in the second then played a pretty even third, got some puck luck and won the game and sit in sole possession of first place in the East Division.
Eric Hartzell vs. David Leggio. Michal Neuvirth, sent to Hershey for conditioning yesterday, did not make the trip.
Penguins signed Barry Goers from Wheeling to a PTO before the game. He’s a defenseman. With the recall of Brian Dumoulin to Pittsburgh and now apparently Peter Merth injured again, Goers got the call. Other scratches were CJ Severyn, healthy.
First Period: Pens get a quick power play and cash even quicker, a Scott Harrington shot from the point that Toim Kostopoulos deflects for a 1-0 Pens lead. Then the Pens go on a power play, don’t score, then a fight between Harrison Ruopp and Dane Byers after Byers boarded Harry Zolnierczyk. Paul Thompson at the net front receives a nice pass from Anton Zlobin cutting to the net to Thompson for the virtual empty netter. Then, Penguins headed right to the power play again and Brian Gibbons would finish off a nice back door pass to make it 3-0.
I mixed in something shortly thereafter that mentioned the Penguins not letting off because they were in a trap at this stage of the game. Turns out, I was almost right….
Second Period: Penguins get outshot 11-3 in the period and 2-0 on the score sheet. Much back and forth to open the period, then finally the Bears got on a bit of a run: Ryan Stoa from the slot, a laser that goes in. 3-1. :55 later, Nic Deschamps deflects a lazy Peter Leblanc shot from the blue line and in. 3-2. If the Bears would have come all the way back to tie and then win the game, the tweet above would have lead and the headline would have been, “Nafstradamus – Pens LOSE….”
Thankfully, we didn’t have to go there.
Third Period: Pens would kill an early penalty. Then Tom Kostopoulos benefits from a Derek Whitmore turnover to score his 500th professional point.
Then the Pens get a power play. Time to pile on, right? No, you’re wrong!
Nic Deschamps scores on a breakaway. Hartzell stopped the initial shot, lost the rebound, Deschamps found it and he stuffed it past and cut the deficit to one again.
Pens kill a bonehead Bobby Farnham goalie interference call then Nick Drazenovic scores in a pile to extend the lead to 5-3 for the Penguins. It was too much, too late for the Bears.
Three Stars: 3) Scott Harrington (two assists, -1) 2) Brian Gibbons (goal, assist, -3) 1) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, -1)
I should note that Gibbons is three points back (27) of the active leaders (30) for the AHL scoring lead. Depending on call-ups, production and such, I may start mentioning it on the blog from time to time.
SendToNews Highlights: Better than a link to the SendToNews package, the YouTube highlights!
There’s snow in the forecast tomorrow. 4-6 inches. Hershey is already saying that they will make a determination on their game (home, vs. Binghamton) by mid-afternoon. Utica, in case you were wondering, is about an hour north of Binghamton. Basically, if you get the opposing team in, with the officials (Ryan Fraser scheduled to work the game, he’s a Central PA resident if I remember right, linesmen are local guys) it’s game on. If the roads are treacherous, the team may, for the safety of the fans, cancel the game. Anyway, check the Pens website or stick with me on Twitter if you are planning on going tomorrow but use your judgement. Push come to shove, watch it on TV. It’ll be on MyNetwork TV.
WBS News
