Chirps from Center Ice

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0                                                   3

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You saw it Friday if you watched them lose 2-1 to the Hershey Bears in a shootout. They only allowed one regulation goal and but for the goofy rules of, “no ties” these days, lost in a shootout.

I said then that if they played the same way that the wins would come.

Well, we didn’t have to wait long. Just the next night, actually.

A 25 save shutout by Casey DeSmith, his third of the season  and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win 3-0 over the first place Hartford Wolf Pack. DeSmith’s first win since November and the teams first win in 2020.

DeSmith opposed Tom McCollum.

Lineup: They didn’t post them, neither side did. Macoy Erkamps for Jon Lizotte on defense. Mike told Tyler postgame the following:

Good sign, going on the long road trip.

First Period: Zipped by. One power play chance for the Penguins and a 9-8 shot advantage. McCollum had a hell of a save to deny Anthony Angello with a pad and then again in the same play Matt Abt fired wide from behind center ice with McCollum out of the net.

Second Period: Same as the first, only Hartford went on the power play and didn’t score.

Then, Kevin Roy scored his first in a Penguin sweater capitalizing on this turnover by the Wolf Pack.

Third Period: Pens thought they scored again when Anthony Angello’s shot was smothered but not covered by Tom McCollum. McCollum went into the snow angel to cover but never fully contacted the puck to the ice and it came loose. Referee Ted Anstett comes out of the corner, loses sight of the puck because of the mass of bodies in the pile, has intent to blow his whistle all while Angello finds the puck and flips it into the net with McCollum prone. No goal on account of intent to blow the whistle.

In the final ten minutes, that’s when Casey DeSmith shined. He flicked out the pad on a quick Hartford shot off the rush, then stopped a puck in a pile of bodies to preserve the lead. To this point, Hartford was never a threat to score.

Finally with time dwindling, Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch pulls McCollum and David Warsofsky and Anthony Angello both hit empty net goals.

Don’t normally post empty netters, but it’s been so long since I have been able to do this too, please forgive me.

(If you don’t follow me on Twitter, it’s a thing I do after every home win. The etiology of the term, “Bang Biscuit” can be found here. I do love me some Danny Patrick)

Three Stars: 

The Good: Nice way to shutout the Atlantic’s top team in Hartford. The Wolf Pack have now lost their ninth game of the season in regulation. I think the Penguins may have exposed some flaws tonight as well because the Wolf Pack looked flat and very pedestrian.

The Bad: Nitpicking a 3-0 shutout win, but the power play went 0-for-2 and on a night where a lot of things went right, the power play needs work because they never looked like a threat tonight or on Friday.

Turning Point: Going to throw in a few of those DeSmith saves in the third here. They get by him and obviously it’s a different result.

Around the Division: Providence beats Springfield 5-2….Lehigh Valley shuts out Laval 2-0….Hershey doubles up Cleveland 4-2….Charlotte thumps Bridgeport 5-2.

Standings: Hartford 53 — Hershey 51 — Providence 45 — Springfield 44 — Charlotte 43 — Penguins 42 — Lehigh Valley 33 — Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nothing went right for the Nailers tonight, losing 6-1 to Fort Wayne. Yushi Hirano had the only goal for the Nailers in the loss and Alex D’Orio stopped 28 of 34. Fort Wayne scored twice on the power play.

Video Highlights: 

They are off Sunday, then hit the road for a while and spend a week in Austin, Texas for Wednesday and Friday’s games against the Texas Stars. But for anything breaking between now and then, talk to you Wednesday for the 8 p.m. start for the Penguins / Stars game. Gameday setup hits the blog Wednesday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

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They deserved a better fate tonight.

In what can best be described as their best game in weeks, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose 2-1 in a shootout Friday night to the Hershey Bears. Both teams played high energy, tightly contested hockey and it was a joy to watch at times. Shane Gersich’s goal in the bottom of the sixth round of the shootout was the only goal scored in the shootout round.

A team that is battling right now needed a result like this and got one, they just came up empty on the winning end of it. If they continue to play like this, then the wins will eventually come around.

Dustin Tokarski opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lineup: 

Lineup Notes: The Penguins recalled Christopher Brown from Wheeling Friday, seemingly to end the disaster that is the Oula Palve experiment for the moment. Jamie Devane slotted back in the lineup for Jan Drozg. Michael Kim was in for Macoy Erkamps on defense.

First Period: Strong start for the Penguins. Matt Abt had a shot hit both posts that stayed out.  After a long review by referees Terry Koharski and Dan Kelly, Koharski’s initial call on the ice of no goal was confirmed.

They played a good period, limiting the Bears to just six shots in the period and giving up one power play.

Second Period: Sleepy open as Axel Jonsson-Fjallby sneaks past the defense off of a nice feed by Liam O’Brien and beat Tokarski for a 1-0 Hershey lead.

Jon Lizotte was injured on and did not return on this hit by Beck Malenstyn.

They teach you at a young age to keep an eye on the puck. Both players did there, and because they are built like professional athletes, had an accident where they ran into one another and Lizotte was the recipient of a hit that may cost him some time.

Penguins Head Coach Mike Vellucci told Tyler postgame that it’s a head injury and they will know more Saturday. Assume concussion protocol and all that. Will be interesting to see if Lizotte accompanies the team on the road trip next week.

Jamie Devane finished off an excellent feed from Niclas Almari to tie the game at one.

Penguins had two golden opportunities to go ahead when Hershey were called on back to back minors, but Wilkes-Barre failed to cash.

Third Period: Zipped by without many whistles and they just played. Hershey had a long stretch where they just had two shots in the entire period. The Penguins were peppering Copley but couldn’t score.

Overtime: Tokarski stopped a Jonsson-Fjallby breakaway and Copley stopped a DiPauli one. The Penguins had a power play they didn’t score on.

Shootout: No scoring for either team until the bottom of the sixth, where Shane Gersich goes five hole and wins it for the Bears.

Three Stars: 

Yo, Coal Street, that graphic is awesome and the tweet explaining is better too. Please keep it up!

The Good: They played an almost perfect game. They only took one penalty and only allowed one goal in regulation.

The Bad: Can’t go 0-for-5 on the power play.

Turning Point: The obvious answer here is the Gersich goal that ended the game.

Around the Division: Utica beats Lehigh Valley 5-2….Springield shuts out Bridgeport 4-0….Hartford doubles up Charlotte 6-3….Providence was off.

Standings: Hartford 53 — Hershey 49 — Springfield 44 — Providence 43 — Charlotte 41 — Penguins 40 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 5-2 in Reading. Graham Knott had a goal, Ryan Scarfo had two assists.

Video Highlights: 

Hartford is in Saturday for what should be a good measuring stick game. Wolf Pack have been the class of the division and the Penguins haven’t seen them yet this season. Gameday setup is here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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6                                                        3

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Wednesday night games mean hurried recaps. Mind any spelling errors. If you’re an email customer, head to the blog at some point for a the refined piece in the morning or whenever. The idea is to get this right on the first attempt. Here goes.

Here’s your box for this one. The Checkers win 6-3, their sixth win in row. The Penguins are struggling. Leading scorer in Pittsburgh, a game opponent on a good run of form and a defense that looks worse and worse by the day. You just have to fight out of it.

That’s three straight games where they have given up six goals against. Defense can’t stop a nose bleed.

Casey DeSmith opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Everything was shuffled from Saturday. Cole Cassels was the first line center with Andrew Agozzino on recall with Pittsburgh. Thomas DiPauli was back down and was on the third line. David Warsofsky returned from injury and was paired with Matt Abt. Michael Kim was out.

First Period: Charlotte wasted no time. First shift of the game, David Gust snaked in and scored at :40 to give the Checkers the lead.

The Penguins got it together and got a goal when Jordy Bellerive led a rush and centered to PO Joseph who dished off to Cole Cassels who tapped in an easy goal for his first as a Penguin that tied the game at one.

Good response by the Penguins there who got slapped cold at the open and got it back level. It could have got bad but didn’t.

Second Period: Charlotte found themselves on the wrong end of a four on three against after getting called for too many penalties at the open. Someone on the bench voiced their displeasure at referee Tim Mayer and Mayer issued a misconduct. It didn’t matter to Charlotte who scored a breakaway 3 vs. 4 goal against the Penguins when Clark Bishop scored to make it 2-1.

Anthony Angello, at least I think it was Anthony Angello, scored on a deflection of a David Warsofsky shot on the tail end of the two man advantage to tie the game yet again.

Anthony Angello forced a turnover and found Adam Johnson who scored to give the Pens a lead.

It was a lead that the Penguins could not protect, Charlotte would score twice to take a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.

Steven Lorentz on a most ridiculous backhander with a scramble in front tied the game again.

Then PO Joseph tangled up with Casey DeSmith taking out his goaltender and Charlotte capatilized with a power play goal that gave them the lead again.

I mean our goaltenter was taken out on the play, but you do you, Checkers social media guy or girl.

Game had a track meet feel. Set up for an interesting third.

Third Period: Hardly the same story of the first two periods offense wise in the third. Julien Gauthier found himself alone in front, made a move and stuck it past DeSmith to give the Checkers a two goal lead.

Penguins tried for an extra attacker with DeSmith off but Joseph bobbled a puck in the neutral zone, and the Checkers scored on the empty net to ice the game away. Steven Lorentz with his second. Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) David Gust 2) Julien Gauthier 1) Steven Lorentz

The Good: They stayed step for step with a game Checkers team for 40 minutes. But…

The Bad: They waited for something to develop in the third and got developed. Leading scorer in Pittsburgh, down one in the third and a team on a positive run of form gets a goal from their all-star and wins the game.

Turning Point: Gauthier’s goal in the third was pretty much it. WBS wasn’t coming back, that goal made sure of it.

Around the Division: The only other game on this Wednesday night was Hershey and Hartford. That box is here. Hartford gets a goal with under a minute to play in the third and win 2-1.

Standings: Hartford 51 — Hershey 47 — Providence 43 — Springfield 42 — Charlotte 41 — Penguins 39 — Lehigh Valley 31 — Bridgeport 31

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off and don’t play until Friday.

Video Highlights: I will look later and work them in as a morning update likely.

Mid-January AHL Power Rankings here Thursday at 11. Check them out then.

Pens are back in action again Friday at 7 against Hershey.

Let’s Go Pens!

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6                                                     3

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Well, a nightmare scenario late in the third period of a tie hockey game is what dooms the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Saturday night. Three goals in the span of about two minutes and thirty seconds from the Thunderbirds and it’s Springfield who wins 6-3.

The Thunderbirds are on the upswing and the Penguins are trending down. With Providence, Hartford and Hershey essentially the class of the division currently, the four and five ranked teams are what’s the buzz and right now the Thunderbirds are playing maximal effort games and the Penguins not so much. Lax in some areas, it’s costing them.

Casey DeSmith opposed Philippe Desrosiers.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Wait, Cassels? Who’s he? Cole Cassels. Wilkes-Barre acquired him in the afternoon from Belleville where he was on a PTO with the Senators. They signed him to an AHL SPC for the rest of the season. Get used to him, his ECHL rights are where he initially came from in Utah, so he can’t go down to Wheeling if he’s ever reassigned.

First Period: Kind of like the third period Friday against Hershey if you stuck around for it. They were flying around, limited chances against and took a 1-0 lead into intermission after Sam Miletic’s offering was kicked in by Desrosiers.

Shots after one were 11-6 Penguins. They seemed to let off in the final five and the Thunderbirds got a few cheap shots in before the bell.

Second Period: They went back and forth, with Springfield having more of the advantage. The Thunderbirds outshot the Penguins 17-10 in the period and led 3-2 after the period.

Thomas Schemitsch followed his own shot and put his rebound past DeSmith which tied the game at one.

Adam Johnson wired a shot past Desrosiers to give the Penguins a lead again and it was 2-1.

Then the Thunderbirds scored within a few minutes of one another when Dryden Hunt connected with a power play goal and Jake Massie followed with a man marking issue and gave the Thunderbirds a 3-2 lead heading into the third.

Really, the same things that bit Wilkes-Barre Friday against Hershey were starting to nip again here.

Third Period: They came out with great pop and Jordy Bellerive finished off a great individual effort with a goal which tied the game at three.

But the Thunderbirds are well coached and kept punching. Leading goal scorer Owen Tippett found himself wide open when Adam Johnson went for a poke check, missed leaving Tippett open to beat DeSmith five hole to give the Thunderbirds a 4-3 lead.

Less than two minutes later, a shot from the point by Brady Keeper broke his stick. The force of the shot wasn’t as great and Rodrigo Abols put in his first of the season that gave Springfield a 5-3 lead.

About two minutes after that, a Dryden Hunt redirect beat DeSmith for Springfields sixth goal.

Three Stars: 3) Sam Miletic (goal, assist) 2) Dryden Hunt (two goals, assist) 1) Owen Tippett (goal, three assists)

The Good: First period was good. Second was lax, third was OK but devolved from there.

The Bad: They are in a funk they have to punch out of themselves, cause it’s a bare bones roster with guys hurt or on recall.

Turning Point: Springfields three unanswered goals had the Penguins spiraling out of control quickly.

Around the Division: Charlotte shuts out Providence  4-0….Hershey goes ahead with 40 seconds to play in the third to beat Bridgeport 2-1….Hartford beats Utica 3-1….Belleville beats Lehigh Valley 5-3.

Standings: Hartford 49 — Hershey 45 — Providence 43 — Springfield 42 — Penguins 39 — Charlotte 37 — Bridgeport 31 — Lehigh Valley 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers were shutout 4-0 in Cincinnati.

Video Highlights: Doubt they will have them, if they do I will run an edit here if I see it.

Charlotte is in Wednesday. I’ll update the charts sometime Sunday. If anything breaks between now and then, I’ll have an update here.

Let’s Go Pens!

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6                                                     2

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The Penguins came out flatter than the leftover champagne you had at midnight Wednesday and it cost them, losing 6-2 to the Hershey Bears Friday night. Andrew Agozzino, on his birthday and on a day he was selected to All-Stars, scores both Penguin goals.

Dustin Tokarski started the game but was chased after the fourth goal. Any effort to try and kickstart a run before or after failed. The Pens made a furious push in the third, but never got close.

Tokarski opposed Vitek Vanecek.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes:

Casey DeSmith served as backup. I suppose he decided to stick around and make Thomas DiPauli drive while he flys to Montreal Saturday. Pens signed Sebastien Caron to a PTO per AHL transactions.

First Period: Pens had the better start, Hershey had the better finish.

Andrew Agozzino opened the scoring after getting named to the All-Star team earlier in the day on his birthday.

I’ve missed Taylor.

Anyway, Hershey has a power play come and go then killed a penalty. As it was expiring, Brian Pinho streamed up ice and scored unassisted to get the Bears on board.

Hershey really took it to the Penguins, outshooting them 14-6.

Second Period: Garrett Pilon and Eddie Wittchow scored within minutes of one another to give the Bears a 3-1 lead. Setup went like this, draw attention to far side, get players to overcommit and draw off a man, opponent passes to streaking team mate and the goal is scored.

Off of the faceoff following the Wittchow goal, Kale Kessy and Jamie Devane fought.

But there’s a problem. They fought off of the faceoff which is a direct violation of Rule 46.10 of the AHL Rulebook which outlaws fighting off of a faceoff. In part…

46.10 Fighting Prior to or at the Drop of the Puck – Unless this occurs prior to the start of the game or any period (see 46.9), a player or players who enter into a fight, prior to, at the drop of the puck, or immediately following any face-off during the game, shall be assessed an automatic game misconduct in addition to any penalties assessed.

They have had this rule in the book for a few years now but you may as well outlaw fighting altogether if you are going to write rules like this. They already suspend you for 10 fights, guys like Steve MacIntyre are out of the league and fights are becoming less and less.

There’s a time and place for it. Getting scored on again in the period was the perfect time to try and spark the bench to get a rally going. Kale Kessy and Jamie Devane are both willing, trained professionals who probably know more about what you read about CTE than the people writing it. That doesn’t stop them from trying to knock each other out, so why stop them and come up with 5,000 rules trying to disavow it.

Just ban it. I’ve wasted three full paragraphs veering off base on it. Just make a rule that if you fight, you’re thrown out of the game and suspended for one. If you do it again, you’re suspended for two games and your team is fined $500. Double the fines and suspensions from there. Simple.

Hershey continued to pile on with another Pinho goal for a tap in which chased Tokarski for DeSmith and then on a tail end of a two man advantage when Philippe Maillet hacked and whacked at a puck that got by DeSmith that made it 5-1.

Third Period: Andrew Agozzino with his second of the game in the first minute of the period.

Pens put on a clinic in the offensive zone but couldn’t get a few power play chances to fire and were running out of time. Liam O’Brien iced it away with an empty net goal.

Wilkes-Barre had 14 shots through two periods, ended up with 18 in the third. Vellucci’s challenge going forward is going to be getting a full effort out of his team with all three periods.

Three Stars: 3) Philippe Maillet 2) Andrew Agozzino 1) Brian Pinho

The Good: That third period was promising. They dominated Hershey but it may have been a wolf in sheep’s clothing given the scoreline.

The Bad: Absent the rules on fighting, they got their asses kicked tonight by a blood rival and are now out of a playoff spot.

Turning Point: Hershey’s two quick goals to open the second put the Penguins on tilt, and it spiraled from there.

Around the Division: Hartford doubles up Providence 3-1….Lehigh Valley is shutout 4-0 in Laval….Springfield beats a game Utica club 3-2….Binghamton beats Bridgeport 3-1. Charlotte was off.

Standings: Hartford 47 — Hershey 43 — Providence 43 — Springfield 40 — Penguins 39 — Charlotte 35 — Bridgeport 31 — Lehigh Valley 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 2-1 in overtime in Cincinnati. Cam Brown with both goals including the overtime winner. Alex D’Orio faced a firing squad in goal, stopping 34 shots.

Video Highlights: 

Springfield in Saturday with a chance to get back above the cut line. More Saturday at 3.

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5                                                     4

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Two evenly matched teams squared off Tuesday afternoon in Springfield.

Your new rival is the Springfield Thunderbirds. Not Hershey or Lehigh Valley. It’s the Thunderbirds. They play the Penguins tough, strong and hard. They don’t lead the division by 15 points or beat teams by seven goals a night, they play a hard nosed, physical style just like the Penguins.

Springfield wins 5-4 in a shootout in a game that had everything. The game ending in a shootout was the least exciting thing about the entire contest.

Casey DeSmith opposed Philippe Desrosiers.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: They released Sebastian Caron from his PTO about five minutes before they came out for the warmup, DeSmith started and Dustin Tokarski backed up. That was it. No imminent recall in the wake of Jake Guentzel’s season ending shoulder surgery off of the injury he sustained in Monday’s game against Ottawa.

Notable, Andrew Agozzino played in his 500th game. Also, Springfield didn’t post lines or any goal GIFs.

First Period: Period had pretty much everything.

First, two goals by the Penguins scored :18 apart. Anthony Angello drove the net and ripped a shot which was tipped but the rebound put in by Sam Miletic for a goal at 7:38.

Then, :18 later, a puck off of the chest of Andrew Agozzino and in for a 2-0 Penguin lead.

Oh and this too, depending on your view of what’s even strength or not.

To clarify, I’m talking about the goal Miletic scored in Rochester on December 11, not the one he scored Tuesday.

Springfield was never on the ropes, because they responded in kind to not only tie, but take the lead.

Paul Thompson’s initial shot is stopped, but the Thunderbirds captain follows his shot and puts it in to cut the deficit to one.

Later, Dryden Hunt tied the game on a tic tac power play goal.

Then Ryan Haggerty scored a goal in controversial fashion.

He put a puck in past DeSmith after the Penguins netminder made the initial stop, then never covered the puck which was loose in or around the crease. As Haggerty is knocked around, he makes contact with DeSmith as DeSmith is going down into a snow angel to hopefully cover up the puck before it crosses the line.

It did. Referee Dan Kelly was right on top of the play and signaled goal. This made Casey DeSmith very mad. He flung his blocker in the general direction of Kelly. Kelly then went to replay to review something. No idea what, as goalie interference calls when goals are scored and not called as such are not reviewable in the AHL. The goal stood and the place was hot.

I guess what I don’t understand is why that goal by Haggerty was allowed to stand with all that contact and the goal Bobby Nardella scored against Dustin Tokarski Saturday in Hershey wasn’t. Nardella sneezed on Tokarski and his goal was disallowed and yet DeSmith is knocked over, unable to play his position, and the goal stands. There is no black and white. There just isn’t. You can argue contact, but there is contact all the time.

Mike Vellucci then initially refused to send five players over the boards in a protest despite Dan Kelly’s petitioning to start play again at center ice.

Full marks to Kelly for not throwing Casey DeSmith out of the game. You can’t throw things at officials. Also, you are supposed to start play when the official signals. Kelly could have thrown gas on the fire by ejecting DeSmith and Vellucci but didn’t.

Oh, Jan Drozg scored a power play goal to tie the game at three.

(no goal GIF here or of the Haggerty one)

That was just the first period.

Second Period: A lot less controversy. The Penguins knuckle down and put 15 shots on Desrosiers, but the Thunderbirds netminder turned them all aside. Springfield took just six, one of them going in when Joel Lowry had a goal go in the opening minutes of the period.

Third Period: Penguins finally get one to go, this time off of the back of Desrosiers, when Thomas DiPauli was the last to touch the puck which tied the game at four.

Overtime: Pens had to kill a too many men penalty and did. No one really got close to scoring on either end.

Shootout: Henrik Borgstrom’s goal in the first round of the shootout stood up as the winner. Kevin Roy, Jake Lucchini and Anthony Angello all missed in that order for Wilkes-Barre.

The Good: Competitive game between to evenly matched teams gave the fans a good show. It’s always a battle and the Penguins and Thunderbirds sometimes bring out the best and worst of each other. Oh, and they rematch Saturday in Wilkes-Barre.

The Bad: Obviously the goalie interference no call, but the standard has no footing. No one knows what is or isn’t goalie interference.

Turning Point: Haggerty’s controversial goal gave Springfield the jam they were seeking. They kept out the Penguins in the second, and rode Desrosiers and a shootout to a win.

Around the Division: Hartford and Bridgeport were the only other game in town division wise, and the Wolf Pack handled the Sound Tigers beating them 3-2.

Standings: Hartford 45 — Providence 43 — Hershey 41 — Penguins 39 — Springfield 38 — Charlotte 35 — Bridgeport 31 — Lehigh Valley 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers hosted the Norfolk Admirals and beat them 6-1. Emil Larmi had 45 saves. Ryan Scarfo had a goal and an assist.

Video Highlights: Are here. The Haggerty goal is around the 1:50 mark.

Happy New Year. Don’t drink and drive, all that. Pens are back in action Friday when they host Hershey. Expect the All-Star rosters to be published sometime Thursday. I will be back then to let you know who made it from the Penguins plus looks at all the other players named. I think Casey DeSmith and Andrew Agozzino are locks, but I guess we will find out for sure then.

Let’s Go Pens!

      @     

2                                     1

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Another ridiculously tight, too close to call game between the Hershey Bears and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. The Penguins, despite a few blowouts and 1-0 shutouts against, have played decent hockey in the month of December but they lacked any type of scoring unless your name was Anthony Angello. The Hershey Bears haven’t lost a game in the month of December.

Until tonight. The Penguins win 2-1 Saturday night to end the Bears nine game winning streak.

I ran the numbers back to that December 11 game in Rochester where Sam Miletic and Oula Palve scored in the third period. Depending on what your view of an even strength goal is, Jan Drozg scored an even strength goal and then Sam Miletic scored one with an extra attacker on, Drozg’s goal came 365:37 minutes ago, Miletic’s was 361:56.

Well make it 425:37 or 421:56 (again, depending on your views of what is even strength) since a player not named Anthony Angello scored an even strength goal for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Angello scored the Penguins first goal and Thomas DiPauli, in his return from Pittsburgh, added on a power play goal and the Penguins tidily sweep the weekend.

Dustin Tokarski opposed Vitek Vanecek.

Lineup: 

Lineup Notes: Thomas DiPauli was returned from Pittsburgh, he replaced Jamie Devane on the fourth line. Casey DeSmith didn’t make the trip, Wheeling is in Indianapolis and Emil Larmi was up for the week and his itinerary included going back to the ECHL to get a bunch of games in during the Nailers crazy busy stretch coming up here so logistically he couldn’t rubber band back to town. Penguins signed Sebastian Caron to a PTO and he spent his afternoon / evening as the backup.

First Period: Was basically all centered around this play which a lot of Bears fans weren’t happy with.

Bobby Nardella puts the puck in the net but referee Michael Duco immediately washes out the goal and puts Matt Moulson in the penalty box for interference.

Soft call? Yes. Right call? Who knows. Whenever you think you know what a call is or isn’t, they move the target on you and you end up wrong.

These types of calls usually go for you and against you at least once a season.

There was no (legal) scoring in the period.

Second Period: Anthony Angello continued his goal scoring tear for the Penguins with this shot for a goal in the slot that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Hershey would get a two man advantage and Matt Moulson tapped in an easy goal that tied the game at one.

Cheeky point by Moulson there, mocking the referees that that one counted.

Penguins had a power play that went like this. Lose face off, give up two on none, then have this happen to your goaltender.

Third Period: Thomas DiPauli scored on a rebound of an Oula Palve shot. His offering dribbled up the back of Vancek and into the net.

Hershey responded in kind, by Penguins defenseman Michael Kim had a better shift, dropping to a knee to save a goal which preserved the Penguins one goal lead.

Bears pulled Vanecek in search of a tying goal, but weren’t able to get the equalizer. It was a ferocious final stand by Tokarski and the Penguins defense that preserved the win and ended the Bears winning streak.

Three Stars: 3) Anthony Angello (goal) 2) Matt Moulson (goal) 1) Thomas DiPauli (goal)

The Good: Despite the tumult, a nice turnaround by Wilkes-Barre / Scranton to sweep the weekend. They proved that they can hang and squeeze out goals when they need to in order to win hockey games.

The Bad: Really nitpicking as I am sitting here watching the cursor flash by on me as I am trying to think of one. Penguins played a great game, top to bottom with luck, and got the result they were seeking.

Turning Point: I’m going to let Tyler give this to you.

Hard to disagree with it. You could also go DiPauli’s goal which gave the Penguins a lead and then Tokarski shutting the door from there also.

Around the Division: Providence and Hartford are playing hot potato with the division lead, Hartford wins 4-1….Ethan Prow’s goal in overtime gives Springfield a 4-3 win over Bridgeport….Charlotte thumps Cleveland 5-1….Lehigh Valley loses at home to Utica 4-2.

Standings: Hartford and Providence 43 — Hershey 39 — Penguins 38 — Springfield 36 — Charlotte 33 — Bridgeport 31 — Lehigh Valley 29

Wheeling Update: Nailers are off tonight, play Indy Sunday. Emil Larmi may get that start.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are back in action Tuesday at 3 p.m. for a New Years Eve game at home against Springfield. Breaking news here as it warrants between now and then. If not, then look for the next blog update to come at 11 a.m. Tuesday for the Gameday setup for the clash with Ryan Haggerty and the Thunderbirds.

Let’s Go Pens!