Chirps from Center Ice

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5                                       4

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Teddy Blueger had a ho-hum regulation. No points and really uncharacteristic of the Penguins center and All-Star snub Penguins leading scorer.

But then overtime began and Blueger made his presence felt.

Blueger’s overtime game winner gives the Penguins a hard earned win on the Southern Tier of New York as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the Binghamton Senators 5-4 in overtime.

It’s a game that the Penguins should have won easily, but Binghamton kept getting off the mat.

Normally when weaker teams play teams that never say die they curl up and wither away. You’ll often read me state that there are great, good and bad teams at this level. The Penguins aren’t a bad team, the Penguins aren’t a great team (this year) but they are a good team and in a division loaded with teams that are way too inconsistent (besides Charlotte) it’s performances like these that the Penguins are going to need in their push toward playoffs.

Tristan Jarry opposed Cory Schneider.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: No changes personnel wise. Sam Miletic and Anthony Angello swapped spots up top, that’s all.

The Penguins released Will O’Neill Friday. It was a mutual release. O’Neill became a defensive liability and it didn’t help that he took up a veteran spot. There were better options. I think he’s probably done at this level but I could be wrong. We’ll see.

First Period: Starts where one team didn’t play the night before can be a bit of a trick, but any ill will concerns of a poor start by the Penguins were snuffed out in the first minute when Joseph Blandisi did this:

Binghamton turnover and Blandisi was off to the races, had Angello as a trailer and probably looked him off and wired a shot past Schneider for the early goal just :46 in.

Penguins killed two penalties in the period. In one, Linus Ölund had a blind, spin-o-rama drop pass set up for Anthony Angello who skated in unabated and…

…Cory Schneider made the save.

Penguins would get a late crack on the power play and All-Star Ethan Prow would waste no time in doubling the Penguins lead.

That is points in eight straight games for Ethan Prow and the six power play goals by him puts him in a tie with Teddy Blueger for tops on the team.

Second Period: Frankly, the Penguins were lucky to get out of this period with the lead. After going up 4-1, Binghamton storms back to score two and pull within one. Wilkes-Barre was outshot 15-11 in the period and were getting steamrolled. Apropos of nothing, Binghamton just kept getting off the mat and coming. The Penguins added two goals in the period but it was like Binghamton was unfazed here and scored three.

Here they are, starting off with Ryan Haggerty with a seeing eye shot that Schneider was screened on that made it 3-0 Wilkes-Barre.

Tariq Hammond with the unintentional screen of his goaltender there.

Ryan Schmelzer scored a power play goal on nice tic tac toe passing setup to bring the Devils on the board.

Adam Johnson would score a few minutes later on a pin balling puck that Cory Schneider was unable to smother entirely and it was 4-1 Penguins.

J-S Dea with an assist on the goal here, he quietly has 18 points in 18 games.

But Binghamton kept swinging, and got two more goals before the horn. Another power play goal, this time by John Quenneville, sweeping in a rebound of a Nick Lappin shot that made it 4-2.

Then Blake Pietila scored a goal similar to the Haggerty goal to open the period when his shot was not stopped by Tristan Jarry with Kevin Czuczman getting tangled up with Quenneville down low and setting a partial screen on his net minder that brought the Devils to within one.

Third Period: Blake Pietila added his second of the game on a goal that you could see coming like a bad car crash. Pietila waited out Jarry for an hour before he scored to bring the Devils even at four a piece.

Penguins had to sweat out a penalty and were successful on the kill and it was off to…

Overtime: I Periscoped it. It’s not long.

Teddy Blueger scored :41 in. Ballgame.

The Good: Three game win streak for the Penguins and 8-0-0-0 all time against the Binghamton Devils. Binghamton didn’t go away all night and the Penguins built up enough of a lead to get them to OT and the Blueger heroics.

The Bad: Two more power play goals agains gave Binghamton life and if it wasn’t for a player of such high caliber of Blueger on OT who knows how this one would shake out.

Three Stars:

Around the Division: Hershey beats Laval 4-2…Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley 4-1 to stop the bleeding for the Sound Tigers…Charlotte gets back in the win column with a 5-2 win in Hartford and Providence beats Springfield 3-2.

Standings: Charlotte 66 — Bridgeport 54 — Lehigh Valley 53 — Providence 51 — Springfield 50 — Penguins 49 — Hershey 45 — Hartford 43

Wheeling Update: Nailers and Royals went to a shootout and the Royals won 6-5 the box is here.

Video Highlights: Are here.

Pens are off until next Friday as the AHL in whole hits the All-Star break. Skills Competition is Sunday with the game on Monday. If anything interesting happens there I may drop in here with a blog piece. Otherwise but for big time news, check out the Power Rankings on Thursday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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5                                       2

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I don’t want to say that we have reached the swan song of Teddy Blueger, but we are getting close.

A pair of goals and an assist for the Penguins centerman and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins obliterate the stone cold Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-2 Wednesday morning in Connecticut.

There isn’t any room for Teddy Blueger at his natural center position right now in Pittsburgh. The one thing that is a strength of both the NHL team and AHL team is down the middle. All Blueger can do is take the assignments as they come. If he continues to light it up down here in Wilkes-Barre, Jim Rutherford and Company may have no choice but to call him up and make room for him.

Remains to be seen. Enjoy him while you still can, is what I am saying.

Tristan Jarry opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Joseph Blandisi made his Penguins debut and went top line with Teddy Blueger and Anthony Angello. Cam Brown took warmups but was the scratch. Ryan Scarfo dropped to the third line, Ryan Haggerty moved up to that line also and Joseph Cramarossa was back in with Ölund and Hayes. Macoy Erkamps was back in for Tim Erixon who was the veteran removed to allow Cramarossa to get in today.

First Period: Penguins got out to a quick start with Joseph Blandisi getting a goal in his first game as a Penguin.

He initially put a shot on, which was blocked and stayed in the slot and collected his rebound and scored.

Tristan Jarry had to stop a Jeff Kubiak penalty shot when Kubiak was hooked shorthanded when the Penguins were on a power play.

Later, Teddy Blueger steals a puck in the neutral zone, skates in and scored to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

Decent first period for the Penguins who outshot the Sound Tigers 8-3.

Second Period: Tons of goals and momentum swings.

Ryan Haggerty made it 3-0 after he wheeled around the face-off dot and unleashed a shot that made it 3-0.

That ended Chris Gibson’s day, enter Jeremy Smith.

Wilkes-Barre then scores :11 apart when Ethan Prow puts a shot on goal that Teddy Blueger pounces on, he wheels around Gibson and scores to make it 4-0 on a power play. Then, off of the ensuing face-off Ryan Scarfo intercepts a pass up the ice on the far wall and finds a cutting Ryan Haggerty in front to make it 5-0 before the Sound Tigers knew what hit them.

Here are the goals:

The Penguins at this point had more goals (5) then the Sound Tigers had shots (4)

Bridgeport Head Coach Brent Thompson used his time out and out of that on the very next shift, Chris Casto scored to break up the Tristan Jarry would-be shutout bid.

(Taylor didn’t GIF any goals this morning)

Tanner Fritz connected on a Sound Tigers power play that made it 5-2. Momentum was sliding on the Sound Tigers side, quickly.

Turning point of the game was when the Penguins killed a Zach Trotman penalty at the games halfway point. If the Sound Tigers scored here to cut the goal to two, it would have completely changed the complexion of the game.

Third Period: In hindsight, that power play that the Sound Tigers had at the midway point seemed like their final push because they took two penalties late in the second and the third period was ultimately benign. Ryan Haggerty was denied a few chances at his hat trick and Tristan Jarry had a few key late saves to preserve the win.

The Good: These morning starts are tricky, but the Penguins jumped out to a 5-0 start and withstood a small pushback from Bridgeport. Having Chris Summers and Zach Trotman on the blue line back is really important.

The Bad: Kind of hard to nitpick on this, but the Sound Tigers were getting flattened, called time out, and were a few breaks and bounces from turning this into a much closer game. Wilkes-Barre is going to need to start stringing a full 60 minute effort together if they want success more often than not.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Springfield beat Hartford 7-4 in a game which was bonkers. Ex-Penguins Paul Thompson had four goals. Ex-Penguin Harry Zolnierczyk scored his 100th AHL goal…Lehigh Valley beat Hershey in a shootout, 2-1.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 51 — Springfield 50 — Providence 47 — Penguins 47 — Hershey 43 — Hartford 42

Penguins are off Friday, Providence hosts Charlotte, Lehigh Valley hosts Hartford and Springfield is in Syracuse.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Doesn’t look like there are any video highlights for this one, sorry.

Week 16 AHL Power Rankings are out Thursday morning, check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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  1                                           2

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Gritty win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, who defeat the understaffed Lehigh Valley Phantoms in overtime, 2-1.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 44 of 46 shots on his conditioning stint from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins shot 70% of their shots at Stolarz directly into the Phantoms logo on Stolarz’s chest. I don’t think that he had many high risk saves that he had to make today. Penguins shooters made it pretty easy for him though the first forty minutes, putting 32 shots on Stolarz.

But it was the Phantoms scoring first, Mike Huntebrinker scored his first of the season with this goal in the opening stages of the third period.

That’s Kevin Czuczman there in front going for the half block. Huntebrinker put it past him and then off the post, Jarry and then in.

The Penguins had two power play opportunities but couldn’t muster anything close to a dangerous look that Stolarz would have had a chance to turn away.

One second after power play expired, Adam Johnson scored his fourth goal in three games that tied the game at one and the Penguins had life again.

Diving block by the Phantoms defender may have taken something off of the shot that changed up on Stolarz.

The teams skated even the rest of the way in the third period and went off to overtime.

After a herky jerky start to overtime whee it looked like a shootout was inevitable, Ethan Prow ended it.

Teddy Blueger drove the net, put a shot on that Stolarz denied but didn’t cover, and Ethan Prow was there to sweep it home. Ball game.

Kind of writing the game story backwards from here. Nothing really happened offensively in the first two periods. The Phantoms has 17 shots through two periods and the Penguins had 17 shots in the second period alone. It was a dominating performance from the Penguins offensively, but all offerings laid at the feet at Anthony Stolarz were easily turned away.

Two rivals on the ice in a game that had importance for both, the Phantoms and Penguins have been reeling of late, so you would think that they would be ornery for a 1 p.m. Monday start. No. They played good, legal hockey for much of the game. Referees Terry Koharski and Ryan Jenken had long leashes today and only called what needed to be.

Tristan Jarry got the start for the Penguins. Here is how they lined up.

Joseph Blandisi was sent down by Pittsburgh on Sunday and is expected to arrive tonight and practice with the team Tuesday before they get on a bus and head to Bridgeport for a 10:30 a.m. start on Wednesday.

Zach Trotman and Chris Summers were both back from their injuries and had big impacts on the ice today, erasing any high chances that any Phantoms players tried to produce. As a result, Joseph Cramarossa had to sit as the extra veteran. Other lineup notes were Ryan Scarfo up with Teddy Blueger and Anthony Angello top line. Cam Brown to third line. Jimmy Hayes up from, Ryan Haggerty down to, fourth line. Patrick McGrath went in for Cramarossa. Macoy Erkamps and Danny Fick (who skated as the extra in warmups) yielded to Summers ands Trotman.

The Good: I like the amount of shots that the Penguins put up today. They ran into a goaltender who was very, very good today in Stolarz, who deserved a better result today.

The Bad: Flipping that, at what point do the shooters try a different angle or release point when Stolarz is getting hit in the chest time after time after time? That may be be nitpicking, though.

Around the Division: Hershey beat the suddenly reeling Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-1. Providence beat Hartford 5-2 and the Bruins collect 5 of 6 points this weekend. Springfield hosted Laval Monday night and lost in overtime 4-3.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 49 — Springfield 48 — Providence 47 — Penguins 45 — Hershey 42 — Hartford 42

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off this week.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are practicing Tuesday, will then get on a bus and then head to Bridgeport for a 10:30 morning start against the Sound Tigers. I will have the Gameday setup with your morning coffee bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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  5                                       3

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Spare me the Anthony Peters gripes. The Penguins net minder took the net Saturday afternoon against the Hershey Bears and was dealt a 5-3 setback.

Now I am one of Peters biggest critics here, but listen to this logic.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are severely understaffed right now due to injuries. Patrick McGrath took the warmup today and was the only healthy scratch that the Penguins had.

That is a lot of regular contributors out of the lineup for Wilkes-Barre. It’s a patchwork lineup right now which is top heavy. You have your Blueger’s and Dea’s and Johnson’s, but inconsistency after that.

Anthony Peters can let in 100 goals. If the team ahead of him fails to move their feet to generate any offense and go down 2-0 in the first period like they did Saturday, with the lineup as it currently sits, it’s hard to dig out of against a Hershey Bears team that just has the Penguins number and is playing some excellent hockey of recent.

Peters opposed Ilya Samsonov, who by his own right is a big reason Hershey is playing so well recently. Hershey has now won four in a row.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Sam Lafferty, Matt Abt and Jeff Taylor all were out. We knew that Taylor and Abt left the game with injuries Friday against Rochester, Sam Lafferty was hit hard by Scott Wilson last night in the second period.

The Penguins signed defensemen and Nailers captain Danny Fick to a PTO earlier in the day Saturday. He was paired with Tim Erixon. Kevin Spinozzi went with Ethan Prow and Ryan Scarfo was used as the replacement for Sam Lafferty, but it was J-S Dea in Lafferty’s spot at the second line center.

Tom got an update from Pens head coach Clark Donatelli after the game:

Not mentioned by Tom, but Will O’Neill somehow is day to day as well.

First Period: Jarrett Burton was stopped on a early two on one by Samsonov. It was the only Grade A chance that the Penguins had all period in the six shots they mustered at the Hershey net minder.

Mike Sgarbossa opened the scoring on the power play with this play.

It was the tenth straight game that the Bears score first in.

I thought the entry should have been whistled down for offsides. Since I was not at the game today because of the snow, I had the ability to go back on AHL TV and go frame by frame. You tell me if you think the play should have been whistled down for offsides.

Hershey beat out and icing call and Shane Gersich scored to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

Icing beat out, no one on the puck, no one marking Gersich. Yuck.

Peters had a big stop in the final minute. But the Penguins were badly outshot 11-6 in the first period. I heard Hart say on radio that the shots were at one point 6-6. The Penguins went the final nine minutes without a shot on goal.

Second Period: Anthony Peters was tremendous in the period. He stopped Nathan Walker right out of the opening face-off and stopped all 12 shots that he faced, including three Hershey power plays.

Adam Johnson scored a goal off of a J-S Dea shot when the Penguins were gift wrapped a two man advantage for a full two minutes.

Penguins hit a few posts in the period. Ethan Prow was freed from the penalty box and hit one. But the story of the period was Peters’ solid play in the second frame with his team down two goals.

Third Period: Hershey added another power play goal when Jayson Megna went pretty much unmarked in the slot with Nathan Walker screening and Hershey took a 3-1 lead.

Teddy Blueger got one back on a Penguins power play that got the Penguins to within one.

But then Joseph Cramarossa had a big hit on Shane Gersich and fought Connor Hobbs…

…but on the ensuing power play Riley Barber connected on the Bears third power play of the game to give Hershey a 4-2 lead.

Penguins got a later power play to possibly get it back to within one but Sam Miletic threw a pass to the point where there was no one but a Bears player. That Bears player was Jayson Megna who did this.

Just burned Tim Erixon and made Anthony Peters look silly.

J-S Dea set up Adam Johnson for his second of the game that cut it to two…

…but with Peters pulled the Penguins would get no closer.

The Good: The Penguins scored three power play goals.

The Bad: The Hershey Bears scored three. One is okay, two is a problem, three is unacceptable. It’s rare that you see a penalty free game. That last thing that you want to see is your penalty kill cost you games.

Oh, Hershey hasn’t won four games in Wilkes-Barre during the regular season since 2012-13 until today.

Three Stars: 3) Adam Johnson (two goals) 2) Mike Sgarbossa (goal, two assists) 1) Jayson Megna (two goals, assist)

Around the Division: Charlotte gets a point because that’s what they do, losing 4-3 in overtime to Toronto….Bridgeport takes down Providence 4-3 in a shootout…Lehigh Valley beats Rochester 3-2 in a shootout….Springfield shuts out Hartford 3-0.

Standings: Charlotte 64 — Bridgeport 52 — Lehigh Valley 48 — Springfield 47 — Providence 45 — Penguins 43 — Hartford 42 – Hershey 38

Wheeling Update: 

Box here.

Video Highlights: I doubt that the Pens will run a package as I suspect the employees will want to make it home safe. If I see one, I will put it here.

Pens are off Sunday and will play Lehigh Valley at 1 p.m. Monday. Gameday setup for that will hit the blog at 9 a.m. I am taking the day off from the big boy job and will be at the Arena.

Let’s Go Pens!

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  5                                       4

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Two sides to this one, three if you factor in the injuries.

One hand, the Penguins played up to a Rochester team that has been at the top of the North Division for months now and lost a close game.

Other hand, Rochester played down to an opponent that lost two defensemen in a game that they badly outshot the home team, 38-23 and only won by one goal.

The Penguins lost defensemen Matt Abt and Jeff Taylor to injuries in the game and played with four defensemen in the third period where the score was 3-3.

Penguins lose 5-4. A pair of goals by Anthony Angello and two goals a piece by Zach Redmond and Victor Olofsson for Rochester.

Tristan Jarry opposed Scott Wedgewood.

Lines were…

…not correct. Zach Trotman did NOT play in the game. Jeff Taylor skated with Tim Erixon on the third defensive pairing. Sam Miletic did play, and he replaced Ryan Scarfo.

First Period: Anthony Angello got the Penguins out front first with this nice pass from Ethan Prow from the point for a 1-0 Penguin lead.

But then Macoy Erkamps fell down, turned the puck over and Zach Redmond sniped in a goal to tie the game at one.

Three people knew the gaol was scored. Jarry, Redmond and the referee who pointed goal. Pretty goal by Redmond.

Jimmy Hayes of all people finished this perfect 2-on-1 with Joseph Cramarossa to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

Someone get me a medic!

Dalton Smith ran over Jeff Taylor. Taylor ended up going to the room, then returned, but ultimately didn’t come out for the third.

Second Period: Danny O’Regan scored on a play where all the Penguins on the ice went for a line change leaving zero players on the ice for O’Regan to get an easy pass for a breakaway goal that made it 2-2. I mean just look at this:

I kind off feel sorry for the five guys that jumped on for those coming off, they all got minuses on the play.

Zach Redmond scored his second of the game, this time coming on the top ranked Rochester road power play, and the Penguins trailed 3-2.

Adam Johnson scored a tough breakaway goal when the sides were four on four to make it 3-3.

Penguins needed that goal, as they were getting flattened with their offensive chances.

Third Period: Ethan Prow is unable to corral a bouncing puck that ends up on Victor Olofsson’s stick eventually and the Penguins go down 4-3. Olofsson would beat Jarry high glove again about six minutes later to make it 5-3. Here they are.

Penguins get a late goal with 62 seconds left from Anthony Angello that made it 5-4, but the Penguins frantically tried to tie the game but ran out of time.

The Good: Penguins kept it close on the scoreboard and battled the Americans all night.

The Bad: Losing the two defensemen in Abt and Taylor in the second half of the game ultimately cost the Penguins chances. Rochester outshot Wilkes-Barre 14-6. If the first place Americans didn’t win this game with the Penguins only using four defensemen, that would have been bad.

Indirect Bad: If Zach Trotman can’t go tomorrow, Will O’Neill time, baby!

Wait. Hold up.

Referees Beaudry Halkidis and Andrew Wilk were great tonight. The two teams were chippy tonight, but Wilk / Halkidis kept things under control and didn’t get in the way. The players I think respected that and were more interested in trying to win the game then they were in tearing each others heads off.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley loses 6-5 in overtime at home against Hartford. Providence takes down Springfield 2-1 in a shootout. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Charlotte 63 — Bridgeport 50 — Lehigh Valley 46 — Springfield 45 — Providence 44 — Penguins 43 — Hartford 42 — Hershey 38

Wheeling Update: Nailers got shellacked in Glens Falls by the Adirondack Thunder.

Box here.

Video Highlights:

Penguins and Bears are playing at 3:05 Saturday. In case you haven’t heard, there is a major snowstorm set to impact the area Saturday into Sunday. The game was moved up four hours because of the snowstorm. It’s January and these things happen, but that doesn’t mean I have to drive in it. I am most likely not going to the game Saturday and will likely watch on AHLTV. I don’t have an issue driving in snow. I can drive in snow and have a vehicle capable of driving in snow. It’s the other humanoids in their front wheel drive sedans that don’t know how to drive in the snow and block the road that worry me. It isn’t worth it for me to face an hour plus commute home after the game.

The Penguins seem destined to play, Hershey’s game Sunday in Bridgeport has been postponed to Monday and the Bears are planning on staying in Wilkes-Barre after the game before going up to Bridgeport after the storm passes. I’d like for the teams to just agree to postpone and play at a later date. It’s Hershey. We play them all the time. Wilkes-Barre probably has snow dates built in and it’s not like Hershey is a team like Rochester tonight who is only in once.

Anyway, Gameday setup is here Saturday at 11 a.m. If you do decide to drive out, please be careful.

Let’s Go Pens!

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3                                       5

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If I told you Thursday that the Penguins would split with the Charlotte Checkers, would you have taken it?

Don’t lie, you probably would. I would have.

But, after Wilkes-Barre dominated the AHL’s best team on Friday beating them 5-1 and making no lineup changes Saturday, Penguins fans were hoping for a clean sweep.

But Charlotte isn’t the best team in the AHL by dumb luck. A first period where the Checkers players figuratively returned to the parking lot and drove their automobiles onto the ice and ran over the Penguins skaters, out scoring the Penguins 3-0 and outshooting them 14-3, it was too big of a hole for Wilkes-Barre to dig out of.

But they did make it interesting, cutting the deficit to one on two occasions, but ultimately fall 5-3 in Charlotte and earn a split with the Checkers.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lines were…

…essentially unchanged from Friday night.

First Period: The Penguins were freight trained in the period. Charlotte scored as many goals as WIlkes-Barre had shots.

Julian Gauthier at the high slot at 1:14 put the Checkers on the board early, then about three and a half minutes later Morgan Geekie went unmarked and floated to the high slot and ripped one and scored to make it 2-0.

Charlotte would add a third on a power play which took all of seven seconds. A face off win, a soft shot off the pads of Jarry to Zach Nastasiuk who swept the puck across the line to make it 3-0 for Charlotte.

Here are all three goals in one tweet:

It was a bad period for the Penguins, to say the least. They had this one sequence I am about to show you that summed up their period.

In on a two on one, they get chased down by Haydn Fleury and don’t get a shot or pass off. It was Anthony Angello with Cam Brown in on a two on one when Fleury just erased the play entirely.

Wilkes-Barre was outshot 14-3 in the period. Not good.

Second Period: Much better period by the Penguins in contrast to the first, but down 3-0 to an offensively explosive team in Charlotte meant that you need to capitalize on your chances when you can quickly.

Wilkes-Barre had a 4:00 power play off the hop that they didn’t score on but they did get several good looks on.

Then Cam Brown brought the Penguins on the board when a shot off the post by Anthony Angello was put in by Brown for his first as a Penguin.

Then the Penguins capitalized on a power play when Ethan Prow scored to bring Wilkes-Barre back to within one.

But then a bad pinch by Matt Abt put the Checkers on a break that became a scramble that was just too much to recover from. Nicolas Roy made it a two goal game.

Momentum with the Penguins, a whole other period to play, and Abt pinches and puts his team in a bit of a hole going into the…

Third Period: Penguins got nabbed with a too many men on the ice penalty that they were able to negotiate out of okay but when you need to score goals with time your enemy, taking penalties is not a recipe for success.

Cam Brown was stopped on one of Alex Nedeljkovic’s better saves of the night.

Jeff Taylor got the Penguins to within one with this goal here with under ten minutes to play.

Wilkes-Barre would continue to buzz and roll, hit another post but with time winding down Clark Donatelli would call time out and with Jarry pulled, Nicolas Roy intercepted a Penguin breakout and hit the empty net to ice the game away.

The Good: No quit in the team who were the better side in the second half of the contest. I like Cam Brown on the top line, he was one of the better players for WIlkes-Barre tonight.

The Bad: This one is a layup. The Penguins will want that first twenty minutes back.

Three Stars: 3) Zach Nastasiuk (goal) 2) Nicolas Roy (two goals, assist) and 1) Julian Gauthier (goal, two assists)

Around the Division: Good night, overall. Bridgeport loses at home to Hartford 4-2. Hershey finally beats Lehigh Valley in Allentown via an Ilya Samsonov shutout 3-0. Providence beats Springfield 4-3.

Setting up Your Sunday: Three games in the AHL, and two of them involve Atlantic Division teams. Home and home rematches of Hershey and Lehigh Valley and Providence in Springfield. You want a Bears win and the Providence / Springfield game to finish in regulation.

Standings: Charlotte 59 — Bridgepor 50 — Lehigh Valley 43 — Penguins 43 — Springfield 42 — Providence 41 — Hartford 40 — Hershey 34

Wheeling Update: 

Box here. The Indy Fuel were the opponent.

Video Highlights: If one of the teams puts them up, I will edit them in here when the other games go final.

Pens will fly home Sunday, probably have a few days off before a Friday home date against Rochester. News and other stuff as it comes here on the blog. If not, check out my Power Rankings Thursday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

       @       

5                                       1

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I am assuming that you saw this tweet this afternoon about a former Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins alum.

Tristan Jarry sure did.

Facing a sudden uncertain future with the organization he plays for, Jarry goes out and pitches a gem as the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins take down the American Hockey League’s best team 5-1 tonight in Charlotte.

That’s four straight wins for Tristan Jarry. If you were wondering, like me, how the Penguins netminder would respond in his next game in the wake of the DeSmith extension against the best team in the AHL, you have your answer.

Jarry can ball. He should get the start again Saturday in the rematch against a likely pissed off Checkers team to really show his value, but that decision rests with Clark Donatelli, not this writer.

He opposed Scott Darling.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Cam Brown goes top line with Blueger and Angello. Hayes goes 2RW with Johnson and Lafferty. Cramarossa drops from first to third with Dea and Haggerty. Scarfo goes in w Ölund and Burton. On defense, Chad Ruhwedel was recalled after his 14 day stay on conditioning so Jeff Taylor jumped in and was paired with Tim Erixon.

Garrett Wilson was recalled earlier in the week when Zach Aston-Reese broke his hand in a fight and Patric Hornqvist left Pittsburgh’s last game with a concussion. Aston-Reese was placed on injured reserve.

First Period: I said in my Gameday setup that the Penguins almost needed to play a perfect game against Charlotte if they wanted to have success. Well, they got it in the period. Here is how.

1) Relentless forechecking.
2) Great special teams.
3) Solid goaltending.

Jarrett Burton would open the scoring when an Ethan Prow shot is blocked and the rebound is collected and a pass swept over to Jarrett Burton to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

Linus Ölund would score short handed to give Wilkes-Barre a 2-0 lead.

Tristan Jarry was making saves like a ninja in the crease to keep the highly potent Checkers offense in the cold with saves like these.

And Anthony Angello, who had been stymied by Scott Darling, with this fitting goal here that would end Darling’s evening and gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead.

Enter Alex Nedeljkovic.

Second Period: Penguins score quickly out of the gate when Cam Brown dropped a pass to Teddy Blueger on a three on one that Blueger finished off for a 4-0 Penguins lead.

Just defensive breakdowns by the Checkers all over the place. The Penguins to this point were reading all of the passes like they knew where they were going to go before they were even made.

Checkers finally go on the board when Andrew Poturalski scored on a two on none to cut Charlotte’s deficit to three.

Wilkes-Barre managed to kill a penalty soon after the goal scored against without any issues. Charlotte found themselves in late penalty trouble. You would have like to have seen the Penguins score a goal here to really ice the game away, but they could not.

Third Period: You wanted to see the Penguins maintain the pressure and keep pushing vs. playing to protect a lead or as I sometimes like to say, “playing not to lose.” It was working. Wilkes-Barre continued to apply pressure and get good looks throughout the period.

Wilkes-Barre would be the beneficiary of two power plays in the period and finally cashed on this J-S Dea marker that would essentially ice the game away late and made it 5-1.

The Good: Penguins played that perfect game that I mentioned in the Gameday setup this afternoon. I don’t think there is any doubt that the Penguins play better depending on the quality of the opponent. Charlotte is a team that only lost eight games in regulation coming into tonight.

The Bad: Nitpicking again cause they got one and the game really wasn’t close, but the power play could have iced this game away way earlier than with less than ten minutes to play in regulation.

Three Stars:

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Utica 4-3 in overtime. Big win for the Sound Tigers who were winless in their last three straight comings in….Lehigh Valley loses 2-1 at home to a suddenly hot Binghamton Devils team….Springfield beats Hershey 6-2 and Providence doubles up Hartford 6-3.

Standings: Charlotte 57 – Bridgeport 50 – Lehigh Valley 43 – Penguins 43 – Springfield 42 – Providence 39 – Hartford 38 – Hershey 32

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were shutout 3-0 at home by the Utah Grizzlies.

Video Highlights: 

Pens and Checkers are back at it again Saturday at 6 o’clock. Gameday setup is yours here on the blog Saturday at 2.

Let’s Go Pens!