Chirps from Center Ice

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Remember last year when the Penguins played the Bears and beat them pretty much all the time?

Those were the days.

The Penguins and Bears have played four times this season and Hershey has won three. We are starting to see some regression to the mean here. Or maybe it’s something else.

Johnny Muse deserved better.

Muse, making his much anticipated Penguins debut, stops 31 of 34 shots and loses. Zero run support. The problem early on for the Penguins isn’t defense or goaltending, it’s lack of anything resembling a scoring threat. That, and the fact that special teams is a complete disaster on both ends of the spectrum.

Penguins lose 3-2.

Muse opposed Vitek Vanecek.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Garrett Wilson went back up Saturday afternoon because Patric Hornqvist has a concussion. Sam Miletic played his second straight game after his injury, so he must be healed. I thought he would have sat Saturday and played Sunday. Tobias Lindberg went in for Wilson. Stefan Elliott was back in for Jeff Taylor.

First Period: Maybe it was just me, but that first period tonight was complete junk hockey on both sides of the puck. The Penguins had three power plays but were outshot 10-6. Go figure.

Second Period: Jayson Megna scored again against his old team, following his shot on a rebound spilled by John Muse, probably Muse’s only miscue of the night, and the Bears went ahead 1-0.

Thomas DiPauli scored to bring the Pens even with a nice play. Matt Abvt took the shot, Ryan Haggerty either stopped the shot or dug it out of the pads of Vanecek and wheeled around the net and dished to.an unmarked DiPauli who scored.

When things aren’t going your way, stuff like this happen.

Bears in on a two on one, Shumakov goes for a pass and the puck deflects off of Kevin Czuczman and into the net. 2-1 Bears.

Third Period: Mike Sgarbossa scored to make it 3-1 late.

Another rebound left by Muse. Funny because Vanecek was spilling rebounds all over Wilkes-Barre and the Penguins were not able to capitalize. Muse, who I thought was tremendous in light of chaos around him, spills two and the Bears score on them.

Czuczman scores late with Muse vacated to pull the Pens back to one…

But with a late power play with 10 seconds left, the Penguins never found the equalizer.

The Good: The Penguins had a Hockey Fights Cancer themed jerseys. Anything for the cause because everyone knows someone who has cancer.

The Bad: Jimmy Hayes, Will O’Neill and the Penguins Special Teams. Disasters. All of them. There’s a reason Lehigh Valley dropped Will O’Neill like a bad habit. He doesn’t have it anymore. Tim Erixon, Jeff Taylor or anyone else could do a better job, surely. Here’s the thing with Hayes. A big body that skates around and hits everything but the opposing team or the opposing teams net. There was a sequence tonight where he was in the slot 10 feet from the net and shot the puck wide left. Is this an intermission game or a pro hockey game? Troy Josephs is murdering the ECHL and is buried there while Hayes goes out there and “tries.” The Penguins special teams needs to be blown up and launched into the ocean. I don’t know who is responsible for the units, but getting scored on the power play in now 11 straight games is totally and completely unacceptable. You can’t rely on any unit anymore and it’s a grit your teeth for 2:00 type of situation.

Now watch. The Penguins will go 5/5 on the power play and penalty kill Sunday and beat Providence 6-0. Jimmy Hayes and Will O’Neill will both have hat tricks. What do I know, I just have a blog.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Everyone around the Penguins tonight, lost. Providence beats Lehigh Valley 6-3…Syracuse blanks Springfield 3-0…Hartford beats Bridgeport, ending the Sound Tigers point streak in the process, 3-1….Charlotte beats Laval 4-2.

Standings: Charlotte 31 — Bridgeport 25 — Hartford 23 — Springfield 22 — Lehigh Valley 22 — Penguins 20 — Hershey 19 — Providence 17

Wheeling Update: to the Toledo Walleye 4-3.That Troy Josephs is something, I’ll tell ya. He scored and assisted tonight as the Pens lose The Walleye are 9-1 in their last ten.

Highlights: 

Gameday setup for Sunday afternoon’s game against Providence hits the blog Sunday at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Punch. Counterpunch. Punch. Counterpunch.

That’s how this game went for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins tonight in Springfield, a 4-3 overtime loss.

The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 1-0 lead and the Pens answered and made it 2-1. Springfield responded and made it 3-2, the Pens score on a weird goal and get a Lafferty puck over glass delay of game penalty and some key glove saves by Anthony Peters to force overtime but lose there on a Jacob McDonald power play goal.

It’s a game that the Penguins could have, should have, won.

Anthony Peters opposed Samuel Montembeault.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Sam Miletic and Garrett Wilson returned from injury. Tristan Jarry was recalled to Pittsburgh Thursday under emergency conditions as Matt Murray is out “long term” with a “lower body injury” so Johnny Muse was recalled later Thursday in the corresponding move by Coal Street.

Line wise, things were all jumbled up with Miletic and Wilson in. Tobias Lindberg and Pat McGrath were the odd men out there. Matt Abt was in for Jeff Taylor on the third defensive pairing.

First Period: Springfield struck on the first power play of the game when Harry Zolnierczyk was left wide open in the slot that made it 1-0 Thunderbirds.

That was the tenth straight game in where the Pens have allowed a power play goal.

Wilkes-Barre had a chance to get back even or better with 1:39 of 5-on-3 power play.

It was an unmitigated disaster.

Anthony Peters had to cover up and make a save on a shot that Springfield had on the penalty kill.

Will O’Neill, known for his power play prowess, had a chance to score in the slot and didn’t take shot. Then, he had something like three shots from farther back that was either easily blocked or defected away.

Second Period: Joseph Cramarossa smacked home a pin balling puck to tie it.

Great response for the Penguins coming out of the break.

Wilkes-Barre would scored to move ahead on the power play when Teddy Blueger sniped this one home that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

But then Springfield loaded up the shots, 25 total in the period, and reclaimed the lead.

Paul Thompson with a knee drop one timer from the top of the far circle…

Not quite, Taylor, but it was yet another Penguins prospect that would score the go ahead goal to close out the period. Blaine Byron would score on a rebound off of the pads of Anthony Peters that put the Thunderbirds up 3-2 heading into the third.

Third Period: Penguins had a great chance at an early power play as they pinned Springfield deep in their zone and fired shot after shot at Montembeault but came up empty.

Ethan Prow scored a goal on a weird sequence as the shot that he shot redirected off of a Thunderbirds stick and into the net that tied the game at three.

Prow factored into all three Penguins goals tonight. If Pittsburgh needs a defensive recall, Prow is the man for the job in this writers opinion.

Anthony Peters had a couple of glove saves late that preserved the tie and forced overtime, but it was a puck over glass delay of game penalty by Sam Lafferty that put the Pens in a hole.

Overtime: Garrett Wilson dove in a clearing attempt. It’s a home run play that either works out great or it doesn’t.

It didn’t.

Three Stars: 3) Anthony Peters (39 saves on 43 shots) 2) Ethan Prow (goal, two assists) and 1) Jacob McDonald (overtime game winning power play goal)

The Good: Points are points.

The Bad: 1) The extra one is one that the Penguins may wish they had come the Spring…2) The PK is now league worst at 75%.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Bridgeport 3-2 in a shootout….Lehigh Valley thumps Hershey 6-2. Charlotte and Providence were off.

Standings: Charlotte 29 — Bridgeport 25 — Springfield 22 — Lehigh Valley 22 — Hartford 21 — Penguins 20 — Hershey 17 — Providence 15

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Highlights: Coal Street quick on them tonight:

Pens will bus home and get ready for a home game against the Hershey Bears Saturday night. Gameday setup is here on the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I’d be more upset about this one, a 6-5 overtime loss for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to the Charlotte Checkers if it was anyone else in the division.

Charlotte is 12-3. They are a great team, there is no getting past that. The Penguins had them down 4-1 tonight and the Checkers slowly but surely mounted yet another Mohegan Sun Arena comeback and won the game in overtime.

If the opponent is a .500 opponent or a last place team, you put teams like that away for good when you are up 4-1. The Penguins tried to do that tonight to the Checkers but there was too much time on the clock and too many good players on the Charlotte team.

Anthony Peters opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Jimmy Hayes returned, replaced Anthony Angello who goes top line, who replaced Tobias Lindberg who goes fourth line and bumps Ryan Horvat out of the lineup. Defense was unchanged.

Garrett Wilson was reassigned by the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier in the day but was at morning skate in Ottawa this morning and didn’t make it in time.

First Period: Aleksi Saarela scored on a rebound of a shot by Trevor Carrick that put the Checkers on the board first…

Penguins would get a power play and score on it when Adam Johnson scored from the point that tied the game for the Penguins.

Less than a minute later, Stefan Elliott throws a harmless shot at Nedeljkovic that goes in and it’s all of a sudden 2-1.

Thomas DiPauli would find space while Charlotte’s fourth line was out and he scored to make it 3-1.

That ended Nedeljkovic’s night, enter Callum Booth.

Now here is the thing about this move. It wasn’t an indictment on Nedeljkovic’s play as much as hit was a slap in the mouth to the players that played in front of him by head coach Mike Vellucci. Nedeljkovic is Charlotte’s iron horse. He plays in virtually every game for them and wins. Booth had a 1-1 record coming into tonight and was a virtual unknown.

Second Period: Adam Johnson scored to make it 4-1 early in the period.

Charlotte then got two bang bang goals from Cliff Pu and Martin Necas and it was uh oh time for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

(initial call was for McKeown, but was changed to Pu)

Callum Booth had a save on Jarrett Burton that totally changed the complexion of the game at the time.

Charlotte, pressing and hammering each shift for a goal, get a ten bell, highlight reel save from their backup goalie to preserve the one goal deficit. That ignited Charlotte.

Third Period: Long time readers of the blog will sometime see me use the term, “not playing to win, playing not to lose” from time to time. That was definitely what the Penguins were doing when the third period started.

Checkers get first five shots on goal, finally break through when Dan Renouf unleashes a shot from the point that ties the game for the Checkers.

Charlotte wasn’t done.

Six seconds into a Tobias Lindberg hold, Greg McKegg scored to make it 5-4 Checkers.

The Penguins mustered only three shots on goal to this point, and were losing.

But then Anthony Angello did this…

Another angle…

That basically got the Penguins at least a point, because Charlotte never got enough of a look in regulation to win it outright.

Overtime: Wilkes-Barre never possessed the puck in overtime and Aleksi Saarela scored to win it for the Checkers.

Three Stars: 

The Good: The Penguins had the best team in the league in a 4-1 hole.

The Bad: That hole? The Penguins let the best team out of said hole and they couldn’t hold onto a lead and lost in overtime,

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Belleville and sweeps the weekend, they win 2-1…Hartford thumps a listless Utica club 6-3…Hershey splits the weekend series with Cleveland and lose 5-2…Providence beats Rochester 3-2 in overtime…Springfield clips Lehigh Valley 3-2.

Standings: Charlotte 27 — Bridgeport 24 — Springfield 20 — Lehigh Valley 20 — Penguins 19 — Hartford 17 — Hershey 17 — Providence 14

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win 4-1 in South Carolina, beating the Stingrays 4-1. Kevin Spinozzi figured into every goal, scoring one and assisting on three others.

Highlights:

Pens are off until after Thanksgiving, when they travel up to Springfield Friday. Remember my Power Rankings post will be here on Wednesday. If there are any news or notes in between I will fill them in here.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were 4-4-1-1 in their last ten games coming into tonight’s contest with the league leading Charlotte Checkers. During that span, they have allowed seven straight power play goals.

Make it eight tonight, two for the night, as the Penguins fall 2-1 to the Charlotte Checkers.

An even game otherwise. Shots were 28 a side.

The turning point in the game was when AHL league leader in goals from last year, Valentin Zykov, was thrown out of the game for a dangerous intent to injure cross checking penalty to Joseph Cramarossa. The Penguins were on a 5:00 major power play and were unable to score in a 1-1 game at the time.

Eight shots on the power play for the Penguins, but no goals.

Charlotte on the other hand, struck twice on the power play, but even those were goals made on tight shots.

Janne Kuokkanen over the glove of Jarry that made it 1-1 on a two man advantage in the second, and then Andrew Poturalski bar down on Jarry with under five minutes to play on a garden variety power play.

Game. Set. Match.

That’s pretty much it.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Nedeljkovic. Fourteen goaltenders have scored goals in the AHL. Nedeljkovic was the thirteenth, Jarry the fourteenth.

Here is how they lined up:

With no changes on defense, Lindberg and Ölund went top line with DiPauli. Haggerty for Jimmy Hayes (he missed tonight’s game attending to a personal matter) with the Lafferty / Johnson line. Joe Cramarossa debuted on third line with Blueger and Angello. Burton centered Horvat and McGrath.

Nobody scored in the first.

Thomas DiPauli opened the scoring with a nice give and go with Tobias Lindberg here.

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Janne Kuokkanen tied it on a two man advantage on a dart above Jarry’s glove that made it 1-1.

Zykov was assessed a match penalty for cross checking. Here’s the details on the penalty and the ramifications that go with it:

I don’t think he will be suspended for Saturday, but we will see. The punishment I think fit the crime.

Teams played with fire in the third period with each team trading multiple power play attempts but it was Andrew Poturalski going bar down and scoring on Jarry late with 3:36 left.

Pens pulled Jarry for the extra man but took a Teddy Blueger offensive zone penalty and that killed any chances at a tie.

The Good: The Penguins stood with the best team in the AHL and did not look out of place at all at even strength.

The Bad: Not scoring on the 5:00 major penalty was a major turning point. Allowing Charlotte to score twice on the power play killed the Penguins tonight.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Hershey crushes Cleveland 6-1. These teams rematch again tomorrow in Hershey…Lehigh Valley goes down 4-1 in the first period, win 5-4 in Providence…Springfield embarrasses Rochester 9-4…Bridgeport beats Laval 2-1 in a shootout…Hartford was off.

Standings: Charlotte 25 – Bridgeport 22 – Lehigh Valley 20 – Springfield 18 – Penguins 18 – Hershey 17 – Hartford 15 – Providence 12

Wheeling Update: Troy Josephs had a hat trick, John Muse tried to score on an empty net, the Nailers beat the Jacksonville Icemen 4-1 in Florida.

If Coal Street runs any highlights and I can get to an edit, they will run here.

Pens and Checkers rematch tomorrow at 7:05 in Wilkes-Barre. Gameday setup here at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins played their first home game 19 years ago Tuesday. Coal Street had a nice feature on their website which you can check out complete with an eight minute highlight package.

For 20 seasons though, a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins goaltender has never scored a goal.

Until today.

Fourteen seconds after losing a shutout bid, goaltender Tristan Jarry scored an empty net goal.

No, really, if you don’t believe me, here it is.

And it wasn’t like it was anything like a luck chance or a deflection or own goal from the other team. It was a dart. Tristan Jarry stepped into it and let it rip. And absolute howler.

First ever in Penguins history.

Wilkes-Barre likes making history in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Penguins won the game 5-1. Springfield has now lost four straight. I don’t want to call anything, “must win” in November, but this game felt as close to a must win as humanly possible for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Jarry opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Head Coach Clark Donatelli shuffled up things at the center position. Lafferty to 1C, Blueger to 2C, Grant from 1C down to 3C. No change to fourth line. On defense: Taylor for Matt Abt.

First Period: Was a herky jerky start for it being a 10:30 a.m. start, lots of icings and offsides. Some scary moments for the Penguins when Ethan Prow lost an edge three time skating backwards but Jarry was able to make the save and then Teddy Blueger makes the stop on the goal line in a scramble in front of the Penguins net.

Penguins get on the board late with goals by Jarrett Burton and Linus Olund. Burton’s goal came off of a deflection of a Stefan Elliott shot:

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…and then Olund, on an extended shift, scores on this dump in play by Wilkes-Barre that made it 2-0.

Penguins killed a later power play in the only special teams action in the period for both sides.

Second Period: Teams traded power plays but couldn’t get anything set up. Anthony Angello added a third Penguin goal when Hutchinson tried to play a puck but couldn’t because it was out of his reach in the restricted zone. Linus Olund collected the puck from behind the net and fed Angello for the goal.

Paul Thompson had a breakaway but missed late, his shot ringing off of the goal post behind Tristan Jarry.

Third Period: The Penguins took three straight puck over glass delay of game penalties before taking a hooking call with under three minutes to play. It was at that point that Thunderbirds Head Coach Geordie Kinnear pulled Hutchinson for the extra two attackers on a 6-on-4 power play.

Joel Lowry scored to break up the Jarry shutout bid.

:14 later, Jarry scored. Again, for emphasis…

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He is the 14th goalie in AHL history to be credited with a goal.

Jarry led the fist bump line too, because that is what goal scorers do.

Anyway, the game was not over at that point and Jimmy Hayes got in behind the Thunderbirds defense and scored a breakaway goal to make it 5-1.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Bridgeport and Hartford also played in a school day game. Hartford wins 4-3 in overtime. Charlotte and Lehigh Valley played at the more conventional 7:05 start time and the Phantoms beat the Checkers 3-2 in overtime.

Standings: Charlotte 23 — Bridgeport 20 — Lehigh Valley 20 — Penguins 20 — Springfield 16 — Hershey 15 — Hartford 15 — Providence 12

Wheeling Update: Nailers do not play today, are in action again this Friday in Jacksonville, Florida.

Video Highlights: 

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Pens bus home for a pair of games against the Charlotte Checkers Friday and Saturday. In the meantime though, the Week 6 AHL Power Rankings will be here on the blog likely sometime Thursday morning. Check back then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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As I was stewing over a bad loss this afternoon by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins at the tail end of a three in three, a tweet by Penguins beat writer Tyler Picotti shed some light on the current situation that the Penguins are in.

Now while I agree that back to back three in three weekends is bad scheduling, as you will see in a minute, the Penguins didn’t make any lineup changes and but for a swap on the fourth line Saturday, only one change all weekend to your forward corps.

Yes, Providence did play the same amount of three in three games (they were in Bridgeport last night) and yes, both teams didn’t have to travel far Saturday (Bridgeport and Hartford are not that far from Providence) so maybe the same 11 forwards that played all weekend just didn’t have it today.

The scoreline and shot board would indicate, Penguins fall 5-2.

Tristan Jarry opposed Zane McIntyre.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: There were none. The Penguins used the same lineup that they did Saturday night in Hartford.

First Period: Terrible start by the Penguins who were outshot 17-3 in the period and had two goal scored on them in the process.

Ryan Donato on this wraparound attempt on the Bruins third power play of the game resulting from a puck over the glass penalty…

Donato beat Chris Summers there, but the Penguins were just overall watching.

Then Martin Bakos scored in a scramble play in front of Jarry where the puck got past the Penguins net minder a few times and off the post but not in the net…

Shots were 17-3 Bruins after the first period. It was a scatterbrain start for the Pens and it put them in a hole early heading into the…

Second Period: Bad to worse for the Penguins, who see the Bruins double their lead in the period.

Zach Senyshyn scored on a busted line change that made it 3-0.

Just walked in behind the D and scored.

Bruins connect on yet another power play goal as Joel Messner scored his first goal of the season that made it 4-0.

Shots at some point were 27-4 Providence. The Penguins were getting shellacked. No gap control, just letting the Bruins forwards walk all alone on them. Tristan Jarry could not be to blame for the scoreline.

Third Period: Penguins started on a carryover 5-on-3 power play from the second period but Providence’s penalty kill is tops in the AHL and the Bruins have yet to rear a power play goal against at home this season. Pens had some good looks, but the Bruins killed it all off.

Two goals a minute apart brought the Penguins to within two.

Derek Grant here on a nice setup by Tobias Lindberg…

…and Anthony Angello off of a gaffe by McIntyre to make it 4-2.

McIntyre stopped Jarrett Burton off of the next face-off, otherwise things could have gotten really weird in Providence.

Ryan Donato scores on his own rebound to put the Penguins hopes of a comeback on ice and makes it 5-2.

Yuck.

Final shots were 39-22 Bruins, who dominated from the drop of the puck, got cute at the half way point of the third period and nearly let it slip on them, but found the gas and got a put away goal by Donato to cap off a five point weekend.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Donato (two goals) 2) Zach Senyshyn (goal, assist) and 1) Colby Cave (two assists)

Around the Division: Hershey got smashed in Syracuse Sunday evening and lost 7-2. The Crunch scored four power play goals. The only other teams in action in the Atlantic were Charlotte and Bridgeport who played each other today in Connecticut. The Sound Tigers won that game 4-2 for a perfect five game home stand.

Standings: Charlotte 22 — Bridgeport 19 — Springfield 16 — Lehigh Valley 16 — Penguins 16 — Hershey 15 — Hartford 13 — Providence 12

Wheeling Update: The Nailers play a kids day game on Tuesday against Toledo.

Highlights: Bruins didn’t have them Friday, so unless the Penguins tweet one like they did Saturday after the Hartford game, don’t expect them but if you check back later for the finals and standings look, check here anyway.

Wilkes-Barre is staying in Providence for a few more days until heading to Springfield for a Wednesday morning game against the Thunderbirds at 10:30. That means that the Gameday setup hits the blog here bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I am sure you have seen your fair share of hockey games where the team jumps out to a three or four goal lead early on in the first period only to have the other team methodically claw their way back and maybe even win the game.

The setup was there Saturday night in Hartford, but it never came to fruition and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins score Three goals in the first 4:31 of the game and coast to an easy 4-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The Penguins simply needed to score the first goal of the game tonight, whether it was three in the first five minutes of the game or with three seconds left in regulation, they just had to get the first goal first. Playing from behind has been a bit you a challenge.

Thomas DiPauli made sure of that. DiPauli scored his first goal of the season and added two assists in a fine game from the Penguins winger. Anthony Peters also needed a strong game after getting shellacked in his last outing last Sunday in Bridgeport where he was pulled after the first period.

Anthony Peters opposed Dustin Tokarski.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Patrick McGrath for Ryan Horvat on the fourth line. That was it. Defense pairings and line pairings were the same as they were Friday in Providence.

First Period: Three goals in the first 4:31. A hot start for the Penguins and a needed one at that, given the playing from behind that the Penguins have been doing in the past five games.

1:50 in, Thomas DiPauli scored when Will O’Neill held a puck onside, put a shot on net that was redirected away by Tokarski, but recovered by Anthony Angello who centered to DiPauli for the goal.

Less than two minutes later, Derek Grant scored to double the Penguins lead. He won a race to a puck and threw a puck on net that was redirected in inadvertently by Hartford defenseman Rob O’Gara and in.

Penguins add a third when Teddy Blueger threw a puck into a scrum and it got by Tokarski to make it 3-0 Wilkes-Barre.

What a start indeed, Taylor.

Anyway, Hartford head coach Keith McCambridge called timeout which settled his club a bit as the Wolf Pack didn’t allow another Penguin goal for the remainder of the period.

Wilkes-Barre had a pair of cracks on the power play but could not convert.

Second Period: Wolf Pack connect on a power play at the half way point of the period when Tim Gettinger put home a rebound of a John Gilmour shot from the point that got Hartford on the board and back to within two goals.

Just a little over a minute later, Teddy Blueger was behind the Hartford net when he pulled off a spin-o-rama pass to a cutting Jimmy Hayes who scored to re-establish the Penguins three goal lead.

Penguins had a power play late and set up a firing squad at Tokarski, but the Wolf Pack goaltender was able to turn away all of the would be chances.

Third Period: Anthony Peters stopped all 13 Hartford shots in the period. Some big stops on Tim Gettinger, on his stomach flopping in the crease to preserve the three goal lead for the Penguins. Derek Grant had two breakaways in the period but were not able to score on either.

Three Stars:

Thought that Anthony Peters deserved a star, stopping 31 of 32 shots. He did collect an assist on Derek Grant’s goal though, his first point in the AHL.

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Providence 5-4 in overtime. Chris Bourque surpassed 700 points in the AHL….Hershey beats a suddenly slumping Springfield Thunderbirds team 3-2….Charlotte beats Lehigh Valley 7-4.

Standings: Charlotte 22 — Bridgeport 17 — Springfield 16 — Lehigh Valley 16 — Penguins 16 — Hershey 13 — Hartford 13 — Providence 10

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lose in overtime 3-2 to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Troy Josephs had a goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Highlights: Coal Street quick on them tonight.

Penguins head back to Providence tonight for a 3 p.m. start with the Bruins Sunday. Gameday setup will hit the blog at 11 a.m. Sunday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!