Chirps from Center Ice

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Anthony Peters hasn’t played in a meaningful hockey game in about three weeks, so you couldn’t fault him if he was rusty coming into the tail end of a three in three weekend on the road against a team that beat the Penguins on Friday night at home.

But Peters closed the door on the already eliminated Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and the Penguins, bolstered by a 4-0 start at the end of the first, win 5-2 to hold onto second place in the Atlantic Division with three games to play in the regular season. Peters stopped 41 of 43 shots.

Peters opposed Eamon McAdam.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Gage Quinney – Ryan Haggerty
Patrick McGrath – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas
Joseph Cramarossa – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Chris Summers – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Anthony Peters – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Anthony Peters first start in goal for the Pens since March 18, McGrath’s first action since February 17. Tom Sestito was out for McGrath. Tristan Jarry backed up Peters.

First Period: Much like Saturday night against Binghamton, the Penguins jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Adam Johnson on a power play scored his first of the period.

Stepped into the high slot and let it rip into the top corner.

Johnson, 1:17 later, chases down a puck, gets it to the point for a shot then collects the rebound and scores to double the Penguins lead.

Tom Kostopoulos caused a turnover and fed Christian Thomas for a goal that made it 3-0.

Bridgeport called a time out. It didn’t seem to help.

Zach Trotman put a shot on net and Pat McGrath tipped dit home to make it 4-0.

An all out blitzkrieg to finish out the weekend three in three. But, there were two more full periods to play.

Second Period: Kristers Gudlevskis led the Sound Tigers out for the second period and took over for Eamon McAdam, and it was the kick in the pants that the Sound Tigers needed to get something going.

Slight problem though, they didn’t execute.

Bridgeport had a long spell of 5-on-3 power play to work with, yet only registered about two shots on net and spent the other time passing and chasing the cleared pucks sent in their end.

John Stevens scored to break up the Anthony Peters would be shutout bid after a turnover at just past half way, and Bridgeport led the Penguins in shots 17-5 in the period, so the Penguins had a three goal lead to defend heading into the…

Third Period: Anthony Peters remained strong in net for the Penguins, making saves swimming in the crease. Gage Quinney scored a goal when. shot from the point rebounded right to Quinney for the put in which made it 5-1.

Penguins fell asleep defensively and Steve Bernier hacked and whacked at a puck and scored to bring the Sound Tigers to within three.

But three would be as far as Bridgeport got. A quick moving period the rest of the way and the penguins would hold on to win.

Three Stars: 3) Gage Quinney (goal, assist, +2) 2) Anthony Peters (41 saves on 43 shots) 1) Adam Johnson (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Charlotte continues to tear it up, they beat Hershey 3-1 today…Lehigh Valley wins the Atlantic Division Championship with a 6-3 win over a slumping Providence Bruins team…Springfield shutout Hartford 2-0.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (100 points, division winners) — Penguins (94 points, 3 games remaining) — Providence (91 points (3 games left) — Charlotte (92 points, two games left) — Bridgeport, Hartford, Springfield, Hershey.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers season ended yesterday, I expect a caravan of players headed to Coal Street this week.

Video Highlights:

Check back here Monday for the AHL Power Rankings at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Calder Cup Playoffs are still a few weeks away, yet one team came into tonight acting like they started yesterday. 

Facing a must win situation, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers came into Wilkes-Barre tonight and won 4-3. If they lost, they would have been eliminated from the playoffs. 

Bridgeport always plays the Penguins tough. Moreso than previous years it seems. Styles make fights. There wasn’t one thing, save for a defensive gaffe in the third period, that I can place my finger on that the Penguins were deficient in. Sometimes in matchups with two evenly matched teams the team that makes less mistakes wins the game. That team tonight was the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. 

Tristan Jarry opposed Chris Gibson.

Lineup wise, the only change was Gage Quinney returning after a five game hiatus due to a lower body injury, replacing Sam Lafferty, who warmed up. 

First Period: Penguins scored quickly on a power play when Daniel Sprong’s shot from the point was deflected in front by Tom Kostopoulos. 

But Bridgeport responded quickly on a power play of their own when Josh Ho-Sang dropped a pass to Mitch Vande Sompel who wired one far side past Jarry to make it a tie game. 

Ryan Bourque put a shot / pass down low a few minutes later to John Stevens who wheeled around the net then put a pass right on the tape of Steve Bernier in front for a goal that made it 2-1 Sound Tigers. 

Shots after one were 11-8 Bridgeport. But for a late power play for the Sound Tigers, an even overall period. 

Second Period: Mama, there goes that man again. Mitch Vande Sompel snipes his second of the game short side on Jarry to give the Sound Tigers a 3-1 lead. 

Penguins get it back to one when Teddy Blueger won a faceoff to Daniel Sprong who shot it quickly. 

That goal kick started the Penguins who started to come in waves and attacked the offensive zone. 

Slight problem though. Christopher Gibson was stopping everything. 

Penguins fail to tie it on a late power play. So it was off to the…

Third Period: Bridgeport reestablished their two goal lead when they sustained pressure by the Penguins in their defensive zone. Kyle Schempp took it out and a trailing Andrey Pedan, gassed at the end of his shift, was not able to defend Josh Holmstrom for the easy tap in. 

I mean, take a penalty or something. 

Penguins kept pushing, but time was running out. 

On a power play, Teddy Blueger would tip in a Daniel Sprong shot that brought the Pens to within one :28 into a power play. 

They continued to press, but time remained the enemy. With Jarry out for an extra attacker and through timeouts and even a late power play, Wilkes-Barre’s 16th consecutive trip to the playoffs would have to wait another day. 

Three Stars: 3) Daniel Sprong (goal, two assists, -1) 2) Ryan Bourque (two assists, +2) and  1) Mitch Vande Sompel (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Hartford visited Providence and got thumped 6-3. Springfield traveled to Laval and beat the Rocket 5-1. Everyone else was off. 

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.674 percentage points) — Penguins (.634) — Providence (.627) — Charlotte (.611) — Bridgeport (.563) — Hartford (.493) — Springfield (.479) — Hershey (.465)

Wheeling Update: Facing a must win to keep their playoff chances alive, the Nailers lost to the Brampton Beast 4-3. The Nailers will miss the playoffs.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are in action for the final regular season home game against Binghamton. It’s a TV game, so if you can’t make it down, watch it on TV locally. Game day setup hits the blog Saturday at 3. 

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins knew coming into tonight that with the earlier result in the morning between Bridgeport and Providence that they could not clinch a playoff spot. The Bruins would have had to have beaten the Sound Tigers in order for the Penguins magic number to reduce on it’s own. That did not happen, so the best the Penguins could do was handle things on their own and reduce their magic number themselves without having to rely on outside factors out of their control. 

Success. A 5-3 Penguins win over the Hershey Bears in a game that was as close as the scoreline would indicate. But the Penguins, who jumped out to a 4-1 lead, relied on Tristan Jarry and the used time against Hershey to reduce the magic number to clinch a playoff spot to just one point. 

Conceivably, they can accomplish that Friday at home against Bridgeport. But that’s a story for another day. 

Lazy legging lines tonight again. Thank heavens this is the last regular season home game of the season. Anyway, here are the lines tonight: 

First Period: Pens took a 2-1 lead here. A spin around shot from Teddy Blueger in the first minute of the game put the Penguins on the board first and early. Garrett Wilson scored from the slot that reestablished the one goal lead for the Pens. 

Connor Hobbs scored for the Bears at the expiration of a Hershey power play that made it 1-1. Both goals given up by Pheonix Copley I felt should have been saved. 

Second Period: Troy Mann must have shared the same sentiment as after Sam Lafferty scored his first as a professional, Mann changed goalies. Enter Vitek Vanecek. The feeling was that his Bears club was still in the game to an extent. 

I’d agree with Mann here. Slight problem though, no matter what the Bears were throwing at Tristan Jarry, the Penguins netminder was straight up stifling the would be rally. 

Chris Bourque playing in his 600th game for the Bears bore down on a breakaway. This was met with a cool, calm glove save by Jarry. 

Colby Williams was robbed on a shot that got past Jarry, but died at the line and was swept away by the Penguins net minder. 

You could have shot a cannonball at Jarry in the second period and he would have stopped it. 

Third Period: Penguins score on a power play goal. Hold on, let me type that again. New paragraph, too. 

Penguins score on a power play goal when Daniel Sprong’s initial shot is blocked by Tyler Lewington and goes right back to the Pens rookie. He regathers and shoots again and it goes in to make it 4-1 Wilkes-Barre. 

Bears get one back with a nifty play. Neutral zone faceoff win win back to defender or in this case Chris Bourque, looks like he’s going to slam it in, instead passes to center point for a drive and dish to Anthony Peluso for an easy tap in which made it 4-2. 

Hershey pulled to within one with Vanecek out on a 6-on-4 power play. Jarry made a boatload of saves but was unable to stop the rapid fire of shots put his way with bodies all over the place. Mathias Bau finally slammed the puck in to make things a bit too close for comfort with under five minutes remaining. 

It’s never easy. Andrey Pedan was tagged for closing his hand on the puck with a minute left. Bears never got setup to sustain a threat and J-S Dea hit an empty net with a second left to make it 5-3 to ice the game away. 

Three Stars: 3) Adam Johnson (two assists, +1) 2) Sam Lafferty (first pro goal, +1) 1) Daniel Sprong (goal, assist, -1)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Providence 3-2 in a school day game against the Bruins earlier today. As a result, the Penguins were not able to clinch a playoff spot today not matter the outcome with Hershey. Lehigh Valley was in Charlotte for a possible first round playoff match up and lost 3-1. Box here. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.683 percentage points) — Penguins (.643) — Providence (.621) — Charlotte (.606) — Bridgeport (.557) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.465) — Springfield (.464)

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

But for anything else breaking the rest of the week, check me out again Friday for the Gameday setup against the Sound Tigers.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Games like these frustrate the hell out of me.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins went 0-f0r-5 on the power play tonight.

The Providence Bruins were 2-for-6, but we will call it 2-for-5 but for a late Daniel Sprong holding penalty when the Bruins had an empty net to shoot at in desperation time for the Penguins.

Two even teams, second and third in the Atlantic Division, squaring off. Shots were pretty even for the most part, one team goes 2-for-6 on the power play and the other goes 0-for-5.

Who wins. That team tonight was the Providence Bruins, 3-1. The Bruins inch back to a point behind the Penguins with seven games to play for each team.

The Penguins have won 40 games for 13 consecutive seasons. An impressive feat. Teams that win 40 games don’t normally have the leagues worst power play.

Hershey (eliminated from playoffs) Rockford (fighting for a spot) Springfield (eliminated) Belleville (eliminated) and Wilkes-Barre are the 26th through 30th teams ranked in power play coming into tonight’s action around the American Hockey League.

It’s OK now that the Pens didn’t score on the power play tonight and lost the game, because the three point cushion they had on the Bruins coming into tonight.

None of that is going to matter in a playoff series. Where the teams are even, for the most part. Where outside factors (Bridgeport won tonight so the Pens weren’t clinching a sot tonight anyway) don’t matter.

It really isn’t a matter of if the Penguins clinch a playoff spot. It’s matter of when. But after that, I do not like their chances in a playoff series. In fact, if you asked me now, I am picking the Bruins in a five game series if said series started tomorrow against these Penguins.

The power play is a joke and it needs to be fixed. I’ve been harping on this for months. Maybe it can’t be and it is what it is. If true, it’ll be a short postseason for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

No lineup changes for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry opposed Jordan Binnington.

First Period: Was an even-ish period for both teams. Providence scored to go up 2-0, Daniel Sprong chased down a puck in his own end, centered to J-S Dea who found the back of the net that cut it to one. A big goal at the time, a one goal deficit is much better to chase than a two goal deficit.

Penguins had their fair share of opportunities to score on the man advantage, but were unsuccessful. As noted in the open, this continues to be a concern from this writers perspective. 

Providence got on the board with a power play goal from ex-Penguin Adam Payerl when he cleaned up a rebound. Later, Trent Frederic scored on a pinballing puck in the slot that may have handcuffed Jarry for a 2-0 Bruins lead. 

Second Period: More power play tries for the Penguins, more misses. The period went without any scoring, yet there were plenty of chances, 13 shots for the Bruins and 11 for the Penguins. One scary moment as Garrett Wilson blocked a shot that went off his face, he went off for repairs and did return. 

Third Period: Penguins didn’t score on their power play in the period, the Bruins scored on theirs and that was the ballgame. You could feel all the air going out of the building after Providence scored to go up 3-1 (Jordan Swarz) on the Penguins. Nothing else mattered after that.

Penguins didn’t score with Jarry out of the net for an extra attacker.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, +1) 2) Jordan Binnington (34 saves on 35 shots) and 1) Adam Payerl (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: No matter what happened here tonight, the Pens weren’t clinching anyway. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers beat the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-1…Hershey beats a hapless Laval team 6-3…Charlotte beats Syracuse 4-1…Lehigh Valley doubles up Belleville 4-2…Utica beats Springfield 6-5.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.693 percentage points) — Penguins (.638) — Providence (.630) — Charlotte (.600) — Bridgeport (.551) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.472) — Springfield (.464)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers picked up a big 5-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs. Troy Josephs had a goal and two assists, Reid Gardiner had a goal and an assist.

Video Highlights: 

Week 26 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. No games Sunday, so they will get done then at a reasonable hour and out Monday at 4. Pens are back in action Tuesday at home against Hershey.

Let’s try to Go and score a power play goal Pens!

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Tenacious.

That could be the word to best describe this game.

After an extremely sloppy start by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, they chip away to tie it in the third period and Daniel Sprong scored to end it in overtime. Penguins win 4-3.

The magic number to clinch a playoff spot is three. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers were defeated 5-0 by the Springfield Thunderbirds. That means with any win by the Penguins and a point lost by the Sound Tigers and the Pens are in or a point by the Pens and a straight up loss by Bridgeport and the Pens are in.

Long stretches of this game, it felt like a preseason game. Disjointed. Stick fouls. Hartford pounced and scored three straight in the second. A late Zach Trotman goal brought the Penguins to within one in the second and then the Penguins went on from there.

Michael Leighton opposed Alexandar Georgiev.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Sam Lafferty – Ryan Haggerty
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Michael Leighton – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: The American Hockey League suspended Andrey Pedan for two games for this hit on Peter Cehlarik on Wednesday:

Pedan was given a 2:00 minor for interference, which Providence scored on. Pedan missed Friday and will miss the rematch against the P-Bruins on Saturday.

Ethan Prow, who I was worried about, was back in for the suspended Pedan. I guess the D corps is strong in that a guy like Prow being. regular in the lineup is not a guarantee.

First Period: Seemed like a sleepy start for both teams. Jarrett Burton led a charge up ice, centered to Ethan Prow who then passed to Christian Thomas who scored to give the Penguins the lead.

But then the Penguins started taking stick fouls. Dea took a high sticking penalty followed by a Teddy Blueger hook that the Penguins were able to successful kill off, so it was 1-0 Penguins after one period.

Second Period: The slow start hurt the Penguins, who continued to take penalties. Finally, Hartford broke though and scored a power play goal to tie the game. Gabriel Fontaine tapped one in front to make it 1-1.

Nearly two minuets later, the Wolf Pack kept coming and Dawson Leedahl scored a backhanded goal that made it 2-1 Hartford.

It was later 3-1 when the Penguins lost Boo Nieves in the slot. Nieves then passed over to Scott Kosmachuk who had an easy tap in for a 3-1 Hartford lead.

Penguins come close twice on a power play and Georgiev stopped a Sprong shot with the pad then the follow-up rebound attempt with the stick on Garrett Wilson.

But then Zach Trotman was able to bring the Penguins to back within one with a turnaround shot from the point.

But then Wilkes-Barre took a too many men on the ice call with five seconds left heading into the…

Third Period: Christian Thomas scored his second of the game on this nice setup from Tom Sestito.

Thomas had two goals and an assist and figured into every goal to this point.

Adam Johnson missed on a penalty shot. He made too many moves and ran out of ice on Georgiev.

Wilkes-Barre continued to come in waves, putting a sum total 16 shots on Hartford, to the Wolf Pack’s 5. A shutdown period by the Penguins.

But there was no further scoring and it was off to…

Overtime: It was a hair on fire showing with the Pens taking seven shots on Georgiev. Finally, they broke through when Daniel Sprong held and held and held, then released….

Ballgame.

Back of envelope…

Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (two goals, assist, +1) 2) Scott Kosmachuk (goal, assist, even) 1) Daniel Sprong (game winning overtime goal, +1)

Around the Division: Pens get some breathing room, albeit a slim three points, on the Providence Bruins, who were shutout 2-0 in Allentown tonight by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms…Rochester beats Charlotte in overtime 4-3…Springfield shuts out Bridgeport 5-0…Utica beats Hershey 3-1.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Penguins (.642) — Providence (.634) — Charlotte (.596) — Bridgeport (.552) — Hartford (.507) — Hershey (.471) — Springfield (.463)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were defeated by the Toledo Walleye 4-1.

Video Highlights: 

Pens bus down to face what will likely be an ornery Providence team who were outshot 19-1 in the second period in Allentown. Expect a battle Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Gameday setup is here at 3 Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Shots fired?

I think everyone knows that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Providence Bruins are destined for another date in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

Head Coach Jay Leach rolled out Zane McIntyre as his Providence Bruins hit the ice for warmups. McIntyre is undefeated in regulation against the Penguins coming into Wednesday’s action. 2-0-2 with a minuscule GAA and save percentage.

Until tonight.

McIntyre looked pedestrian, Penguins looked sharp. The results followed. A 5-2 Wilkes-Barre win over the Providence Bruins.

I stop short at saying it’s a statement game. After all, Providence dressed 10 rookies tonight. It seems the Bruins bring the best out of the Penguins and vice versa. But the Penguins needed a better effort after the terrible game against Bridgeport Sunday and got one in a big way with a lot on the line. We will see what the result brings on Saturday night when these two teams rematch.

Lazy legging lines tonight cause it’s a work night and even though I took Thursday off, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to.

Michael Leighton backed up Tristan Jarry. Sam Lafferty was the only lineup change from Sunday, replacing Gage Quinney, who is day to day with an upper body injury and won’t play this weekend.

First Period: Better start in contrast to Sunday for Wilkes-Barre. Passes were on the mark, legs were moving, et cetera. Penguins missed on their only power play of the period and had a few good shorthanded chances.

However, Providence took a 1-0 lead to intermission on a shot from Jakub Zboril which may or may not have been tipped in the final minute of the period.

Shots were 14-10 Penguins after the first. A good period, despite the score.

Second Period: Penguins score three straight goals on McIntyre to take a quick 3-1 lead.

Daniel Sprong threw a nothing turnaround, backhanded shot at McIntyre that went in. Sprong followed it up about three minutes later in front via the five hole that made it 2-1.

Later, Joseph Cramarossa pounced on a turnover and wired a shot over the glove of McIntyre that made it 3-1.

But the Providence goaltender and his defense settled in and, coupled with the fact that the Penguins were again giving away penalties like candy on Halloween, Providence edged to back within one.

That didn’t come on a power play, but Anton Blidh put one over the glove of Jarry that dug the Bruins out of the hole they were in, slightly.

Third Period: Penalty trouble continued for the Penguins, but they managed to not allow another Bruins power play goal.

Teddy Blueger raced up ice and flipped a shot past McIntyre to give the Penguins a two goal lead and some breathing room as Providence was bearing down on every shift.

Time quickly became the enemy of Providence and with McIntyre pulled Jarred Tinordi hit the empty net from center ice to make it 5-2.

Three Stars: 3) Joseph Cramarossa (goal, even) 2) Garrett Wilson (assist, +1) and 1) Daniel Sprong (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Two other games in the Atlantic. Bridgeport hosted Hershey and won 6-4… Hartford hosted Springfield and won 4-3 in a shootout. 

Magic Number: Will be 7 with Bridgeport winning.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Penguins (.642) — Providence (.634) — Charlotte .596 — Bridgeport (.552) — Hartford (.507) — Hershey (.471) — Springfield (.463)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins leave for Hartford tomorrow. But for anything of substance, check me out again Friday at 3 for your Gameday setup.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

6                                          3

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Cheap way out is burying the officials. Jeremy Tufts and Conor O’Donnell were awful today. I have seen a lot of bad officiating at this level for years. Today’s game was about the worst I have seen from the officiating side all season.

But I am not going to bury stripes. No, not today.

Total lack of effort by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins who could have cut the magic number to five with a regulation win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The coaching staff set the week up right by staying in Toronto for the week and then staying in Utica Friday night with resting three regulars Saturday plus the starting goalie for today’s game. Sometimes you just don’t have it.

Stick fouls. A rested opponent that bussed down from Syracuse Friday night and spent two nights in Wilkes-Barre. Questionable officiating seemed like an afterthought. A road weary team gets slaughtered after a hellish week of travel at the tail end of a three in three. Bridgeport wins 6-3.

It was a snowball of the Pens tired from all the travel, mixed in with their slow starts and a little of a rested, desperate Bridgeport team currently out of a playoff spot mixed in with some bad officiating. I suppose when you say that the referees, “lost control” of a blowout win for a team over another when there are fights and guys getting 10 minute misconducts like kids at Halloween, this was the total opposite.

Tristan Jarry opposed Eamon McAdam.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Josh Jooris – Ryan Haggerty
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas
Joseph Cramarossa – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Kevin Czuczman
Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Tristan Jarry – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Tom Kostopoulos and Tom Sestito were back in after getting the night off Saturday in Binghamton for Sam Lafferty and Gage Quinney. Anthony Peters backed up. Michael Leighton was given the night off. As expected, Thomas DiPauli is week to week with an upper body injury, he will be evaluated this week to learn the extent of his injury.

First Period: Bridgeport set up shop in Pens end all period and took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

Ryan Hitchcock scored his first professional goal after a shot blocked by Kevin Czuczman came right to him to put Bridgeport on the board.

Sound Tigers extended their lead on a power play goal by Travis St. Denis when St. Denis collected a shot that rang off the post.

All of Wilkes-Barre’s chances, but for one power play seemed one and done. Result of a team that spent the entire week on the road against a team that didn’t play yesterday?

Shots were 10-8 for the Sound Tigers but seemed like there were more than didn’t register as actual shots at Jarry.

Second Period: Sound Tigers made it 4-0 before the Penguins finally respond with a Chris Summers goal, but then with a turnover in the Penguins zone, the Sound Tigers quickly re-establish their four goal lead to make it 5-1.

Sound Tigers made it 3-0 when Ryan Bourque scored just as a double minor against the Penguins expired. Bourque scored again on a power play that made it 4-0.

Penguins would get two cracks at full power plays and could not score. They won’t get far in the postseason if that isn’t figured out quickly in the next three weeks of the regular season.

Summers finally scored to break up the McAdam shutout to get the Penguins on the board. But then Bridgeport scored again and through fights involving Tom Sestito and Garrett Wilson separately, all momentum the Penguins built to this point went out the window.

Third Period: Penguins got two back on the power play. J-S Dea from the slot while the Penguins were on a two man advantage and then Andrey Pedan finished off the other end of the power play that made it 5-3.

But that’s where the momentum died.

Penguins took three straight penalties; Haggerty and Czuczman for interference and a roughing penalty to Trotman. Penalties where you let them go if a team is battling late in the third period of a Sunday game in the AHL.

Sound Tigers hit an empty net which ended up being a power play goal that made it 6-3.

Three Stars: 3) Ryan Hitchcock (goal, assist, even) 2) Garrett Wilson (two assists, even) 1) Ryan Bourque (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Toronto shuts out Springfield 2-0. Hershey loses to Hartford 4-2. Everyone else were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Providence (.644) — Penguins (.636) — Charlotte (.596) — Bridgeport (.545) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.478) — Springfield (.463)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Power Rankings Monday at 4. I will be surprised if the Penguins practice this Tuesday, the next day they are scheduled for any on ice activity.

Let’s Go Pens!