Chirps from Center Ice

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Michael Leighton has appeared in three games for the Wilkes-Barre  Scranton Penguins.

All have been against the Binghamton Devils.

All have been wins.

A 5-4 shootout win for Wilkes-Barre tonight is enough to lower the Penguins magic number to nine, but with a shootout win, which is not considered when breaking ties, the Penguins and Providence Bruins have 34 regulation or shootout wins (ROWs) as the two teams jockey for home ice over the other.

Yes, I am calling it now. Well, I have been for a while now, but officially here, the Providence Bruins will be the first round playoff opponent.

Really should not have been this close tonight on the Southern Tier. Wilkes-Barre was up 4-1 at one point, only to see Binghamton rattle off three straight goals to force overtime. Garrett Wilson’s gaol in the top of the eighth inning holds up as the winner for the Penguins.

The aforementioned Michael Leighton opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Gage Quinney – Josh Jooris – Ryan Haggerty
Christian Thomas – Teddy Blueger – Sam Lafferty

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

Michael Leighton – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Thomas DiPauli was out, probably an upper body injury, week to week, blah blah blah. Remember playoffs are coming and they want your money…Tom Kostopoulos and Tom Sestito were given the night off alone with Tristan Jarry. Josh Jooris, Christian Thomas and Sam Lafferty were all in after given last night off.

First Period: In what seemed like a marathon period, the Penguins got the scoring started first with this blast by Andrey Pedan 91 seconds into the period…

That was through a screen. First time the Penguins scored first in a game since the last time they were in Binghamton.

Devils tie it right back up when John Quenneville cycled from one side of the ice to the other and pushed a pass to Jacob MacDonald. Mac Donald did the rest, and the game was tied.

Penguins had a couple of chances on the power play but couldn’t score. Stop me if you have heard that before.

Wilkes-Barre then found themselves on a quick developing three on one and Dea centered to Cramarossa who looked off the trailer and did this…

Play really dragged after that, with a ton of whistles, pushing and shoving and penalties. Shots after one were 14-11 favoring the Penguins.

Second Period: Penguins score on the power play, the first time since March 13 or Game 1 in Charlotte or the last 23 tries on the man advantage.

Garrett Wilson set the screen in front and Pedan scored on the power play.

Those two were at it again when Pedan threw a long shot at the net that Wilson deflected in that made it 4-1.

Teddy Blueger takes an unnecessary penalty in the periods final minute and the lethal Binghamton power play took the ice.

Bracken Kearns skated to Leighton’s far post, passed to Nick Lappin who put one home past Leighton to cut the deficit to two.

Leighton had to fight off a flurry of shots right after the goal. Time ran out on the period though so it was off to the…

Third Period: Blake Speers scores unassisted from the slot to cut the Devils deficit to one.

Blackwood stops Adam Johnson bearing down on a three on one and then later Mario Lucia mines a two on one out of nothing in the neutral zone and ties the game.

Binghamton came into the game with the AHL’s worst -30 goal differential in the third period. The get two to make it -28.

Tim Kennedy was high sticked by his own man and bled. Referee Brandon Schrader sees this but leaves out the “own man” part and puts Andrey Pedan in the box and the Devils get a 4:00 power play. Penguins kill it all off. It was then off to…

Overtime: No scoring, but the Penguins had a power play they couldn’t score on to start the extra frame.

Shootout: Daniel Sprong scored in Round 3…

But it was answered by John Quenneville so the shootout continued….

…and continued…

..to Round 8 where Garrett Wilson scored.

Mario Lucia missed on his attempt and the Penguins reduced their magic number to 9.

Three Stars: 3) Andrey Pedan (goal, assist, even) 2) Blake Speers (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Garrett Wilson (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Hartford 2-1…Charlotte beats Laval 5-3…Providence thumps Lehigh Valley 6-1 and Rochester beats Springfield 4-2. The Sound Tigers were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Penguins (.646) — Providence (.644) — Charlotte (.596) — Bridgeport (.538) — Hartford (.493) — Hershey (.485) — Springfield (.470)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 3-2 in overtime to Cincinnati at home in overtime as they continue to push for a playoff spot.

Binghamton is normally good with video highlights. If I see them while I am able to work an edit in, they will go here.

Pens close out the three in three weekend with a 3 pm home start with Bridgeport. Gameday setup hits the blog Sunday at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I’m sensing a trend here, and not a good one.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled back from an 0-2 hole Tuesday in Toronto to force overtime only to lose.

Same thing happened tonight in Utica, but it was an 0-3 hole tonight that the Penguins battle back from to tie it way late in the third period only to lose tonight 5-4 in overtime.

Wilkes-Barre was essentially asleep tonight against a stumbling Comets team who were 2-8 in their last ten games in the first period and through Tristan Jarry’s calm play in net for his team, the Penguins steal a point.

Jarry opposed Thatcher Demko.

Lines were…

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

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

Tristan Jarry – Michael Leighton

Lineup Notes: Andrey Pedan returned from injury and as a result, Kevin Schulze was released from his professional tryout agreement….Josh Jooris was returned from Pittsburgh but was not in the lineup for the Penguins.

First Period: The game started at 7:05. Someone forgot to tell the Penguins.

Initial shot blocked by Tristan Jarry 1:31 into the game is kicked over to Mike Carcone who scores to put the Comets on the board.

Utica nearly makes it 2-0 but the puck somehow stays out, but in the chaos, Chris Summers takes a hooking penalty.

Michael Chaput makes it 2-0 Utica on the ensuing power play.

Later, Chaput scored his second of the period when Jarred Tinordi bowled over two men in the neutral zone and Chaput used the trailing defenseman as a screen to make it 3-0 Utica.

:19 later, J-S Dea scored to make it a 3-1 game.

Not quite the response as was Tuesday in Toronto when the Penguins went down 2-0 early then scored to make it 2-1.

Penguins looked goon on their only power play of the period but Thatcher Demko closed the door on several Wilkes-Barre opportunities.

Shots were 18-14 Penguins after the first. 32 shots in one period seemed like a lot.

Second Period: Penguins started the period out with great aplomb and scored a goal when Daniel Sprong stripped Ashton Sautner of the puck and raced up ice with Gage Quinney which became a 2-on-none. Sprong scored here on a nice give and go.

Busted line change by the Penguins, Chris Summers dives to break up a play then Sprong swooped in from out of the box to cut it to one.

Game turned on this play.

As you can imagine, that angered the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Not so much like a few weeks ago in Rochester but the game was past its boiling point with the referees losing control. Tristan Jarry did what he could coming up with big save after big save, but was finally beaten again this time by Zac Lynch that made it 4-2 Utica.

Penguins couldn’t score three times on the play before the Lynch goal. If you thought Tristan Jarry was having a bad game, think again.

Grand Theft Auto is probably frowned upon in the State of New York and Tristan probably doesn’t have a CDL license to drive such a lengthy vehicle anyway.

Pens were on tilt, Jarry was doing what he could to bail his team out and keep them in it. Wilkes-Barre needed to shake off the happenings in the second and come out with vim and vigor in the third.

Third Period: Penguins and Comets trade power plays to open, as Utica’s expired Tom Kostopoulos scored to draw Wilkes-Barre within one.

Penguins had a power play they didn’t score on, but the roles were reversed with Gage Quinney and Daniel Sprong with Quinney leading a two-on-one and scoring to tie the game at four a side.

It was then off to…

Overtime: Ashton Sautner scores for Utica.

Three Stars: 3) Gage Quinney (goal, assist, +1) 2) Micheal Chaput (two goals, assist, +1) 1) Ashton Sautner (overtime game winning goal, -2)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley is the first Atlantic Division team to punch a ticket to the Calder Cup Playoffs and third team overall. They did it via a Bridgeport regulation loss (4-1 to Syracuse) while losing to Lehigh Valley 5-4 in overtime. Charlotte beats Laval 3-2 in overtime. Everyone else (Springfield, Hershey, Charlotte) were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.694 percentage points) — Penguins (.641) — Providence (.638) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.545) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers picked up a big two points with a 4-3 win over Brampton. Kevin Spinozzi scored what ended up being the game winning goal.

If the Comets put up video highlights, I will post them here.

Penguins will stay in Utica tonight and bus to Binghamton Saturday for their 7:05 start against the Devils. Look for the Gameday setup here Saturday at 3.

Let’s Gp Pens!

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Callback to 3 o’clock this afternoon when I wrote this in the Gameday setup for this game…

Call this a measuring stick game for Wilkes-Barre. Many times, it’s the opposition that is looking to measure up to these Penguins but tonight, it will be the Penguins chasing the bar set by Toronto who have just pillaged the North Division this season. If the Penguins in their current form want to advance far in Calder Cup Playoffs once they qualify, they will soon run into a team like Toronto if they want to advance to a Calder Cup. This should be a good one.

It was. After falling in a 2-0 hole, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battle back to tie it at 2-2 then again at 3-3 only to lose in overtime to the Toronto Marlies 4-3.

Greatness brings the best out sometimes. The Marlies are a fast, well built team. But, they can be beat as evidenced by the coming back from an 0-2 hole and then battling back to 3-3. But in all that quickness and greatness, if you make a mistake, the Marlies are there to capitalize.

Adam Johnson loses a foot race with Adam Brooks and Brooks scores in overtime to give the Marlies the extra point.

This game was extremely exciting, thrilling, edge of your seat type of hockey contest. Referees let them play, stayed for the most part out of the way and it was system vs. system and the better team won, barely.

This is a game that any lesser team goes down 2-0 in the first and loses something 5-1 or 6-2. Not the Penguins, who looked as good or better than the best team in the AHL all season in the Toronto Marlies.

Tristan Jarry opposed Garrett Sparks.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Tom Sestito – Gage Quinney – Christian Thomas
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

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

Tristan Jarry – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: As you can see from the starters, Tristan Jarry returned to the Penguins after Matt Murray was cleared from his concussion. As a result, Etienne Marcoux was released from his PTO….Daniel Sprong was back in the lineup for Ryan Haggerty who was given the night off.

First Period: Brief feeling out period as there was no scoring after the first media break, then the Penguins got through a Toronto power play when Kyle Baun knocked in a puck to give the Marlies a 1-0 lead….

Good teams like Toronto come fast, and that speed was on display early on.

Marlies scored on a power play when Andrew Nielsen’s short through a screen found its way past a heavily screened Tristan Jar to give Toronto a 2-0 lead.

Would have been ideal if the Penguins were able to get one back before the end of the period and exactly that happened when Garrett Wilson stripped Martin Marincin in front and Daniel Sprong followed up and put it home to cut the deficit to one.

Penguins looked fantastic in the final two minutes of the period, so the only question was whether or not any of that momentum would carry over to the…

Second Period: Penguins continued to buzz out of the locker room, Garrett Sparks was never able to corral a puck, Martin Marincin broke his stick, Garrett Wilson parked in front an Jarred Tinordi fired a shot that Wilson tipped in.

Tie game.

Pens found themselves on some power play time but weren’t able to convert.

Calle Rosen scored to edge Toronto out by a goal and the Penguins were protesting that Lukas Bengtsson was being held.

Third Period: Ethan Prow scored through bodies in front of Sparks to tie the game back at 3-3.

Thomas DiPauli was setting the screen in front. DiPauli had one hell of a game.

Teams traded power plays and then it was end to end, edge of your seat play. But it was off to…

Overtime: Adam Brooks got a step on Adam Johnson and scored on a quick developing two on one play that secured the extra point for the home team.

Three Stars: 3) Calle Rosen (goal, +1) 2) Garrett Wilson (goal, assist, +2) 1) Adam Brooks (overtime game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.697 percentage points) — Penguins (.643) — Providence (.633) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.547) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins will remain in Toronto for the next few days before bussing to Utica to take on the Comets Friday. But for anything breaking between now and then, look for the next blog update to come for the Friday Gameday setup at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I looked at the first period of today’s game and saw positives. In sum, they were:

Penguins were down 3-1, but controlled play after Clark Donatelli replaced Anthony Peters with Etienne Marcoux, limiting Hershey’s chances. It sounds strange to say at the time given the score line and the loss the night before to Hartford and the loss Wednesday to the Checkers.

But Wilkes-Barre battled and battled, led by Thomas Di Pauli and some big stops by Marcoux, and beat the Hershey Bears 6-4 in Wilkes-Barre to reduce their magic number to clinch a playoff spot with Providence beating Bridgeport to 15.

Anthony Peters opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Ryan Haggerty
Joseph Cramarossa – Jarrett Burton – Adam Johnson
Tom Sestito – Gage Quinney – Christian Thomas
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

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

Anthony Peters – Etienne Marcoux

Lineup Notes: 

Jooris went up bin emergency recall around noon Sunday. Daniel Sprong, good for 12 points against Hershey this season, was a healthy scratch. Tom with more postgame from Donatelli…

First Period: Liam O’Brien scored a goal when he found a ray of light when Peters was sealed off near post. Then the Penguins saw the Bears score again on a play I thought was offsides that made it 2-0. That was the end of Peters who was pulled for Etienne Marcoux. Things settled from there.

Cramarossa slammed home a rebound on a Burton shot and the Pens were back within one.

Jona Siegenthaler scored one of his two goals of the day when he put a shot on through bodies that re-established the two goal Hershey lead.

Wilkes-Barre went 0-for-4 on the power play in the period and it was starting to cost them.

Second Period: What won the game for the Penguins was this period here. The reason? No penalties at all called by referees Terry Koharski and Andy Howard. Penguins just went after the Bears 5-on-5 and started to come in waves.

Tom Sestito slammed home a Quinney round to make it 3-2…

Ol’ Tommy Sestito, noted goal scoring machine against the Hershey Bears…

Penguins continued to roll in waves. It was becoming apparent that Thomas DiPauli was taking a beating every shift. Then, with time dwindling,. DiPauli puts a shot on net that goes in at the buzzer.

After a brief video review, the goal stood. It was 3-3 and a whole new game heading into the…

Third Period: Jarred Tinordi and Liam O’Brien fought early to try and set the tone. O’Brien hung in there with Tinordi who won on points.

Christian Thomas scored while Sestito was clearing bodies in front of Copley that made it 4-3 Wilkes-Barre.

Tom Kostopoulos slid a pass over to DiPauki who quickly one timed the shot at net that got in and it was 5-3 Wilkes-Barre.

On a busted assignment while the sides were four on four, Siegenthaler scored his second of the game that made it a one goal game again.

{Penguins could have packed it in from there and rode defense the rest of the way. They did, in part. Let me set this up.

Hershey, pressing late for a tying goal in the third period of a three in three, emptied out the gas tank and set up shop in the Penguins defensive end. Cyling shot after shot, pass after pass through the zone, it was only a matter of time before they scored.

A pass in front set to be one timed into a yawning Penguins cage was stopped by Etienne Marcoux. I mean just a ten bell, highlight reel save that Marcoux had no business making. Later, Tom Kostopoulos clears the puck out of the zone and Teddy Blueger put on a power skating exhibition and finished off the Pens three on one.

Ballgame.

DiPauli had a chance on a hat trick bid, but his effort went wide. Hershey never got closer.

Three Stars: 3) Teddy Blueger (goal, two assists, +2) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (three assists, +2) and 1) Thomas DiPauli (two goals, +1)

First AHL win for Etienne Marcoux, fifth Penguins goaltender to beat Hershey this season (Sean Maguire, Anthony Peters, Casey DeSmith, Tristan Jarry) — Lukas Bengtsson returned to the lineup after injury and picked up two assists also.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley with another shutout, this time 3-0 to the Springfield Thunderbirds….Binghamton earns a split in Charlotte and beat the Checkers 4-1…Providence beats Bridgeport 4-1 which reduces the Penguins magic number even further. Hartford gets a late goal to push past the Rochester Americans and win 6-4.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.697 percentage points) — Penguins (.645) — Providence (.633) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.547) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.477)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins are bussing to Toronto Monday for their game with the Marlies and staying there the rest of the week. They will return to the States Friday when they play up in Utica then bus down to Binghamton Saturday before returning home to take on the Sound Tigers at home.

Power Rankings here Monday and then we will see you Tuesday for the Toronto game.

Let’s Go Pens!

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No luck on St. Patrick’s Day for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins who lose 4-1 to the Hartford Wolf Pack. The Penguins went o-for-5 on the power play and this has become the biggest problem for the league’s worst power play at 13.3%. Penguins Head Coach Clark Donatelli to Tom Venesky after the game…

I don’t necessarily buy all that Clark is selling here. The Penguins have such a hard time entering the zone and when they do they never get anything that resembles a shot on goal worthwhile of a goalie making a save.

Hartford scores two fluky goals :38 apart in the first, :54 seconds in the third and beat the Penguins. Anthony Peters was fine in net. The Penguins put 18 shots on Hartford in the second period but Chris Nell was fantastic for Hartford all game really and that was it. Wolf Pack looked as good as they did yesterday when they beat Lehigh Valley in a shootout.

Lines were…

Adam Johnson – J-S Dea – Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Josh Jooris – Sam Lafferty
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Schulze – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Anthony Peters – Etienne Marcoux

Lineup Notes: Tom Sestito and Christian Thomas were healthy scratches tonight. Ryan Haggerty retuned from injury. Ethan Prow played, and showed no ill effects from his concussion on the Josiah Didier hit Wednesday in Charlotte.

First Period: It ended 2-0 for Hartford but by rights should have been 4 or 5-0. Anthony Peters was bailing out his teammates with save after save. Both sides had chances both ways.

Hartford scores bang bang plays when Simon Denis rakes a puck off the wall and throws it at Peters and on the way its deflected in by Cole Schneider. :38 later, a big rebound left by Peters is put in by Dan DeSalvo.

Second Period: Hartford put two early shots on Peters, but after that Wilkes-Barre responded with a ton of shots at Nell.

Hartford took four penalties that resulted in power plays for the Penguins but Wilkes-Barre was not able to find the back of the net on the man advantage. This is what cost them the game, we just didn’t know it at at the time.

Wilkes-Barre outshot Hartford 18-3 in the second period.

Third Period: Daniel Sprong scored on his birthday to bring the Penguins to within one.

He looked off Quinney on a two on one and never really looked at Nell and the net and put the shot on and it went five hole and in.

Kevin Czuczman appeared to have scored a goal, but referee Stephen Thomson never signaled goal and play continued and then Steven Fogarty beat Peters to make to 3-1. After a video review on the Czuczman shot, which confirmed no goal, it was 3-1 Hartford.

On the Czuczman shot, I have no idea how it wasn’t a goal. There was no ping noise signifying a shot off the pipe. and from where Czuczman shot the puck there was no way that puck couldn’t hit anything more than inside the net from they angle it was shot from but the type doesn’t lie. A review lasting more than a minute confirmed Thomson’s eyes in real time.

Vinni Lettieri scored :54 later to make it 4-1 and suddenly all the air was out of the balloon or the keg was kicked at a party full of thirsty patrons. Use whatever inference you wish, Penguins weren’t coming back from this one.

Three Stars: 3) Daniel Sprong (goal, even) 2) Dan DeSalvo (goal, +1) and Chris Nell (30 saves on 31 shots)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley shuts out Providence 3-0….Charlotte wins 4-2 against Binghamton…Hershey beats Springfield 4-2. Bridgeport was off.

The Hershey game was significant because it was referee David Banfield’s final game. Judging from the reaction around social media, he must have been one hell of a referee because no one had a nice thing to say about him.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.692 percentage points) — Penguins (.639) — Providence (.627) — Charlotte (.592) — Hartford (.492) — Hershey (.485) — Springfield (.484)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 3-2 in overtime in Glens Falls against the Adirondack Thunder. Reid Gardiner and Troy Josephs scored for the Nailers in the OT loss. Nailers are five points up on Worcester for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division.

Video Highlights: 

Pens back at it Sunday at 3 against Hershey. Gameday setup is yours at 11 a.m. Sunday morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I guess the lesson here tonight is be careful what you wish for.

If the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins somehow overtake the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the number one spot in the Atlantic Division, they will most likely play the Charlotte Checkers in Round One of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Right now, I don’t like the Penguins chances if that were to become a reality.

Wilkes-Barre loses 3-1. A lifeless effort tonight for the Penguins who only had 8 shots on goal throughout two periods. This game obviously meant more for the Checkers, being pursued by fifth place Bridgeport, than it did the Penguins.

Alex Nedeljkovic won his 28th game of the season which leads all AHL goaltenders, he opposed Anthony Peters in a rematch of last night.

Lines were the same as last night save for Jarrett Burton for Sam Lafferty on the third line. Josh Jooris was re-assigned by Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon. Jooris was not in the lineup for Wilkes-Barre tonight. Etienne Marcoux again backed up Anthony Peters while the status of Michael Leighton remains a mystery.

First Period: But for :26 of 5-on-3 penalty kill time that came and went for the Penguins, it was an overall fast pace of a period. Wilkes-Barre was out shot 9-5. J-S Dea hit a post in the early stages, Jarred Tinordi had a clear in the early seconds of the 5-on-3 against and Charlotte was never able to establish anything threatening while on the man advantage.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre looked lethargic in the first period and continued in the second period, firing just three shots at Nedeljkovic, tied for a season low.

Charlotte jumped out to a two goal lead as a result of keeping their feet moving as their opponents were content with watching instead of competing.

Julien Gauthier, scratched last night, scored first for Charlotte to open the scoring…

That is three Penguins defenders around Gauthier and he still manages to get his shot off.

On a power play, ex-Penguin Greg McKegg scored on a tic tac toe play in front while Chris Summers was out in left field daydreaming…

Gotta mark the man in front.

A puck went out of play in front on Nedeljkovic and the Penguins then tried to get something going with the physicality. Everyone grabbed a man and pushing and shoving ensued. The Penguins sleepwalked through the first two periods and needed something, anything to get them going…

Third Period: Penguins started to chase the game and the worst thing that could happen would be a power play. Chasing a game late caused Wilkes-Barre to play fast and loose and the Checkers easily killed the penalty.

But the Penguins were able to get to within one when Tom Sestito put home a rebound of a Daniel Spring shot that made it a one goal game.

Another power play came and went for the Penguins in a golden opportunity missed for Wilkes-Barre. The lack of success on the power play is going to bury this team.

Wilkes-Barre continued to press, made mistakes in their own end and Greg McKegg scored a second goal against his former team.

I’d say so.

Penguins ice the puck with Peters pulled for the extra attacker and then were called for too many men while again trying to get Peters off.

Ethan Prow may have been injured here in this sequence with Josiah Didier.

Dirty hit. Didier was assessed a charging penalty for what it is worth.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Sestito (goal, even) 2) Juian Gauthier (goal, +1) and 1) Greg McKegg (two goals, even)

Around the Division: For the second night in a row, they all watched us.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.690 percentage points) — Penguins (.650) — Providence (.631) — Charlotte (.586) — Bridgeport (.557) — Springfield (.492) — Hartford (.476) — Hershey (.468)

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Charlotte didn’t put up any highlights last night when they lost, I wonder if they will now that they won. If they do, I will work the edit in this spot.

Pens travel back from North Carolina and are scheduled to practice Friday. I would assume that there would be information on Prow, Leighton and anyone else for the two home games against Hartford Saturday and Hershey Sunday.

Next blog post here will most likely be Saturday’s setup with Hartford at 3. I may run a recap of the Friday games with any information shared after Friday’s practice late Friday night depending on circumstances.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Goals :31 apart in the first and :20 in the second are enough to propel the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins past the Charlotte Checkers for the first time this season. Pens win 5-3 and reduce their magic number to 21. They also use one of their five games in hand to eat into Lehigh Valley’s lead on the Atlantic Division. It’s now nine points.

Teddy Blueger had himself a game. Two goals, one being an empty netter. Blueger also swept away a would be Checkers goal late in the third period.

Checkers have been riding high as of late. They scored first but the Penguins answered quickly with two quick hitters in the first period that set up the second period.

Anthony Peters was good in net, picking up his tenth win of the season. Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith set up the Penguins in the first half of the season and Anthony Peters has done a fine job guiding the ship the rest of the way.

These two teams rematch Wednesday.

Anthony Peters opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lines were…

Adam Johnson – J-S Dea – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Sam Lafferty – Joseph Cramarossa
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Schulze – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Anthony Peters – Etienne Marcoux

Lineup Notes: Zach Trotman was back in the lineup for the first time in seventeen games….Dylan Zink was returned to Wheeling Monday.

First Period: Valentin Zykov scored his league leading 31st goal of the season when Anthony Peters stopped a Dennis Robertson shot but spilled the rebound back to the Checkers defenseman who dished over to Zykov for the goal…

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Checkers are 21-3-0-1 when scoring first.

But the Penguins answered rapidly, :31 apart, when Daniel Sprong put a shot high over the cage of Nedeljkovic that rimmed around to Trotman, who gathered the puck and fired at goal that tied it at one.

Next, Garrett Wilson used his body to create a turnover and the puck went over to Gage Quinney who found Tom Kostopoulos for the goal that made it 2-1 Penguins…

Kostopoulos has two goals and four assists in his eight games since his return from injury.

Second Period: Penguins scored a pair of goals :31 apart in the first, so they wanted to beat that record set in the first frame and scored two within :20 in the second.

Tom Sestito forced a turnover, Sam Lafferty continued to forecheck and passed off to a streaking Joseph Cramarossa for the goal that made it 3-1 Penguins…

That was Sam Lafferty’s first professional point.

Off the face-off at center ice, Gage Quinney was high sticked, setting up another Penguins power play. Their first was a train wreck, but this second coming was much more successful.

Give and go with Garrett Wilson who found Teddy Blueger for the power play goal. Coming into tonight’s contest, the Penguins had the leaves worst power play.

Penguins gave away a power play and the Checkers third best overall power play improved on their 27% conversion rate on home ice when Andrew Poturalski was left alone in the slot for this goal that cut the Penguins lead back to 4-2…

Third Period: Penguins nearly score but are denied here when Nedeljkovic went post to post to deny Teddy Blueger.

Teddy Blueger then saved a goal late as a puck got past Peters but Blueger swept it away.

With just under five minutes to play, Nedeljkovic vacated his cage for an extra attacker, never found the equalizer and Teddy Blueger nailed the empty net to make it 5-2.

Three Stars: 3) Lucas Wallmark (two assists, even) 2) Anthony Peters (29 saves on 31 shots) and 1) Joseph Cramarossa (goal, even)

No idea what they were thinking with the three stars. Teddy Blueger had two goals, Garrett Wilson assisted twice and Tom Kostopoulos had a goal and an assist. Who knows.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.690 percentage points) — Penguins (.661) — Providence (.631) — Charlotte (.579) — Bridgeport (.557) — Springfield (.492) — Hartford (.476) — Hershey (.468)

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off. They are moving to the ECHL’s Central Division of the Western Conference next season.

Charlotte may put up video highlights. If they do they will run in this spot in a later edit.

These two teams are back at it again Wednesday at 7. Gameday setup comes at you Wednesday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!