Chirps from Center Ice

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Ethan Prow is slowly rounding into form as a defenseman that you can count on for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

With the injuries that always happen at this time of year, Prow has been pressed into work for the Penguins and he has capably handled the load for the team, quarterbacking the power play units and chipping in here and there.

That here and there was in the form of a three assist night as Prow and the Penguins overpower the Rockford IceHogs 6-3 in the first ever meeting between the two teams.

It was a reversal of fortune for the Penguins who were obliterated last weekend in Rochester 12-3, then scrapped with a pesky Utica team to an overtime loss Saturday then totally shut down against a Lehigh Valley team 4-1 in Allentown last Sunday. Six different Penguins scored goals tonight. With Prow, Tom Kostopoulos, returning from injury, playing in his 700th AHL game, had two assists and Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist as well. Prow led the way with three points.

News of the night is the trade that Pittsburgh made with two other teams. The Penguins sent Ryan Reaves to Vegas in exchange for Tobias Lindberg and Ian Cole to Ottawa for Derrick Brassard and Vincent Dunn. Picks were also involved and the Penguins also part ways with Filip Gutsavsson, which makes the Anthony Peters signing inclusive of next season more clearer now.

It is not yet know what will happen with Dunn and Lindberg. Tom had this…

Lindberg is tenth on the Chicago Wolves in points with 18 (8-10-18) – Dunn is a scrapper type, bounced between AHL and ECHL. They could report here and play or be pawns in another trade that Jim Rutherford and the Pens have cooking. I think that the Pens are done, personally. The talk all along was a center for Pittsburgh, and they have their guy in Brassard. They are also at or near the salary cap, so unless other prospects move, Rutherford may be done well before the trade deadline.

Stay tuned, I guess.

OK, so Casey DeSmith opposed Jeff Glass tonight in Wilkes-Barre.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Kevin Schulze

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Tom Kostopoulos and Tom Sestito both returned from injury. Kostopoulos played in his 700th AHL game. Teddy Bleuger was back also and Kevin Schulze made his Penguins debut.

First Period: Joseph Cramarossa pounded home a rebound left by Glass off a shot from Prow early and it was 1-0 Penguins…

On a power play, Daniel Sprong picked a corner with Kostopoulos setting a screen and it was 2-0 Penguins…

Rockford got its right back when John Hayden put a shot on from the far wall that Tyler Sikura deflected in that cut the Penguins lead to one.

Penguins would quickly reestablish their two goal lead when Kevin Czuczman puts a shot or pass towards the net that defects off of a Rockford stick right to Gage Quinney who loads up and scores to make it 3-1 heading into the….

Second Period: Casey DeSmith had a fine game for himself which will probably be lost amongst the trade news and the game that Prow had. On one Rockford power play, DeSmith made save after save to keep the game a two goal cushion for his side.

Garrett Wilson would score off of a face-off play with Teddy Blueger screening in front to make it 4-1…

Third Period: Adam Johnson scored with ex-Penguin Adam Clendening draping him like a cheap suit to make it 5-1 Penguins…

Reid Gardiner would get in on the scoring action off a nice feed form Thomas DiPauli to put home his first of the season for Wilkes-Barre that turned it into a laugher. 6-1 Penguins…

But Rockford didn’t want it to end like that. They get two goals rather quickly. Chris DiDomenico deflects in a shot from the point from Viktor Svedberg to make it 6-2 on a power play then Anthony Louis made it 6-3 with a nice give and go and goal. Here they are…

But time was the enemy of the pig and ran out on the visitors.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (two assists, +2) 2) Daniel Sprong (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Ethan Prow (three assists, +3)

Adam Johnson also recorded a multiple point night with a goal and an assist.

Around the Division: Syracuse beats Lehigh Valley 2-1…Providence beats Bridgeport 5-3…Springfield shuts out Charlotte 4-0 and Hershey wins their fifth straight with a 4-2 win over Hartford.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.670 percentage points) — Penguins (.657) — Providence (.632) — Charlotte (.573) — Bridgeport (.528) — Hartford (.509) — Hershey (.482) — Springfield (.464)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off until Sunday when they play the Adirondack Thunder.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins are bussing up to Syracuse overnight to stay as fresh as possible this weekend. It makes sense in a three in three. Wake up tomorrow in Syracuse then bus home and wake up in your own bed Sunday for a 3:05 start against Hershey.

Gameday setup for the game against the Crunch will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I don’t think you can blame the fact that Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost three defensemen to injury Friday against Rochester in a blow out loss Friday or the war that they were in Saturday night in an overtime loss against the Utica Comets for this loss Sunday afternoon in Allentown.

Going 0-for-7 on the power play while your opponent goes 2-for-8 goes ahead of those actions I listed above.

Wilkes-Barre loses 4-1. 0-2-1 on the weekend that if you stack it all up, was a bad weekend because of the reasons I listed.

Lehigh Valley gets some breathing room now on the Penguins for first in the Atlantic, but the Penguin will have an insane five games in hand on the Phantoms when they play host to the Rockford IceHogs Friday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Games in hand mean nothing if you don’t win them, by the way.

Casey DeSmith opposed John Muse. Dustin Tokarski backed up, their parent team lost Michal Neuvirth to injury meaning Dustin Tokarski may head up to Philadelphia. I think Mark Dekanich is Phantoms property and he plays for Reading in the ECHL. We will see. Nothing is decided yet.

Lines were….

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Jarett Burton – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Cody Wydo – Gage Quinney – Troy Josephs

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor – Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink – Jarred Tinordi

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Troy Josephs replaced Patrick McGrath on the fourth line. That was the only change. Colin Blackwell was suspended two games by the AHL for his hit on Lukas Bengtsson Friday. Here is an alternative view of the hit.

First Period: Penguins had two power plays that they couldn’t score on. Lehigh Valley scores on theirs when Oskar Lindblom was the only one paying attention on the ice when a puck came right to him and he scored here to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead…

Greg Carey put two shots on DeSmith that the Penguins netminder saved, but everyone lost Lindblom who popped one in to give the Phantoms the lead. Casey DeSmith thought the puck ricocheted into the corner.

John Muse on the other hand, didn’t see much work in the first period but did stop the Penguins on a 3-on-1 and then later a shorthanded 2-on-1.

Second Period: Greg Carey scored to double the Phantoms lead. Puck in the corner to DeSmith’s left drew the attention of one too many Penguins, pass to Carey in the slot who didn’t miss.

Mike Vecchione scored a power play goal when he was in the right spot after a big shot from the point that DeSmith stopped, caromed right to him for the goal that made it 3-0 Phantoms.

Penguins weren’t moving their legs and it was costing them opportunities.

Third Period: Penguins keep the puck in as a four-on-four was about to turn into a penalty kill for the visitors. J-S Dea tipped in a shot from the point to bust up Muse’s shutout and gave Wilkes-Barre a rare shorthanded goal.

Wilkes-Barre misses two attempts at a power play, time dwindles, and the Phantoms hit an empty net with DeSmith pulled.

Three Stars: 3) Greg Carey (two assists, +2) 2) Travis Sanheim (two assists, even) and 1) John Muse (22 saves on 23 shots)

Around the Division: Bridgeport whitewashes a Hartford team that had a hellish week of travel 4-0…Syracuse splits the weekend series with Charlotte and beat the Checkers 3-1…Springfield beats Providence 3-2…Hershey was off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.676 percentage points) — Penguins (.650) — Providence (.625) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.538) — Hartford (.518) — Hershey (.462) — Springfield (.454)

Wheeling Update: With half of the Nailers regulars on the trip to Allentown with the Penguins today, results were about where you expected them to be. Wheeling was shutout 6-0 by the Reading Royals.

If Lehigh Valley puts out a highlight package it will run in this space.

Week 20 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog at noon Monday because of all the President’s Day games being played Monday afternoon. If you have the day off, unlike me, enjoy it.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I am going to go out on a limb and declare that the Utica Comets as a playoff team this season for the 2018 Calder Cup Playoffs.

You don’t get points in 15 straight games, this late on in the season, and not make the playoffs.

You don’t come into Wilkes-Barre, against one of the better teams in the Atlantic Division and scrap with a team that makes a living scrapping with other teams and walk away with the two points if you aren’t a playoff team.

The Utica Comets are a pesky team. They are in a division full of good teams with Toronto who are running away with the division, Rochester who are a surprise and Syracuse who are better than Belleville, Binghamton and Laval. Anyone is better than Belleville, Binghamton and Laval, by the way.

The Penguins had a 1-0 lead on the Comets tonight for a large part of the first half of the game. Then Utica scored three goals in a 1:02 to stun the Penguins and the crowd that braved the snow at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza and shades of last night’s throttling at the hands of the Rochester Americans were starting to creep in again.

But the Penguins used horribly undisciplined play from the Utica Comets and found themselves on three straight power plays which were unsuccessful, then a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes which kickstarted the comeback.

Garrett Wilson’s double to right gave the Penguins the lead after he batted a puck out of the air and into the net, but Utica tied it late, then as the Comets do, forced overtime.

Utica wins tonight 5-4 in overtime. My Rapid Recap said 4-3 initially, sorry about that if it confused you.

Casey DeSmith opposed Thatcher Demko

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Jarrett Burton – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Cody Wydo – Gage Quinney – Patrick McGrath

Kevin Spinozzi – Ethan Prow
Jeff Taylor – Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink – Jarred Tinordi

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: The Penguins made three recalls today from Wheeling. Jeff Taylor, Dylan Zink and Kevin Schulze were recalled from the Nailers today. Taylor was a Pittsburgh assignment, Zink is on AHL contract and Schulze was signed to a PTO. Word after the game was that Frank Corrado may be the one that took the worst of the injuries Friday in Rochester according to Tyler postgame…

First Period: Joe Cramarossa jammed in a puck to give the Penguins a 1-0 early lead. He later added an assist, for three points (to go along with his assist Friday in Rochester) in two games this weekend for the Penguins. So far, so good.

Shots were 12-12 after one period. Initial impressions on the Utica Comets were they block a ton of shots and Thatcher Demo leaves rebounds all over the place.

Second Period: Penguins had two breakaway chances, but Demko stopped everything. Casey DeSmith looked sharp. But then…

This all happened in the span of 62 seconds. The wheels came off and they came off in all different directions.

The best thing to happen to the Penguins was the whistle to end the second period. Regroup, and come out for the…

Third Period: First power play came and went with nothing. Second one was the same as the first. The third one ended up as a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes. The Penguins HAD to score here.

They did.

Daniel Sprong shot, Jarrett Burton deflection. One goal game…

Pens think they score to tie it on the back end of the second power play but Demko closed the door…

But the Comets, who I said earlier block a ton of shots, blocked on in a sequence that would see Ethan Prow score to tie the game at 3-3 here…

Second assist for Cramarossa there.

Game settled for a bit, got tense, then Garrett Wilson scored to make it 4-3…

The hand / eye coordination by Wilson was exquisite. I can’t thank Taylor enough for GIFing these and allowing me to run them on this blog.

Demko stopped Wilson again on the breakaway and Hart has jokes…

Pitchers and catchers have already reported and the Mets look OK this year. Could contend for a wild card if the pitching holds up.

Anyway.

Utica tied it late with 2:40 left in a hack and whack similar to what Cramarossa did to open the scoring in the first.

Utica’s modus operandi is to just get the game to overtime. It worked here.

Overtime: Wilkes-Barre had one possession in the final frame, then Utica got the puck, had DeSmith all out of sorts and Patrick Wiercioch scored from the blue line to win it…

Three Stars: 3) Joseph Cramarossa (goal, assist, even) 2) Garrett Wilson (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Patrick Weircioch (game winning overtime goal, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Charlotte shuts out Syracuse 2-0. The Checkers are on the come again and are separating themselves from fifth in the Atlantic….Hershey shuts out a hapless Belleville team 3-0….Lehigh Valley coughs up a lead in the third and Hartford takes them down in a shootout 3-2….Providence beats Springfield, who is getting the 2019 All-Star Game next year, 3-2 in overtime. Bridgeport was off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.670 percentage points) — Penguins (.663) — Providence (.637) — Charlotte (.594) — Bridgeport (.529) — Hartford (.528) — Hershey (.462) — Springfield (.443)

Wheeling Update: Nailers game was postponed due to a flooding concern.

Video Highlights: 

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Pens close out the weekend Sunday afternoon in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 5 p.m. Gameday setup hits the blog Sunday at 1.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Let’s get a couple things out of the way.

First, the score line is correct. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost this game tonight 12-3. It is the most goals allowed in Penguins history. I don’t know if a nine goal loss is the biggest deficit that the Penguins have lost by, but it matters little.

Second, Wilkes-Barre / Scranton lost three defensemen in the game tonight. The first was Lukas Bengtsson which swung the momentum for the Rochester Americans in a huge way.

Third, the Amerks have been punching under their weight class of recent, winless in their last five games and sliding in the North Division and losing touch with Toronto for the lead and being passed by the Utica Comets for second in the division. To say that they got up for this game, with four ex-Penguins in the lineup for Rochester, player and coach on running the team, would be an understatement.

It was 3-0 Rochester at the end of the first period. Penguins went on a hot run for about two minutes that saw them score two goals, but then the Americans scored one of their bazillion goals tonight that killed that momentum.

So it ends as an embarrassing loss for the team tonight and one that may have collateral damage in the long run. If you don’t want to read the meat of the story, the Pens also lost Chris Summers in the first period to injury as well as Frank Corrado in the third.

Casey DeSmith opposed Linus Ullmark.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Joseph Cramarossa
Cody Wydo – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

Chris Summers – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Penguins went back to the conventional 12F, 6D setup after using an extra defenseman last weekend in Providence…. Cramarossa debuted on the third line…. Andrey Pedan was a scratch, radio noting he was ill…. Coal Street recalled Cody Wydo and Freddie Tiffels from mWheeling yesterday. Wydo was in, Tiffels was a scratch. Tom had another piece on the Penguins defenseman Lukas Bengtsson for The Athletic which you can check out here if you are a subscriber. If not, what are you waiting for? They are going all in on baseball this season and are already in 20 of the 30 MLB markets.

First Period: Penguins lost three players in the period and for every player they lost, Rochester scored a goal.

First, Lukas Bengtsson early on on a clean, unwhistled hit by Colin Blackwell…

Then Chris Summers went out of the game after friendly fire from Daniel Sprong. Sprong goes to throw a check at Seth Griffith, hits him and Griffith throws his head back directly into Summers’. Here’s the video…

Shortly thereafter, almost immediately, Griffith scored to put Rochester on the board.

:59 later, after a turnover and a bad line change, ex-Penguin Adam Krause capitalized and made it 2-0.

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Bad to worse, Thomas DiPauli later took a puck over glass delay of game penalty.

:06 later, Zach Redmond scored to make it 3-0.

Bad to worse.

Back to the unwhistled hit on Blackwood on Bengtsson, Patrick McGrath was upset about it wanted a piece of Blackwood who wanted nothing to do with the Penguins winger. The officials, knowing that the game was meeting it’s boiling point, tossed McGrath from the game with a game misconduct.

Second Period: Rochester didn’t let off. Seth Griffith banked on in off of DeSmith from behind the goal line that made it 4-0.

Griffith’s second goal of the night.

That was the end of Casey DeSmith. Anthony Peters entered the game.

He was met with the same buzzsaw.

With Jarred Tinordi in the box for a pick on Justin Bailey, Alex Nylander scored here to make it 5-0.

Three power play goals for the Rochester Americans.

Wilkes-Barre punches back and scores two goals 2:02 apart. Jarrett Burton scores in a pile here that makes it 5-1…

Entire play was set up with a nice quick save by Anthony Peters. Cramarossa with the clear, Cody Wydo beats out the ice and Jarrett Burton scores to bust up the shutout. Cramarossa picked up his first Penguin point on this sequence.

Cody Wydo then scored to make it 5-2…

..with nice work by him to sauce a pass that deflects off of Ullmark and creeps slowly over the line and in.

Comeback is on! Yeah, here we go!

About that.

Jarred Tinordi pinches, and why blame him, his team is on the comeback, giving Rochester a 3-on-1 and Brendan Guhle unleashed this rocket that squelched the momentum the Penguins were building that made it 6-2.

But Rochester wasn’t done. A puck went into the skates of Justin Bailey, Bailey digs it out and centers to Sean Malone who scores to make it 7-2 Amerks.

(Rochester never GIFed this one, use your imagination)

Despite all this, Wilkes-Barre outshot the Americans heading into the…

Third Period: Penguins made it 7-3 on this Greg McKegg goal…

But that just made Rochester mad. God love you if you are still reading the recap at this point. I’ll try not to keep you any longer.

Alex Nylander made it 8-3 when he banged in a rebound. Pens had a turnover and a bad line change. Guys were gassed and tired at this point.

Rochester scores their fourth power play of the night when Kyle Criscuolo scored to make it 9-3.

Criscuolo made it 10-3 with another.

Second time Rochester has scored ten goals this season by the way, they did it to Binghamton earlier this year.

The Devils stopped the Americans from scoring more, though. The Penguins found themselves on a 5-on-3 penalty kill and Rochester scored twice, one by Stuart Percy and the other by Matt Tennyson to make it 12-3.

Americans ended up 6-for-9 on the power play.

Penguins lost Stuart Percy to injury / precaution late somewhere.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Nylander (two goals, two assists, +2) 2) Kyle Criscuolo (two goals, two assists, +2) and 1) Seth Griffith (two goals, three assists, +2)

Weird Facts: Penguins actually outshot the Amerks 38-37. No one on Rochester had a had trick. Kevin Porter and Eric Cornel were the only Amerks skaters to not record a point.

Around the Division: Providence beats Bridgeport 1-0 in a shootout…Lehigh Valley thumps Springfield 8-2…Hershey beats Laval 6-3. Charlotte and Hartford were off.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.673 percentage points) — Penguins (.667) — Providence (.630) — Charlotte (.587) — Bridgeport (.529) — Hartford (.519) — Hershey (.452) — Springfield (.442)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose at home to the Fort Wayne Komets 4-3. The Nailers game tomorrow is postponed with Cincy due to impending bad weather.

I doubt anyone wants to see highlights of this one. I sure don’t.

Penguins will regroup, make defensive callups from Wheeling if need be, and get ready for the Utica Comets Saturday night at home for Military Appreciation Night. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Penguins didn’t give their goaltender any run support Friday in Providence and were unceremoniously shutout on Friday by their rivals, the Providence Bruins.

After the first period Sunday, down 2-0, it looked like the same story, just a different verse.

But in the second period, kicked off by a goal by Gage Quinney, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins claw back, tie the game and ultimately win in a shootout, 3-2.

They got there, largely due in in part to their goaltender, Casey DeSmith.

DeSmith came up huge with saves in the second and third period and again in overtime to preserve the score at 2-2 the way it was and J-S Dea’s goal in the bottom of the first round of the shootout was the only action in the bonus round.

Big win for the Penguins, who when they next step on the ice competitively this Friday in Rochester, they will have four games in hand on rival Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms play on Tuesday this week.

DeSmith opposed local thorn in the shoe, Zane McIntyre.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Jarrett Burton
Troy Josephs – Patrick McGrath

Kevin Czuczman – Frank Corrado
Jarred Tinordi – Chris Summers
Andrey Pedan – Ethan Prow
Lukas Bengtsson

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Penguins rolled out 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for the second straight game with the only lineup change being Patrick McGrath in for Colin Smith.

First Period: First half of the period was a defensive gem, where neither team registered a shot on goal until 5:15 of the contest that came from Providence. The Penguins ended up seeing the Bruins take the games first five shots on goal before registering their own.

Penalty trouble was the early issue that was crippling the Penguins. Penguin killer Tommy Cross unleashed this shot from the high slot after Jordan Swarz took the puck in deep and found Cross at the top of the slot for the 1-0 Bruins lead…

Bruins add another quickly when ex-Penguin Adam Payerl puts a shot off the pads of DeSmith and followed up his shot to push it across go give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.

Shots ended up being 13-5 Bruins, with most coming on the two power plays that Providence had, heading into the…

Second Period: Totally different period for the Penguins in terms of offense. Providence played the night before in Bridgeport and maybe some of that started to wear through because the Penguins started to eat into the lead that the Bruins enjoyed.

Gage Quinney scored the first goal for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton since Derrick Pouliot scored in overtime for the Pens last Spring in the playoffs. Quick developing 2-on-1.

Penguins started to eat into the shots and finally tied the game with this sequence that sees Jarred Tinordi even the score in the game…

McIntyre, swimming in his crease, isn’t able to get back u and Tinordi pounds it home. Resilient pressure from Reid Gardiner, also.

Casey DeSmith comes up huge on this save on Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson point blank to keep the game even at two late in the period.

The bar wasn’t very high to start, having been shutout in two prior games in this regular season, but Wilkes-Barre outshot the Bruins 16-7 in the period to take a 21-20 shot advantage heading into the third period in arguably their best period played at the Dunkin’ Donut Center all season.

Third Period: Slowly developed into the Casey DeSmith show after this save…

Both goalies were sharp in the period, but DeSmith was needed more as the Bruins had a late power play to edge ahead but were denied by the penalty kill and DeSmith.

Overtime: After the drop of the puck, reigning AHL MVP Kenny Agostino skated in on a naked breakaway but DeSmith shut the door. The Bruins then found themselves on a power play in the overtime period, but DeSmith was again timely in his saves to preseve the 2-2 deadlock.

Shootout: J-S Dea’s goal in the bottom of the first round was all the scoring in the shootout round.

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Jordan Swarz (assist, even) 2) Tommy Cross (goal, even) and 1) Jarred Tinordi goal, +1)

Around the Division: Syracuse outlasts Bridgeport 3-2 in Connecticut…Hershey gets a late goal with under five seconds to play in regulation force overtime and new acquisition Joe Whitney, traded to Hershey this past Friday, wins it for the Bears against the Penguins next opponent the Rochester Americans. Bears win 3-2 in overtime.

Standings: Penguins (.681 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.660) — Providence (.622) — Charlotte (.570) — Bridgeport (.541) — Hartford (.539) — Springfield (.451) — Hershey (.441)

The Penguins will have four games in hand on Lehigh Valley when they set foot on ice competitively this Friday in Rochester. Phantoms play Tuesday in Bridgeport.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in action earlier today (by that I mean a 9:30 a.m. start time) and hung on for a 6-5 win in Orlando against the Solar Bears. Garrett Meurs had a pair of goals for the Nailers in the morning win.

My Week 19 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. Please do check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The mayor of Wilkes-Barre is a man by the name of Tony George.

If there is a snarky person who is a fan of the Providence Bruins, they may change that fact on Wikipedia to Providence Bruins goaltender Zane McIntyre.

McIntyre, you will recall, was the hero in Game 5 last Spring in the Quarterfinals of the Calder Cup Playoffs and sent the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to an early Spring after a 50 save performance in April 2017.

He has now shutout the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in back to back games. 4-0 tonight. The Providence Bruins win their fifth straight game on home ice. The Penguins four game win streak goes out with tomorrow’s trash.

Styles may make fights. Recalls to Pittsburgh may or may not have something to do with it. But as said time and time again, if you do not score, you have no chance at winning. I mean it’s just that simple.

Zane McIntyre will likely get Saturday off as the Providence Bruins head to Bridgeport Saturday while the Penguins have the night off meaning that we may be seeing McIntyre Sunday afternoon again in the rematch. Wilkes-Barre will need to concoct something to get pucks past him if they wish to end the Bruins winning streak at home.

McIntyre opposed Casey DeSmith

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Colin Smith
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton

Kevin Czuczman – Frank Corrado
Jarred Tinordi – Chris Summers
Andrey Pedan – Ethan Prow
Lukas Bengtsson

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Lukas Bengtsson was back in the lineup for the first time since December 8. Troy Josephs made his Wilkes-Barre season debut. The Penguins went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen because Teddy Blueger was recalled to Pittsburgh yesterday.

First Period: The Penguins faced a blitzkrieg of shots by the Bruins. 22 in total, and only trailed 1-0 after the break. This wild sequence by reigning AHL MVP Kenny Agostino was the only blemish on Casey DeSmith, on an otherwise yeoman like period by the Penguins netminder.

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The Penguins had the only power play of the period, but that was the only positive to come out of this one sided period, other than the play of their goaltender.

Second Period: A better period for the Penguins in terms of offensive zone time from the drop of the puck. Ex-Penguin Adam Payerl picked up on this and dropped the gloves with Jarred Tinordi.

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Both goalies traded some big saves in successive sequences.

The Penguins later found themselves on a penalty kill, their first of the night, and all was going well until Andrey Pedan decided to play the hero….

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Instead of going for the straight up clear, Pedan tries to make moves past two Bruins, is stripped, and Colton Hargrove scores to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Third Period: Here’s where the game was lost for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. After a bright start for the Penguins, down a pair looking to get something going, they get a power play early. Then, Anton Blidh blocks a shot and then clears it from his own defensive zone to give the Penguins a 5-on-3 for :20. Turkey is on the table for the Penguins here to get back into the game.

So what do they do?

Fail to register a single shot on goal, and the power play comes and goes.

Insult to injury, Tommy Cross scores from the high slot to make it 3-0 which essentially put the game away for the Bruins.

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Not for going down without a fight, Clark Donatelli double or triple shifted Daniel Sprong as the Penguins rookie prospect was out there for virtually every shift at the end of the game.

Ex-Penguins Adam Payerl scores to make it 4-0 to turn it into a laugher for the Bruins.

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Three Stars: 3) Jordan Swarz (two assists, +2) 2) Zane McIntyre (22 save shutout) 1) Kenny Agostino (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley trounces Hershey 5-1. Hartford clips Syracuse 4-3 in a shootout. Charlotte pounds Springfield 5-2. Bridgeport was off.

Standings: Penguins (.674 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.653) — Providence (.617) — Bridgeport (.564) — Charlotte (.561) — Hartford (.530) — Springfield (.460) — Hershey (.439)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 5-2 in Orlando. Cody Wydo and Freddie Tiffels scored for Wheeling in the loss.

I doubt Providence will put highlights up. If they do and I can work an edit in they will go here.

Pens are off Saturday and rematch with the Bruins Sunday at 3 p.m. Gameday setup hits the blog Sunday morning at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The last time that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins won in Springfield was two years, two days ago.

February 5, 2016. A 4-3 overtime win for the Penguins where names like Steve Oleksy and Anton Zlobin scored for the Penguins and Carter Rowney scored the overtime game winning goal.

Fast forward to Wednesday night, and the Penguins are winners in Massachusetts again.

3-1 is the final score. A battle all night with a better than advertised Springfield side who probably deserved better and will eventually. The Thunderbirds were 7-3 in their last ten games coming into tonight and on a three game winning streak. They were finally getting good goaltending out of the backup spot with their number one called up to parent Florida.

But better goaltending from the away team, coupled by power play success and its the Penguins who win their fourth straight to maintain the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

Casey DeSmith opposed Evan Cowley.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Jarrett Burton – Greg McKegg – Patrick McGrath
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith

Kevin Czuczman – Frank Corrado
Jarred Tinordi – Chris Summers
Andrey Pedan – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: There were no recalls to Pittsburgh in the wake of Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins games Tuesday night. Also, no one was preserved tonight in the wake of an impending recall Thursday. For the lineup tonight, there was some shuffling, but no roster changes.

First Period: Biggest play in the period came at the end of the period, where the Penguins found themselves on the wrong end of the 5-on-3 power play. Casey DeSmith made this save to preserve the scoreless period…

Second Period: Penguins had a double minor power play that they could not score on. Game was slowly starting to open up with good chances on both sides. Finally, Gage Quinney broke the 0-0 deadlock to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead on this nice pass by Reid Gardiner…

2:04 later, led by the Thunderbirds fourth line, Springfield tied it up. They kept the Penguins hemmed in the defensive zone and Dryden Hunt scored from the slot to tie the game back up at 1.

Daniel Sprong was hooked on a breakaway but lost the handle. Instead of awarding a penalty shot, the Penguins went on a straight 2:00 power play. Thomas DiPauli scored his first goal since December to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead heading into the…

Third Period: Casey DeSmith again, making saves that mortals can only dream of, keeps it a one goal game.

Penguins ice the game away with a power play goal on an empty net that was scored by Garrett Wilson that iced the game away…

Three Stars: 3) Evan Cowley (37 saves on 39 shots) 2) Gage Quinney (goal, +1) and 1) Thomas DiPauli (goal, even)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley fights off Charlotte 4-3 at home to maintain their thorn in the side of the Penguins…Hartford beat Springfield earlier in the day 5-4 in overtime. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Penguins (.689 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.646) — Providence (.609) — Bridgeport (.564) — Charlotte (.552) — Hartford (.520) — Springfield (.469) — Hershey (.448)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They play again on Friday.

Video Highlights: Coal Street put their own out on Thursday morning. Check it out…

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Penguins are going to stay in New England and likely bus to Providence Thursday where they will set up shop for the weekend with games Friday and Sunday there. Gameday setup for Friday’s game will hit the blog Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!