Chirps from Center Ice

       @       

6                                          5

–

Most exciting game in recent memory against two heavyweight teams. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms duked it out in a knock down, drag out contest that saw the Penguins win the game in a shootout 6-5 on the only goal scored in the exhibition gallery from Christian Thomas in the bottom of the third round.

Thomas, who is leaving for Finland to participate in the Karjala Cup on Sunday, which is going to be used as an evaluation for Team Canada for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics had an all around great game and the game winning shootout goal was just the icing on the cake.

Heippa, by the way, is “goodbye” in the Finnish language. Now you know. Something else you should know is that the Penguins have won six games in a row.

With the win and the Providence regulation loss to Bridgeport, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in sole possession of first place of the Atlantic Division.

Casey DeSmith opposed Dustin Tokarski.

Lines were…

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Kevin Spinozzi
Chris Summers – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Colin Stevens

Lineup Notes: Colin Smith, Jarred Tinordi and Jeff Taylor practiced in full this week and are expected back soon. As mentioned in the open, Christian Thomas will leaving Sunday for the Karjala Cup. Read more about it all that here. Tom Kostopoulos was out injured again, word is a day-to-day, upper body injury for the Penguins captain.

First Period: An all out assault by the Phantoms to open, who jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in shots then got a power play. But the Penguins forecheck on the penalty kill forced a turnover to Garrett Wilson who was robbed by Tokarski in this sequence….

–

Someone should alert Lehigh Valley social that Tokarki’s nickname (when he was with Norfolk) was, “tick.” Perhaps it is still is.

I’ll let Tyler set up how the Phantoms scored even strength…

–

…and Taylor will show you how it looked…

–

The first even strength goal allowed by Casey DeSmith this season in 130:54.

Penguins withstood a relentless charge by the Phantoms to end the period aided by a 4:00 high sticking penalty against them when Chris Summers caught Danick Martel with a high stick off of a a face-off. The Penguins got lucky when the referee lost sight of a puck that was loose in DeSmith’s crease but were able to kill both ends of the double minor.

Second Period: Penguins get on the board with Gage Quinney’s fourth goal of the season, digging a puck out of the pads of Tokarski to tie the game at one a piece.

–

Penguins started the period with a blitzkrieg on the Phantoms to start the period but unlike the Phantoms, were able to get goals. On a power play, Christian Thomas scored this goal after this ridiculous pass by Dominik Simon in front…

–

10 points this season for Dominik Simon.

Then, a wild sequence for both teams.

With Kevin Spinozzi in the box for a bonkers play where it appeared (to me) that Mark Friedman comes in offsides and then is tripped by Spinozzi, Danick Martel blew a tire and J-S Dea skated in, faked Tokarski into a poke check and scored shorthanded to make it 3-1 Penguins….

–

Pens about to blow the game open, right?

Wrong.

Danick Martel atones for the last play and scores to bring the Phantoms back to within one.

–

He walked DeSmith out of his crease like a dog out of his coop there.

Wild :45 of play, where both teams score on special teams.

Pens had a goal taken away when Garrett Wilson made contact with Tokarski. Referee Tim Mayer correctly disallowed the would be goal by Ethan Prow immediately.

Small turning point for the Phantoms who get goals by T.J. Brennan, a seeing eye deal that DeSmith never saw…

–

Then Mikhail Vorobyev scored to make it 4-3 Lehigh Valley.

–

With 10.4 seconds left, J-S Dea stripped a Phantom of the puck, found Ryan Haggerty who unleashed his lethal shot he is known for and beat Tokarski, bar down and in that made it 4-4 heading into the third period.

–

Third Period: Back and forth, end to end action with neither team backing down, giving an inch to their opponent. Pens had to kill two penalties and did.

Overtime: No scoring, but the Phantoms found themselves shorthanded twice. Wilkes-Barre was unable to capitalize.

Shootout: Dea and Corban Knight missed in round one, Sprong and Oskar Lindblom missed in round two, Chris Conner missed in the top of the third and then Christian Thomas won it here…

–

Three Stars: Ryan Haggerty (two goals, +2) 2) Chris Conner (goal, two assists, +2) and 1) Garrett Wilson (three assists, +1)

A note on Wilson from Nick Hart:

–

Around the Division: Another exciting game happened tonight between the Hershey Bears and the Rochester Americans with tons of goals and lots of lead changes. Rochester wins in a shootout, 7-6….Springfield picks up a win over Hartford 5-3….Bridgeport beats Providence 1-0 thanks to a 27 save shutout by Chris Gibson….Charlotte pounds Belleville in Ontario 6-1.

Standings: Penguins (.778 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.727) — Charlotte (.700) — Providence (.667) — Bridgeport (.444) — Hartford (.409) — Hershey (.400) — Springfield (.227)

Wheeling Update: Reid Gardiner was named ECHL Rookie of the Month on Wednesday. Tonight against Cincinnati Gardiner had a goal and an assist but it was not enough for the Nailers who lost 4-3 in overtime to the Cyclones.

Pens are off Saturday, back in action Sunday against the Hershey Bears at 3:05. Gameday setup is yours Sunday at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

       @       

5                                          2

–

When you are a loaded team, fringe players who are good players that don’t get a chance to play have to make the most of their opportunities.

Enter Ryan Haggerty.

The Penguins forward has not had a chance to play in a regular season game to date and really made the most of his opportunity tonight in Bridgeport, scoring two goals and taking home first star honors.

The scary thing about this abundance of wealth at the forward position is that Haggerty’s arrival came at the expense of Gage Quinney who was a healthy scratch tonight. They play different positions but they are all the same to me. The Penguins are loaded right now and have won their fifth straight game and first road game as they take down a very good Bridgeport team by a score of 5-2.

Tristan Jarry opposed Kristers Gudlevskis.

Lines were:

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Zach Aston-Reese – Jarrett Burton – Ryan Haggerty
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Spinozzi – Kevin Czuczman
Chris Summers – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Colin Stevens

Lineup Notes: Nick Hart, flying solo tonight on radio, mentioned that Tom Kostopoulos went to the coaching staff last night and mentioned that he didn’t feel right. He took morning skate today but the coaching staff left him out of the lineup tonight. Head Coach Clark Donatelli told media this week that he wanted to get Ryan Haggerty a game this weekend, so this weekend was it. Gage Quinney was out and Jarrett Burton slotted back into the lineup. Kevin Spinozzi took the place of Dylan Zink on defense, Jarry started his second straight.

First Period: Ryan Bourque broke up a Daniel Sprong pass and he made a nice outlet pass to Steve Bernier who scored on a breakaway on Jarry for a 1-0 Bridgeport lead early on, just 1:19 into the game.

Ryan Haggerty was flying in the game. He drew a penalty when he wheeled around a Bridgeport D-man and then had a breakaway attempt but didn’t convert on either.

Alan Quine, down on a conditioning stint from the New York Islanders, collected a puck that Chris Summers whiffed on at his own blue line, missed on a penalty shot when Tristan Jarry made the save.

Tom Sestito put the Penguins on the board after this nice second effort pass by Thomas Di Pauli that set it all up…

–

Second Period: Just like the first period, rtes Sound Tigers wasted little time to score to give themselves a lead. Ben Holmstrom’s shot from the corner of the ice somehow finds its way past Jarry to give Bridgeport a 2-1 lead.

Adam Johnson responded on a power play for his first goal as a Penguin and the game was tied again…

–

Ryan Haggerty was flying, and again beat a Bridgeport D-man and this time scored to give the Penguins their first lead of the night…

–

A Daniel Sprong-esque release there by Haggerty.

Third Period: Teams traded power plays to open the period, then the period sped by. Then, Christian Thomas waited out Gudlevskis and scored to make it 4-2…

–

Time and space is a hockey players best friend.

So down 4-2 with time dwindling and Gudlevskis pulled, Ryan Haggerty scored on a backhander for his second goal of the night.

Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (goal, assist, +1) 2) Adam Johnson (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (two goals, +3)

Around the Division: Hartford takes down Lehigh Valley and beats the Phantoms in Allentown 5-4. Both teams scored three goals in the third period…Hershey picks up a statement win against the Providence Bruins, beating them 3-2…Charlotte beats Utica 5-1 and Binghamton beats Springfield 2-1.

Standings: Charlotte, Providence and Wilkes-Barre all have 12 points and are deadlocked for tops in the division. Lehigh Valley has 15 points but are fourth due to percentage over games played (the have 10, the top three only have 8 games played) – Hartford 9, Bridgeport 6, Hershey 5 and Springfield 3. I promise I will get to percentages in November starting November 3 against Lehigh Valley.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They rematch in Brampton against the Beast Sunday.

Depending on if the Sound Tigers or Penguins put forth a video package, I will run them here.

Power Rankings will debut win the blog Monday at 4. Casey DeSmith should get the start Sunday in Winnipeg against the Jets. If you have the ability to watch, do so.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

2                                          3

–

The Hershey Bears were 1-4-1 coming into tonight’s game against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. They just came off of a Midwestern road trip where they beat the Grand Rapids Griffins for their only win of the season, then got smoked by the Milwaukee Admirals and shutout by the Rockford IceHogs.

Tonight, they didn’t play like a 1-4 team.

If I was writing this game as a Bears fan, I would point back to the six minute stretch in the first period of a scoreless game where Hershey was unable to score on three consecutive power plays. I’d feel good about the Bears battling back to make it 2-2 and upset at the fact that the Penguins scored on a power play of their own and optimistic about the minute or so of relentless pressure that the Bears put on the Penguins at the end of the game with the goaltender pulled.

Moral of the story if you are a Bears fan is that you won’t be down for long. You never are.

The Penguins can be happy about this gritty, gutty 3-2 win against rival Hershey. Wilkes-Barre sits 5-2 to start the season and after some shaky starts, look to be on track to continue to improve on the young season.

Tristan Jarry opposed Adam Carlson.

Lines were….

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Tom Kostopoulos|
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Ethan Prow
Chris Summers – Dylan Zink

Tristan Jarry – Colin Stevens

Lineup Notes: Obie’s tweet will do well to summarize…

–

First Period: Pens killed an Ethan Prow delay of game at 5:54, a Tom Sestito hook at 7:58 and then a Tom Kostopoulos high stick at 10:00. Three consecutive penalties that the Bears could not cash on.

Then the Penguins scored when J-S Dea scored on this play where Christian Thomas set the screen on Carlson on a delayed call for the Penguins…

–

Nice play by Summers to keep the puck in, don’t know what the Bears were doing just letting Dea skate in unabated and better play by Thomas getting in Carlson’s sightline for Dea to pick his corner like that.

Second Period: Penguins give the Bears only two power plays to start the second and kill them. Then the Penguins get a power play on this monstrosity of a call by referees Schlenker and South…

–

Perhaps they saw that Johansen was still moving his feet as the play went dead, but neither one of them must be good at physics because Johansen was losing his balance and needed to get his feet from under him. Penguins didn’t score on the power play that ensued, but it was a terrible call at the time to give the Penguins, despite the fact that every call to this point was going against the home team.

All for naught, Teddy Blueger made it 2-0 Penguins on this pretty play and keep in of his own even strength….

–

Jeremy Langlois pounced on a puck to score to cut the Penguin lead to one. This was a shorthanded goal.

–

I called it a bad outlet pass from Lukas Bengtsson, Nick Hart on color through Twitter called it a puck that ricocheted off of a linesman right to Langlois. I’m going to give the benefit of teh call to Hart, who is paid to watch the game and has a better sight line than I 10 rows below him, obscured through glass and the visitors bench.

Big moment in the game was when Wayne Simpson was called for a hook and Chris Bourque said something questionable or objectionable to referee Schlenker and received a 10-minute misconduct. Hershey was without it’s biggest sniper for half of the…

Third Period: Riley Barber scored to tie the game after this nice cross ice pass from Lucas Johansen…

–

Penguins finally connect on the power play when Kevin Czuczman half cocked on a shot that he must have thought was going to go off bodies. Dominik Simon had the puck fall right to his feet and scored on the wide open net to give the Penguins the 3-2 lead…

–

Bears followed with immense pressure, forcing Jarry into many ten bell saves and with Carlson pulled for the extra man were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, +1) 2) Tristan Jarry (30 saves on 32 shots) and 1) Dominik Simon (goal, assist, +3)

Video Highlights: 

–

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley continues to win, beating Springfield 5-2…Providence continues theirs, beating Binghamton on the Southern Tier 4-1…Bridgeport beats Hartford with Alan Quine down on conditioning from the New York Islanders and Josh Ho-Sang on straight up assignment 5-1. Penguins are in Bridgeport tomorrow. Charlotte was off. They host Utica for a pair  starting Saturday.

Standings: I will do the percentages and make everything correct in November. Consider me on summer still. Providence 12 (percentage) — Lehigh Valley 15 — Charlotte and Wilkes-Barre 10 each, Hartford 7, Bridgeport 6, Hershey and Springfield with 3.

Wheeling Update: After being up 6-2 against Brampton, a train leaves the station going 75 mph while a train 30 miles closer to it’s destination leaves the station doing 50 mph. I forget the rest and was bad at word problems in school so the Nailers hang on to win 6-5. Beast scored three in the third to make it a game. Kenny Ryan had two goals and an assist for the Nailers for first star honors. Sean Maguire picked up the win, stopping 39 of 44. Will King served as his backup, so no need for a goalie for the Nailers with Stevens on AHL recall.

This situation will need to be watched closely going forward. It is not ideal for Maguire to backup in Wilkes-Barre, but his trajectory is AHL and eventually NHL (as is any players) but leaving Wheeling with a tandem of Stevens and King may not bode well, but in situations like these you always default to who has the NHL contract. That’s Maguire. We’ll see. Too early to speculate on anything yet.

Pens are on the road Saturday for what’s likely to be a big test against a loaded Bridgeport lineup. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3.

If Coal Street puts up video highlights, I will work in a late night edit or try to get to it in the morning.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

2                                          3

–

With about five minutes to play in 2-2 tie late in the third period, I thought to myself that this game that the Penguins were play ing was probably the most complete game that Wilkes-Barre has played in their sound season. You really can’t put your finger on a team until ten games into it I have always felt, but this game was a great overall game by Wilkes-Barre, who take down the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-2 in a shootout.

Casey DeSmith still has not allowed a goal at even strength. That streak is up to 117:45. The two goal scored on Casey tonight were on first period power play goals.

DeSmith opposed Alexandar Georgiev.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli
Dominik Simon – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Kevin Spinozzi
Chris Summers – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Freddie Tiffels and Adam Johnson yielded to Zach Aston-Reese and Jarrett Burton up front. Dylan Zink was out for Kevin Spinozzi, making his AHL debut.

First Period: Hartford didn’t take long to kick off the scoring on a power play. Frank Corrado lost his stick, a shot by Adam Tambellini deflected off of Corrado to Scott Kosmachuk far side and he put it past DeSmith for a 1-0 Hartford lead…

–

The Penguins got a power play but couldn’t kick start anything and then Andrey Pedan took a tripping call and Hartford capitalized again on the man advantage going up 2-0 on this shot by Vinni Lettieri that beat a screened Casey DeSmith….

–

:34 later, Gage Quinney responds…

–

As Taylor mentioned, that is the third straight game where Gage Quinney has scored in. He’s coming for Sprong!

Second Period: Both teams traded power plays then Jarrett Burton put one off the post and in the tied the game for the Penguins…

–

Play was really setup by this save by DeSmith on Letteri prior to the Burton goal…

–

Daniel Sprong did not score in the game tonight but did look to set up his teammates several times tonight. He led a three on one and passed to Garrett Wilson but Wilson missed high, which would have gave the Penguins the lead.

Wilkes-Barre showed more aggression in the period and fought back to tie it.

Third Period: Nothing really went down notable in the third for either side. Pens had a power play they couldn’t score on. DeSmith didn’t see much rubber in the period, but he stopped the late flurry that the Wolf Pack put on him.

Overtime: Felt like Sprong was due for his goal, but it was a better save by Georgiev, in the splits, that denied him. Late, at the buzzer, Gage Quinney missed wide on a breakaway.

Shootout: Dominik Simon and Scott Kosmachuk failed to score in round one.

J-S Dea scored in round two…

–

Casey DeSmith stopped Joe Whitney in the bottom of the second…

–

..Daniel Sprong had a puck poke checked away from him in the top of the third by Georgiev which would have won it, so DeSmith had to come up with a save to win it.

–

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Alexandar Georgiev (41 saves on 43 shots) 2) Jarrett Burton (goal, +1) and 1) J-S Dea (shootout game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: The Providence Bruins get two goals in the third period to takedown the Belleville Senators 3-2 in a shootout of their own tonight….Lehigh Valley beats Binghamton in New York 4-3….Syracuse beats Springfield 4-1, the Thunderbirds are still winless to start the season at 0-6….Laval beats Bridgeport 6-3…Charlotte is shutout in Toronto 4-0 and the Hershey Bears are in the win column with a 4-2 win against the defending Calder Cup Champion Grand Rapids Griffins.

Standings: Providence 8, Lehigh Valley 11 (percentage), Charlotte and Wilkes-Barre with 8, Hartford with 7, Hershey with 3, Bridgeport with 2 and Springfield with 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers held their home opener tonight and won 4-2 against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Derek Army had first star honors with a goal and an assist. Cam Brown, who was in camp with Wilkes-Barre in preseason, had a goal and two assists. Colin Stevens picked up the win for the Nailers.

Power Rankings Monday at 4. If the Penguins put out highlights, I will edit them in.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

5                                          6

–

What a wild one this turned out to be.

The Laval Rocket came into tonight’s contest with the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins with the most goals in the American Hockey League with 18. The Penguins knew this all week. They knew that they needed to play a strong defensive game if they wanted to hold on and win the game.

But the Penguins are no slouches offensively, either. They won their last game 6-1 over the Syracuse Crunch. They know how to put the goals up when and if they need to.

They needed to in this one. Thanks in large part to Daniel Sprong’s hat trick and Teddy Blueger’s overtime game winner, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win a thriller at home against the Laval Rocket 6-5 in overtime.

Not the best game from Tristan Jarry, but it’s awful hard to look as good as he has been and as we remember him when his defense constantly spills the puck to the other team and create turnovers which lead to goals for the other team. I don’t think that half of the goals were his fault by any stretch of the imagination. Feel free to disagree with me in the comment section, if you would.

He opposed Charlie Lindgren, who was good tonight, but will be having nightmares of Daniel Sprong for sometime and may even need a therapy cat. Inside joke on that one, if you followed me on Twitter, you got it.

Anyway. Here were the Penguins lines…

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Freddie Tiffels – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Kevin Czuczman – Dylan Zink
Chris Summers – Frank  Corrado

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: No changes up from for the Penguins. Zach Trotman was recalled to Pittsburgh and was swapped out for the returning from Pittsburgh Chris Summers. Dylan Zink drew in for Ethan Prow also.

First Period: Didn’t take long for Daniel Sprong to make his impact…

–

Face-off win to Sprong who lets one go like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. What a release.

Sprong’s scoring streak of scoring in the first five games matches Tomas Surovy from the 2003-04 season.

Didn’t take long for the Rocket to answer, which was the theme for most of the night. Chris Terry far dot, after a failed clear by Wilkes-Barre….

–

Rocket edge ahead with a shot by Tom Parisi that Jarry maybe should have had. I thought he was screened when the shot went in live. You be the judge….

–

Penguins went to a power play and three seconds in, Daniel Sprong did this…

–

Lethal. Face-off win back to Sprong high slot who has time, waits, calibrates and scores to make it 2-2.

Here is one that Jarry should have had in my opinion. David Broll goes by the nickname, “Broll-dozer” which is a play on “bulldozer.” Bulldozers are slow. Broll is slow. Half clapper beats Jarry after Broll sneaks past the Penguin defense…

–

3-2 Rocket late first. Heading into the second down one, right?

Wrong.

Tom Kostopoulos with his first of the season, ties the game at three a side…

–

Pedan with a pass to Dea who put a knee drop one timer on Lindgren who spilled the rebound to Kostopoulos who backhanded it in.

Second Period: Rocket score on a rocket from the far dot by Eric Gelinas that made it 4-3…

–

Penguins respond :14 later with a goal by Gage Quinney. Kevin Czuczman with the shot and Quinney with the tip in front….

–

Game settled for a bit. Then Andrey Pedan lost his man, that man being Mike McCarron who had an easy tap in goal to give the Rocket a 5-4 lead….

–

That goal was not Jarry’s fault. Fight me.

Third Period: Penguins opened with massive pressure to open, lots of zone time, and were forcing the Rocket into mistakes.

Those mistakes came rapid fire as Wilkes-Barre found itself on 1:25 of 5-on-3 power play time. Unlike last week in Allentown, they scored. Daniel Sprong made the hats rain…

–

Seven goals and ten points in five games for Sprong. He is embarrassing the American Hockey League right now.

Last hat trick for the Penguins was Jake Guentzel against the Springfield Thunderbirds on December 27, 2016 at home. Sprong may be better than Guentzel, if that is even imaginable.

Jarry sucked tonight, right? WRONG!

–

Penguins held off the Rocket and it was onto…

Overtime: Sprong started, had some looks, but couldn’t get anything serious at Lindgren. Line change and Teddy Blueger steps on. At the end the shift, Kevin Czuczman runs a puck down to Teddy Blueger who put a shot on Lindgren and followed it and knocked in his rebound to send the fans home happy….

–

Celly game on point….

–

Three Stars: 3) Tom Sestito (500th professional game, really deserved a goal in this game) 2) Teddy Blueger (game winning goal) 1) Daniel Sprong (hat trick, assist, even)

As far as Sprong’s trajectory to the NHL, he is ready offensively but needs to round out his defensive game. He was on the ice for two of the Rocket’s goals scored. Splitting hairs, but that may be what the brass is looking for, which is why he is here.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Bridgeport at home and continue their good pace winning 5-2 at home…Charlotte beats Rochester in their first ever matchup against the Americans by the same 5-2 score….Providence beats Springfield again by, you guessed it, a 5-2 score….Belleville beats Hartford 5-1. The Wolf Pack couldn’t get one more goal? Crumb bums….Milwaukee beats Hershey in Wisconsin 4-1.

Standings: Charlotte 8, Providence 6, Phantoms 9 (percentage) Penguins 6, Hartford 6, Bridgeport 2, Hershey 1 and Springfield 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off, they open at home tomorrow against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

If (when) Coal Street puts out video highlights, I will edit them in. Check back sometime Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

1                                          6

–

When it was announced during warmups that Zach Aston-Reese was going to be a healthy scratch tonight and that Gage Quinney was going to slot run and make his AHL professional debut, it raised some eyebrows.

Not because of Quinney, mind you, but because Aston-Reese is the higher listed prospect. That he sits in the fourth game of the season for a guy making his AHL debut that has been a professional in the ECHL previously certainly piqued my interest.

Quinney made his presence felt in a big way. A goal and two assists and first star honors, Pens beat Syracuse 6-1 in a laugher.

How about they weekend Casey DeSmith had? Shutout the Phantoms on Friday and only allowed one goal on a five on three power play for Syracuse off the stick of AHL sniper Cory Conacher in the second period. DeSmith has turned away 57 of 58 shots so far and hasn’t given up a goal yet at even strength.

DeSmith opposed Connor Ingram.

Lines were…

Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Freddie Tiffels – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Ethan Prow
Zach Trotman – Kevin Czuczman
Lukas Bengtsson – Frank Corrado

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Ethan Prow for Dylan Zink on defense, Jarrett Burton and Zach Aston-Reese for Freddie Tiffels, making his pro debut and Gage Quinney, making his AHL debut. Zach Trotman, originally a question mark last Monday heading into the week, played all three games.

First Period: :34 in, J-S Dea cleaned up the rebound of a shot by Lukas Bengtsson…

–

Pens looked like they were going to open the floodgates, but after giving up the first goal to Dea, Ingram settled in and kept his team in the game, denying a shorthanded breakaway by Andrey Pedan and multiple odd-man rushes. Penguins ended the period with 12 shots to Syracuse’s 4.

Second Period: Pens double up on a shot by Daniel Sprong that went in off the skate of Garrett Wilson in slow motion…

–

And as Taylor mentioned, Sprong’s first professional assist and Gage Quinney’s first pro point in his Penguin debut.

Penguins score a third goal as a power play expired. Thomas DiPauli scored on this deflection of a shot by Blueger….

–

Wilkes-Barre found itself in a bit of penalty trouble with two penalties that put Syracuse on a 5-on-3. After a time out, Cory Conacher scored from the far dot to ruin Casey DeSmith’s shutout bid….

–

Penguins kill off the other minor or else things would have really gotten interesting, then Christian Thomas defects in a shot by Zach Trotman to make it 4-1 Penguins and the runaway was on…

–

Call initially announced as Trotman’s goal then reversed in second intermission.

Mike O’Brien set this next play up on radio. He was mentioning at the time that Daniel Sprong had yet to score in the game to extend his goal scoring streak. Sprong must have heard him because seconds later, he did this…

–

First even strength goal for Sprong. Neat little thing I picked up after was when Sprong went to the bench for congratulations, the entire team ignored him. He must score too much.

All that was left for was to have Gage Qunney score.

–

Nice pass from behind the net to the guy in front Blueger who either missed intentionally or knew Quinney was trailing. Either way, nice play.

Video highlights….

–

Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (goal, even) 2) Daniel Sprong (goal, two assists, +3) and 1) Gage Quinney (goal, two assists, +3)

Around the Division: Springfield is still looking or their first win, losers 2-1 to the Toronto Marlies…the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms needed extra time to decide a winner with the Phantoms taking home the two points in a shootout, 4-3 the score there.

Standings: Phantoms with 7, Charlotte and Hartford with 6, Providence and Wilkes-Barre with 4, Bridgeport with 2, Hershey with 1 and Springfield still has 0.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off, they are on their way home from Greenville, SC after winning both games against the Swamp Rabbits.

Power Rankings for Week 2 are due Monday at 4. Check me out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

       @       

2                                          3

–

Yes, hockey is a funny game.

Last night, Alex Lyon couldn’t stop a nose bleed and didn’t even finish the game, a 5-0 Penguins win Friday, then comes back Saturday night at home and shuts down the Penguins for most of the game, including a 5:00 stretch of major penalty in the second period and the Penguins lose this one tonight by a score of 3-2.

12 power plays awarded tonight by the whistle of referee Reid Anderson. As I have gotten older I have steered away from the “referees cost the Penguins games” mantra. I mean, if it’s egregious and a referee is ruining the game because he is having a bad night I will call it out, but in this instance, Anderson awarded six power plays a side and the Penguins allowed a power play goal and scored a power play goal and were not able to score on a 5:00 major penalty in the second period. So it is as even as even can get from a perspective of the man in the orange arm band is concerned tonight.

Fact of the matter is, special teams battles are becoming the Achilles heel of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and we are only three games in.

Tristan Jerry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong
Dominik Simon – Adam Johnson – Christian Thomas
Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Thomas Di Pauli

Andrey Pedan – Lukas Bengtsson
Zach Trotman – Kevin Czuczman
Dylan Zink – Frank Corrado

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: There were not any, save for Jarry in goal for DeSmith.

First Period: Penguins had 1:15 of 5-on-3 time that they could not score on. Pens had plenty of chances, but with those chances came open lanes that the Phantoms allowed Lyon to get a look at the puck and make the save.

Phantoms come back and score a goal on the power play. Matt Read knocked this one in to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead…

–

The Pens had allowed just one goal in 357:08 prior to that goal by Read. Putting that in perspective, 360 minutes is six games.

Second Period: Penguins fall behind 2-0 when Andrey Pedan loses his edge and falls down in the neutral zone giving a 3-on-1 odd mad rush to the Phantoms the other way when Mike Vecchione scores.

–

T.J. Brennan got thrown out of the game for this cross check on Jarrett Burton….

–

That drew the ire of Tom Sestito who was nearby and let Brennan know about it….

–

But the Penguins were unable to score on the 5:00 major penalty. The Penguins had the puck in the zone for a good three minutes. Daniel Sprong hit a post.

Third Period: Phantoms score again on a failed clear by the Penguins. Greg Carey put home a rebound…

–

Penguins got one back off the stick of Daniel Sprong that made it 3-1…

–

That gave Sprong three goals in three games. Here is another look…

–

Some of the comments on the GIF posted by Coal Street were that Sprong’s shot is unfair to the other team. It’s really hard to disagree.

Andrey Pedan, who had an awful game, was called for hooking Danick Martel while Martel was on a breakaway. Reid Anderson awarded a penalty shot to Martel that Jarry made the save on….

–

Before you start with the, “Jarry sucks, play DeSmith” argument, Nick Hart offers this….

–

Garrett Wilson scored to pull the Pens to within one with this goal parked in front of Lyon’s crease…

–

Another look…

–

The Penguins, with Jarry pulled for an extra attacker, were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Alex Lyon (27 saves on 29 shots) 2) matt Read (goal, +1) and 1) Mike Vecchione (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Charlotte exacts some revenge with Bridgeport after the Sound Tigers beat the Checkers Friday with a 3-2 win…Belleville gets their first win of the season beating Hershey in the Bears home opener by a 5-2 score…Utica beats Syracuse 3-2…Toronto beats Providence by the same score and Hartford beats Springfield 4-3.

Standings: Charlotte and Hartford with 6 each, Providence with 4 on percentage over Lehigh Valley with 5, then Penguins and Sound Tigers with two and then Springfield and Hershey with 0.

Wheeling Update: Hunter Fejes had four goals, but it was Garrett Meurs with the overtime game winner as the Nailers win a barn burner with the Swamp Rabbits down in Greenville. SC by a score of 7-6.

Don’t know if Coal Street will post highlight so this one. If I see the Phantoms put one up I will edit it in.

Pens finish up the weekend with a home game against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Syracuse Crunch at 3:05 p.m. Gameday setup will hit the blog Sunday at 11.

Let’s Go Pens!