Chirps from Center Ice

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Normally, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins alternate goaltenders on back to back game nights.

They needed to out of necessity in last December with Tristan Jarry on recall for the injured Matt Murray. It was the first time and only time that the Pens did it this season.

Fast forward to tonight, and it was Tristan Jarry leading the team out of the tunnel for warmups. First time all season for him.

Now there is a reason for that. The Penguins stunk Friday night and lost 5-2 to the St. John’s IceCaps. Four of those five goals were credited to Tristan Jarry and he would probably tell you that it wasn’t his best performance.

I don’t have locker room access nor would I want it really, cause I like having free reign over what I do as a fan and a blogger, but one of my first questions for Clark Donatelli tonight would have been why he went back to Tristan Jarry over Casey DeSmith in a game like this.

The answer is a layup. He was looking to bounceback. So were the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins as a whole, really. A 7-1 pasting of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tonight in Wilkes-Barre.

Here’s the thing about the Phantoms. Are they a good team? Depends on who you ask. If you are asking me, I say they are just good. Remember that I have three tiers of teams in the AHL. Great teams, good teams and bad teams. The League is loaded with bad teams. There are more good teams than great teams and only a few great teams.

The Phantoms have been pasted by the Providence Bruins 9-1 on January 21 and again by the Penguins tonight 7-1. Great teams occasionally lose games 5-2 like the Penguins did to the IceCaps Friday. Great teams don’t get pasted 9-1 then 7-1 a month later. Sorry, you aren’t going to sell me on the Phantoms being anything more than a good team right now.

The way that the Penguins continued to skate and outwork Lehigh Valley up big late with the game iced away really drove that point home I made above. Normally it is the other way around. Play for pride or some other cliche.

Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz

Lines were…

Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Danny Kristo – Sahir Gill – Ryan Haggerty

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Barry Goers

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Tom Kostiopoulos played in his 600th game for the Penguins tonight. He is defying Father Time leading the Penguins in points at 38 years of age…Ethan Prow was a scratch in favor of Barry Goers. I didn’t notice Prow much in the second half of Friday’s game against the IceCaps. Ethan’s stock has been going down for a bit so the scratch should help him more than hurt him.

First Period: Kostopoulos scores on a quick 2-on-1 with Kevin Porter that put the Pens on the board early…

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Provided Taylor does the GIFs when the Penguins don’t, she will be the go to anymore when it comes to goals and stuff. I don’t have any money to pay her, but if someone is doing work like this on Twitter, I have to pick up on it an include it in the blog recaps. Plus, I asked her directly if I could use her GIFs in the game recaps and she said yeah so it’s a win win for you guys.

Josh Archibald scored his first of two that made it 2-0. Garrett Wilson tried to make a move on a Phantom and was stopped. He collected the puck and found Archibald streaking down the slot for the goal…

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During a break, Tom Kostopoulos acknowledged the crowd when the Pens ran a tribute video for 600 games played in their uniform…

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With Barry Goers off for a tripping call, Josh Archibald made it 3-0 shorthanded on this goal…

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The Penguins continued to frustrate the Phantoms, who took a penalty at the end of the period. The first intermission whistle probably came at the right time for Lehigh Valley, who were on tilt.

Second Period: Anthony Stolarz could only keep his team in the game for so long to start the period before Garret Wilson scored to make it 4-0 on this death defying move….

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:59 later, Sahir Gill scored through Stolarz’s five hole to make it 5-0 Penguins.

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So 200 pro games for Sahir Gill. Another milestone!

Lehigh Valley would finally get on the board when the Penguins took some penalties when ex-Penguin Chris Conner deflected a Greg Carey shot that made it 5-1 Penguins.

Phantoms still had a power play and instead of trying to get back into the game, TJ Brennan roughing a Penguins player after a routine Tristan Jarry save.

Wilkes-Barre re-established a five goal lead on a goal via a nice feed from J-S Dea.

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T.J. Brennan didn’t have a good game. He and Tom Sestito briefly engaged in a tussle, Sestito didn’t want to waste another fight on him. Brennan was giving referee Pierre Lambert an earful after the altercation, Lambert heard enough and gave Brennan a 10 minute misconduct. It was all falling apart for the Phantoms.

Third Period: Game summed up for the Phantoms in one tweet:

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Oskar Sundqvist left the game with an injury but is expected to be fine. It looked a lot worse to me than it apparently was as Sundqvist was down for a bit and needed help off.

Tom Kostopoulos with the extra point…

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The GIF doesn’t do the play justice. Sahir Gill made a heck of a play with a delicious pass to Kostopoulos.

Penguins would go on to win 7-1 after some more extracurriculars between players. Tom Sestito was assessed an instigator penalty after Sam Morin stapled J-S Dea to the boards and was crushed like a fly on a windshield after answering Sestito’s challenge…

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Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (30 saves on 31 shots) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, +2) 1) Josh Archibald (two goals, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Springfield ends Bridgeport’s eight game winning streak with a 5-2 win in Connecticut tonight…Hershey beats St. John’s 5-2. Those two teams rematch again Sunday…Rochester beats Hartford 4-2…Providence was off.

Standings: Penguins (.755 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.689) — Providence (.652) — Bridgeport (.614) — Hershey (.609) — Springfield (.467) — Hartford (.415)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose in overtime 4-3 to the Reading Royals. Reading struck three times on the power play tonight.

Video highlights….

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Power Rankings will be up Monday ta 4. Wheeling Wrap Tuesday at noon. Gameday setup for Wednesday’s rematch against St. John’s at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Here is a tweet from Seth that sums up the night well.

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That’s your ballgame right there, as the Penguins fall 5-2 to the hands of a very good St. John’s IceCaps team who is playing some great hockey as of late. Wilkes-Barre sees their five game winning streak at home come to an end and suffer just their tenth loss in regulation in the first weekend of February.

Tristan Jarry opposed Charlie Lindgren

Lines were…

Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty
Danny Kristo – Sahir Gill – Patrick McGrath

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: J-S Dea was out tonight battling an illness. He skated the extra in warmups. Steve Oleksy was back in the lineup for the Penguins for the first time since November and this was his 500th game as a professional.

First Period: Both teams would score on their first shots of the game. Ryan Johnston would score for the IceCaps at 1:02 to give St. John’s the lead and 1:45 later Ethan Prow scores his first as a professional that made it a tie game at one.

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Oh, yes. The Penguins are playing on pink ice this weekend. Do not adjust your computer screens.

St. John’s hit three posts in the period. Derrick Pouliot scored this goal on the power play that made it a 2-1 Penguins lead.

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Its would be the last power play that the Penguins would score for the remainder of the game.

Second Period: The St. John’s IceCaps were playing a song and lulling the Penguins monster to sleep. Wilkes-Barre registered its first shot on goal 6:06 into the period. The game was getting almost boring, with both teams transitioning back and forth up and down the ice. I don’t think I have seen another team counterpunch as well as St. John’s does.

Finally, the IceCaps tied it on a Daniel Carr shot through a screen that beat Jarry that made it 2-2.

The Penguins were then gift wrapped a 4:00 double minor and were not able to score on it.

Third Period: Penguins think that they score on a puck that goes in the net through a scrum but referee Terry Koharski, right on top of the play and standing on the net loses sight of the puck. In the mass of bodies crashing the net, Koharski has to maintain his balance to keep from falling down and washes out the goal which would have tied the game. Koharski invoked the intent to blow rule which means that if the referee loses sight of the puck but can’t get whistle to mouth in time before the puck crosses the line and goes in the goal is disallowed. Fairweather fans don’t undertstand that rule and neither do some of the fans that come to every game. I, personally, thought it was the right call under the circumstances.

Michael McCarron, who seemingly always scores big goals against the Penguins, scored to give St. John’s the lead at 3-2 when he scored on a bad Jarry rebound.

All of a sudden after, the Penguins found themselves on a 1:35 of two man advantage. St. John’s killed it, but not for lack of puck movement by Wilkes-Barre.

Dan Carr scored on a laser beam shot that extended the IceCaps lead to two.

Wilkes-Barre had yet another power play come and go after that goal. Since the Pouliot first period goal, the Penguins went 0-for-6 on the man advantage.

Old buddy Bobby Farnahm, who was up to his old antics again tonight, scored an empty net goal that made it 5-2 St. John’s.

Three Stars: Daniel Carr (two goals, +2) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (two assists, +1) and 1) Michael McCarron (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley continues to score third period goals, getting three tonight in Almaty and winning 4-3….Bridgeport has won its eighth straight game with a 3-2 win against the Rochester Americans at home….Hershey wins in Binghamton 5-3. Stan Galiev had a hat trick for the Bears in the win….Providence beats Springfield 3-1 and Hartford beats Utica 4-3.

Standings: Penguins (.750 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.705) — Providence (.652) — Bridgeport (.628) — Hershey (.600) — Springfield (.455) — Hartford (.424)

Wheeling Update: Jordan Kwas, Darryl Lloyd and Gage Quinney score goals, Doug Carr stops 26 of 28 and the Wheeling Nailers beat the Kalamazoo Wings tonight in Michigan by a 3-2 score.

Video highlights….

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Penguins are back on home ice again Saturday night against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the first time all season. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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When this headline hits the social media feeds I have, I wonder if it will get flagged for spam.

Nothing processed about this one though, a 6-2 win in Binghamton tonight capping off the Penguins franchise best month of hockey improving to 12-2 in the month of January. Tom Kostopoulos scores his 500th AHL point in the third period making him the 91st player in the American Hockey League to achieve this milestone.

The Pens are rolling now with their best forward (Jake Guentzel) and defenseman (Chad Ruhewedel) up in Pittsburgh. They are winning with guys like Teddy Blueger and David Warsofsky. It was built in the offseason to be a deep team. I was looking back at some old stuff from a few years ago, when injuries hit Pittsburgh necessitating call ups from Wilkes-Barre, Pens were playing and winning with guys like Ty Loney and John McCarron. They made sure that if injuries hit the NHL team again, that the farm would be stacked with talent that could carry the flag.

Tristan Jarry vs. Chris Driedger.

Lines were the same as they were the night before in Utica…

Garrett Wilson – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Ryan Haggerty – Sahir Gill – Danny Kristo

Derrick Pouliot – Tim Erixon
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Same lineup as before for the Penguins was noted, Steve Oleksy isn’t believed to be actually with the team as Pittsburgh is apparently giving him a few days off. This per Seth’s speculation pregame.

First Period: Penguins opened and were carrying the momentum and it felt like the dam was going to break at any minute.

In the span of eight minutes, the Penguins scored four times and allowed one. The first goal was coming out of a break when Ryan Haggerty raced out of the zone and fired a puck past Driedger and gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead. It was Haggerty’s fourth goal in five games.

Dominik Simon scored to make it 2-0 when Teddy Blueger literally kicked a puck over to him in a pile in front of the B-Sens net and Simon scored on the wide open cage to double the lead. David Warsofsky collected an assist in this goal giving the all-star defenseman his tenth multipoint game trailing none other than Jake Guentzel.

Binghamton looked to have made it a game when Jason Akeson dangled through the defense, and shot it where Nick Paul was there to put the rebound in.

That goal seemed to enrage the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

J-S Dea scored 1:05 later when Teddy Blueger hit him with a perfect cross ice pass that Dea put in on the back door that re-established the Penguins two goal lead.

:20 later, Blueger scored his own goal that made it 4-1 Penguins.

So to recap, just in the first period alone, Teddy Blueger and Dominik Simon had there points. Blueger’s first three point game. First four goal period for the Penguins since 11-5 against Bridgeport.

Second Period: Matt O’Connor relieved Chris Driedger in goal. It worked in the short term in lighting a fire under the B-Sens as Chad Nehring tipped a Alex Krushelnyski shot from the blue line that made it 4-2.

But then a great individual effort by Derrick Pouliot, snaking through pretty much everyone on the ice in a Binghamton sweater, to feed a pass over to Danny Kristo to put he Penguins back ahead by three goals. Danny Kristo has four goals for the Penguins ice the trade, three of them have come against the Binghamton Senators.

Ben Harpur and Tom Sestito fought after Harpur hit Danny Kristo into the boards in an earlier sequence. Sestito was given an instigator penalty giving the Senators a power play that they would not score on.

Third Period: Both teams had a chance on the opera play but it was better kills by the side down a man. Then Tom Kostopoulos scored for his 500th point in the AHL on a nice backdoor feed tat made it 6-2 Penguins. Penguins made sure that the Senators didn’t get any closer.

Three Stars: 3) Danny Kristo (goal, assist, +2) 2) Teddy Blueger (goal, two assists, +3) and 1) Dominik Simon (goal, two assists, +3)

Around the Division: Bridgeport hits the break winners of seven straight taking down the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at home tonight 3-2….Hartford cools off Providence 4-3 and Hershey beats Springfield 4-2.

Standings: Penguins (.767 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.698) — Providence (.644) — Bridgeport (.619) — Hershey (.591) — Springfield (.465) — Hartford (.411)

Wheeling Update: Sean Maguire with a 25 save shutout as the Wheeling Nailers defeat the Brampton Beast at home by a score of 4-0.

Video highlights…

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The Week 16 AHL Power Rankings will get dome sometime Sunday afternoon by me and I will have them Monday at noon in advance of the All-Star Classic Monday at 7. The Wheeling Wrap will hit the blog Tuesday at noon. So check for all that stuff later this week. I may drop a blog on anything newsworthy coming out of the AHL All-Star Classic in Allentown this weekend also.

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Let me explain this lede here in the opening paragraph: The Penguins scored all three of their goals tonight from long distance and used most of their shots tonight from around the face-off dot back at Comets starting goaltender Richard Bachman. You will see that in the GIFs that the Penguins were nice enough to post on Twitter.

A 3-2 Penguins win tonight against an all of a sudden good Utica side that had come into tonight’s game on a long point streak and 8-1-1-0 in their last ten games.

Wilkes-Barre improves to 11-2 in the month of January and 32-9-3-0 overall.

Casey DeSmith opposed the aforementioned Richard Bachman.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Ryan Haggerty – Sahir Gill – Danny Kristo

Derrick Pouliot – Tim Erixon
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Carter Rowney was re-assigned to the Penguins minutes before the teams took warmups in Utica. Also, as Seth reported yesterday, Tim Erixon was back in the lineup. Steve Oleksy, having cleared waivers Thursday, was listed as a healthy scratch.

First Period: Utica stayed step for step with the Penguins for the most part in the period but it was Wilkes-Barre that found the back of the net twice. Josh Archibald on this slapshot…

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…and then Tim Erixon on this slapper from the blueline that beat Bachman.

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The Penguins hemmed Utica in their zone for over a minute forcing the gassed Comets to ice the puck. Off the face off, Tom Sestito, the local native of nearby Rome, NY, makes a behind the back pass to Erixon who buried it from long range.

Second assist of the night for Kevin Porter who is heating up.

Second Period: About a minute in, Casey DeSmith made this save that kept it a 2-0 Penguins lead…

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That was Alex Grenier the unlucky man there unable to finish a Utica 2-on-1.

That was it from the highlight end of the period. Utica heavily dominated the period but trailed on the scoreboard. It was the Penguins defense and some nice saves by Casey DeSmith that preserved the Penguins 2-0 lead.

Game really opened up in the last minute and a half with Tim Erixon hitting a post followed up by Danny Kristo.

Third Period: :07 into a Utica power play with Stuart Percy in the box for a delay of game, Alex Grenier exacts his revenge on that save DeSmith made on him in the second period with a blast from the point that put the Comets on the board via a power play goal.

Utica came into tonight 2 for their last 38 on the power play.

Derrick Pouliot scored to re-establish the two goal lead as a power play expired for Wilkes-Barre…

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Utica had been building a crescendo towards a goal in the games final minutes but Casey DeSmith made a nice glove save that stopped any momentum that the Comets were building.

Bachman was pulled for an extra attacker and Evan McEneny scored to bring the Comets to within one.

Wilkes-Barre would ice the puck seven times an ran the clock out.

Three Stars: 3) Cameron Gaunce (two assists, +2) 2) Alexandre Grenier (goal, assist, -1) and 1) Derrick Pouliot (game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley clips Binghamton on the Southern Tier by a 2-1 score to stay within arms distance of the Penguins for the top spot in the Atlantic….Providence takes down Hershey 3-2 in a shootout….Bridgeport wins its sixth straight, beating Hartford in a shootout 3-2, and is now even with points and regulation or overtime wins with Hershey and has two games in hand on the Bears for the fourth spot in the Atlantic….Syracuse deflects as late Springfield charge and hangs on to beat the Thunderbirds 4-3.

Standings: Penguins (.761 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.714) — Providence (.659) — Bridgeport (.610) — Hershey (.581) — Springfield (.476) — Hartford (.398)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the Quad City Mallards tonight by a score of 5-2. Cody Wydo scored a pair of goals and Sean Maguire picked up the win in net for Wheeling.

Video highlights….

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The Pens will bus down I-81 to Binghamton for Saturday’s meeting with the Senators on the Southern Tier Saturday at 7. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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One of the more exciting games I have witnessed from my seat at the Mohegan Sun Arena tonight. Two top quality teams just left it all out there and slugged away at one another.

Penguins win in overtime 3-2 on a David Warsofsky game winning goal with 1.2 seconds left. Vindication for Warsofsky who was left off of the initial all star roster when they were announced a few weeks ago but named as a replacement earlier this week.

Lazy legging lines again because I hate work night home games.

Tristan Jarry opposed Kristers Gudlevskis and was backed up by Casey DeSmith.

If you notice a certain name missing, it’s Carter Rowney’s. With news out of Pittsburgh today that Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist are both out for Thursday’s game against Boston, Malkin out till after all-stars and Hornqvist day to day after taking a puck off the knee Tuesday against St. Louis (a game he finished) Rowney was held out as a precaution in case he needs to be recalled Thursday. Of note, Pittsburgh only re-assigned Cameron Gaunce Tuesday and put Steve Oleksy on waivers Wednesday.

Other news, as mentioned in the lede, David Warsofsky is a snub no more. On Tuesday the AHL announced that he will replace Jake Guentzel at AHL All-Stars this weekend in Allentown.

First Period: Syracuse played like the better team and made the most of their shot opportunities, out shooting the Pens 17-8 and taking a 1-0 lead when Joel Vermin connected on a far dot shot after the Crunch cycled in the offensive zone coming out of a promo timeout. Neither team connected on the power play in the period.

Here’s the Vermin goal:

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Second Period: Pens scored twice in span of 2:15 when they came out of the locker room and started skating circles around the Crunch. First, Teddy Blueger got an outlet pass, entered the zone and waited for reinforcements. Tom Kostopoulos arrived and Blueger shot it at Gudlevskis and Kostopoulos was there to sweep the rebound in to tie it at one.

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Later, Crunch killer Kevin Porter collected a long pass from David Warsofsky and found himself behind the defense and scored to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

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But it felt like a false lead with the way the last period went for the Penguins and the way that the Crunch dominated the Penguins while shorthanded. Wilkes-Barre iced the puck twice on two separate power plays.

Tristan Jarry is unable to control a rebound and the Crunch tie it at two when Adam Comrie whacked in the loose puck.

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Shots were 28-16 Syracuse heading into the…

Third Period: Back and forth period which felt like a playoff game with the intense play. Pens found themselves on the wrong end of a two man disadvantage for :47 but the Penguins killed it. Teams raced up and down the ice with neither team finding the back of the net forcing…

Overtime: Back and forth they went three on three. Pens get away with what looked like, at least to me, a tripping penalty. David Warsofsky races in with time dwindling down and wins it:

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Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (39 saves on 41 shots) 2) Kevin Porter (goal, +1) 1) David Warsofsky (overtime game winning goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey is back to their winning ways in a game they had to have against last place Hartford and won 5-4…Springfield beats Utica 2-1 in overtime…Bridgeport beats Providence 1-0 in overtime also and Lehigh Valley pounded Binghamton 7-2.

Standings: Penguins (.756 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.707) — Providence (.651) — Bridgeport (.600) — Hershey (.583) — Springfield (.488) — Hartford (.395)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers hosted the Toledo Walleye tonight and beat the Walleye 7-6 in overtime. First overtime loss for the Walleye this season. Christian Hilbrich had two goals. Gage Quinney had a goal and three assists.

Video highlights….

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Pens are on the road in Utica Friday. Comets came into tonight winners of 6 in a row and are a vastly different team than they were a month ago, when they were just a point machine for opponents. But for breaking Thursday news, I’ll have the Gameday setup for the tilt with the Comets up on the blog Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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This was a dominating win by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

To date, the Penguins are 7-2 against the Bears and 4-0 this month. A 5-1 win tonight keeps that rolling in the right direction.

Systems wise, the Bears are a mess. They are missing their best defenseman Madison Bowey because of injury and have no depth at the position. They have two goaltenders in Joe Cannata and Vitek Vanecek who would be better served in backup roles right now than trying to be the number one dog.

None of this matters to the Penguins who, despite personnel losses at forward and defense, keep racking up wins. They are the first AHL team to 10, 20 and now 30 wins this season.

Casey DeSmith opposed Vitek Vanecek

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Dominik Simon – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Danny Kristo
Ryan Haggerty – Teddy Blueger – Patrick McGrath

Derrick Pouliot – Barry Goers
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Brett Stern – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Oskar Sundqvist is day to day with an upper body injury as told to the WBS media by Head Coach Clark Donatelli after the game tonight…Sahir Gill is the only healthy scratch the Penguins have right now as Lukas Bengtsson is still out with Lyme Disease, Thomas DiPauli is still recovering from back surgery and Tim Erixon with his concussion upper body injury and now Sundqvist. The Penguins sent Michael Webster to Wheeling today. He actually really went to Reading because that’s where the Nailers were tonight.

Before we get ripping on the post game recap, many thanks to the fellows at Chocolate Hockey for the GIFs tonight.

First Period: Carter Rowney cashes on a power play goal late in the period on a Tom Sestito shot from the near dot that gave the Penguins the lead in the first. It was the first time in seven games that the Penguins would score first…

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All time classic sign right there.

Shots were 7-7 heading into the…

Second Period: Two goals by the Penguins 90 seconds apart by J-S Dea chipping a puck in and Ryan Haggerty scoring his first of two tonight on a nice feed by Teddy Blueger gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead quicker than the Bears knew what hit them…

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Hershey called time out after the Haggerty goal but it didn’t matter, the Bears take two penalties sandwiched between a Garrett Wilson pummeling of Liam O’Brien. When are teams in the league going to learn not to throw with Wilson? He tagged the well traveled pugilist in O’Brien several times and won the fight easily. Big marks to O’Brien for not crumbling as some of the shots by Wilson were heavy and on target.

Ryan Haggerty scored his second to make it 4-0 Penguins. This goal ended Vanecek’s night. Enter Joe Cannata.

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Bears took another penalty. They were down to start the period, needed to make a push on the road in front of a packed house, and only fired a meek 5 shots at DeSmith in the period and only had two through the first 12:28 of the period. It was all one way traffic by the Penguins.

Third Period: Zach Sanford pounded in a rebound that broke up DeSmith’s shutout and put the Bears on the board…

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Before you started to think of a Bears comeback, Tom Kostopoulos scores this goal, mid-air and parallel to the ice, puts home a rebound to re-establish the Penguins four goal lead…

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Pens nearly make it 6-1 when Cannata stopped a Kevin Porter and Danny Kristo rush…

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Josh Archibald takes three penalties in the game but the Penguins go 4/4 on the penalty kill and hang on to win 5-1.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, even) 2) J-S Dea (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Can we please pump the brakes on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms being a Calder Cup threat? The Providence Bruins, probably the best team in the Atlantic Division, throttle the Phantoms in Allentown by a score of 9-1. No, really, nine to one. The Phantoms have a full compliment of players and aren’t missing anyone due to injury / recall. Calder Cup contending teams don’t get obliterated like this. I am not saying by any means that this final score by default makes the Penguins a favorite by the way.

Other finals in the Atlantic: Bridgeport beats Toronto 4-3 at home…Rochester beats Hartford 3-1…Binghamton takes down Springfield 3-2 in overtime.

Standings: Penguins (.750 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.692) — Providence (.671) — Hershey (.588) — Bridgeport (.579) — Springfield (.487) — Hartford (.390)

Wheeling Update: Nailers beat Reading 2-1 in Reading tonight. Cody Wydo had a pair of goals. Doug Carr had 34 saves on 35 stops.

Video highlights….

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The Week 15 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4, the Wheeling Wrap goes up Tuesday at noon. Lehigh Valley and Hershey play Sunday afternoon in Hershey. You want a Bears win if you are a Penguins fan. I may watch that game on AHL Live Sunday.

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You better get ready, cause there is a new team that needs to be on your radar.

You know about the wars with the Hershey Bears. Hell, that team is like a sibling that you just don’t get along with. You are related by blood to them and have to love and respect them but deep down you detest their existence.

Then come the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a new team on the block with a fresh new arena that sells out nearly every game in a market in Allentown punch drunk with the new affiliate of the Flyers an hour south that is here to stay.

But we are Penguins fans. And we hate the Flyers by default despite them being relevant since 1975. Something about that name and logo just gets the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.

It used to be, that the Flyers AHL affiliate in recent years was a punchline to a joke more than it was anything.

But not this year.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have far and away been the best team in the AHL this season. But so have the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The only difference here is that these two teams, separated by about 50 miles, haven’t played each other at all this season all but once. There are 12 matchups scheduled between the two, but the majority of games played against by both teams have come against Hershey and not either Lehigh Valley or Wilkes-Barre.

Tonight, it was the Phantoms getting the better of the Penguins by a 5-3 score Friday night at PPL Center.

Only 10 more meetings to go!

Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz.

Lines were…

Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Kevin Porter – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Sahir Gill – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty

Derrick Pouliot – Ethan Prow
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Brett Stern – Barry Goers

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Third straight start for Tristan Jarry going back to this Monday in Syracuse. Jarry also started Wednesday in Hershey….the Penguins recalled Michael Webster from Wheeling Friday morning as Tim Erixon was listed as an injury scratch. Derrick Pouliot was back in the lineup missing the last two games with a lower body injury. Kevin Porter was back also from his illness.

First Period: :39 in, the Phantoms would jump on the board quickly on this goal by Scott Laughton…

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Seventh straight game where the opponent of the Penguins scores first.

Things settled out between the two teams for a bit then after the two teams traded power plays you got the sense that the Penguins needed to get out of the way of the giant snowball that was bulletins downhill towards them. TJ Brennnan picked a corner and scored on a tail end of a power play for the Phantoms to make it 2-0.

It’s been a few games but the Penguins let the opponent score on their first power play.

J-S Dea scored off of a face-off just as a Penguins power play expired to bring Wilkes-Barre back to one…

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Penguins got steamrolled a bit in the open, started to settle and began to hit back and it was 2-1 heading into the…

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre had seventeen shots in the first period. They had five in the second.

Phantoms scored :25 into the period when Robert Hagg finishes off of two on one that doubled the Lehigh Valley lead. Lehigh Valley must have scouted Tristan Jarry’s weaknesses as up to this point all three goals he allowed were over or by his glove.

Teams traded power plays but there was no scoring for the remainder of the period.

If you wanted a nice synopsis of play thus far, Tom had you covered….

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Third Period: The Lehigh Valley Phantoms came into this game with the AHL’s best third period goal differential, outscoring opponents coming into the day in the final period 55-27 for a +28 goal differential.

So you knew the Penguins were going to come back in this one, right?

At first it didn’t look like it, as the Penguins were gift wrapped a 4:00 double minor on account of a Brennan high stick that drew blood, but Wilkes-Barre was unable to do anything with the man advantage.

Having that stuck in their craw, the Pens came out of a break determined to bring the game back level and in the span of 1:37, mission accomplished.

Ethan Prow takes a shot from the blue line and Ryan Haggerty gets a stick in on it on the way through to bring the Penguins to within one…

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Then, David Warsofsky scores to tie the game for Wilkes-Barre…

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Box, at the time of this writing, has it as a Warsofsky goal, so I am going with that.

One minute later, Taylor Leier scores to put the Phantoms out in front again. Over the glove of Jarry, again.

Leier worked Ethan Prow and Derrick Pouliot on that goal but more so Prow. There is a trend starting to develop here with Prow, who has hit a rough stretch. Nothing to be too concerned about from a player perspective as all rookies go through this, but if you are a defenseman on the best team in the AHL, you know that other teams, especially those like Lehigh Valley that are of the belief that they should be where you are, are going to get up to play you. Honestly, I think that Prow needs to be sat a few games or at the very least sent to Wheeling to keep his timing up and get game action and continue to develop.

Do the Penguins lose the game on that single play by Prow? No. But the trend is there. Your team just did to a team what they have done to others (score goals in the third period) and you break down defensively.

Oskar Sundqvist was not seen on the Penguins bench late in the third.

Chris Conner scored on an empty net with Jarry vacated to make it 5-3 to ice the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Teddy Blueger (two assists, +2) Colin McDonald (three assists, +3) and 1) Taylor Leier (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Everyone around the Penguins for the playoff hunt won tonight. Providence beat Rochester 4-3. The Bruins visit Allentown tomorrow. Bridgeport beats Springfield 5-3. The Sound Tigers inch closer to Hershey for the fourth spot and Hartford loses to Toronto 7-4. The Bears were off.

Standings: Penguins (.744 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.711) — Providence (.663) — Hershey (.603) — Bridgeport (.568) — Springfield (.487) — Hartford (.400)

Wheeling Update: The Norfolk Admirals, previously undefeated in 2017, are defeated no more with a 9-2 loss to the Wheeling Nailers who throttle the Admirals at Scope. Gage Quinney was 2-2-4, Christian Hilbrich was 1-2-3, Jordan Kwas had two goals, Danny Fickj had three assists. Sean Maguire stopped 25 of 27 to pick up the win. The Nailers travel overnight to Reading to take on the Royals Saturday.

If the Phantoms roll a highlight clip I will edit one ion here. If not, look for the Gameday setup against the Bears to come Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!