Chirps from Center Ice

30 saves for Matt Murray and a fight by Shavertown native Patrick McGrath propel the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to victory tonight, winning 4-1 over the Springfield Falcons. It’s Head Coach Clark Donatelli’s first AHL win. 

It was a big second period by the Pens, who scored three goals in under four minutes to salt the game away.

Full recap to follow in a bit.

Another frustrating loss by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins tonight to the Syracuse Crunch. 

Pens threw everything they could at Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first, finally got a power play goal by J-S Dea, but the Crunch struck twice late in the first. 

Sahir Gill got a goal in the second to tie the game but Brian Foster overplays a puck off a wall and the Crunch edged ahead 1:19 later. 

Vasilevskiy stymied the Penguins twice in the third and with Foster pulled, Wilkes-Barre never found the equalizer. Crunch scored on an empty net to ice the game away. 

Full recap in a bit.

Blame the goaltender all you want, blame the new coach till you are blue in the face. If the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins can’t score a goal, they cannot win. 

35 save shutout by Jason LaBarbera tonight in a yeoman-like effort. Pens threw everything they had at him tonight. 

J-S Dea and Bryan Rust played well enough to consistently stand out shift after shift.

More later.

The Penguins were cruising in the third period of tonight’s game and heading to a power play up 3-0. 

Then the bottom fell out.

The Toronto Marlies would score twice on the penalty kill then again on a separate penalty kill right after to tie the game at three a piece, stunning the Penguins and the fans in attendance.

Wilkes-Barre would eke out a point but would fall in a shootout to the Marlies. 

Clark Seymour, Bryan Rust and Derrick Pouliot would score for the Pens. Pouliot’s goal would come on the power play in the third. 

More to follow in a bit. 

The Wilkes-Barre / ScrNton Penguins just ended the Albany Devils seven game win streak in convincing, shutout fashion. A 22 save performance by Tristan Jarry as the rookie netminder collects his first professional shutout.

Back to back shutouts for the weekend, with Matt Murray getting one last night in Lehugh Valley. 

Penguins shut down the Albany power play, which coming in was ranked best in the AHL. 

Two goals from Kevin Porter and another multipoint game for Doninik Simon. 

Oh, and Jay Leach’s head coaching debut is a win against his former team. 

Lots more to get to in a bit. 

Offense exploded tonight against a floundering, disjointed Dyracuse side that couldn’t get out of its own way tonight for two periods and it cost them. Penguins win this one by a score of 6-2 and the score line was every bit as large as it appears. Syracuse played poorly in the first and third and the Penguins scored three goals a piece. 

Dominik Simon had two of them, Matt Murray stopped 30 shots. Only drawback of the evening was the inability to score a power play goal. The Pens are now on a 0-for-23 cold streak. 

Full recap to follow.

All of a sudden it is a losing streak. On home ice. Go figure. 

Another special teams nightmare for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and it’s the Hartford Wolf Pack that take this one by a 3-1 final. The Wolf Pack had two power play goals. 

Hartford locked the Penguins down in the third period, slowing the Penguins just four shots in the period. 

Tristan Jarry took the loss in goal. His first as a professional. 

More to come in a bit.