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Man, the Phantoms never give up.

After going down 3-0 and looking slow and lethargic at times, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms battle back at home to force overtime but ultimately fall in a shootout. Penguins win via shootout 4-3 on Friday night.

The game can best be defined in number of chapters.

1) The Penguins raced out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period after a dynamite first period.
2) Then, the Phantoms started to block shots and got one back at the conclusion of the second.
3) They scored a power play goal early on in the third, then with starting goalie Alex Lyon pulled for an extra attacker, tied the game at 3.

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton could have packed it in, buried under the avalanche of pressure that the Phantoms hit them with. The intensity was ramped upon even more when, in overtime…

4) The Penguins would kill off a penalty.

Stefan Noesen and Joseph Blandisi score in the shootout rounds and Lehigh Valley, with all that offense, lose their third shootout of the still very young season.

Casey DeSmith opposed the aforementioned Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: A ton. Sam Lafferty, Joseph Blandisi and Adam Johnson all returned from Pittsburgh this week. As a result of these lineup changes, Brandon Hawkins was sent back to Wheeling and Reid McNeill was released from his PTO. So for the lineup, we had Joseph Cramarossa and Ryan Haggerty come out of the lineup as victims of the veteran rule. Andreas Martinsen made his Penguins debut. On the back end, Zach Trotman debuted and Kevin Czuczman returned from injury replacing the departed Reid McNeill and Michael Kim, who was a regular scratch.

Oh, and Dustin Tokarski backed up Casey DeSmith.

The strongest the lineup has been all season and a sign that the organization from Pittsburgh to here is healthy.

Kind of. Nick Hart announced on the pregame that Kasper Bjorkqvist had knee surgery this week and is out for at least six months, effectively ending his season. If the Pens go deep in playoffs you may see him again, but it’s an unfortunate end to a promising rookie year for Bjorkqvist that sadly, never got off the ground.

First Period: Penguins survived an early rush by the Phantoms to open the scoring but DeSmith was up to task, making an odd save with his back. Adam Johnson was inadvertently cut after he tripped Nicolas Aube-Kubel and went off to the room for repairs, missing about seven minutes of action. When he returned, he put a shot on net that caromed around and found its way to Sam Lafferty who scored to give the Pens an early 1-0 lead.

That was a power play goal.

Late, Stefan Noesen scored his 10th goal of the season, tying him for the AHL lead when Jon Lizotte blacked a shot. Noesen was off to the races and scored this nice goal on the breakaway.

Period ended 2-0 in favor of the Penguins, the first time all season they blanked the opponent in the first period.

Second Period: Anthony Angello scored this goal which hit a post and trickled across for a 3-0 Wilkes-Barre lead.

(they later changed that secondary assist to Jon Lizotte, Martinsen has to wait for his first WBS assist)

Then the shots were all blocked or hard to come by, kind of like the last time that the Penguins were in this building but with the roles reversed.

David Kase scored to end the DeSmith shutout bid when an Andy Welinski shot from the point caromed off of bodies and to Kase for the goal.

Shots were a scant 4-4 in the second period.

Third Period: Lehigh Valley would cash on a power play when Andy Andreoff would be left unmarked in the slot to put home a power play goal and suddenly the Penguins were nursing a one goal lead.

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton  would have two back to back power plays but never were able to score and play continued.

Casey DeSmith had a ton of top saves to keep the Penguins ahead by one.

But, with Lyon vacated for the extra man, Lehigh Valley would find the equalizer when T.J. Brennan would shoot from the point and Greg Carey would deflect the shot in for a tie game.

It was off to…

Overtime: Periscoped, as all road contests are, here:

If you don’t want to sit through it all, you’ll see that the Penguins found themselves on a penalty kill when Zach Trotman placed a Phantom on his wallet when for taking too many liberties with Casey DeSmith. Wilkes-Barre came away unscathed.

No scoring in overtime, so it was off to a shootout where Stefan Noesen and Joseph Blandisi scored. Morgan Frost scored in the top of the first, but then DeSmith stopped Mikhail Vorobyev and Maxim Sushko right after.

Three Stars: 3) David Kase (goal) 2) Greg Carey (goal, assist) 1) Joseph Blandisi (shootout winning goal)

The Good: The start was fine, but the team needs to learn how to string a full sixty together in 10 minute or less increments. The penalty kill in overtime also gets a mention here. Tenacity was shown by Wilkes-Barre for not packing it in and losing on a power platy goal in overtime.

The Bad: The Phantoms ate the elephant one bite at a time and didn’t erase a 3-0 deficit all at once, they took what Wilkes-Barre gave them and slowly got back into the swing and ultimately got a point.

Turning Point: Those two power play chances right after the Andreoff goal were golden opportunities missed for the Pens and the Phantoms ultimately stole a point they had no business anywhere near. Wilkes-Barre was really lucky to get out of Allentown with a full two points.

Around the Division: Cleveland beats Charlotte 2-1 in overtime….Syracuse rolls Bridgeport 5-1….Providence beats the last undefeated team in the AHL in Utica 2-0. Manny Lagace has an AHL leading three shutouts for the Bruins….Springfield blitzkriegs Hershey 8-1….Hartford lost in a shootout up in Laval 2-1.

Standings: Hartford 18 — Providence 16 — Springfield 14 — Penguins 11 — Lehigh Valley and Hershey 10 — Charlotte 9 — Bridgeport 5

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Gameday setup for Saturday’s contest in Springfield hits the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The last time Joseph Cramarossa was in Wilkes-Barre on his birthday he left with a broken nose.

Cramarossa had himself quite the game for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, winners 5-4 in overtime over the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night with a goal and an assist and first star honors.

Wilkes-Barre connected for three power play goals Saturday, the Rampage scored two of their own as the clown show known as Mathieu Menniti and Rob Hennessy rolled into town with court jesters Julien Fournier and Pat Dapuzzo. The officiating sucked tonight, top to bottom. I get trying to fast track guys through, but you have lower levels of hockey for that. I noticed that the game was really quick tonight, the officials struggled, at times, to keep up.

Casey DeSmith opposed Adam Wilcox.

Lineup: Wait, where is Dustin Tokarski? Apparently still hurt despite the assurances from Mike Vellucci last night when Larmi went down that he would be, “ready to go” if called upon. Wilkes-Barre went back to their past and signed Sebastien Caron to backup tonight because they either forgot that they have an ECHL affiliate in Wheeling or didn’t want to pay the gas money to get a guy here. Look, Casey DeSmith was always going to start the game Saturday, but enough is enough with the lies and misdirection from the coaching staff. Emil Larmi didn’t “fall ill” last night, he got hit in the head and probably has a concussion and is sidelined. Now, per a report by Tyler postgame, Tokarski has lingering concussion symptoms and isn’t cleared.

Again, what the hell are they doing? Why not call Alex D’Orio up from Wheeling? It’s Anthony Peters redux. I am starting to, as the days go on fall out of trust with everything Head Coach Mike Vellucci has to say. You may have won a Calder Cup and Coach of the Year in Charlotte last year, but you haven’t accomplished a thing yet here in Wilkes-Barre other than smoke and mirrors and a league worst penalty kill unit.

Justin Almeida for Ryan Scarfo, Reid McNeill for Matt Abt, Jon Lizotte with Michael Kim. Zach Trotman cleared waivers and was assigned officially to the team. Apparently, going on waivers usurps a conditioning loan, hockey is stupid and its rules are too.

First Period: Cramarossa got his night started off right with a great setup to Ryan Haggerty for a goal that gave the Penguins an early 1-0 lead:

San Antonio would be the beneficiary of four power plays in the period. They cashed on two of them.

Nick Lappin first and formally all over a rebound…

And then Nathan Walker with three swipes at the puck off of DeSmith’s pads for a 2-1 Rampage lead.

Second Period: The Penguins would finally be on the right end of a referee’s call and seven seconds in Stefan Noesen did what Stefan Noesen does and that’s score goals for the Penguins.

But wait, Noesen wasn’t done quite yet.

Quite the momentum shift, with the Rampage on full tilt and taking all the penalties.

Late, Mike Vecchione would backhand in a shot to tie the game at three.

Just a ridiculous pass by Nathan Walker to Vecchione for the goal.

Third Period: :31 in, a bouncing puck beat DeSmith for another Vecchione goal on a backhand for a 4-3 San Antonio lead.

(no GIF of this one, sorry)

Casey DeSmith led a penalty killing charge on a Reid McNeill holding call that kept it a one goal deficit.

Jordy Bellerive connected with Jon Lizotte for his first professional goal that tied the game at four on the power play, the Penguins third of the night.

The Penguins had a chance with Jake Dotchin in the box for a head butting penalty, an automatic double minor, to connect for some more power play goals but never got the setup they intended.

It was off to…

Overtime: The setup was a two on none led by Sam Miletic. Miletic dished to a cutting Joseph Cramarossa for the goal, win and two points.

Three Stars: Mike Vecchione (two goals) 2) Stefan Noesen (two goals, assist) 1) Jospeh Cramarossa (overtime game winning goal, assist)

The Good: Macoy Erkamps is playing like he never wants to go back to Wheeling. I thought he played like a bright spot on the Penguins defense all weekend, arguably the best of the defensive corps. Props to the power play unit too. San Antonio was top five in the AHL on penalty kill, connecting for one would have been good, two would have been something but three? That’s what got them to overtime before Cramarossa’s heroics.

The Bad: Besides the officiating and the fact that the head coach is a liar, the penalty killing in the first about near cost the Penguins the game but as we learned in Friday, you don’t win a game in the first period.

Turning Point: Jordy Bellerive’s first professional goal came at an opportune time because it was on the power play and tied the game and got it to overtime.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Charlotte 3-2….Hartford stays hot and beats Bridgeport 4-1….Utica takes down Hershey 2-1 in a shootout to stay undefeated….Laval beats Providence 3-2 in a shootout and Springfield beats Belleville 5-3.

Standings: Hartford 15 – Providence 12 – Springfield and Hershey 10 – Lehigh Valley and the Penguins 9 – Charlotte 8 – Bridgeport 4

Wheeling Update: Nailers go 4-0 in their home stand, defeating Reading by a score of 3-1. Cam Brown had two assists. Alex D’Orio stopped 35 shots to pick up the win.

Video Highlights: 

Pens get a week of practice before heading to Allentown next Friday. Power Rankings Thursday. News and notes as it comes before then.

Let’s Go Pens!