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Quick aside, something to be thankful for: This is the last work night home game until March 6. There are actually just two left. Kindly mind any spelling or format errors as the game story was thumbed out on my iPhone. You may be lucky enough to have this week off before the New Year, but I burned off the last of my vacation time last week.

Anyway, enough about me.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins had this game in the bag early, but then lost it in the end due to a questionable onside play and the fact that their defense is in big time flux with dependable blue liners injured. Penguins lose 5-3. A late goal by Tyrell Goulbourne pushed the Phantoms ahead with 1:02 left in regulation.

A bad way to lose, yes, with how close things are right now in the division. It looked like the Penguins were on track for two points, then maybe one, ultimately none.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Ethan Prow missed the game due to presumed injury. He is indeed just day to day per Clark to the Pens media postgame. As a result, the defense pairings were all shook up from Saturday. Tim Erixon replaced Prow and as a result that forced Joe Cramarossa out of the lineup due to the veteran rule. Jarrett Burton, who was scratched Saturday, slotted in on the fourth line and Ryan Scarfo replaced Cramarossa on the second.

First Period: These types of periods coming out of holiday breaks are dangerous because they can be traps. Lehigh Valley played decent, but took two penalties and had Ben Sexton tag them for all the offense in the period.

Sexton’s first came after Adam Johnson broke in and was stopped by Lyon. His follow up try was also denied, but hit the post and was there for Sexton to sweep in for his first of the season.

Sexton would strike again with 2.3 seconds left to play in the period when his low angle shot eluded Lyon which gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead heading to the first intermission.

Second Period: Penguins would keep the pressure on and lead in shots for a good amount of the period. But Lehigh Valley continued to test Jarry and the Pens netminder was successful.

But a bad outlet pass by Jeff Taylor found Reece Willcox instead and Willcox left a pass for Tyrell Goulbourne who finally solved Jarry to cut it to one.

But, the Penguins would strike again before the clock hit midnight again when Jeff Taylor’s dump in took a funny bounce right to Teddy Blueger who had a wide open net to shoot at when Lyon left his crease to play it.

Taylor atones for his previous error.

Third Period: Lehigh Valley gets one back quickly to open the frame when a Phillipe Myers shot is redirected in by Taylor Leier in front.

Then, Connor Bunnaman scores on a breakaway. Initially it looked like he was offside by a foot, but linesman Jud Ritter who has a history of calls that usually go against the Penguins, deemed it clean.

No way to definitively say yes / no on that. Clark postgame to Tyler…

Phantoms score late when a puck is redirected pulling Jarry out of position when Tyrell Goulbourne scored with 62 seconds left to edge the Phantoms ahead.

Phantoms score again off the faceoff when a routine dump in handcuffs Jarry that made it 5-3.

(no GIF of this sequence that I saw)

Pens shellshocked with Jarry pulled, saw the game end with the arena chanting, “Let’s Go Phantoms!”

Three Stars: 

The Good: The start was fine. Going up 2-0 in the first was the perfect way to set up the second and third.

The Bad: Can’t blame special teams here. Pens couldn’t defend a lead with the vertebraes of defense (Prow, Trotman, Summers) injured. It’s a concern going forward.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Charlotte 48 — Bridgeport 41 — Lehigh Valley 39 — Springfield 37 — Penguins 35 — Hartford 31 — Providence 31 — Hershey 26

Wheeling Update: Nailers, along with the entire ECHL, were off tonight.

Video Highlights: I will catch up on this later if I see any when I get home or Thursday morning.

Check out the Week 12 AHL Power Rankings Thursday around 11 a.m.

Next game is Friday against Hershey. Look for the Gameday setup here against the Bears Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Syracuse Crunch have the leagues best power play at home and overall. That didn’t seem to faze the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins tonight who were successful on ten penalty kills tonight, getting stung just once.

The Penguins scored all three of their goals on the man advantage tonight and and at times you would think that the Penguins had the better power play between the two sides.

But the special teams was a footnote in a game where the Penguins lose Ethan Prow to possible injury, as Syracuse gets a late goal and wins it in overtime, 4-3 the final tonight from Syracuse.

Tristan Jarry opposed Eddie Pasquale.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Jarrett Burton was the only lineup change, yielding to Ryan Scarfo.

First Period: Crunch scored 1:01 in after a miscommunication between Tristan Jarry and Jeff Taylor, as Taylor Raddysh was the recipient of the snafu and the Crunch were on the board first.

But the Penguins got it right back when Garrett Wilson setup a screen and deflected in an Ethan Prow shot on a power play that tied things at one.

Collateral damage in the period as Ethan Prow blocked a shot on a Crunch power play here in this sequence.

First Period Highlights: More team should do this. Syracuse is the only team that I know that does this consistently.

Second Period: Ethan Prow did not return for the second period. The Penguins started taking penalty after penalty but managed to get out of it.

Then, Tristan Jarry connected with Adam Johnson, Johnson was hooked down and Anthony Angello cleaned up the mess to make it 2-1 on the power play.

The Penguins would connect on yet another power play goal when J-S Dea scored in the slot on a pass left by Garrett Wilson that made it 3-1.

Tristan Jarry was the best player in the period for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton. He helped kill off 1:28 of two man disadvantage and sprung Johnson for the sequence that setup the Angello goal.

He was bested by Alex Barre-Boulet on a late Crunch power play that closed it to one gaol for Syracuse heading into the third.

Second Period Highlights: Note to anyone on Coal Street that reads the blog, please try to do this.

Third Period: Eddie Pasquale had the save of the game when he went post to post to deny Sam Lafferty off on a two on one with Adam Johnson. The Penguins had to kill another 5-on-3 penalty against and got out of it OK.

Ross Colton scored on a great pass from behind the net to tie it at 3-3.

Which forced…

Overtime: Carter Verhaeghe, who didn’t have any puck luck at all in regulation, finally got one to go and the Crunch won the game.

Here is the whole overtime in case you want to watch it.

The Good: The Penguins scored three power play goals and were 10-for-11 on the penalty kill against the AHL and home best power play.

The Bad: If Prow is out for any extended amount of time with his injury, that’s going to sting. Kevin Spinozzi is tearing it up in Wheeling, he’s probably next man up because the Pens are already at the veteran limit….the officiating was a clown show tonight. No one wants to watch 18 total power plays awarded (7 for Wilkes-Barre to go with the 11 for the Crunch) and every face-off where a guy gets tossed.

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (37 saves on 41 shots) 2) Ross Colton (goal, assist) 1) Carter Verhaeghe (overtime game winning goal)

Around the Division: Hartford with the sweep in Rochester this weekend, wins 5-1 against the Americans…Charlotte beats Bridgeport 3-1…Lehigh Valley crushes Hershey 6-1 and Providence beats Springfield 5-4.

Standings: Charlotte 48 — Bridgeport 41 — Lehigh Valley 37 — Springfield 35 — Penguins 35 — Hartford 31 — Providence 31 — Hershey 26

Wheeling Update: 

Box here.

Video Highlights:

Pens are off until they take on Lehigh Valley on December 26 at home. Gameday setup for that will be up Wednesday at 3. Until then, Merry Christmas and Let’s Go Pens!

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Matt Abt is sitting in the catbird seat.

With Chris Summers and Zach Trotman injured, the Penguins still have way too many veterans in the lineup to justify Abt sitting out a game. Tim Erixon, who counts as a veteran, also plays defense.

Abt took three consecutive penalties in the second period on Friday and the Penguins anemic penalty kill, 29th overall in the American Hockey League coming into the game, kill the first two but not the third and that stands up as the game winner as Hershey wins 3-2.

Putting Erixon in means that you are over the veteran limit. Abt still gets in cause Will O’Neill would go out. If they wanted to do Erixon and O’Neill and force Abt out, someone like Jimmy Hayes, currently a fourth line forward, comes out and Troy Josephs would go in. I’d be OK with that, honestly, but then you are still gambling with Will O’Neill doing something that makes you grit your teeth.

I guess the moral of the story is that Zach Trotman and Chris Summers need to come back, and quickly.

I am burying Abt. Is it fair? The Pens were 7-3 in their last ten while the Bears were 3-6-1 and winless (0-3-1) in their last four.

Tyler sums it up nice here.

Anthony Peters opposed Vitek Vanecek.

Coal Street didn’t post the lines tweet so this was what I saw as they rolled off early in the first:

Joseph Cramarossa – J-S Dea – Ryan Haggerty
Anthony Angello – Teddy Blunger – Garrett Wilson
Sam Lafferty – Ben Sexton – Adam Johnson
Jimmy Hayes – Linus Ölund – Jarrett Burton

Kevin Czuczman – Macoy Erkamps
Ethan Prow – Matt Abt
Jeff Taylor – Will O’Neill

Tristan Jarry backed up tonight.

Lineup Notes: Erkamps made his WBS debut, Erixon was the D scratch. With Garrett Wilson back down from Pittsburgh, Troy Josephs was also a scratch.

First Period: Ever ride on a see-saw? One side goes up, the other side goes down. Hours of endless entertainment.

That best defined the first period from Hershey.

J-S Dea made it 1-0 for Wilkes-Barre 1:07 in, but then Hershey rattled off two power play goals to make it 2-1 before Teddy Blueger redirected a Garrett Wilson shot on a power play that made it 2-2.

Penguins need to tighten up their putrid penalty kill. I say that because they go to Syracuse on Saturday and the Crunch power play should be illegal it is that good.

Here are the goals.

Riley Barber, who seconds earlier rang iron, drew a lot of attention as he had the puck and instead passed to Mike Sgarbossa who tied it on the back door.

Nathan Walker redirected an Aaron Ness shot from the point on another power play that made it 2-1.

But then the Penguins got it back even when Blueger redirected a Garrett Wilson shot as the Pens were on a two man advantage.

Second Period: Awful hard to build momentum when you are constantly killing penalties in a period, just like the Penguins did in the second. It’s also doubly hard to do so when it’s the same player heading into the penalty box.

Matt Abt took all three penalties in the period, and Riley Barber scored on the third try for Hershey. The Bears outshot the Penguins 15-7 in the period and I couldn’t identify anything other than a Teddy Blueger shorthanded bid as a Penguin shot on goal and a good play on a tic tac toe that Vanecek stopped early on in the period as quality chances for the Pens.

Here is the Barber goal.

Third Period: Penguins had a leftover power play which was really their best shot to get back in the game in hindsight because they wouldn’t get another chance on the man advantage. Wilkes-Barre had to kill another penalty (not Abt this time; Lafferty high stick) but with Peters vacated for the extra attacker they never were able to find the equalizer.

To their credit, Wilkes-Barre outshot Hershey 13-5 in the third period but Vanecek is a good goaltender for Hershey and the Bears seemed locked in tonight after getting smoked in Allentown on Wednesday, putting up a flaccid 18 shots on goal in the game.

The Good: Hershey didn’t score a goal at even strength.

The Bad: Hershey scored three power play goals and the Pens struggles on the penalty kill continue.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Sgarbossa (goal, assist) 2) Vitek Vanecek (26 saves on 28 shots) 1) Riley Barber (goal, two assists)

Around the Division: Bridgeport with a convincing win in Charlotte, the Sound Tigers crush the Checkers 6-1…Binghamton beats Providence 6-3…Syracuse clips Lehigh Valley in a shootout 3-2…Hartford doubles up Rochester 4-2…Utica beats Springfield 2-1.

Standings: Charlotte 46 — Bridgeport 41 — Lehigh Valley 35 — Springfield 35 — Penguins 34 — Providence 29 — Hartford 29 — Hershey 26

Wheeling Update: 

Box here.

Video Highlights: Bears are usually quick on them. If I see one tweeted I will edit it in here.

Pens are in Syracuse tomorrow. They will need to be a lot more disciplined than they were tonight if they want to have success.

Let’s Go Pens!