vs.       

3                                         4

–

Had this tweet at some point during the game tonight which setup the game story you are reading right now:

Prow’s two power play goals setup a stunning comeback for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton who defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night.

Prow has ten goals on the season, the first Penguin to double digit goals this year. Definitely the team MVP and likely the lone Penguins representative for the All-Star Classic a month from now in Springfield.

Tristan Jarry opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were:

Lineup Notes: With J-S Dea back, Ryan Scarfo took warmups but didn’t dress. Garrett Wilson cleared waivers and will most likely be assigned in time for the NHL roster freeze.

First Period: The Penguins were asleep to start. 1:10 in, Chris Bourque and Michael Dal Colle worked a little give and go on the near side, drew Jarry down and Dal Colle tucked it past to give the Sound Tigers the early lead.

Tyler set the next goal up perfectly.

Pens had to kill back to back penalties but got out of those unscathed. They looked a bit stronger, but didn’t have anything to show for it on the scoreboard and were already down two goals.

Second Period: Better quality period for the Penguins who get a goal from Ethan Prow on the power play. Shots were 11-7 in the period favoring the Penguins but it seemed like the quality chances were not there.

Here’s the Prow goal:

Pens couldn’t score on a power play after that.

Crazy sequence where Christopher Gibson came way out of his crease to challenge Troy Josephs. Josephs couldn’t dangle around Gibson and the Penguins couldn’t score on the open net left by the Sound Tigers netminder. Gibson also broke his stick in the process, but the Penguins could not threaten for a goal.

Third Period: Pens overload on the near side and lose Mitch Vande Sompel who gets time and space and buries a shot over the blocker of Jarry to reestablish Bridgeport’s two goal lead.

(no goal video here)

Pens got back to one with a shot from Jeff Taylor that was tipped in by Linus Ölund. Big goal at the time because it set the Pens off in a rabid attempt to tie the game.

The Pens had a little over five minutes left to score another goal to potentially force overtime.

Who else but Ethan Prow?

On a power play, no less, and the game was tied.

It was then off to…

Overtime: It would have been bonkers if Prow scored in the overtime frame to net a hat trick and win the game, but it was Kevin Czuczman on a three on one rush that completed the stunning comeback for Wilkes-Barre.

That’s Tristan Jarry with the great setup there and of course Czuczman with the finish.

Three Stars:

Around the Division: Providence was in Hartford and were shut out 3-0, Lehigh Valley hosted Hershey and shut out the Bears 5-0 Springfield hosted Syracuse and beat them 3-2.

Standings: Charlotte 46 — Bridgeport 39 — Springfield 35 — Lehigh Valley 34 — Penguins 34 — Providence 29 — Hartford 27 — Hershey 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers were in Norfolk and were involved in a wild, thirteen goal game. They led the Admirals by a bunch then Norfolk came back to tie it and force overtime where the Nailers won in a shootout 7-6. Nick Saracino continued his tear, with a pair of goals and an assist. Cam Brown scored the only goal in the shootout. Yushiroh Hirano had three assists.

Video Highlights:

Pens are back at it Friday in the Facebook Watch AHL Game of the Week in Hershey.

AHL Power Rankings Thursday. Check back then.

Let’s Go Pens!

       @       

0                                             1

–

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins had six chances on the power play Sunday afternoon in Bridgeport and weren’t able to get anything going on any six of them that would be considered a serious threat.

Not that Bridgeport goaltender Christopher Gibson was going to let anything by, anyway.

33 saves for Gibson and the five game winning streak for Wilkes-Barre ends in Bridgeport, Penguins lose 1-0.

Lines were…

Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Anthony Angello
Adam Johnson – Sam Lafferty – Ben Sexton
Joseph Cramarossa – Linus Ölund – Ryan Haggerty
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton – Jimmy Hayes

Kevin Czuczman – Tim Erixon
Jeff Taylor – Will O’Neill
Matt Abt – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry backed up Anthony Peters.

No changes to the line up for the Penguins.

First Period: Wilkes-Barre was hit with a penalty for an illegal starting lineup. I think what happened there was Tristan Jarry’s name was circled instead of Anthony Peters. They had to kill that penalty and then a Will O’Neill penalty for cross checking right after that but were able to get out of it OK.

But then Sebastian Aho found room in the slot, made a move and scored to put the Sound Tigers on the board first.

Penguins had two power plays to close out the period but were unable to capitalize.

Second Period: Jarrett Burton missed a penalty shot when he was hooked down.

The Pens lost Thomas DiPauli in the period. He was injured by a Kevin Czuczman shot in the first period then got tangled up with Stephen Gionta in the second period. He left the ice and didn’t return for the remainder of the period or the game.

Going back to the first, Bridgeport took four consecutive penalties but Wilkes-Barre was not able to score on any of them. The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Sound Tigers heading into the…

Third Period: The penalties on both sides continues. Linus Ölund had a chance shorthanded. Sound Tigers hit two posts on one shift. Peters and Gibsons continued their goalie duel. Penguins had some chances late on a power play, but weren’t able to solve Gibson. With Peters pulled for the extra attacker, they never were able to find the equalizer.

The Good: Sound Tigers power play is very dangerous, Penguins kept them off the board on five attempts.

The Bad: I don’t want to say that Clark Donatelli’s illegal lineup set the tone of the game, but coming off of two consecutive penalty kills, Aho scored the only goal of the game that turned into the game winner. Does that happen if Peters name is circled on the card instead of Tristan Jarry’s? Your guess is as good as mine.

On the illegal lineup, it has happened before. A lot, actually, as Darryl Hunt looked back on Roy Sommer’s follies during his time with the Worcester Sharks.

Three Stars: 3) Sebastian Aho (goal) 2) Anthony Peters (24 saves on 25 shots) 1) Christopher Gibson (33 save shutout)

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

Around the Division: Charlotte continues to roll, 2-1 winners in overtime against Utica. Springfield beats Hershey 4-1. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Charlotte 45 — Bridgeport 38 — Lehigh Valley 32 — Penguins 32 — Springfield 31 — Providence 29 — Hartford 25 — Hershey 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers double up Fort Wayne 6-3 at home, Cam Brown continues his tear with two goals. Renars Krastenbergs also had a pair of goals.

Highlights: If the Sound Tigers put them up and I’m near a computer, I will work the edit in here.

Pens are back in action on Wednesday at home against Bridgeport again. Christopher Gibson will undoubtedly get the start again for the Sound Tigers. Gameday setup hits the blog Wednesday at 3, barring any breaking news beforehand.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

2                                             5

–

That’s five wins in a row now for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

A complete domination on offense and defense, including special teams, and Wilkes-Barre rolls Lehigh Valley 5-2.

Ryan Haggerty had a hat trick, Sam Lafferty and Teddy Blueger had shorthanded goals. The Penguins abomination on the penalty kill in the past carried the Penguins Saturday night against the Phantoms.

Tristan Jarry opposed Carter Hart.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Tim Erixon slotted in for the injured (week to week) Chris Summers.

First Period: Penguins dominated shots, had long offensive shifts and threw a lot of shots at Hart, but nothing went in. 13-3 was the shout count for the Pens after twenty.

Second Period: All of that momentum that the Penguins charged out of the room with in the first was deflated when Philip Samuelsson scored through a crowd to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

But then the Penguins were able to score when Teddy Blueger scored shorthanded which set off an avalanche of stuffed animals for the annual Teddy Bear Toss. It was Blueger that did the honors last year against Rochester. Teddy unleashed the teddies? Sometimes the puns just write themselves.

Penguins made it 2-1 when Zach Palmquist turned over the puck in the neutral zone which set off Adam Johnson and Ryan Haggerty who finished for his first goal of the night and the Penguins were off to the races.

Haggerty again, a few minutes later, made it 3-1 when he tried to set up a one time slam dunk with Jeff Taylor for a goal that drew Hart out of position. Joseph Cramarossa kept it alive in front of the goal and Hggerty crashed and scored his second.

Phantoms get one back when Mike Vecchione scored. It was a changeup at Jarry that Vecchione pounced on that brought the Phantoms to within one.

A scrum at the end of the period saw Will O’Neill and Taylor Leier get game misconducts for secondary altercations when T.J. Brennan and Sam Lafferty got mixed up. Brennan had got things to a boiling point a few times tonight but when he was going to step across the line and be asked to answer for his line stepping, he seemed disinterested in actually engaging.

Third Period: Penalty fest that saw Wilkes-Barre on the short end. Maybe a month ago Lehigh Valley cashes on each power play individually and get back into the game, but it was on a Teddy Blueger slashing call that Anthony Angello dropped a pass for Sam Lafferty that made it 4-2 and essentially iced the game away for the Penguins. It was the second shorthanded goal of the night for Wilkes-Barre.

(Taylor or Coal Street didn’t GIF this sequence, or the Ryan Haggerty empty netter which made it 5-2, sorry)

Three Stars: 

The Good: Seems like a totally different team, doesn’t it? The Penguins dominated both ends of the rink and all sides of the puck tonight. Power play didn’t cash tonight, but that looked threatening as well. Ryan Haggerty is heating up in the absences of J-S Dea and Garrett Wilson. The penalty kill essentially won the game for Wilkes-Barre, tying the game in the second and then icing it away late.

The Bad: The Good doesn’t happen without the bad, Wilkes-Barre took three penalties nursing a one goal lead in the third. While some of them were tacky tack called by inexperienced referees, playing with that kind of fire will get you burned more times than not.

Around the Division: Charlotte keeps winning, this time 3-2 over the Hartford Wolf Pack who are swept in North Carolina….Bridgeport beats Springfield 5-3….Providence crushes Hershey 6-2.

Standings: Charlotte 43 — Bridgeport 36 — Lehigh Valley 32 — Penguins 32 — Springfield 31 — Providence 29 — Hartford 25 — Hershey 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers crush the Norfolk Admirals at home, 5-1. Cam Brown had two goals and two assists.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are bussing to Bridgeport for a 3 p.m. start against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Gameday setup will hit the blog Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!