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Tyler’s tweet at the end of the Penguins 5-2 win over the Binghamton Devils Monday night gave me the headline idea.

110 PIMs Saturday in a blowout win over Lehigh Valley. Only 54 PIMs tonight but it was a testy affair that saw Garrett Wilson tossed for an illegal check to the head match penalty which may get him suspended, more on that in a bit, but the Penguins are mucking it up and being physical and going to the window with wins in their last two contests where they get their pants dirty.

Right now, Wilkes-Barre is in a bird fight with Springfield for the fourth spot in the Atlantic so, whatever works.

Tristan Jarry opposed Cam Johnson.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Joseph Cramarossa was suspended for the instigator he picked up in the last five minutes on Saturday in Allentown so Ryan Haggerty jumped in for him one the line with Dea and Hayes. The Penguins sent Troy Josephs and John Muse to Wheeling on Sunday and recalled Cam Brown who jumped right into the action on the fourth line, centering Linus Ölund and Patrick McGrath. Jarrett Burton is day to day with an injury.

First Period: Binghamton on the board first as a shot caromed off of Jarry and was swept in by Ryan Schmelzer that gave Binghamton a 1-0 lead. The Devils heavily pressured and struck first at 4:13.

Penguins would get it back on a weird sequence. Garrett Wilson just left the penalty box when two Devils got tangled up in the neutral zone by the penalty box. Kurtis Gabriel, in the box with Wilson on a roughing minor ran into his teammate Marian Studenic who had the puck. Wilson then did this…

…and that tied the game at one a piece heading into the second period.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre scores three times in a period that really could have gone either way.

Garrett Wilson with a nice blind pass to the slot for Teddy Blueger that made it 2-1.

Penguins found themselves in some penalty trouble and Colton White scored on a two man advantage that tied the game at two.

But then Kevin Czuczman stepped out of the penalty box and set up Ben Sexton who scored to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

That was Kevin Czuczman’s 100th AHL point on the assist.

Wilkes-Barre doubles the lead on a shot by Garrett Wilson which is cleaned up by Anthony Angello for a 4-2 Penguin lead.

Wild period which really could have broke for either side. Binghamton’s defense is leaky and the Penguins were better. They got in penalty trouble but were able to navigate out of it only giving up one goal and managed to net three of their own in the period.

Third Period: As mentioned in the open, Garrett Wilson may be looking at a suspension for an illegal check to the head Match Penalty on Nathan Bastian who was shaken, but not stirred as he would return to action after getting checked out on the bench. Binghamton had a 5:00 power play that they really let get by them as Jarry was never really challenged.

Here is all your verbiage on the Match Penalty and Illegal Check to the Head sections of the AHL Rulebook.

Here is the hit with the replays.

Teddy Blueger would hit an empty net with about 44 seconds left to ice the game away and give the Penguins the win to close out 2018.

The Good: When previous iterations of Penguins teams played, its always came with a physical edge that not many opponents were ready for that worked out in their favor. If this Wilkes-Barre team plays with ruthless aggression, they will be a hard team to beat on most nights, provided they play within the lines of the AHL Rulebook.

The Bad: I don’t think if Wilson is suspended it will be for a long time and I’d even argue that the match penalty he was assessed is enough punishment to fit the crime since Bastian returned to the game none the worse for wear, but going back to the previous paragraph, the Pens don’t want to catch a label as a dirty team.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Another day where the Charlotte Checkers go down big to an opponent, another comeback for the Atlantic Division leaders. Checkers get a point in Toronto and lose 5-4 in overtime. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Charlotte 51 — Bridgeport 47 — Lehigh Valley 41 — Penguins 39 — Springfield 37 — Hartford 34 — Providence 33 — Hershey 30

Wheeling Update: Nailers shutout the Reading Royals 4-0 at home. Johnny Muse a 28 save shutout, Troy Josephs with a goal.

Video Highlights: 

Have a happy and safe New Year. If there is anything mentioned about Garrett Wilson and any supplemental discipline from the League, I will run a blog post this week. If not, the AHL Power Rankings are out Thursday and the Pens are back in action at home against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Let’s Go Pens!

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After last nights nightmare, where you had the captain of the team telling the media that he didn’t get the group fired enough to play against a team in last place and the coach basically deflecting all blame and placing it on the players, you really didn’t know how tonight’s game against a Lehigh Valley team on a tear would go.

So of course it’s a blowout by the Penguins and everything is made up and the points don’t matter.

Penguins roll tonight 7-3.

It was a feisty, testy affair. The Penguins clearly came to the rink tonight pissed off at themselves at the embarrassment from the night before in Hershey. There were 110 penalty minutes. Wilkes-Barre played with aggression all night, maintained their composure when they went down a goal in the second period, got inspired efforts from the likes of Jimmy Hayes and solid goaltending from Tristan Jarry and crush one of their biggest rivals on their home ice.

Jimmy Hayes had his best game as a Penguin tonight. Clark Donatelli put him on a line with the gritty Joseph Cramarossa and the speedy J-S Dea. It worked. Hayes had a goal and an assist and a team leading four shots on goal.

The seven goals put up by the Penguins was the most goals scored in a game all season.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Pat McGrath and Troy Josephs were in ups front for Linus Ölund and Ryan Haggerty and Kevin Spinozzi yielded to Jeff Taylor.

Tristan Jarry was ill last night, and I really was expecting John Muse to go tonight but it was Jarry that got the start.

First Period: Very chippy period on both sides. After this fight between Anthony Angello and Philip Samuelsson…

…Garrett Wilson and Tyrell Goulbourne fought in a secondary altercation. You can’t do that, so both players were given game misconducts and thrown out of the game.

The Cramarossa – Dea – Hayes line in one shift created two shots, hit and created turnovers. A good sequence to see.

Wilkes-Barre killed the only penalty of the period successfully. Shots were 10-9 Penguins.

Second Period: Penguins found themselves in early penalty trouble and Greg Carey made them pay with this goal on the power play.

Looked like it beat Jarry over the glove. A well placed shot, nonetheless.

But then the Penguins would score twice very quickly as Ben Sexton struck for his third goal of the week, all coming against the Phantoms with this goal that tied the game.

Face-off, shot, Adam Johnson there for the follow-up who finds Sexton on the doorstep for the cleanup.

Then, Jimmy Hayes broke in and scored his first goal since November 14 at Springfield.

Horrific turnover by T.J. Brennan there gift wrapping a breakaway chance for Hayes who finished.

Penguins would finally get a crack on the power play and would waste no time in scoring to extend their lead over the Phantoms to 3-1 on this Teddy Blueger redirect that was initially shot by J-S Dea.

Penguins outshot the Phantoms 15-10 in the period despite giving up two power plays to the Phantoms.

Third Period: Here is your turning point of the game.

Flurry of saves by Tristan Jarry, then minutes later Adam Johnson scores on a breakaway that makes it 4-1 Wilkes-Barre.

Whatever momentum that the Phantoms wanted to build coming out for the third was squelched by the Jarry saves and then the Johnson goal, which stood up as the game winner tonight.

Teddy Blueger scored his second of the game that made it 5-1 right at the half way point of the third.

Reece Willcox scored on a rebound of a shot that Jarry couldn’t cover entirely that made it 5-2.

Phantoms head coach Kerry Huffman pulled Alex Lyon and Ben Sexton hit the empty net which made it 6-2.

T.J. Brennan scored off of a face-off that made it 6-3.

Huffman pulled Lyon again and Chad Ruhwedel, almost by mistake, scored from 180′ away when he flipped a puck out of his own end that found the empty net that made it 7-3.

No GIFs on these, sorry.

Late, Joseph Cramarossa was given an instigating penalty as the game was devolving into a slugfest. Unless it’s rescinded (they never are) he will be suspended for Monday’s game in Binghamton.

The Good: Jimmy Hayes. One game doesn’t define a season, but Hayes finally put it all together tonight and helped set the tone for the road team in an impressive win against a rival. Hopefully, a veteran like Hayes uses a night like this as something he can build off of. I guess we will see Monday in Binghamton.

The Bad: Nitpicking, but another power play goal against is a small blemish on a bright night for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 

Around the Division: Charlotte beats Laval 5-4 in overtime, Bridgeport does the same to Hartford 3-2, Providence beats Hershey 4-1 and Syracuse beats Springfield 4-3 in overtime.

Standings: Charlotte 50 — Bridgeport 47 — Lehigh Valley 41 — Penguins 37 — Springfield 36 — Providence 33 — Hartford 32 — Hershey 28

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Pens are off Sunday. Springfield travels to Hartford burning off one of their three games in hand on the Penguins. That’s a game you should pay attention to Sunday afternoon if you aren’t doing anything.

Penguins are back in action Monday at 6 p.m. in Binghamton for New Years Eve. Check out the Gameday setup here on the blog Monday at 2.

Let’s Go Pens!