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3                                             4

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Punch. Counterpunch. Punch. Counterpunch.

That’s how this game went for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins tonight in Springfield, a 4-3 overtime loss.

The Thunderbirds jumped out to a 1-0 lead and the Pens answered and made it 2-1. Springfield responded and made it 3-2, the Pens score on a weird goal and get a Lafferty puck over glass delay of game penalty and some key glove saves by Anthony Peters to force overtime but lose there on a Jacob McDonald power play goal.

It’s a game that the Penguins could have, should have, won.

Anthony Peters opposed Samuel Montembeault.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Sam Miletic and Garrett Wilson returned from injury. Tristan Jarry was recalled to Pittsburgh Thursday under emergency conditions as Matt Murray is out “long term” with a “lower body injury” so Johnny Muse was recalled later Thursday in the corresponding move by Coal Street.

Line wise, things were all jumbled up with Miletic and Wilson in. Tobias Lindberg and Pat McGrath were the odd men out there. Matt Abt was in for Jeff Taylor on the third defensive pairing.

First Period: Springfield struck on the first power play of the game when Harry Zolnierczyk was left wide open in the slot that made it 1-0 Thunderbirds.

That was the tenth straight game in where the Pens have allowed a power play goal.

Wilkes-Barre had a chance to get back even or better with 1:39 of 5-on-3 power play.

It was an unmitigated disaster.

Anthony Peters had to cover up and make a save on a shot that Springfield had on the penalty kill.

Will O’Neill, known for his power play prowess, had a chance to score in the slot and didn’t take shot. Then, he had something like three shots from farther back that was either easily blocked or defected away.

Second Period: Joseph Cramarossa smacked home a pin balling puck to tie it.

Great response for the Penguins coming out of the break.

Wilkes-Barre would scored to move ahead on the power play when Teddy Blueger sniped this one home that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

But then Springfield loaded up the shots, 25 total in the period, and reclaimed the lead.

Paul Thompson with a knee drop one timer from the top of the far circle…

Not quite, Taylor, but it was yet another Penguins prospect that would score the go ahead goal to close out the period. Blaine Byron would score on a rebound off of the pads of Anthony Peters that put the Thunderbirds up 3-2 heading into the third.

Third Period: Penguins had a great chance at an early power play as they pinned Springfield deep in their zone and fired shot after shot at Montembeault but came up empty.

Ethan Prow scored a goal on a weird sequence as the shot that he shot redirected off of a Thunderbirds stick and into the net that tied the game at three.

Prow factored into all three Penguins goals tonight. If Pittsburgh needs a defensive recall, Prow is the man for the job in this writers opinion.

Anthony Peters had a couple of glove saves late that preserved the tie and forced overtime, but it was a puck over glass delay of game penalty by Sam Lafferty that put the Pens in a hole.

Overtime: Garrett Wilson dove in a clearing attempt. It’s a home run play that either works out great or it doesn’t.

It didn’t.

Three Stars: 3) Anthony Peters (39 saves on 43 shots) 2) Ethan Prow (goal, two assists) and 1) Jacob McDonald (overtime game winning power play goal)

The Good: Points are points.

The Bad: 1) The extra one is one that the Penguins may wish they had come the Spring…2) The PK is now league worst at 75%.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Bridgeport 3-2 in a shootout….Lehigh Valley thumps Hershey 6-2. Charlotte and Providence were off.

Standings: Charlotte 29 — Bridgeport 25 — Springfield 22 — Lehigh Valley 22 — Hartford 21 — Penguins 20 — Hershey 17 — Providence 15

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Highlights: Coal Street quick on them tonight:

Pens will bus home and get ready for a home game against the Hershey Bears Saturday night. Gameday setup is here on the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

6                                          5

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I’d be more upset about this one, a 6-5 overtime loss for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to the Charlotte Checkers if it was anyone else in the division.

Charlotte is 12-3. They are a great team, there is no getting past that. The Penguins had them down 4-1 tonight and the Checkers slowly but surely mounted yet another Mohegan Sun Arena comeback and won the game in overtime.

If the opponent is a .500 opponent or a last place team, you put teams like that away for good when you are up 4-1. The Penguins tried to do that tonight to the Checkers but there was too much time on the clock and too many good players on the Charlotte team.

Anthony Peters opposed Alex Nedeljkovic.

Lines were…

Lineup Notes: Jimmy Hayes returned, replaced Anthony Angello who goes top line, who replaced Tobias Lindberg who goes fourth line and bumps Ryan Horvat out of the lineup. Defense was unchanged.

Garrett Wilson was reassigned by the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier in the day but was at morning skate in Ottawa this morning and didn’t make it in time.

First Period: Aleksi Saarela scored on a rebound of a shot by Trevor Carrick that put the Checkers on the board first…

Penguins would get a power play and score on it when Adam Johnson scored from the point that tied the game for the Penguins.

Less than a minute later, Stefan Elliott throws a harmless shot at Nedeljkovic that goes in and it’s all of a sudden 2-1.

Thomas DiPauli would find space while Charlotte’s fourth line was out and he scored to make it 3-1.

That ended Nedeljkovic’s night, enter Callum Booth.

Now here is the thing about this move. It wasn’t an indictment on Nedeljkovic’s play as much as hit was a slap in the mouth to the players that played in front of him by head coach Mike Vellucci. Nedeljkovic is Charlotte’s iron horse. He plays in virtually every game for them and wins. Booth had a 1-1 record coming into tonight and was a virtual unknown.

Second Period: Adam Johnson scored to make it 4-1 early in the period.

Charlotte then got two bang bang goals from Cliff Pu and Martin Necas and it was uh oh time for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

(initial call was for McKeown, but was changed to Pu)

Callum Booth had a save on Jarrett Burton that totally changed the complexion of the game at the time.

Charlotte, pressing and hammering each shift for a goal, get a ten bell, highlight reel save from their backup goalie to preserve the one goal deficit. That ignited Charlotte.

Third Period: Long time readers of the blog will sometime see me use the term, “not playing to win, playing not to lose” from time to time. That was definitely what the Penguins were doing when the third period started.

Checkers get first five shots on goal, finally break through when Dan Renouf unleashes a shot from the point that ties the game for the Checkers.

Charlotte wasn’t done.

Six seconds into a Tobias Lindberg hold, Greg McKegg scored to make it 5-4 Checkers.

The Penguins mustered only three shots on goal to this point, and were losing.

But then Anthony Angello did this…

Another angle…

That basically got the Penguins at least a point, because Charlotte never got enough of a look in regulation to win it outright.

Overtime: Wilkes-Barre never possessed the puck in overtime and Aleksi Saarela scored to win it for the Checkers.

Three Stars: 

The Good: The Penguins had the best team in the league in a 4-1 hole.

The Bad: That hole? The Penguins let the best team out of said hole and they couldn’t hold onto a lead and lost in overtime,

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Belleville and sweeps the weekend, they win 2-1…Hartford thumps a listless Utica club 6-3…Hershey splits the weekend series with Cleveland and lose 5-2…Providence beats Rochester 3-2 in overtime…Springfield clips Lehigh Valley 3-2.

Standings: Charlotte 27 — Bridgeport 24 — Springfield 20 — Lehigh Valley 20 — Penguins 19 — Hartford 17 — Hershey 17 — Providence 14

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win 4-1 in South Carolina, beating the Stingrays 4-1. Kevin Spinozzi figured into every goal, scoring one and assisting on three others.

Highlights:

Pens are off until after Thanksgiving, when they travel up to Springfield Friday. Remember my Power Rankings post will be here on Wednesday. If there are any news or notes in between I will fill them in here.

Let’s Go Pens!