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I wasn’t around for the early to mid 2000’s when the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Binghamton hockey teams used to beat the piss out of one another.

Comebacks in the playoffs and upset wins? Wasn’t there, wish I was.

Stolen whiteouts? Novel concept, but again, I wasn’t there but wish I was.

I am now, and this edition of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Binghamton Devils putting on a showcase in front of a sellout crowd in Wilkes-Barre is high theater. Cast aside the records, when these two teams get together its a knockdown, drag out affair between two evenly matched teams that happen to hate each other.

Binghamton is the worst team in the AHL and the Penguins are in the top five, but styles make fights.

Wilkes-Barre wins 4-3 in overtime. Game had everything. Comebacks from Binghamton, fights and scrums after every whistle. Questionable officiating after that product has vastly improved. Pens take a lead, Binghamton ties it right back up. Tom Kostopoulos returned from injury.

Zach Aston-Reese’s overtime game winner seals it for the Pens, who hit the All-Star break at the top of the standings in the Atlantic Division and pushing to keep their consecutive playoff appearance streak alive and intact.

Nice game for Tristan Jarry, who made the saves when he needed to to push his team to overtime and the team took over from there. It’s been said that Casey DeSmith has outplayed and won spots over Jarry at every point imaginable when these two have been up for a spot. Getting this hard fought win to go in his favor is a step towards getting back to the NHL for Jarry.

Jarry opposed Mackenzie Blackwood.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Colin Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Greg McKegg – Jarrett Burton
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Jarred Tinordi – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Frank Corrado
Andrey Pedan – Chris Summers

Tristan Jarry – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: 

Also, Prow for Zach Trotman. Colin Smith yielded to Kostopoulos, Dea was in for Thomas.

First Period: J-S Dea gets in behind everyone and scores to make it 1-0 Pens early on…

Penguins controlled long parts of the period, outshooting the guests 10-5, and lead after one. So just a carbon copy of the first in the second and it’s over right?

Wrong.

Second Period: After Kevin Czuczman dunked on Blackwood with this goal…..

…Binghamton responded and was on the Pens like a cheap suit the rest of the night. They were on the Pens at the drop of the puck, controlling offensive zone time.

On a power play, Nick Lappin scores his first of two power play goals for the Devils on this sequence:

Tim Kennedy puts one on the tape of Bracken Kearns who and dishes to Lappin for the near side slam dunk.

Physicality broke out after this. Every whistle was met with a shove or a fight. It was usually the Penguins on the short end of the whistles off of the fingers from referees Andy Wilk and Beau Halkidis, and Lappin made the Penguins pay on yet another power play the Devils had in the period, to tie it with 1:27 left in the second:

Same setup as the last power play goal. As if it were always this easy.

Third Period: Powder keg feeling was diffused a bit by long stretches of play between the two sides that made for a much quicker third period.

Garrett Wilson scored with 1:38 left in regulation to give the Penguins the lead on this snipe:

But Binghamton would get it back seconds later when Bracken Kearns scores on what looked like a high stick deflection that the officials discussed but confirmed and it was a 3-3 game with 63 seconds left to play.

No one scored in regulation so it was off to…

Overtime: Referees had a tough game. They missed a two many men on the ice call then a blatant slash on Gage Quinney in regulation. Then, in overtime, Ryan Haggerty was tripped and Nick Lappin had a name breakaway with the nearest player a good 10 feet behind him. For the hat trick and the game winner. he was turned away by Jarry as play continued.

Zach Aston-Reese….

Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Garrett Wilson (goal, +1) 2) Nick Lappin (two goals, even) 1) Zach Aston-Reese (overtime game winning goal, +2)

Around the Division: Losing streak is at eight for the Hershey Bears, who drop a 3-1 contest to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in Connecticut….Utica ties it late with the extra attacker, then wins it in overtime against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a 3-2 score….Springfield beats Providence 5-2 and Hartford shuts out Charlotte 4-0.

Standings: Penguins (.667 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.644) — Providence (.614) — Charlotte (.568) — Bridgeport (.568) — Hartford (.500) — Springfield (.468) — Hershey (.456)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 5-2 at home to the Manchester Monarchs. Cody Wydo and Nick Sorkin score for the Nailers in the loss.

Video Highlights: 

AHL is off now for the All-Star break. My AHL Power Rankings will be out sometime Sunday. Check in Sunday evening.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The top two teams in the Atlantic Division met Friday night in Allentown.

As it has been so far in the season series, it was a big bully beatdown. But, it’s not a one-sided affair, as both teams are really good and no team dominates the other all season. These two sides are evenly matched.

5-2 Phantoms win tonight. Alex Lyon is the difference in this one as the Penguins chase starter Dustin Tokarski less than ten minutes into the first period and Lyon stops all 26 shots faced the rest of the way. Nic Aube-Kubel scored a pair of goals and its again “those guys” that get us “this time.”

A hell of a series to watch if you don’t have a dog in the fight. I’m sensing a clash in the Calder Cup Playoffs between these two at some point down the line.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — Greg McKegg — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Jarrett Burton – Colin Smith
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Christian Thomas

Andrey Pedan – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman
Chris Summers – Frank Corrado

Anthony Peters – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: J-S Dea was re-assigend by Pittsburgh earlier in the day but Dea did not dress. Neither did Tom Kostopoulos. Expect one, or both, Saturday at home against Binghamton. Clark Donatelli still has some bite on his curveball. He told WBS media yesterday that Tristan Jarry was starting both games but it was Anthony Peters that got the start tonight.

One other note which gets its own paragraph, radio mentioned during the game that tonight was the last game for Christian Thomas before he heads to Pyongyang, South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics where he will represent Team Canada in Men’s Ice Hockey.

First Period: Really active period. Phantoms battled back from one goal deficits twice and starting goaltender Dustin Tokarski only lasted 6:26 into the game after giving up two goals on three shots. Here’s the first from Daniel Sprong…

That was :54 into the game.

Phantoms got one right back when Greg Carey scored here to make it 1-1.

Nice redirect there, but Zach Aston-Reese had a better one as he scored on a redirect of a shot from the point by Andrey Pedan that made it 2-1 and shared Tokarski.

Elite play by Aston-Reese. Phantoms defender draped all over him, cross checks him and he gets a stick on it falling down. Here’s another look…

Things settled for the Phantoms after that as Alex Lyon would enter the game.

Pens would lose Nic Aube-Kubel in the neutral zone, he would break in and score to make it 2-2 heading into the second. First, the goal…

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Second Period: Frank Corrado and Jarred Tinordi pinch on a play the sees TJ Brennan squirt through and score to make it 3-2 Lehigh Valley.

Just awful defending there that deep in your own zone and super quick transition by Lehigh Valley to edge ahead.

Lehigh Valley would pepper Anthony Peters with shots on a power play but Peters was up to the challenge and kept it a 3-2 game.

Daniel Sprong appeared to have scored on a play, but a disagreement between Andrey Pedan and the aforementioned Brennan in front of Peters crease nullified the would be tying goal for the Pens by Sprong.

Shots were 19-17 Phantoms heading into the…

Third Period: Back and forth to open, neither team scoring. TJ Brennan takes his third penalty of the game, and you could point to the Penguins lack of success on the power play tonight and all season really to help spring them in the right direction as one of the reasons they couldn’t build any momentum when they had the man advantage. Wilkes-Barre went 0-for-5 on the power play tonight.

Wilkes-Barre, after the power play expired, can’t score in a furious rush near Lyon and back the other way by Peters, Mike Vecchione pounds home a Peters rebound that makes it 4-2.

1:12 later, Aube-Kubel scores his second of the night to make it 5-2.

Wide open in the neutral zone, collects the puck, darts in and scores.

Pens couldn’t get anything going. On their fifth and final power play, Lehigh Valley had two good shorthanded tries.

Three Stars: 3) TJ Brennan (goal, +3) 2) Nic Aube-Kubel (two goals, assist, +3) and 1) Alex Lyon (26 saves on 26 shots)

Around the Division: Providence crushes Hershey 5-2. Seven losses in a row for Hershey and fading fast….Springfield hands on to beat Bridgeport in a fun one 5-3 and Hartford edges Charlotte 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins (.675 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.640) — Providence (.619) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.558) — Hartford (.477) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.457)

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 2-1 in overtime at home against Reading. Reid Gardiner had the goals for Wheeling. Adam Morrison takes the overtime loss, stopping 27 of 29.

If I see a highlight package out of Lehigh Valley, I will work an edit in here.

Pens host Binghamton in what will likely be a sellout crowd Saturday night. The game will be on TV if you can’t make it down. Gameday setup hits here Saturday afternoon at 3.

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Check this tweet out from Pens color man Nick Hart on Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins goaltender Anthony Peters.

A 4-0 win by the Penguins tonight. 18 save shutout for Peters, who finally gets his pound of flesh and wins when his team this past weekend lose on an overtime game winner in Hartford and a power play goal Saturday in Providence all while not allowing anything more than that as well as not scoring at all, getting shutout in the two games in Connecticut.

Wilkes-Barre has a problem on its hands. Anthony Peters is playing out of his mind right now while NHL contracted goaltenders Michael Leighton and Tristan Jarry are ready to go. Leighton is close to a return from injury and Jarry was reassigned today. More on that in a minute but how on earth do you, if you are Head Coach Clark Donatelli, take Peters out of the lineup if he hasn’t given up an even strength goal in over four games?

I tweeted this during the game tonight and it rings true…

Pens got to first place in the Atlantic with Peters in the drivers seat. AHL is a development league for the NHL and the NHL will always be the bigger picture and rightfully will call the shots, but I just don’t see how; 1) Peters ever goes back to the ECHL without at least first signing an AHL pact to Wilkes-Barre and 2) Clark Donatelli takes Peters out of the lineup.

And from what I have gathered, yes, Wilkes-Barre could sign Peters to an AHL deal and send him back to ECHL Cincinnati, which holds his rights at that level. He can’t go to Wheeling because at the ECHL level, he has an ECHL contract with the Cyclones.

Ah, it’s the old saying, “I don’t coach or manage the team, I just blog about them.” – Interesting days ahead for the braintrust at 40 Coal in Wilkes-Barre.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — Greg McKegg — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Jarrett Burton – Colin Smith
Thomas Di Pauli – Teddy Blueger – Christian Thomas

Andrey Pedan – Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman
Chris Summers – Frank Corrado

Anthony Peters – Charlie Williams

Peters opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lineup Notes: The Pittsburgh Penguins sent Tristan Jarry back to the AHL after the AHL announced earlier in the day that Bridgeport’s Christopher Gibson would replace Casey DeSmith at the All-Star Classic in Utica this coming weekend. The two weren’t directly related, but you knew with Matt Murray back in town after his father’s death coupled with the hot play of Casey DeSmith with Pittsburgh, that Jarry was going to be the odd man out.

First Period: On a delayed penalty, McKegg muscles a puck into the zone and centers to Zach Aston-Reese who scored the first goal in 127:27 of game action to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead…

Jarrett Burton would double the lead when he followed his own shot and threw a puck in on Copley from a tight angle.

Off of the ensuing face-off, Garrett Wilson skated in and  Anthony Peters straight up looked him in the eye and denied him with the pad.

Wilkes-Barre would get outshot 9-4 in the period but led where it counted heading into the…

Second Period: Sleepy period, with each team ending the period with 13 shots, but Anthony Peters stopped three two one ones and three power plays for the Bears.

Third Period: Pens tack on two more goals. Here’s the first from Christian Thomas. A knee drop one timer in the slot that made it 3-0.

Tyler Lewington and Garrett Mitchell fought after this sequence, for no apparent reason. Radio said it may have been something said to Liam O’Brien.

Pens didn’t waste any time in making it 4-0 when Daniel Sprong left a drop pass for a trailing Zach Trotman.

Bears tried to mix it up with the Penguins after every whistle, but with time dwindling, were not able to score. The Penguins didn’t get a single power play all night until the very end, and that iced things away for Peters.

Three Stars: 3) Zach Aston-Reese (game winning goal, +1) 2) Frank Corrado (two assists, +2) and 1) Anthony Peters (18 save shutout)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Providence 3-2 at home. Pens are there Friday….Bridgeport beats Springfield 3-1. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Penguins (.675 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.640) — Providence (.619) — Charlotte (.583) — Bridgeport (.571) — Hartford (.477) — Hershey (.477) — Springfield (.444)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win at home against Kalamazoo by a 6-2 score. Reid Gardiner had a pair of goals. Cody Wydo had a goal as well.

Video Highlights:

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No idea where Wilkes-Barre goes from here. Ride the hot hand of Peters against Lehigh Valley in Allentown or are the marching orders handed down from up top in Pittsburgh and it’s Tristan Jarry out first at 6:20 Friday night at PPL Center? Stay tuned, I guess.

But for anything breaking Thursday, check out the Gameday setup here on the blog at 3 p.m. Friday.

Let’s Go Pens!