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6                                          2

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Wlkes-Barre / Scranton uses six goals tonight in Belleville, Ontario to extend their winning streak to six wins with a 6-2 win in Canada tonight.

Ryan Haggerty had three goals, his first ever hat trick as a professional. Anthony Peters picked up his fourth win as a Penguins goaltender since coming in on his second PTO and coupled with a Providence loss, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are once again atop the Atlantic Division.

Another methodical win by the Penguins, who seemed numb to a better Belleville team tonight in my opinion. The Pens have been using the KISS method to win them hockey games recently and it’s been working. Anthony Peters is more than capable enough to win games for the Penguins in goal. The defense remains intact for Wilkes-Barre and the Penguins are getting scoring from the likes of Haggerty, Christian Thomas, J-S Dea, Teddy Blueger and others and it’s turned their season around.

Anthony Peters opposed Marcus Hogberg.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Greg McKegg – Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Cody Wydo – Gage Quinney – Thomas Di Pauli

Pedan-Czuczman Tinordi-Trotman Taylor-Corrado

Anthony Peters – Adam Morrison

Lineup Notes: Casey DeSmith was recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the day today because Matt Murray is away on a personal matter. For the Penguins in Belleville, Gage Quinney was back in for Wilkes-Barre along with Cody Wydo on the fourth line. On defense, Frank Corrado and Jeff Taylor were in for Chris Summers and Ethan Prow. On Thursday, Christian Thomas was selected for the mens hockey team for Team Canada. That’s Olympian Christian Thomas to you.

First Period: Ryan Haggerty got the Penguins on the board early when he unleashed this shot that eluded Hogberg that gave the Pens a 1-0 lead…

That’s a five game point streak for Haggerty and a six game point streak for Zach Aston-Reese, who picked up an assist on the goal. He’s assisted on nine of fourteen goals by Haggerty this season.

Pens had to kill a Jeff Taylor penalty and had a few shorthanded rushes but couldn’t add another goal.

Later, Max McCormick wheeled around the net of Peters and dished a pass to Colin Smith on the far post that Smith pounded home make it a 1-1 game.

Pens had a late power play, and assistant coach Tim Army put five forwards out for it, something that I have noticed the Penguins do recently, but there was no scoring with that man advantage.

Wilkes-Barre ended the period on a 7-0 shot run.

Second Period: Momma, there’s that man again…

Haggerty’s modus operandi coming over from Rockford when the Penguins signed him two years ago was that he had a great shot. He never used it as much last year as he is this year.

1:15 later, Olympian Christian Thomas scores to make it 3-1 for the Penguins.

That was Thomas’ fourth goal in his last three games.

Kurt Klinendorst replaced Hogberg with Danny Taylor in goal. It worked, to some extent, as Belleville would get one back :06 into an Andrey Pedan interference call. Ben Harpur got the Senators back to within one with his quick goal off of the Senators face-off win.

Third Period: Haggerty completes his hat trick here with this firecracker…

Pens made it 5-2 when Garrett Wilson got in on the scoring by finding daylight from a low angle on a power play…

With time dwindling, Belleville pulled Taylor for the extra man. But then Frank Corrado iced a puck down ice that J-S Dea beat everyone to and he scored an empty netter to salt the game away for Wilkes-Barre…

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Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (goal, +2) 2) Colin White (two goals, +1) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (hat trick, assist, +2)

Around the Division: Bridgeport edges Providence 3-2. This Bruins loss catapults the Penguins to first in the division….Toronto defeats Charlotte 4-1. These two teams rematch tomorrow in North Carolina…Springfield smokes Lehigh Valley in Allentown 6-2…Hartford loses to the Penguins Saturday opponent, Laval by a 4-2 score.

Standings: Penguins (.671 percentage points) — Providence (.653) — Lehigh Valley (.618) — Charlotte (.581) — Bridgeport (.543) — Hershey (.513) — Hartford (.462) — Springfield (.436)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers come back from a 3-0 deficit to stun the Norfolk Admirals 4-3 in overtime at WesBanco tonight. Riley Bourbonnais scored the overtime game winning goal 2:19 into overtime to give the Nailers the win.

Remember that Saturday’s game from Laval starts at 4. Don’t be late! Gameday setup will hit the blog here Saturday at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

0                                          6

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins needed a game like this.

The Belleville Senators have been bad all season, their 6th place showing in the North Division is only bested by last place Binghamton, who the Penguins have struggled with.

So the Penguins rightfully should crush a young, inexperienced Belleville team.

It’s exactly how the outcome turned out tonight.

A 6-0 win. Casey DeSmith was marvelous in goal tonight for the Penguins, stopping all 24 shots sent his way. The game had some lulls to it as any game would, but when called upon DeSmith was there to preserve his clean sheet. Now five wins in a row for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Two goals from J-S Dea tonight and two more from Christian Thomas who must be pushing hard to get noticed for Team Canada and the Olympics. Secondary scoring from defensemen in Ethan Prow and Zach Trotman and that’s your ballgame.

DeSmith opposed Chris Driedger.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Greg McKegg – Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Freddie Tiffels – Jarrett Burton – Thomas Di Pauli

Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman
Andrey Pedan – Kevin Czuczman
Chris Summers – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Earlier in the day, the Pittsburgh Penguins placed defenseman Frank Corrado on waivers. Lineup wise tonight, Patrick McGrath was out for Freddie Tiffels.

First Period: Christian Thomas used a Belleville defenseman with a screen and ripped home a shot from the high slot that went in to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

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Zach Trotman a few minutes later doubles the Penguins lead to 2-0 with this shot from the point that makes it way past Driedger for a 2-0 Penguins lead…

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Despite the fact that it was a low shot period for the Belleville Senators, Casey DeSmith was dialed in, stopping a deflected puck from the point then the rebound attempt.

Second Period: Belleville tried to push back with a lot more offensive zone time then they had in the first period, but the Penguins played a bend but not break style of hockey that preserved the 2-0 lead when J-S Dea scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead. Dea had to be called back onto the ice by referee David Banfield after an icing call, won the face-off that ensured in his own zone, then skated the length of the ice and scored to give the Pens the 3-0 lead.

It was Dea’s first goal in 15 games, so he took the proverbial monkey on his back and threw it into Section 102.

Third Period: J-S Dea again, this time off of Driedger and in. Check this out…

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Power play goal by Dea made it 4-0 Penguins. Dea’s first multi-goal game of the season, his last coming March 5, 2017. Oh, and also…

Ethan Prow fired and scored his first goal of the season to make it 5-0.

Christian Thomas scored his second of the night that made it 6-0.

Twelve Penguins recorded at least a point and four of them had multi point nights.

It was the definition of a great team tearing apart a bad team.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (two goals, +1) 2) Casey DeSmith (24 save shutout) and 1) Christian Thomas (two goals, assist, +4)

Around the Division: Really good results here if you are a Penguin fan. Providence beat Springfield 6-2…Rochester beat Lehigh Valley 3-1…Hershey crushed Charlotte 5-1…Syracuse beats Hartford 3-2…Toronto steamrolls Bridgeport 6-1.

Standings: Providence (.691 percentage points) — Penguins (.662) — Lehigh Valley (.635) — Charlotte (.614) — Bridgeport (.544) — Hershey (.500) — Hartford (.472) — Springfield (.405)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in Cincinnati and lost to the Cyclones 4-2. Kevin Schulze and Cam Brown scored for the Nailers in the loss.

Video Highlights:

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I’m not really convinced that the Penguins are back, so to speak, rather than just playing out of their terrible December by getting pieces back together and beating some really bad teams. That week where Wilkes-Barre hosts Lehigh Valley on January 17 and then travels to Providence on the 19th is circled on my calendar as the true tests for this team.

If Frank Corrado is claimed on waivers, I’ll put a blog post up Sunday noting same. If not, Week 14 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Monday back on their regular time Monday at 4.

       vs.       

2                                          4

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Fourth win in a row for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins tonight, a 4-2 win over a pesky Springfield Thunderbirds team that were with the Penguins step or step for 59:58 tonight. It was Adam Johnson’s empty net goal with 1.7 seconds left in regulation that ultimately put the Thunderbirds away.

Casey DeSmith picked up the win tonight for the Pens, who again have won four in a row. It sure has hell doesn’t feel like a four game winning streak with the tumultuous times that Wilkes-Barre has been in and battling out of.

I said in my Rapid Recap of this one earlier that this is a game a few weeks ago that the Penguins probably lose. They didn’t, of course, because of heady defense and pack mentality offensively. No scoring in the first period, Pens outshoot Springfield by a wide margin for a time then Greg McKegg breaks the deadlock and gets the Penguins on the board. A wild third period that saw both teams score four times, is probably one that the Penguins of three weeks ago manage to overthink and let get away from them. Not tonight.

Are the Penguins back? I think yes, but I am not sure yet. Bridgeport was the biggest test of the week and the Penguins passed with flying colors. Springfield is last in the division and Belleville, Saturday’s opponent, is playing awful hockey right now and got smoked by Binghamton on the Southern Tier 6-1 last night. I don’t make the schedule and a win is a win, but come see me when the Penguins meet up with the Providence Bruins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms later down the schedule before you start asking me if they Pens are back.

Casey DeSmith opposed Samuel Montembeault.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Greg McKegg – Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Thomas Di Pauli – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman
Andrey Pedan – Kevin Czuczman
Chris Summers – Ethan Prow

Casey DeSmith – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: Adam Johnson was back in, replacing Cody Wydo and Zach Trotman was in for Jeff Taylor.

First Period: No scoring here but the Penguins largely dominated offensive zone time and outshot the Thunderbirds 8-5.

Second Period: Greg McKegg would sweep in a doubled deflected shot from the point on the near side to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

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Jarred Tinordi swept away a Curtis Valk shot that slipped in between DeSmith that was reviewed on replay (nice to see it’s operable again) and then later murdered Ed Wittchow in this fight…

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I have not seen a Penguins player manhandle an opponent in a fight like that in some timer. Tinordi stung Wittchow with many stiff shots, I counted nine straight at one point, full credit to the Thunderbirds defenseman for staying on his feet and not going down.

Third Period: 1:03 in, Mark Fayne scored to get the Thunderbirds on the board. He was there to poke home a rebound off of DeSmith’s pads to tie the game and make it a tie and new game again.

Christian Thomas scored on this snipe to re-establish the Penguins lead.

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Man down!

Later, Ryan Haggerty swept in a puck that the Thunderbirds did not clean up in front of Montembeault to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

I thought at that point it was the kill shot the Penguins finally were able to find.

:21 later, Dryden Hunt and other plans. Springfield established time in the offensive zone and Hunt scored to make it a one goal game again for the Thunderbirds.

But Springfield, with time becoming their enemy, were not able to find the equalizer and with Montembeault pulled saw Adam Johnson score on the empty net with 1.7 seconds left to ice it away for the Penguins.

Three Stars: 3) Greg McKegg (goal, +1) 2) Christian Thomas (goal, even) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Toronto takes down Lehigh Valley in a shootout 3-2….Hartford jumped out to a 3-0 lead and preserved it to hold on for a 3-2 win over Providence….Bridgeport scrapped with Rochester in Western New York and lost 3-2 in overtime. Charlotte was off.

Standings: Providence (.652 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.653) — Penguins (.652) — Charlotte (.632) — Bridgeport (.561) — Hershey (.486) — Hartford (.486) — Springfield (.417)

Pens are .001 percentage point behind the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with three games in hand.

Wheeling Update: Nailers score a touchdown and extra point on division leader Manchester, winning 7-4 at home. Riley Bourbonnais had a hat trick.

Video Highlights…

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Belleville is in tomorrow night for their only stop down of the year. Pens Head Coach Clark Donatelli didn’t tip his hand as to who is starting in goal against the Senators Saturday. I’ll answer for him. Casey DeSmith hasn’t seen a ton of game action, he’s the guy on the NHL contract vs. the backup on PTO, DeSmith heads out of the tunnel first Saturday night for warmups.

Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!