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Blog headline was summarized by Penguins play-by-play man Mike O’Brien and his, “Obie’s Observations” that he has after each Penguins game on radio. He mentioned that the Penguins played a great, 60 minute hockey game, but still lost. They lost because of small, tiny mistakes that ultimately cost them goals. Death, by paper cuts. Perfect way to summarize the game by the Pens radio man.

Wilkes-Barre loses 3-2. Two third period goals by the Phantoms on funny bounces catch the Penguins, who put up 41 shots and still came up a goal short.

Tom had a post game quote tweet from Garrett Wilson that fits well here.

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Death by paper cuts.

Casey DeSmith opposed Dustin Tokarski.

No lineup changes from last night’s win against Binghamton.

First Period: Game opened up quick and went end to end for pretty much all game. I cringed this week when I saw that David Banfield and Terry Koharski were scheduled to work the game but those two veteran referees stayed out of the way tonight and let the players dictate play and called what needed to be called.

Finally, Zach Aston-Reese put a shot on net that deflected off Teddy Blueger and in to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

(Taylor wasn’t around tonight, so no GIFs, sorry)

Shots after one were 14-9 Penguins heading into the…

Second Period: Casey DeSmith deserved better in this game. This week, he sees future hall of famer Michael Leighton join the organization and his #1 starter role is all of a sudden in doubt after pretty much being the man in Wilkes-Barre for all of 2017. He was dialed in here, stopping a 2-on-1 and then lunging behind him to freeze a puck a few minutes later. After Chris Conner scored in transition on a shot that handcuffed Casey, he would respond in kind with a save on a breakaway, then the rebound attempt then a one time in a mad rush by the Phantoms to eke out a lead. DeSmith would have none of it.

Pens respond with the timely, big saves from their netminder as Ryan Haggerty would stuff in a backhand shot past Tokarski to make it 2-1 Penguins.

Third Period: Back to Tom’s tweet, the lack of power play production is killing this team right now. Pens get a power play but are not able to score. Phantoms kill it, then Nick Aube-Kubel somehow, someway, scores to tie the game. DeSmith was sealed off of on the post and the puck, to my amazement, makes it past him and find its way to the back of the net to make it a tie game.

4:03 later, Oskar Lindblom would score on a nice no look pass from Conner to push the Phantoms ahead 3-2 with just over six minutes left to play.

After that goal, the Penguins would go on to outshoot the Phantoms 7-1 but would never be able to find the equalizer with DeSmith vacated.

Three Stars: 3) Teddy Blueger (goal, even) 2) Chris Conner (goal, assist, even) and 1) Oskar Lindblom (goal, two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Bridgeport had an earlier start than the Penguins and halt the Hartford Wolf Pack nine game point streak with a 5-1 win in Hartford today…Hershey crushes Binghamton 5-2…Providence edges Springfield in a shootout 2-1. Charlotte was off.

Standings: Providence (.690 percentage points) — Charlotte (.661) — Lehigh Valley (.656) — Penguins (.625) — Bridgeport (.534) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.484) — Springfield (.424)

Wheeling Update: Nailers exact revenge on the Brampton Beast who beat the Nailers yesterday. Wheeling wins 6-2. Hunter Fejes had two goals and an assist in the win. Nailers are off now until December 29, next Friday, when they meet up with the Fort Wayne Komets in Indiana.

Week 12 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog Sunday, sometime. I don’t know when just yet. No later than 4, so check back here after then. Enjoy your holiday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Teddy Blueger scored two goals tonight, one at 4:19 of the first period and another at 4:19 of overtime. In case you didn’t get the rub of the blog headline.

Penguins win 4-3 in overtime in a hotly contested, physical affair, like the teams from Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton of yore. That’s a fun hockey game.

Wilkes-Barre looked like it was going on cruise control when Binghamton took over, outshooting the Penguins 11-0 and scoring two goals in the process to tie the game at 2-2, then got an ugly shorthanded goal to make it 3-2.

I’m not going to blow the whole story here in the lede, just know that it was a good game that the Penguins battled through and they should come out of it a better team for it.

Michael Leighton (making his Penguins season debut) opposed Ken Appleby.

Casey DeSmith will get the start Saturday against Lehigh Valley. Donatelli told the media Thursday that the two net minders would split the starts this weekend.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese — J-S Dea — Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – Gage Quinney – Daniel Sprong
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Colin Smith
Cody Wydo – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

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

Michael Leighton – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Third time this season that the Penguins ideal lineup on defense dress….Greg McKegg was a healthy scratch, Tom and Tyler reported after the game that he is away attending to a family matter and won’t be back until after Christmas. Jeff Taylor skated the extra in warmups.

First Period: Adam Johnson chases down a puck to beat out an icing, dishes to Teddy Blueger who scored to make it 1-0 Penguins…

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Foreshadowing…

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Kevin Czuczman put a shot on from the point that Jarrett Burton tipped in to make it 2-0 Penguins.

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Leighton was making some good saves when called upon, but then John Quennville ripped a shot over Leighton’s glove to get Binghamton on the board and made it a 2-1 game.

Binghamton scored again on a goofy play where there was a lucky Devil bounce on a wraparound play. Leighton was caught looking the other way and Nick Lappin put it in to make it 2-2.

Penguins got a power play late in the period then give up a goal to Michael Latta on a 2-on-1 that no goalie in the world would stop. Take a look…

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Second Period: Pens had the better chances. Patrick McGrath picked up his first fighting major of the season, nobody scored so it was off to the..

Third Period: Jarret Burton scored on this goal which no one at the time, knew how it went in, sound up for Nick Hart’s reaction on the goal…

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Tie game.

Things got physical. Zach Aston-Reese hit Nick Lappin which put Lappin out off the game. He fought Michael Latta who fought McGrath in the second.

Right after, Garrett Wilson laid a hit on a Devil which set off a mini brawl which put the Devils on the power play to close out the third as we headed to…

Overtime: Penguins killed the Devils power play easily. There was a stoppage and the teams when back to three on three. J-S Dea to Teddy Blueger at 4:19 of overtime…

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Game. Set. Match. Maybe it takes a greasy win like this to break the Penguins out of the funk that they are in.

Three Stars: 3) Michael Leighton (28 saves on 31 shots) 2) Jarrett Burton (two goals, +2) and 1) Teddy Blueger (two goals, overtime game winner, +2)

Around the Division: The Hartford Wolf Pack may be the best team in the Atlantic Division at present. They methodically take down the Providence Bruins 6-4 at home. Springfield jumped out on Bridgeport and didn’t look back and won 5-2. Lehigh Valley, Hershey and Charlotte were all off.

Standings: Providence (.679 percentage points) — Charlotte (.661) — Penguins (.648) — Lehigh Valley (.645) — Bridgeport (.518) — Hartford (.516) — Hershey (.468) — Springfield (.422)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers hosted the Brampton Beast tonight and lost 3-1. Garrett Meurs scored for the Nailers. These two teams rematch tomorrow in West Virginia.

Video Highlights: 

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Don’t forget that Saturday’s game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms starts at 5:05, to get it out of the way so teams and their families can make it home in time fro Christmas on Monday. With no games on Sunday, look for the Week 12 AHL Power Rankings some time on Christmas Eve then. I will probably mention it again Saturday after the Phantoms game as well.

Let’s Go Pens!