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Look at this game, a 2-1 Pens loss to the Hershey Bears, this way. When you don’t have anything left to play for (Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference Championships are already the Penguins) it’s hard to get motivated.

Think of it this way. You work at a widget factory. You are only given 110 widgets to make in an eight hour day. You can’t make any more, you can’t make any less. You have to make 110.

Well, the Penguins just made their 110th widget and the clock still reads 3:30 in the afternoon when they knock off at 5.

The Penguins, with little to play for in their final three games, lost Wednesday in a shootout to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and tonight to the Hershey Bears 2-1. Each winning team clinched a playoff spot. Four teams in the Atlantic have to make it, the Penguins just happened to play two that hadn’t yet.

Penguins turned it on in the third period on a power play goal by Tim Erixon, but :27 later the Bears scored again.

Providence clinched tonight as well, locking Bridgeport out after the Sound Tigers got smoked 7-0 at home against the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Bruins travel to Hershey Saturday with the winner heading to Allentown to open against the Phantoms and the loser heading to Wilkes-Barre to take on the Penguins next weekend in in the Atlantic Division Semifinals.

Casey DeSmith opposed Pheonix Copley.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Ryan Haggerty
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton – Adam Krause

Derrick Pouliot – Frank Corrado
Brett Stern – David Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Jeff Taylor

Casey DeSmith – Sean Maguire

Lineup Notes: Two changes from Wednesday, Adam Krause for Patrick McGrath and Brett Stern for Ethan Prow.

First Period: Pens with a season low one shot on goal. Bears had seven with one power play. That was it.

Second Period: Chris Bourque centered a pass from behind the goal line to Jakub Vrana who scored to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. There were more goal posts hit in this game then there were goals, Bears had four by my count and the Pens had three.

Third Period: Penguins were guilty of making way too many extra passes tonight. They started to turn up the heat on the Bears and forced them into taking a puck over glass delay of game. On the ensuing power play, the Penguins only of the game, Tim Erixon scored to make it a tie game at one…

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Off the face-off and :27 later, Christian Djoos scored to make it 2-1 Bears. Penguins thought hey had the light switch fully on, but just as quick the Bears came in and quickly shut the light off.

With DeSmith pulled for the extra attacker, the Penguins were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Tim Erixon (goal, -1) 2) Pheonix Copley (22 saves on 23 shots) and 1) Christian Djoos (game winning goal, +1)

Around the Division: Already gave you the 7-0 Springfield pasting that they laid on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers…Providence was up 4-1 to start the third against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown, but the Phantoms scored three unanswered to tie it and Corban Knight scored :48 into overtime to win it. Phantoms win 5-4 in overtime….Utica keeps its playoff hopes alive with a 5-4 win at home against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Standings: Penguins (.700 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.660) — Providence (.640) — Hershey (.633) — Bridgeport (.613) — Springfield (.487) — Hartford (.360)

Here is the Penguins Kilpatrick Trophy clinching scenarios, which is basically the regular season championship and ensures home ice in the Calder Cup Playoffs…

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Pens win against Bridgeport, they still need help in the form of the Barracuda not getting two points tomorrow. I’ll probably have something on this either late Saturday or Sunday morning, depending on how thing shake out tomorrow.

Gameday for the final game of the regular season hist the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It took 268:49 before the Lehigh Valley Phantoms finally scored another goal on the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. It came in the third period of game where the Phantoms trailed by a goal. That goal proved crucial for the Phantoms as they needed just one point to punch a postseason playoff ticket, their first appearance since 2009.

Phantoms win 2-1 in a shootout.

In the hurry up again because it’s a work night and despite popular belief, this isn’t my job.

Lines were…

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Casey DeSmith was backed up by Sean Maguire.

Lineup Notes: Was expecting two lineups tonight and wouldn’t have had any qualms with either, a preseason lineup full of rookies or a more experienced lineup full of regulars. We got the latter. Clark Donatelli is still pushing for the regular season title with Roy Sommer out in San Jose.

First Period: Anthony Stolarz left the game with a lower body injury, putting no weight on his left leg getting assistance off the ice. Alex Lyon replaced him. Garrett Wilson extracted his pound of flesh on Sam Morin with a fight. They continued to do this the entire time in the penalty boxes…

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Teams traded penalties, Penguins got a double minor power play when Morin clipped Wilson with a high stick that drew blood but the Penguins got nothing out of it.

Second Period: Fast pace, lots of Penguins shots, no penalties, no goals. The type of period that this blogger loves on a work night.

Third Period: Wilkes-Barre finally breaks through when Teddy Blueger puts a shot off the pads of Alex Lyon and Dominik Simon swoops in and cleans up the rebound…

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Phantoms would answer back about ten minutes later when Taylor Leier punched in a rebound to tie the score at one. It would be the first goal the Phantoms scored against the Penguins in 268:49 or a sum total of 104 consecutive shots in between goals.

Overtime: Came and went, really exciting, fast pace, edge of your seats stuff. Referees Evgenii Romasko and Terry Koharski let the two rivals play and stayed out of the picture after the first period as there were no penalties after the first.

Shootout: Corban Knight beat Casey DeSmith in the bottom of the second and Oskar Sundqvist couldn’t score in the top of the third.

Around the Division: Albany punches a postseason ticket at the expense of the Hartford Wolf Pack with a 6-3 win. Springfield beats Providence 4-3. The P-Bruins have to wait another day to lock up a playoff spot.

Standings: Penguins (.709 percentage points) — Phantoms (.655) — Providence (.642) — Hershey (.628) — `Bridgeport (.622) — Springfield (.480) — Hartford (.365)

If you are keeping track of the Kilpatrick race, which is top overall team in the AHL, Wilkes-Barre leads San Jose in percentage points .709 to .705. Two games left for both teams.

Sprong Watch: Daniel Sprong’s Charlottetown Islanders beat Cape Breton 3-2 in overtime to go up 3-0 in the series. Sprong had a goal. Charlottetown can sweep Thursday.

If Coal Street puts out a video highlight package, I will run the edit here.

Let’s Go Pens!