Last Game: Sunday at home against Utica, the Penguins lost their first shootout of the year 3-2. Oskar Sundqvist’s power play goal with under a minute left in regulation ensured that the Penguins got at least the point necessary to force overtime. For Lehigh Valley, the Phantoms hosted the Hershey Bears on Wednesday and lost 3-2 in overtime. Taylor Leier and Colin McDonald scored for the Phantoms in the loss.
Last Meeting: April 1 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins shutout Lehigh Valley 3-0. It was the first regulation professional shutout for Casey DeSmith, who stopped all 26 shots sent his way.
Record: For WBS: 47-19-3-1 (98 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For LV: 44-22-5-0 (93 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: It’s a logjam from second place on back in the Atlantic Division between four teams. It’s an extremely important weekend for the Phantoms who are being chased by the Bruins, Sound Tigers and Bears. Lehigh Valley needs a win here to keep the heat on the Penguins for the first spot in the Atlantic and to further cement their own playoff status as the Penguins were the only Eastern Conference team who was guaranteed a berth in the playoffs.
Comments Off on Wheeling Wrap 4/4
Posted by nafsnep on April 4, 2017
It’s the second to last edition of the Wheeling Wrap, where we take a look back at the week that was for the Wheeling Nailers.
The Nailers were officially eliminated from a playoff spot this past weekend and this week is their final week of the regular season. Let’s take a look back at the week that was for the Nailers…
Wheeling beat Brampton at home on Friday by a score of 4-3. Cody Widow had a goal and and assist, Daniel Leavens had two goals and Sean Maguire picked up the win, stopping 32 of 35 shots by the Beast. Wheeling went 1 for 5 on the power play. The Nailers used three first period goals to help them hold off a hard charging Beast team who are playoff bound.
Sunday, the Nailers were defeated by the Reading Royals at home 5-3 which sealed up a playoff spot for the Royals and shut the door on the Nailers playoff hopes. Wheeling scored three unanswered goals to take the lead in the second period but the Royals responded to tie the game back up heading into second intermission. In the third, Reading scored a second power play goal and the Nailers with Sean Maguire pulled for the extra attacker saw the Royals score an empty net goal. Nick Sorkin had two assists for the Nailers, Oliver Labelle had two goals and an assist for Reading and starting goaltender for the Royals Mark Dekanich stopped 32 of 35 shots.
The Nailers close out the season this week with a trip to Brampton, Ontario Wednesday before heading home to close out the season at Wesbanco Arena with a date with the Kalamazoo Wings before boarding a bus to Kalamazoo to close out the season Saturday in Michigan.
Wheeling’s record stands at 33-28-8-0, good for 74 points and fourth place in the North Division.
Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 25
Posted by nafsnep on April 3, 2017
Week 25 and the playoff picture in the AHL is starting to come together.
The first Eastern Conference team has punched a playoff ticket in Wilkes-Barre.
There is a game being played of hot potato for the fourth sport in many divisions.
San Jose remains your number one team this week as it appears it will be down to the Barracuda and the Penguins to decide who wins the regular season championship.
Penguins jump up to second this week, their biggest rivals in Hershey take a nosedive out of the top 20.
Click through the jump to see where your team ended up this week if you didn’t link in direct.
Comments Off on Wilkes-Barre XV — Penguins Punch Ticket to 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs
Posted by nafsnep on April 2, 2017
Fifteen straight years.
Like death and taxes, you can nearly guarantee that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins will be in the Calder Cup Playoffs when players start filtering to Coal Street in late September.
After today’s shootout loss to the Utica Comets, all eyes turned to Hershey, Pennsylvania where the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Bears were playing a 5:05 start. The Phantoms beat the Bears 4-2 on a Chris Conner hat trick and this cemented the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins playoff status.
Fifteen straight years. Longest streak in professional hockey. The parent team in Pittsburgh has been there 11 straight years. They teach similar styles to that what they expect in Pittsburgh.
The one thing which has eluded us in Wilkes-Barre which Pittsburgh has three of and the team that put us in the playoffs just now has eleven of at the AHL level is the Calder Cup.
Fourteen years and they have come away empty handed. With this team, one that has run the table seemingly since they dropped the puck in October, I get the sense that this year may be different.
We will see.
Step one is playoffs. Step two is the Atlantic Division Championship, the Macgregor Kilpatrick trophy is step three then step four is fifteen more wins in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Comments Off on DemKO’d — Pens LOSE 3-2 (SO)
Posted by nafsnep on April 2, 2017
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In the hurry up because its Wrestlemania Sunday.
Penguins got a late power play goal by Oskar Sundqvist to drive their magic number to clinch a playoff spot to one pending the outcome of Lehigh Valley / Hershey ongoing. Don’t come back to this post to see if the Penguins are the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a spot in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs. That will get it’s own post if need be later.
I have people waiting for me at home for The Showcase of the Immortals so here’s a quick rundown of the action today in Wilkes-Barre, a game that the Penguins lost 3-2 in a shootout.
Tristan Jarry opposed Thatcher Demko in net. Only lineup change was Garrett Wilson for Jarrett Burton for Wilkes-Barre.
In the first, the Comets got on the board first at 2:28 when a shot from Jordan Subban was deflected by Cody Kunyk that got Utica the lead. Penguins were being badly outshot in the period when Utica fell into penalty trouble that saw them killing a five-on-three for more than two minutes. Penguins set up in the offensive zone but didn’t cash on a game tying goal or a go ahead one.
In the second, Tom Kostopoulos sets up Zach Aston-Reese on a power play goal that ties the game at one but Utica edged ahead when another shot from the point by Subban was put home by the Comets defenseman. Puck inadvertently went off of a piece of equipment belonging to Frank Corrado.
The third period brought the Penguins still trying to push to get the tying goal which took 19:02 seconds with Jarry pulled and the Penguins on a power play. Oskar Sundqvist pushed one home to force overtime.
Overtime came and went without a whistle.
Curtis Valk was the only skater to score in the three person shootout to give Utica the extra point.
Three stars wereDerrick Pouliot with two assists, Tom Kostopoulos with two assists and Thatcher Demko with 43 saves on 45 shots.
Around the Division: Lehigh Valley did the Penguins a solid beating the Bears 4-2 in Hershey tonight officially clinching the playoffs for Wilkes-Barre for the fifteenth straight year. The Bears lost all three games this weekend….Providence beats Hartford 4-1 to stay in third. Idle Bridgeport stays in fourth now with a game in hand over the Bears who are still a point out of a playoff spot.
Wheeling Update: The Wheeling Nailers were officially eliminate form Kelly Cup Playoffs today with a 5-3 loss to the Reading Royals. The Nailers have three games left before a caravan of Black Aces head to Wilkes-Barre. More Tuesday in the Wheeling Wrap.
Last Game: Last night against Lehigh Valley, the Pens beat the Phantoms 3-0. It was the first regulation shutout for Casey DeSmith, who stopped all 26 shots faced. Troy Josephs scored his first professional goal as well…. For Utica, the Comets hosted Rochester and won 5-3. Jake Virtanen scored twice and was named first star of the game.
Lat Meeting: Last Sunday at home, Casey DeSmith backstopped Wilkes-Barre to a 2-1 win over the Comets with 45 saves. Sahir Gill and Dominik Simon scored for the Penguins.
Record: For WBS: 47-19-3-0 (97 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For UTI: 32-28-7-2 (73 pts., 5th place North Division)
Why you should care: Win and you are in. If the Penguins win this game this afternoon in any form or fashion, they are the first Eastern Conference team registered for the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs. Utica poses a threat because they are in fifth place and still have a lot to play for.
Comments Off on Coming Up Aces — Pens WIN 3-0
Posted by nafsnep on April 1, 2017
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A lot of things to get to so let’s not waste time.
The Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot to the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs is two after a Hershey regulation loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers which drops the Bears out of a playoff spot by open point.
The Magic Number for home ice for the first round of the playoffs (essentially a finish of no worse than second) is 6.
The Magic Number for the Atlantic Division Championship is 7. I don’t know what the magic number for the Eastern Conference Championship is, but since the North Division is a numbers fire, it’s probably 7.
Casey DeSmith picked up his first regulation shutout of his career with a 26 save shutout of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tonight.
Frank Corrado and Troy Josephs scored their first goals for the Penguins. For Josephs, it is his first professional goal. Derrick Pouliot scored a third period goal that put it away for the Penguins, who beat the Phantoms 3-0 to go seven clear of the Phantoms and second place in the division.
Points, second on fifth in case you are wondering, cannot be tighter.
Three points, second to fifth, in the Atlantic Division. 90-89-88-87.
Penguins have a shutout streak of 155:38 over Lehigh Valley going back to Jarry’s shutout of the Phantoms and DeSmith’s tonight. The penalty kill is 14/14 during this time as well.
That should about cover it. As for the game, the Penguins and Phantoms went after each other hot and heavy in the first period with every stoppage leading to pushing and shoving. I thought that referees Evgenii Romasko and Micheal Mullen were outstanding tonight in controlling a powder keg situation. There is a time to call penalties and a time to let things sort themselves out. Running a guy for looking at a guy wrong in a game that has huge implications for both isn’t the best way to officiate in my opinion. These two did a great job of controlling a situation which looked out of hand, but was in fact, under control.
Frank Corrado scored his first for Wilkes-Barre on a shot by Dominik Simon which went over Lehigh Valley Phantoms starting goaltender Alex Lyon and sat in the crease. Corrado swooped in and poked it across to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead….
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 2, 2017
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Penguins would extend the lead to 2-0 after a long offensive shift hemming the Phantoms deep in their own zone. David Warsofsky put one on net that Troy Josephs deflected in for his first professional goal…
DeSmith made a skate save on Greg Carey to preserve the two goal lead and his shutout bid….
While we're waiting for the third period to start, let's check out the save of the night (so far) from Casey DeSmith. #LHVvsWBSpic.twitter.com/V9Rg7sdsUr
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 2, 2017
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Chris Conner had two chances on breakaway to bring the Phantoms back within one. On his first attempt he shot it into the chest of DeSmith and on his second he put the shot wide.
Derrick Pouliot would connect on a rocket that has Lyon screened which made it 3-0…
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 2, 2017
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DeSmith never had to make a tough save after that and Lehigh Valley put up the white flag replacing Lyon with Martin Ouellette.
Lineup wise, Josh Archibald was recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the day when word came out that Chris Kunitz is down with a lower body injury. Garrett Wilson had the night off and will play tomorrow. Ethan Prow was in for Jeff Taylor on the blueline. Troy Josephs and Adam Krause were in for the recalled Archibald and Wilson who was held out as he’s just coming back from injury.
Three stars were Dominik Simon with two assists, Frank Corrado with a goal and an assist and Casey DeSmith with a 26 save shutout.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 