vs.          

1                                              2

–

Casey DeSmith’s season high 45 saves on Sunday afternoon give the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins a 2-1 win against a desperate Utica Comets team fighting of their playoff lives.

Six regulars on NHL recall to Pittsburgh, but the Penguins have won four straight, seven of their last eight and sweep the weekend here.

Consider this the rehearsal when the Penguins rematch with the Comets next Sunday which also happens to be Wrestlemania. I’m a big wrestling mark and I’m going to have a basement full of frosties and friends over for the Show of Shows a week from now. So this game recap is being hammered out in the parking lot. Mind the misspellings and comma splices, moreseo than usual.

Lines were:

–

Casey DeSmith was backed up by Tristan Jarry. He opposed Michael Gartieg.

Lineup Notes: Two lineup changes and a surprise. Patrick McGrath was in for Adam Krause and Frank Corrado was in for Ryan Segalla. Now the surprise, as Obie was tweeted the line rushes above, I was looking for an extra forward and saw a 19 skate by. Wait a minute…Garrett Wilson! Indeed it was he!

–

First Period: Penguins went up 11-1 on shots then the Comets rattled off nineteen shots for a season high in a period for them and a season high in saves in a period for a Penguins goaltender. Some of the saves made by DeSmith were highlight reel caliber. For two teams playing their third game in under 48 hours, combining for 35 shots total in the period was a sight to see.

Second Period: Pens had thought they scored on this play but ref Mike Sheehan waved it off and the call was confirmed on replay.

–

Good call here. Puck hit both posts and never fully crossed. Better call by Sheehan in real time waving it off.

Penguins got a power play that came and went. Then Utica got a power play and of course scored to take the 1-0 lead. Darren Archibald pounced on a juicy rebound left by DeSmith that gave the Comets the 1-0 lead.

:41 later, Sahir Gill connected on a power play which counted and tied it at one.

–

After a first period where both teams seemingly went for broke, the teams were deadlocked at one heading into the…

Third Period: Dominik Simon scored this goal over a way out of his crease Gartieg gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead they would never relinquish…

–

Wilkes-Barre just ground the clock down form there. The Comets, with Gartieg pulled, were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Sahir Gill (goal. even) 2) Dominik Simon (goal, +1) and 1) Casey DeSmith (45 saves on 46 shots)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley was down 3-1 to start the third at home against Bridgeport and storm back and take the Sound Tigers to overtime and beat them 4-3….Hershey beat St. John’s on the Rock 2-1…Rochester shutout Springfield 2-0 and Providence beat Hartford 5-2. Rare that all seven teams in the division are in action on a Sunday.

Standings: Penguins (.709 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.672) — Providence (.649) — Hershey (.640) — Bridgeport (.612) — Springfield (.485) — Hartford (.373)

Penguins can clinch Friday if Bridgeport, who is in action Wednesday, loses and the Penguins win Friday and the Sound Tigers fail to record at least a point. Or, the Sound Tigers can pick up a point Wednesday and lose clean Friday but the Penguins would still have to win Friday.

Sprong Watch: Daniel Sprong’s Charlottetown Islanders hold a 2-0 series lead on the Base-Comeau Drakkar as now the series switches to Quebec Tuesday for Game 3.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off. More on them Tuesday in the Wheeling Wrap.

Video highlights….

–

Week 24 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!

       @       

  4                                       0

–

Let me front load this pun headline for you.

PPL is a power company, short for, “Pennsylvania Power and Light.”

When someone does something which is, “lights out” it usually means that their actions were stupendous, or above average.

The play of Tristan Jarry and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins top rated penalty kill were lights out tonight.

Lights out, at PPL Center? Get it?

35 saves by the Penguins netminder in one of his finest performances in a Penguins sweater and the penalty kill goes 9-for-9 tonight and the Penguins rout the Phantoms 4-0 in Allentown to go five points clear of the second place Phantoms.

Oh, and with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack, the magic number for a playoff spot should be 9 after tonight.

The aforementioned Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Zach Aston-Reese – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty
Thomas DiPauli – J-S Dea – Sahir Gill
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton – Adam Krause

Derrick Pouliot – Ethan Prow
Barry Goers – Brett Stern
Ryan Segalla – Tim Erixon

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: About an hour before the game, Pittsburgh recalled David Warsofsky and returned Frank Corrado. Corrado didn’t make it in time to Allentown, so Ryan Segalla made his debut. No lineup changes up front.

First Period: Much like last night, the Penguins went a few minutes without registering a shot on goal and had to kill a penalty. They killed that penalty and then Phantom killer Teddy Blueger scored a goal that gave him his first goal against Lehigh Valley this season (to go along with eight assists)

–

On the goal, it was Tom Kostopoulos’ 50th point of the season and 200th point in his second stint with the team. Aston-Reese picked up another point, winning a race to the puck from behind the net, passed to Kostopoulos who then passed to Blueger for the goal.

Tristan Jarry had a solid period, makings one key saves as the Phantoms were starting to push.

Second Period: Penguins fourth line, the penalty kill and Tristan Jarry were the story off this period.

Adam Krause and Jarrett Burton scored for the Penguins, Troy Josephs picked up his first pro point on the Burton goal and Wilkes-Barre went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Oh, and Tristan Jarry was in god mode. “God mode” would have been an alternative headline if I wasn’t an actual God fearing Catholic…

Here are the Krause and Burton goals…

–

Tristan Jarry faced 16 shots in the period and made a great save on Taylor Leier going post to post to keep the game scoreless. Really great job by unsung heroes, special teams and the number one goaltender in the period.

Third Period: Penalties would continue. Wilkes-Barre took four straight. All legit. A slash, a face off violation for closing your hand on the puck, a hold and a check to the head. I personally thought that Jake Brenk and Mike Sheehan had a great game from the officials standpoint. The Penguins coaching staff isn’t going to be happy with all the penalties though.

Penguins would somehow outshoot the Phantoms 14-11 in the period.

Turning point in this one would be the Phantoms inability to score on :50 of a 5-on-3 even with a Scott Gordon timeout which came during the two man advantage. Penguins disposed of the penalties, continued to stick to the plan of the penalty kill and time got in the way of a Phantoms comeback.

In a true laugh out loud moment, the Penguins would score a power play goal late and ended up the night 1-for-3 on the man advantage. Who else but Tom Kostopoulos deflecting this Tim Erixon to turn this game into a laugher…

–

Late drama for the Phantoms who put the puck past Jarry on a face off play with one second left, but after video review it was determined that the puck entered the net after time had expired so Jarry would get his shutout and the Phantoms would be shutout for the first time all season.

Notes: Dominik Simon failed to register a point tonight and his seven game point streak was snapped and these tweet by the Penguins….

–

Three Stars: 3) Teddy Blueger (goal, +2) 2) Adam Krause (goal, assist, +2) 1) Tristan Jarry (35 save shutout)

Around the Division: St. John’s gets a late goal with under :30 to play and beat the Hershey Bears 4-3 up on the Rock this afternoon. Hershey’s six game winning streak is over….Providence throttles Albany 5-0…Springfield falls to Toronto 4-1 and Hartford beats Bridgeport 4-3.

Standings: Penguins (.705 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.667) — Providence (.644) — Hershey (.634) — Bridgeport (.614) — Springfield (.492) — Hartford (.379)

Sprong Watch: Daniel Sprong’s Charlottetown Islanders throttle Baie-Comueau tonight 9-2 to go up 2-0 in the best of seven series. Sprong had four assists. Game 3 goes off Tuesday from wherever the hell Baie-Comeau is.*

Wheeling Update: 4-1 tonight at home.The Nailers fell to the Idaho Steelheads. Gage Quinney had the goal for the Nailers.

If I see any video highlights here I will work the edit in.

Pens have a rare Sunday home game. Utica is in at 3 p.m. Gameday setup is yours at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!

* – apparently Baie-Comeau is a city, located in the Quebec province. The more you know.

          @          

5                                              1

–

Take what you want out of this one, a 5-1 win by the Penguins over the Syracuse Crunch.

It’s rare that you see a team go with seven defensemen on purpose. It’s even rarer that you see a team dress eight.

Such is the case for the Syracuse Crunch who, despite your groaning over the Pittsburgh Penguins recalling another Wilkes-Barre asset from Coal Street, have dealt with nonstop call-ups and send downs for months.

The most ridiculous part of all of this is that despite the daily, “Syracuse Crunch Transaction” on the AHL website, the Crunch lead the North Division.

But there in lies the other issue. The fifth place team in the Atlantic Division, whoever that may be at the end of the season, would probably win the North Division Championship outright. But they won’t, because they play in the Atlantic and there is no crossover this year. Syracuse, despite their call-ups and all, lead a division of misfit teams that probably wouldn’t contend night in and night against a steady stream of Wilkes-Barre, Lehigh Valley, Hershey, Providence and Bridgeport night after night, weekend after weekend.

So the Penguins were expected to go into Onondaga County War Memorial Arena tonight and win the way they did tonight. It’s a case of equal teams (division leaders pillaged by callups) who are haves vs. have nots.

Tristan Jarry opposed Kristers Gudlevskis.

Lines were….

Zach Aston-Reese – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty
Thomas DiPauli – J-S Dea – Sahir Gill
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton – Adam Krause

Derrick Pouliot – David Warsofsky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Brett Stern – Barry Goers

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Sahir Gill was back in the lineup for Clark Donatelli getting in for the recalled Josh Archibald who went up Thursday in the wake of the Jake Guentzel concussion… Patrick McGrath was a scratch, eligible after serving his three game suspension… Ryan Segalla was the other healthy body who was not used this evening.

First Period: It was a game of back and forth between these two division leaders, and the Penguins made the most of their chances.

Wilkes-Barre didn’t get a shot on goal for about the first four and a half minutes, then laster Thomas DiPauli scored his second goal of the season on this nice low shot that beat Gudlevskis….

–

DiPauli used Dylan Blujus as a screen there.

Right after that goal, the Penguins were called for concurrent penalties and had to all of a sudden kill a full 2:00 of Crunch 5-on-3. They did so, successfully.

Later, Kevin Porter scored to double the Penguins lead at two on this nice drop pass by Zach Aston-Reese….

–

What sense by Aston-Reese there to leave a pass like that for Porter to corral and score on. Acute hockey sense right there in his second professional game.

Aston-Reese then found the net on his own when he scored this goal that chased Kristers Gudlevskis….

–

Mike McKenna came on in relief. The Penguins would then get a power play and looked to make it 4-0 and turn this one into a laugher, but then this happened…

–

Cory Conacher started the rush, Micheal Bournival kept up and tapped it in and Tristan Jarry had no chance.

–

So instead of it turning into a runaway by the Penguins, Syracuse got one back heading into the…

Second Period: You know things are going your way when Barry Goers throws a shot at the net from his own blue line that goes in and beats a future AHL Hall of Fame goaltender in Mike McKenna.

–

Tristan Jarry had a highlight reel save on Erik Condra, diving post to post to deny it becoming a sudden two goal lead.

Wilkes-Barre was basically gift wrapped penalty after penalty but were unable to capitalize on the power plays.

Here are the second period highlights. The Jarry save referenced above is at or around the :40 mark…

–

Third Period: After the Crunch killed a carryover penalty, Dominik Simon tapped this puck in that made it 5-1….

–

That was the put away goal that the Penguins needed that took all of the air out of the Crunch sails. Not that Syracuse was close at any point to here, but they would never get a run going.

The only other memorable thing to happen in the period of a 5-1 game last in the third against Syracuse was this little interaction with Tye McGinn of Syracuse and Tristan Jarry and J-S Dea of Wilkes-Barre / Scranton…

–

Jarry did his best Anthony Stolarz impersonation and flopped, a pile of bodies ensued and J-S Dea called McGinn a chicken using sign language. Tristan was fine, and obviously playing with the Crunch here late in the third.

Three Stars: 3) Michael Bournival (shorthanded goal, even) 2) Barry Goers (goal, assist, +2) and 1) Kevin Porter (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: The other PA teams in Hershey and Lehigh Valley were off tonight. The Phantoms just flew back from St. John’s and the Bears are there for a pair this weekend starting tomorrow. Providence wins 3-1 in Hartford to maintain the fourth and final spot in the Atlantic over Bridgeport, who was also idle tonight. Springfield was in Rochester tonight and were up 3-1 but lost 4-3 in overtime to the Americans.

Standings: Penguins (.700 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.677) — Hershey (.644) — Providence (.638) — Bridgeport (.623) — Springfield (.500) — Hartford (.369)

Sprong Watch: I am introducing a new feature here on the blog for the time being called, “Sprong Watch.” Daniel Sprong’s Charlottetown Islanders are in the QMJHL playoffs and in Game 1 tonight against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, the Islanders took Game 1 by a 4-2 final. Sprong had a goal and an assist in the contest. When the Charlottetown Islanders win the President’s Cup, Sprong should join Wilkes-Barre for the Calder Cup Playoffs should the Penguins get there. If the Islanders happen to fall short, then Sprong will be here sooner than that. But I figure it’s something to keep an eye on, so that’s what we will do. Game 2 of the Best of Seven series goes off Saturday from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Wheeling Update: Wheeling lost to the Idaho Steelheads 3-2.

Video highlights….

–

Pens travel to Allentown to take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Saturday at 7:05. Gameday setup hits the blog here Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!