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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)

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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…

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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…

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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….

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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.

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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….

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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….

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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….

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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…

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

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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.

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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…

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

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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…

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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….

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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!

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I have used the “Taking Care of Business” headline before, but that’s exactly what the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins did tonight here against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Ryan Haggerty’s two goals and Zach Aston-Reese’s professional debut and goal in the first period were what the doctor ordered for a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton team who is holding off a hard charging Atlantic Division as the AHL season hits its final weeks.

The Penguins defeated the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-2 in Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night.

Here were the lines…

Casey DeSmith started and was backed up by Tristan Jarry.

Lineup Notes: Derrick Pouliot was reassigned Tuesday morning and Oskar Sundqvist and Frank Corrado were recalled. Story is that Tom Sestito is dealing with an upper body injury, necessitating the Sundqvist recall. Zach Aston-Reese made his highly anticipated professional debut, skating on the top line with Tom Kostopoulos and Kevin Porter. Troy Josephs was back too on the fourth line with Adam Krause, who returned also. Ryan Segalla dressed as the extra man defenseman in warmups.

First Period: Back and forth, run and gun first period by both teams. Penguins came out of the gate flying. Troy Josephs hit a post.

Penguins got behind the Hartford defense and scored twice. Josh Archibald on the first one and Ryan Haggerty on the second one…

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But with each goal, Hartford responded to tie the game. Chris Brown left unmarked mid-slot that tied it at one :23 after the Archibald goal and Marek Hrivik shorthanded on a deflection :55 after the Haggerty goal.

So the Penguins needed to score in the final minute and didn’t allow the Wolf Pack to respond right back because you can’t score during intermission.

Meet Zach Aston-Reese.

I told you (well others did, I just put all of their information in a tidy blog piece) about Aston-Reese last week. He scored his first professional goal on a nice pass by Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos.

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Brett Stern picked up his first AHL point with an assist on the Archibald goal by the way.

Second Period: Ryan Haggerty scored his second of the game right after the Penguins didn’t score on a power play and it was 4-2.

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Wilkes-Barre would get a power play goal :13 into a Dan Catenacci high sticking penalty when David Warsofsky scored to make it 5-2 and chase Jeff Malcolm.

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Malcolm stopped 14 of 19.

Enter Mackenzie Skapski. Skapski settled things down for his team, stopping all 10 shots faced in this period and 10 shots in the…

Third Period: Tidy period that saw no scoring. Penguins half pressed with the likes of Troy Josephs and Adam Krause but Skapski would have none of it and the Penguins defense kept it a three goal lead, limiting Hartford to just five shots on goal.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (two assists, even) 2) Zach Aston-Reese (goal, even) and 1) Ryan Haggerty (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Only other game on this Tuesday night was Lehigh Valley on the Rock for the first of two against the IceCaps and St. John’s raced out to a 4-0 lead but Lehigh Valley would storm back and stun the IceCaps (and any fans in the Wyoming Valley pulling for them) and win 5-4 in overtime. These two rematch tomorrow in Newfoundland.

Standings: Penguins (.695 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.672)  — Hershey (.638) — Providence (.633) — Bridgeport (.617) — Springfield (.500) — Hartford (.381)

Wheeling Update: Nailers are off tonight as they prep for three games against the Idaho Steelheads this coming weekend.

Video highlights will run here if I see them.

Let’s Go Pens!