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It’s not supposed to be this easy.

If the Penguins would have defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tonight, they would have went seven points clear of second place in the Atlantic Division and probably would have iced away the division championship.

It’s not supposed to be this easy.

A mess of penalties taken by the Penguins put them behind the 8-ball all night, they couldn’t build any momentum, Phantoms get two goals :15 apart in the second and hang on to win 3-2.

A lot will be said about the officiating of the game from referee Peter Tarnaris. I thought he had an okay two periods and then sort of lost control as the game was getting close and chippy in the third. Some of the calls were questionable, the Josh Archibald slash on Anthony Stolarz was abhorrent, but overall it wasn’t the penalties that killed the Penguins. Wilkes-Barre’s penalty kill went 6-for-6.

The AHL will eventually be at a four man crew in 2019 once they have enough capable officials trained. Friday and tonight you had all 30 AHL teams in action meaning at 15 different venues, you needed at least one referee. The AHL isn’t at the level where they can trust 30 referees to work on a night where every team is in action. Also you have to remember that a lot of these referees work in the NHL and ECHL, so that’s something else to consider.

Look, I am not defending the officiating tonight. I am just saying it wasn’t the major reason why the Penguins lost the game.

Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz.

Lines were…

Sahir Gill – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Thomas DiPauli – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Troy Josephs – Jarrett Burton – Ryan Haggerty

David Warsofsky – Frankie Corrado
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Brett Stern – Barry Goers

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Troy Josephs made his pro debut tonight replacing Adam Krause on the fourth line. I personally thought he played well and showed flashes of brilliance in the limited role he had on the fourth line. No other lineup changes for the Penguins.

First Period: Josephs first shift almost netted the Clarkson product a goal as he came dangerously close to tipping in a shot from the point.

Tyrell Goulbourne scored his first goal of the season on a nice shot that made it 1-0 Lehigh Valley at 6:01.

Penguins had a lot of runs up the ice shorthanded all night with Oskar Sundqvist leading the charge. This time, he couldn’t get a shot off.

Penguins had to kill two different sequences of 5-on-3 Phantoms power play time and did successfully, here in the first for :51.

Second Period: It was :15 that put the Penguins down in a hole they couldn’t get out of.

Tristan Jarry was knocked down by a teammate, couldn’t get back on his skates when Reece Willcox scored to make it 2-0. On the next play Danick Martel made it 3-0 on a turn around shot that went in.

The rout was on. Or was it?

Wilkes-Barre would go on to outshoot the Phantoms 21-8 in the period but still could not solve Stolarz. In this period, the Phantoms took three penalties to the Penguins one, but Wilkes-Barre was unable to get one past the Lehigh Valley goaltender.

Third Period: Tom Kostopoulos bangs one in on a rebound to put the Penguins on the board early in the third on a power play goal.

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Penguins found themselves down two men again when they had to kill :52 of Phantoms two man advantage. This was the sequence where Archibald was called for slashing on Anthony Stolarz. Here’s Penguins Head Coach Clark Donatelli’s thoughts on this play as told to Tom postgame….

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Tarnaris was a good 80 feet away from the play, working by himself, saw something and needed to make a call in the split second. Was it the right call? I don’t think so, but again, these officials are drilled to protect the goaltenders at all costs.

Oskar Sundqvist scored shorthanded on a separate penalty kill to bring the Penguins to within one…

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The Penguins then got a power play late with under two minutes to play. But, after a time out and with Jarry pulled for the extra man, were never able to find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, even) 2) Oskar Sundqvist (goal, -1) 1) Chris McCarthy (two assists, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Hartford 6-4 at home. They bus to Bridgeport overnight for a huge Sunday afternoon meeting against the Sound Tigers…the aforementioned Sound Tigers beat Utica 4-1 to stay two points out of a playoff spot. Providence beat Springfield 4-2.

Standings: Penguins (.690 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.667) — Providence (.643) — Hershey (.633) — Bridgeport (.627) — Springfield (.492) — Hartford (.381)

Wheeling Update: lost in overtime 5-4. The Nailers to the Adirondack Thunder. More Tuesday in the Wheeling Wrap. The Nailers play Elmira Sunday.

Video highlights…

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Tom once more on the penalty disparity the Penguins are dealing with right now….

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I guess if you come at the king, you best not miss.

AHL Power Rankings are yours Monday at 4, Wheeling Wrap noon Tuesday with the Hartford Gameday setup at 3 Tuesday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Home Game: 30

AHL Game: 930

Who: Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Media Kit

Last Game / Last Meeting: Last night in Allentown, the Penguins won 4-1 to one up a five point lead on the Phantoms for tops in the Atlantic Division. Teddy Blueger had two assists, giving him eight against the Phantoms this season, Tristan Jarry stopped 29 of 30 shots. Max Lamarche scored a first period power play goal for the Phantoms.

Record: For WBS: 42-17-3-0 (87 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For LV: 38-19-4-0 (82 pts., 2nd place Atlantic Division)

Why you should care: Penguins can really put themselves out front and stop worrying for now about if they will get passed by the Phantoms or anyone else for the division lead with a win tonight in regulation over Lehigh Valley in regulation. A straight up win puts them seven clear of the Phantoms. A loss puts things where they were Friday, back down to three points. It’s a televised sellout crowd tonight, Wilkes-Barre better come to play.

Referee(s): Peter Tarnaris

Linesmen: Luke Murray / Scott Pomento

Twitter: @WBSPenguins and @WBSGameDay / @LVPhantoms

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins / /LehighValleyPhantoms

Instagram: wbspenguins / lehighvalleyphantoms

Beat Writers: @CVSethLakso and @TomVenesky / @SteveGrossMCall

Broadcasters: WBS: Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS and @_NickHart / For Lehigh Valley: Bob Rotruck @BobRotruck

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep / @KRAM209

Radio: For WBS: WILK Newsradio / For Lehigh Valley: Fox 1470

Television: AHL Live and on WBRE locally in the Wilkes-Barre area.

Promotion(s): St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, St. Patrick’s Jersey Auction

Other Game to Watch: Bridgeport hosts Utica in a matchup with two teams battling to make it into the top four in their respective division.

Next Five Games: HFD 3/21, @ SYR 3/24, LV 3/25, UTI 3/26, @ SPR 3/31

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J-S Dea is the Phantoms killer, three goals and two assists against Lehigh Valley so far this season.

But the shadow lurking in the dark, is the Latvian assassin, Teddy Blueger. Blueger came into tonight’s game with six assists and the most points against the Phantoms on the Penguins this season.

Blueger adds two more assists, bringing him to eight points against the Phantoms, and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a score of 4-1 Friday night and build up a five point lead on the Phantoms for first in the Atlantic Division.

Tristan Jarry opposed Alex Lyon.

Lines were…

Sahir Gill – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Thomas DiPauli – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Adam Krause – Jarrett Burton – Ryan Haggerty

David Warsofsky – Frankie Corrado
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Brett Stern – Barry Goers

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: The Penguins signed draft pick Troy Josephs to an ATO and he took warmups but was scratched. Josephs comes from Calrksoin University where he led the team in goals, plus / minus and second on the team in points. He set career highs in everything in is senior year. Josh Archibald and Oskar Sundqvist were down from Pittsburgh, re-assigned Thursday, and Pittsburgh recalled Derrick Pouliot Friday morning. Word came down from practice Thursday that Stuart Percy is week to week with an upper body injury. Clark Donatelli is away this weekend attending to a personal matter so Chris Taylor ran the bench. Mark Recchi was seen on the Penguins bench during the game. Tristan Jarry started, and he has started every game against Lehigh Valley this season. Patrick McGrath served the first of his three game suspension.

First Period: Phantoms score the only power play awarded by referee Camron Voss when Max Lamarche scored from the far side and one timed a shot past Jarry that gave the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

In an overall even period, the Phantoms hemmed the Penguins in for large portions and nearly scored a few more times but for the timely saves from Tristan Jarry. Lehigh Valley hit a post and really smothered the Penguins in the final minute of the period.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre needed a big period and big response after getting steamrolled in the first period and got one.

Josh Archibald scored a shorthanded goal, his fourth such goal tying him in the AHL lead, when Lyon’s pass to a defenseman went off the boards to a forechecking Teddy Blueger who found Archibald cross ice that beat the Phantoms netminder which made it a 1-1 game…

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Teddy Blueger picked up his seventh point against the Phantoms with the primary assist on the Archibald goal.

Ryan Haggerty made it 2-1 Wilkes-Barre when a shot from the opposite point caromed off of Lyon, who had no idea where the puck was where Haggerty banked it off of the Phantoms goaltender and made it 2-1 Wilkes-Barre…

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As Taylor tweeted, Frank Corrado picked up an assist on the goal, his first with Wilkes-Barre.

Shots were 15-8 Penguins in the period and aggregate 22-17 Wilkes-Barre heading into the…

Third Period: Penguins came out with the same vim and vigor they exhibited in the second period, but Tristan Jarry remained on point and made this save which maintained the one goal Wilkes-Barre lead at the time…

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Later, Kevin Porter won a face-off to Tom Kostopoulos and the Penguins captain wired one past the glove of Lyon which made it a 3-1 lead for the Penguins….

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Jarry bailed out a Thomas DiPauli turnover at his own blueline to maintain the two goal lead the Penguins had.

Lehigh Valley pulled Lyon in favor of an extra attacker and had a brief 6-on-4 power play with Kevin Porter in the penalty box for a textbook boarding call. Obie and Nick mentioned it on the broadcast that it was a clean game between the two rivals from a perspective of shenanigans, and it was, which made it an excellent game for referee Cameron Voss, who I thought was exceptional tonight.

With Lyon vacated, Teddy Blueger wins a neutral zone face off, walks past two Phantoms defenders just staring at him and unselfishly dishes to Dominik Simon for the easy tap in empty net goal.

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (29 saves on 30 shots) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, +1) and 1) Josh Archibald (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Springfield beats Albany 2-1 in a shootout, Hershey somehow finds themselves in a battle with Hartford who has already been eliminated form playoff contention and beat the Wolf Pack 4-3 in overtime and Providence shuts out Bridgeport 3-0 at home.

Standings: Penguins (.702 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.661) — Providence (.637) — Hershey (.627) — Bridgeport (.621) — Springfield (.500) — Hartford (.387)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the Adirondack Phantoms 5-2 up in Glens Falls, NY tonight. The two teams rematch tomorrow from Central New York. Sean Maguire picked up the win and first star honors, stopping 32 of 34 shots.

Video highlights….

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Pens and Phantoms rematch Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre. If you can’t make the game, it will be on TV. Gameday setup will hit the blog Saturday at 3 with all the details.

Let’s Go Pens!