Last Game: Wednesday at home the Penguins were shut out 4-0 by the St. John’s IceCaps. For Hershey, the Bears last played Sunday and hosted the same IceCaps team and beat them 3-2. Vitek Vanecek stopped 28 of 30 to be named third star of the game.
Last Meeting: January 21 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 5-1. Casey DeSmith stopped 20 of 21 shots and Ryan Haggerty scored two goals to earn first star honors.
Record: For WBS: 34-11-3-0 (71 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For HER: 24-13-7-3 (58 pts., 5th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Two team with a lot to prove tonight. Can the Penguins shake off what was a poor performance Wednesday against St. John’s and can the Bears keep the momentum they have been building these last few weeks and get back into solid playoff contention?
Promotion(s): WBRE Fan Friday ($14 Tickets), March Magnetic Schedule (First 5,000), Postgame Autographs, $2 Draft Beers (6-7:30 p.m.)
Other Game to Watch: Bridgeport is in Providence taking on the Bruins. Sound Tigers have been on a run here of late so the matchup with the P-Bruins should prove to be a good test.
Next Five Games: BNG 2/11, LV 2/14, @ ALB 2/17, HER 2/18, @ PRO 2/19
Comments Off on Lind-Grin and Bear It — Pens LOSE 4-0
Posted by nafsnep on February 8, 2017
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This was one of those games where you are happy that you play the Hershey Bears and Lehigh Valley Phantoms 24 times this season.
Something about the St. John’s IceCaps this season has perplexed the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Here’s how weird this is:
IceCaps come to Wilkes-Barre Friday and beat the AHL’s best team. Then they go to Hershey, who has had problems stringing anything positive together of late and are swept in two games.
Penguins host Lehigh Valley Saturday night and crush their biggest rival 7-1 the very next night. Hockey is a funny game.
Lazy legging lines again as I hammer out this gamer in the parking lot of the game. As you know if you’ve been reading the blog for any length of time, I don’t like weekday games when I have to get up for work the next morning.
Lineup Notes: Patrick McGrath took warmups but was the scratch. Cameron Gaunce was the veteran scratch tonight for the Penguins. Daniel Carr and Mike McCarron were recalled by the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the day. McCarron is a stone in the shoe type player against the Penguins and Dan Carr scored two goals here Friday.
First Period: I wish I had something here. There was no scoring, no penalties and it was an overall quick period. Pens had a few chances right at midway, then DeSmith made a save on a quick St. John’s two on one. That was it.
Second Period: St. John’s blew the game open with a pair of goals :49 apart. First one scored by Charles Hudon here:
:49 later a busted play where DeSmith makes an initial save, the rebound spills to an area he wasn’t expecting it to, gets caught of position and Chris Terry scores on a low angle deflection that made it 2-0.
IceCaps score on a two man advantage when Chris Terry put a low shot past DeSmith at the top of the slot that made it 3-0. They made it 4-0 when the Pens were on a power play, didn’t get what they were looking for on a sequence and STJ cleared it down the ice. Wilkes-Barre lazy legged it back to the bench. Max Friberg hit Yannick Veilleux on the back door that turned the period into a boffo.
First time all season that the Pens allow four goals in a period.
Third Period: Nothing in the way of scoring but a nice little back and forth between David Broll and Tom Sestito. Broll and Sestito fought and Tom must have gotten under Broll’s skin because Broll was enraged at something said to him by Sestito.
In play, Pens couldn’t solve Lindgren at all. I don’t want to say that he worked for his shutout tonight, but the team in front of him made it easy for him and he did the rest. David Warsofsky left the game late in the period after he blocked a shot it appeared with his hand.
Three Stars: 3) Max Friberg (two assists, +1) 2) Chris Terry (goal, assist, +1) 1) Charles Lindgren (31 save shutout)
Around the Division: Only other game in the division was Lehigh Valley hosting Binghamton and the Phantoms won 5-0. Box here.
Wheeling Wrap: The Nailers are in Boise, Idaho. They don’t have 600 miles to ride and do one more show, they have three games with the Idaho Steelheads this week starting tonight. I’ll, if I remember in the morning, update the box then.
If the Pens put up video highlights of this one, God bless them. I’ll edit them in if they do.
Pens are back in the ice Friday when they host the Hershey Bears. They announced in game a progressive 50/50 for the weekend games against Hershey and again on Saturday against the Binghamton Senators. Instead of two 50/50’s they will have one big one with Friday’s tickets combined with Saturday’s for a mega jackpot. Check it out if you are planning on coming to any game this weekend.
Next piece here short of breaking Thursday news will be the Gameday setup for the 7 pm start with Hershey at 3 pm Friday.
Last Game: Last Saturday at home against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Penguins embarrassed the Phantoms and beat them 7-1. Tom Kostopoulos played in his 600th Wilkes-Barre game and scored twice. Josh Archibald also scored twice. For St. John’s they were in Hershey on Sunday and lost 3-2. Josiah Didier and Chris Terry scored goals for the IceCaps in the loss.
Last Meeting: Last Friday in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins lost 5-2. Daniel Carr scored twice for the IceCaps. Ethan Prow collected his first AHL goal and Derrick Pouliot added the other goal.
Record: For WBS: 34-10-3-0 (71 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For STJ: 21-20-5-1 (48 pts., 4th place North Division)
Why you should care: Expect the Penguins to have a better effort than last Friday’s clunker against this same team they are facing tonight. They showed Sturday that when firing on all cylinders they can run with any tea in the league. Expect retribution tonight when the Penguins and St John’s meet for the last time this season.
Other Game to Watch: After getting thoroughly thrashed by the Penguins Saturday, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms return to the ice and host the Binghamton Senators.
Next Five Games: HER 2/10, BNG 2/11, LV 2/14, @ ALB 2/17, HER 2/18
Comments Off on Wheeling Wrap 2/7
Posted by nafsnep on February 7, 2017
Tuesday means that it’s time to take a look at how the Penguins ECHL affiliate in Wheeling, West Virginia did this week.
The Nailers played three games this week and got points out of all of them.
On Thursday, the Nailers traveled to Cincinnati to take on the Cyclones and lost in overtime 4-3. Wheeling scored with :09 left in regulation on a Jarrett Burton shot but fell in overtime on a power play goal by Andrew Yogan. Sean Maguire took the loss in net stopping 18 of 22 shots.
On Friday, Wheeling traveled to Kalamazoo and beat the Wings 3-2. The Nailers put 42 shots at K-Wings goaltender Joel Martin and scored three time with Darryl Lloyd, Gage Quinney and Jordan Kwas all finding the back of the net. Doug Carr picked up the win in net and stopped 26 of 28 shots.
Saturday the Nailers returned home to square off against the Reading Royals, a team the Nailers are chasing for a playoff spot, and lost 4-3 in overtime. Reading struck three times on the power play and picked up the big win.
This week, the Nailers make the trek West to play three games this week with the Idaho Steelheads on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Steelheads sit third in the Mountain Division with 55 points.
The Nailers are still in a playoff spot in the North Division with a 24-15-5-0 record good for 53 points and the fourth spot in the division. They are tied in points with Brampton, two off third place Adirondack and six pack of second place Reading. Manchester continues to lead the North with 64 points.
Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 17
Posted by nafsnep on February 6, 2017
We are already past the first weekend of February. There are 10 weeks left in the 2016-17 AHL season. Where has the time gone?
The top team in the AHL was embarrassed Friday night and responded in a big way Saturday against their biggest division rival right now. They didn’t just beat the Phantoms, they crushed them. That, coupled with some minor falters below the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins keeps them at the pinnacle of the Week 17 AHL Power Rankings.
To see the rest of the order, click through the jump if you didn’t link in direct.
Comments Off on Bounceback — Pens WIN 7-1
Posted by nafsnep on February 4, 2017
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Normally, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins alternate goaltenders on back to back game nights.
They needed to out of necessity in last December with Tristan Jarry on recall for the injured Matt Murray. It was the first time and only time that the Pens did it this season.
Fast forward to tonight, and it was Tristan Jarry leading the team out of the tunnel for warmups. First time all season for him.
Now there is a reason for that. The Penguins stunk Friday night and lost 5-2 to the St. John’s IceCaps. Four of those five goals were credited to Tristan Jarry and he would probably tell you that it wasn’t his best performance.
I don’t have locker room access nor would I want it really, cause I like having free reign over what I do as a fan and a blogger, but one of my first questions for Clark Donatelli tonight would have been why he went back to Tristan Jarry over Casey DeSmith in a game like this.
Here’s the thing about the Phantoms. Are they a good team? Depends on who you ask. If you are asking me, I say they are just good. Remember that I have three tiers of teams in the AHL. Great teams, good teams and bad teams. The League is loaded with bad teams. There are more good teams than great teams and only a few great teams.
The Phantoms have been pasted by the Providence Bruins 9-1 on January 21 and again by the Penguins tonight 7-1. Great teams occasionally lose games 5-2 like the Penguins did to the IceCaps Friday. Great teams don’t get pasted 9-1 then 7-1 a month later. Sorry, you aren’t going to sell me on the Phantoms being anything more than a good team right now.
The way that the Penguins continued to skate and outwork Lehigh Valley up big late with the game iced away really drove that point home I made above. Normally it is the other way around. Play for pride or some other cliche.
Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz
Lines were…
Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Danny Kristo – Sahir Gill – Ryan Haggerty
Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Barry Goers
Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith
Lineup Notes: Tom Kostiopoulos played in his 600th game for the Penguins tonight. He is defying Father Time leading the Penguins in points at 38 years of age…Ethan Prow was a scratch in favor of Barry Goers. I didn’t notice Prow much in the second half of Friday’s game against the IceCaps. Ethan’s stock has been going down for a bit so the scratch should help him more than hurt him.
First Period: Kostopoulos scores on a quick 2-on-1 with Kevin Porter that put the Pens on the board early…
Kostopoulos gives WBS the 1-0 lead with his 16th goal of the season. Good way to start his 600th career game with WBS. pic.twitter.com/JK5ijx7A5o
Provided Taylor does the GIFs when the Penguins don’t, she will be the go to anymore when it comes to goals and stuff. I don’t have any money to pay her, but if someone is doing work like this on Twitter, I have to pick up on it an include it in the blog recaps. Plus, I asked her directly if I could use her GIFs in the game recaps and she said yeah so it’s a win win for you guys.
Josh Archibald scored his first of two that made it 2-0. Garrett Wilson tried to make a move on a Phantom and was stopped. He collected the puck and found Archibald streaking down the slot for the goal…
The Penguins continued to frustrate the Phantoms, who took a penalty at the end of the period. The first intermission whistle probably came at the right time for Lehigh Valley, who were on tilt.
Second Period: Anthony Stolarz could only keep his team in the game for so long to start the period before Garret Wilson scored to make it 4-0 on this death defying move….
So 200 pro games for Sahir Gill. Another milestone!
Lehigh Valley would finally get on the board when the Penguins took some penalties when ex-Penguin Chris Conner deflected a Greg Carey shot that made it 5-1 Penguins.
Phantoms still had a power play and instead of trying to get back into the game, TJ Brennan roughing a Penguins player after a routine Tristan Jarry save.
Wilkes-Barre re-established a five goal lead on a goal via a nice feed from J-S Dea.
T.J. Brennan didn’t have a good game. He and Tom Sestito briefly engaged in a tussle, Sestito didn’t want to waste another fight on him. Brennan was giving referee Pierre Lambert an earful after the altercation, Lambert heard enough and gave Brennan a 10 minute misconduct. It was all falling apart for the Phantoms.
Third Period: Game summed up for the Phantoms in one tweet:
First time I noticed Will O'Neill all night when he winds up for a shot and falls over.
Oskar Sundqvist left the game with an injury but is expected to be fine. It looked a lot worse to me than it apparently was as Sundqvist was down for a bit and needed help off.
The GIF doesn’t do the play justice. Sahir Gill made a heck of a play with a delicious pass to Kostopoulos.
Penguins would go on to win 7-1 after some more extracurriculars between players. Tom Sestito was assessed an instigator penalty after Sam Morin stapled J-S Dea to the boards and was crushed like a fly on a windshield after answering Sestito’s challenge…
Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (30 saves on 31 shots) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, +2) 1) Josh Archibald (two goals, assist, +3)
Around the Division: Springfield ends Bridgeport’s eight game winning streak with a 5-2 win in Connecticut tonight…Hershey beats St. John’s 5-2. Those two teams rematch again Sunday…Rochester beats Hartford 4-2…Providence was off.
Comments Off on RAPID RECAP – Pens WIN 7-1
Posted by nafsnep on February 4, 2017
This was a bounce back win for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. After getting smoked 5-2 last night by the St. John’s IceCaps, Clark Donatelli goes right back to Tristan Jarry in net and the Penguins turn in a decisive 7-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Lead in the Atlantic is back to nine points, with nine more meetings between the two sides.
Led by Josh Archibald, the Penguins skated circles around the Phantoms all night at all stages of the game and clearly frustrated the visitors. Archibald led the charge with two goals and an assist.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 