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When was the last time the Hershey Bears lost a game that they scored three power plays in? Seems that whenever the Bears teams of old scored multiple power plays in a game they would dominate and blow out the opponent?

Both Hershey and Wilkes-Barre score three times on the power play in regulation to force overtime and it’s Kevin Porter’s game winner that sees the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defeat the Hershey Bears 4-3 in overtime.

An alternative lede here could have been Kevin Porter’s four point night, his first since 2009. Porter had the game winner and three assists to be named first start of the game tonight. With Josh Archibald recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier in the day in the wale of the Bryan Rust injury last night in Colorado and Evgeni Malkin’s uncertainty for tomorrow in Arizona, Pittsburgh sniped another forward from Wilkes-Barre. No worries though with Porter’s big game tonight as well as Danny Kristo, who almost has gone unnoticed with 3-2-5 over is last five games.

Tristan Jarry opposed Vitek Vanecek.

Lines were…

Tom Sestito – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Danny Kristo
Dominik Simon – Teddy Blueger – J-S Dea
Ryan Haggerty – Sahir Gill – Patrick McGrath

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Stuart Percy – David Warsofsky
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: With Archibald’s recall, the Penguins did not have an extra forward. Danny Kristo went up on the Sundqvist line, Patrick McGrath was in as the 12th forward and Tim Erixon and Cameron Gaunce played veteran musical chairs.

First Period: Paul Carey was left unmarked on a Bears power play and scored this goal to give Hershey a 1-0 lead…

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Travis Boyd was all alone far side post and had Jarry dead to rights and missed or else it would have been 2-0 Bears. Penguins were getting trucked on the shot board and only had two shots about 12 minutes in. They came alive after that and played better but it was 1-0 Bears heading into the…

Second Period: Dea had an open net to shoot into but missed or Vanecek got a stick there in desperation. Bears took two consecutive tripping penalties and finally Danny Kristo ripped a shot from the high slot to tie the game at one on the power play.

Let’s go to Taylor Haase for the goal GIF on that one….

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Penguins continued to roll in the period and really took it to the Bears for the entire middle frame. With Chandler Stephenson in the box for a cross checking penalty, David Warsofsky scored on this missile of a shot that made it 2-1 Penguins…

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Taylor got that one.

Third Period: I had a feeling like the Bears were not done and I was right. Hershey struck twice on two power plays to give themselves a 3-2 lead. Chandler Stephenson atoned for his second period penalty with the goal that tied it then Christan Thomas scored when Steve Oleksy cross checked a Bear into Jarry thus knocking Tristan out of position when Thomas collected the puck and scored to make it 3-2.

Despite all goals so far being scored on the power play, I thought referees David Banfield and Chris Pontes worked a hell of a game tonight.

Tom Sestito went for a big check on Chris Bourque on the boards and missed and left the game with a lower body and did not return. Clark Donatelli didn’t have anything the form of an update for the media after the game. With Wheeling all the way in Boise, Idaho for a trio of games this week, Barry Goers better be able to take face-offs because I have no idea how the Penguins braintrust is going to swing a recall from Wheeling. My guess is that if Sestito can’t go and by there isn’t a reassignment from Pittsburgh tomorrow, that the Pens sign and ECHL player on an ECHL contract from somewhere on a one game tryout. A Wheeling recall with the team in Idaho is going to be useless because that player will most likely be jet lagged. Play Goers as the seventh defensemen against a mediocre Binghamton team Saturday then reassess Monday morning.

Just my two cents.

Bourque came over and gave Sestito a love tap on the pads as Tom was getting assistance off. Classy move by Bourque. I am slowly warming up to this future Hall of Famer.

Bears found themselves in trouble when Paul Carey took  a slash and Pierre Labrie took a roughing penalty putting the Penguins on a 5-on-3 for 1:13.

Oh, wait, it has been a while since Tom Kostopoulos checked off a milestone…

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Who else is going to score a big goal late in a game where you need a big goal. Tommy god damn Nonstopoulos.

It was then off to…

Overtime: Cameron Gaunce was about 10 feet away from the Penguins bench when Tom Kostopoulso jumped on and the Penguins touched the puck. David Banfield tagged the Penguins for too many men. Penguins kill the penalty then Kevin Porter did this….

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Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, even) 2) Danny Kristo )goal, assist, even) and 1) Kevin Porter (overtime game winning goal, three assists, +1)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats St. John’s 4-2. Those two teams rematch tomorrow in Allentown…Bridgeport continues to roll with a 1-0 win in Providence…Hartford beats Springfield 3-2.

Standings: Penguins (.745 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.702) — Providence (.646) — Bridgeport (.630) — Hershey (.615) — Springfield (.457) — Hartford (.427)

Wheeling Update: Leaving the box here for the Nailers who are engaged in a game with the Idaho Steelheads.

Video highlights…

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Pens are back on home ice Saturday against Binghamton. Gameday setup hist the blog Saturday afternoon at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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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.

4-0 loss for the Penguins tonight. A 31 save shutout for Charles Lindgren.

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.

Casey DeSmith was backed up by Tristan Jarry.

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.

Standings: Penguins (.740 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.696) — Providence (.660) — Bridgeport (.622) — Hershey (.617) — Springfield (.467) — Hartford (.415)

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.

Let’s Go Pens!