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1                                         5

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Confession: I’ve been pining for weeks to get onto Snapchat. It’s the last social media frontier I have yet to conquer. So naturally, I have been trying to come up with ways to make it fun on Twitter and see if there was any possibility for me to join. So, before the game tonight, I tweeted this poll:

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Let’s look at each one individually, shall we?

– A Penguins shutout anytime is sweet. Doing it against your biggest rivals is sweeter. If that would have happened, I would have gladly joined Snapchat.

– Tom Sestito is a stone in the shoe for Hershey Bears fans going back to the playoff series last year and his wars with Liam O’Brien. Sestito is known more for his fists than his goal scoring prowess. Easy choice to make to completely avoid joining Snapchat.

– No Penguin has every scored five goals in the history of the franchise. Come on, I’m being far fetched.

– A bench clearing brawl would end up on Puck Daddy and would be the talk of the hockey world. Also, the blog numbers would explode cause you know I would get video.

Sestito scoring two goals won the vote. So let’s get right into game action and see how this one went down, shall we?

After initial pressure from Hershey to open the game, Teddy Blueger and Tom Sestito found themselves on a quick developing two on one. Blueger fed Sestito and Tom scored to make it 1-0 Penguins…

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:19 later, Sestito repaid the favor to Blueger and the Penguins doubled their lead before the Bears knew what hit them.

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Sestito already had a goal and an assist. To think, in the back of my mind, I would actually have to join Snapchat with loads of game left….

Casey DeSmith was on point tonight. He came up big with some stops on the Bears to open the game then continued as Hershey continued to press before the end of the second period.

Garrett Wilson scored off a Hershey turnover that made it 3-0 Penguins.

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That goal chased Bears starting goaltender Vitek Vanecek, who stopped just 9 shots.

Later, I tweeted this.

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That’s because….

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😱

I am a man of my word….

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No idea if his formal name is Thomas and if his middle initial starts with an F or not.

Sestito’s first two goal game game since February 2013 in the NHL with the Flyers and the last time he did it in the AHL was November 2011 was with the Adirondack Phantoms.

Jake Guentzel scored because the day ended in y to make it 5-0….

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Penguins continued to press. Oskar Sundqvist nearly scored off a feed from Wilson which would have made it 6-0. Penguins had a full offensive zone cycle hemming the Bears in their zone.

Tom Sestito got his Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a fight against Tyler Lewington. Here’s the end of it:

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Sestito was tossed on account of throwing an extra punch after the linesmen broke him and Lewington up. This sequence put Sestito over 1,000 penalty minutes in the AHL.

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Darren Dietz busted up the shutout bid with a goal in the third period. Pens would not allow a second goal to bring back the ghosts of the last game against Hartford.

Wilkes-Barre wins 5-1.

Longest. Lede. Ever.

News du jour from the day was Tristan Jarry and Chad Ruhwedel going back to Pittsburgh with Matt Murray still day to day and Brian Dumoulin still recovering from his broken jaw. Marc-Andre Fleury was sick and did not practice and with Pittsburgh playing four games next week you have to assume that Jarry will get his first NHL start.

Other news included Reid Gardiner mutually parting ways and returning to juniors, playing with his brother with Kelowna of the Western Hockey League. I think this is a case of a good player just not getting enough playing time on account of happenstance with more established NHL-contracted players ahead of him on the depth chart. When Gardiner does expire his junior eligibility, it sounds like, at least from the vibe I am picking up, that he would be welcome back in Wilkes-Barre.

Three stars in the game were Garrett Wilson with a goal and an assist, Teddy Blueger with a goal and an assist and Tom Sestito with two goals, an assist and a fight. Also a blogger on a social media platform he knows nothing about.

Around the Division: Three of the top four in the Atlantic Division lost. Lehigh Valley to Hartford 2-1, Providence to Springfield 4-1. Bridgeport was off.

Standings: Penguins (.742 percentage points) — Lehigh Valley (.688) — Providence (.662) — Hershey (.652) — Bridgeport (.547) — Springfield (.531) — Hartford (.412)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers beat the best team in the ECHL which is the Toledo Walleye by a score of 6-0. Sean Maguire with a 25 save shutout, his first as a professional. Nailers strike twice on the power play. Nick Sorkin and Garrett Meurs with two goals each.

Video highlights….

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Pens are back on home ice again Saturday against the Binghamton Senators. Gameday setup for this will hit the blog Saturday at 3.

Add me on Snapchat and teach me how to use it.

Let’s Go Pens!

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2                                              3

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Coming into Tuesday nights game with the last place Hartford Wolf Pack, you’d think that this would be what the doctor ordered for the top team in the AHL who lost two in a row coming in.

After the first period, you knew the quick two game losing streak was coming to an end. Confident, almost.

After the second, well ask me about half way into the third you say.

Where am I going with this you ask? The Pens went up 3-0 and nearly lost this one as a late Hartford push isn’t enough to get them across the line as the Penguins barely hold on and win 3-2.

Another weekday home game and so another chance for me to lazy leg it through the lines:

Casey DeSmith backed up Tristan Jarry, who opposed Brandon Halverson.

Notes: If you are missing Kevin Porter’s name, that’s because earlier in the day Tuesday the AHL suspended Porter one game for his third period hit on Providence’s Rob O’Gara on Friday. Porter played the next night in Binghamton which I find to be an extremely careless and lazy action by the League, whom I rarely criticize. I’m not upset at the suspension, Porter was suspended earlier in the season a game and I was frankly quite surprised the League didn’t suspend him more games. I’m surprised that the AHL waited until Tuesday to bring the hammer down on Porter. What if Porter did something suspension worthy Saturday? It’s lazy by the AHL. I don’t want to hear that because of New Years that this is some type of excuse either. The League had games Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway, I have spent too long ranting on this topic.

In Porter’s place, Jake Guentzel jumped on top line duty with Kostopoulos and Simon. Chad Ruhwedel and Dave Warsofsky were back in fresh from NHL reassignment.

In the first, the Penguins totally dominated the Wolf Pack, taking an 11-0 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead where it counted the most. Teddy Blueger found himself wide open at the top of the slot to open the scoring for the Penguins. Later, Josh Archibald got a piece of a Dave Warsofsky shot from the blue line that connected to double Wilkes-Barre’s lead.

It was ugly for Hartford. They looked like tackling dummies on a football practice field. They were there, you could see them, but the Penguins did whatever they wanted to them and they never hit back.

In the second, the Wolf Pack were better in that they didn’t allow the Penguins to score any goals and Halverson had some luck with a pad stop and his posts as Warsofsky and Gill came narrowly close to extending the lead.

Both teams had back to back power plays, but the Penguins remained in cruise control heading into the third.

There, the Penguins would connect on a power play to make it a 3-0 lead. A Derrick Pouliot shot from the point was redirected by Dominik Simon off the post right to Chad Ruhwedel cutting in off the wall that made it 3-0.

Right after that, a Steven Fogarty shot found its way in past Jarry through bodies that eliminated any hopes of a Penguin shutout at 5:45.

Hartford had been building momentum ever since they didn’t get steamrolled in the second period like they did the first. They were, in spurts, playing like the better team.

A Tanner Glass shot bounced in then out which made it 3-2 with about 5:30 left to play.

Tense times.

Hartford had a late power play after a careless Derrick Pouliot penalty put them there. But with Halverson vacated for the 6-on-4 man advantage, the Wolf Pack never found the equalizer.

I’m even taking the veteran option on three stars!

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Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins (.734 percentage points) — Leigh Valley (.710) — Providence (.682) — Hershey (.672) — Bridgeport (.548) — Springfield (.500) — Hartford (.394)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. Kevin Schulze was named an All-Star for Wheeling. More tomorrow in the Wheeling Wrap, which I’m pushing to Wednesday, so look for that at noon then.

Video highlights…

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But for breaking news, expect the next blog update after Wednesday’s Wheeling Wrap to be the Hershey Gameday setup Friday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!