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The Syracuse Crunch used to be represented by Al the Ice Gorilla. One of my biggest regrets as a fan is I never was able to get a picture with Al the Gorilla. Al was a big scary white gorilla that apparently was supposed to be an intimidating figure.

Kevin Porter played the role of Al the Ice Gorilla for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins this afternoon as the Penguins roll the Syracuse Crunch by a 6-1 score. Porter has four goals this season, all coming against the Syracuse Crunch.

Casey DeSmith opposed Kristers Gudlevskis.

Minor lineup changes for the Pens. Up front, Patrick McGrath was in for Ryan Haggerty who was injured last night in Springfield. Barry Goers skated warmups and was projected to be a scratch but Tim Erixon, who was to play, was the late scratch.

As told to the WBS media postgame, Ryan Haggerty is “week to week” with an upper body injury and Tim Erixon is “day to day” with a lower body injury picked up in Saturday’s game vs. Springfield.

First Period: Carter Rowney got the goal scoring for the Penguins started early when he deflected a Reid McNeill shot in for a 1-0 Penguins lead. The Penguins jumped all over the Crunch to start. The Crunch played two tough games Friday and Saturday so they may have been a bit out of gas. The Penguins, having not played Friday, were the better and fresher team.

Here’s the Rowney goal:

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Jake Guentzel kept the puck in the zone batting the puck mid-air to keep it in.

Kevin Porter struck twice in the final half of the period. First, Cameron Gaunce found a puck at the near wall, centered Porter and Kevin whipped in the puck past Gudlevskis for a 2-0 Penguin lead.

Then, on the power play, the Pens struck again. Guess who? Kevin Porter on the power play as the puck was bouncing all over the ice late in the period.

Second Period: Theme for this period was survive and sustain.

Syracuse came out guns blazing, out shooting and out chancing the Penguins, but the defense and DeSmith did not break.

Then the Penguins scored again and put the game away. Nice keep in by Ethan Prow at the point, cycled around the net to Tom Kostopoulos who made it 4-0.

Just what the doctor ordered. You’re getting run over to start, survive the storm, sustain the lead.

Third Period: Penguins set it on cruise control to start, but Syracuse kept gunning for a goal and got one when Mike Halmo slammed one in far post to put Syracuse on the board with about 15 minutes to play.

But the Crunch would not get any closer as while still being outshot, the Penguins were getting lucky with the play of DeSmith in goal and the inability of Crunch shooters to position themselves in a prime scoring area to get a high quality shot off.

Penguins would ice the game away on a defensive miscommunication by Syracuse. Patrick McGrath pounced on a puck at the blueline while Henri Ikonen had his back turned, put a shot on Gudlevskis and J-S Dea was around to slam one home to make it a 5-1 game.

Pens would connect on a late power play when Oskar Sundqvist put one in on a rebound that made it 6-1. No letting off by Clark Donatelli there. Good to see, really, because the Penguins could use the power play work in front of live opposition.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, assist, +1) 2) Casey DeSmith (22 saves on 23 shots) 1) Kevin Porter (two goals, even)

Around the Division: Springfield shutout Bridgeport 2-0…Hersey beat Lehigh Valley 3-2.

Standings: Penguins with 11, Springfield with 10, Bridgeport and Hershey with 8, Hartford with 6, Lehigh Valley with 5 and a better percentage than Providence in last with 6.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers just finished off a home and home series with the Kalamazoo Wings this past weekend, look for the Wheeling Wrap this Tuesday at noon.

Video highlights…

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The Week 3 AHL Power Rankings will hit the blog next, Monday at 4. Please do check back then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Let me let you in on a secret.

I detest thunderstorms.

We live in an area in the Northeast that is insulated from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. A thunderstorm is usually something that occurs in the summertime that blows through and leaves damage if you get hit in the, “sweet spot” of the storm. I’ve had several storms rip through where I live that have taken a pool, a shed, and a couple of trees. Also left me without electricity for a couple of days, so yeah, I don’t like thunderstorms.

I’m also not liking the Springfield Thunderbirds.

After shutting out the Penguins a few weeks ago and handing Wilkes-Barre their only loss in this early 2016-17 campaign, the Springfield Thunderbirds do it again, this time in overtime and take this game 2-1 in overtime.

No goalies were named to the three stars tonight but they should have been. Mike McKenna for Springfield was outstanding for the Thunderbirds in the second period, stopping all 16 shots sent his way while Tristan Jarry kept the Penguins in the game in the third period, stopping 10 of 11.

Lines were…

Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Dominik Simon – Kevin Porter – Reid Gardiner
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Sahir Gill – J-S Dea – Ryan Haggerty

Reid McNeill – Chad Ruhwedel
Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow

Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: Whatever it was that was bothering Kevin Porter enough to take him out of the game Wednesday against Albany was healed as Porter was back in the lineup for the Penguins. Healthy scratches were Patrick McGrath, Jarrett Burton, Adam Krause and Barry Goers. Stuart Percy is still injured, however Mike O’Brien stated on radio that Percy was skating and is close to being moved off of, “week-to-week” and on to, “day-to-day.”

First Period: Really quick, back and forth period between these two teams with few whistles. The Penguins had a power play about half way through but were not able to score on it then late in the period, Ryan Haggerty drove the net, wheeled a pass around to Reid McNeill at the point, McNeill shot the puck and J-S Dea tipped it past McKenna for a 1-0 Penguins lead:

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Shots were an even 8-8 heading into the…

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre would dominate this period, but Mike McKenna has been around for years and knows how to tend goal at this level. McKenna stopped all 16 shots sent his way in the period. Springfield only managed four at Jarry. The game opened up in spurts for the Penguins, but McKenna denied them all. Pens killed a late Steve Oleksy interference penalty easily.

There was a bit of collateral damage in the period as Ryan Haggerty took a knock and left the ice with Penguins trainer Kyle Moore and was not seen the remainder of the period.

Third Period: Haggerty would not return in for the Penguins to start the third. No WBS media was on site in Springfield tonight so we won’t know what the deal is with Haggerty until at least Sunday.

Anyway, the Thunderbirds mounted their comeback in this period.

Springfield lost last night at home to Bridgeport by a score of 5-1. That one goal they scored last night? Scored on the power play, in the third period.

It’s ex-Penguin Paul Thompson that did the honors against his former team:

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Another look:

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Springfield would outshoot the Penguins 11-4 in the third period.

Overtime: Carter Rowney had a chance to end the game on a happy note for the Penguins but whiffed on the shot. Later, Springfield won it off of this sequence:

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That’s Kevin Porter with the shot on the two on one with Simon. The shot goes wide and rums all the way out to Chase Balisy trailing, Balisy skates in on Jarry who tries a poke check to no avail and Springfield wins it in overtime.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, +1) 2) Paul Thompson (goal, -1) and 1) Chase Balisy (goal, assists, +1)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley at home 5-4. Utica beat Hartford about 45 minutes north of there by a score of 4-3. Tomorrows opponent Syracuse beats Providence in Central New York 4-3 and Hershey hangs seven on Binghamton and beats the B-Sens by a score of 7-2.

Standings: Penguins 9, Bridgeport and Springfield 8, Lehigh Valley 5, Hershey, Hartford and Providence 6. Again, standings are weighted by percentage points. Eventually, I will get around to making that format change here.

Wheeling Update: Nailers destroy the Kalamazoo Wings by a score of 8-1. Josh Shalla had a hat trick to go along with two assists. Captain Derek Army had two goals and two assists. Doug Carr stopped 22 of 23 shots. Much more on this game in Tuesday’s Wheeling Wrap.

Pens are home for a 3 p.m. start agains Syracuse, who comes in looking to avenge last weeks loss and also on a two game win streak. Gameday setup for this will hit the blog at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!