Last Game: Saturday, December 17 at home against Springfield, the Pens won 4-2. The Penguins complete a span of six games in nine days where they win five of them. Fifth straight win for the Penguins. Oskar Sundqvist and David Warsofsky scored goals for the Pens in the win. For Binghamton, the Senators were in Albany last Wednesday and lost 7-1. Jack Rodewald scored the only goal for the B-Sens in the loss.
Last Meeting: November 4 in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 4-1. Tom Kostopoulos and Garrett Wilson both had a goal and an assist each in the game.
Record: 19-5-3-0 (41 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BNG: 10-16-2-1 (23 pts., 8th place North Division)
Why you should care: Trap game for the Penguins coming out of a long Christmas break. The first place Penguins have a lot of teams in hot pursuit of first place in the Atlantic while Binghamton has toiled at the bottom of the North for much of the season. The Penguins cannot take the Senators for granted or else.
Other Game to Watch: Coming out of this Christmas break a team to watch will be Bridgeport. The Sound Tigers have dropped their last four games. The Sound Tigers host the Hartford Wolf Pack tonight.
Next Five Games: SPR 12/27, PRO 12/30, @ BNG 12/31, HFD 1/3, HER 1/6
Comments Off on Wheeling Wrap 12/20
Posted by nafsnep on December 20, 2016
It’s Tuesday again and time to take a look back at the week that was for the Penguins ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers.
The Nailers went 1-2 last week with a 5-2 loss to the Orlando Solar Bears at home Wednesday. Christian Hilbrich and Cody Widow found the net for the Nailers but Sean Maguire had a rough go in net, stopping 25 of 30, before being replaced in net by Doug Carr, who stopped all 8 shots faced.
Beginning last Friday, the Nailers hosted the Fort Wayne Komets for the first of a home and home series which started in Wheeling, West Virginia. After spotting the visitors a 4-0 start, the Nailers began the comeback by rattling off four straight goals. Adam Krause led the charge, recording a hat trick. The Nailers would stun the Komets, defeating them 6-5. Krause also picked up two assists giving him five points on the night. Doug Carr picked up the win, stopping 19 of 24. Ex-Penguin Eric Hartzell was the tough luck loser in this one, stopping 34 of 40. Hartzell stopped Christian Hilbrich on a penalty shot.
Saturday in Fort Wayne, the Komets exacted revenge and won 4-3. There would be no Nailers comeback this time as a Fort Wayne lead of 3-0 was enough to hang on for the win. Garrett Meurs scored against his former team for the Nailers. Wheeling was unable to convert on any of their six power play tries. Sean Maguire stopped 24 of 28 and took the loss.
The Nailers sit in fifth place in the North Division with a record of 12-10-2-0, good for 26 points.
This week, the Nailers host division leader Manchester on Tuesday and then see the Cincinnati Cyclones come in for a visit on Thursday.
Comments Off on AHL Power Rankings: Week 10
Posted by nafsnep on December 19, 2016
It’s Week 10 in the AHL Power Rankings and there is a new number one at the top of the heap this week.
It’s the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, the best team in the AHL right now followed by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the team that is staying step for step with the Penguins and a team, like Wilkes-Barre, running roughshod over the other AHL teams.
Important note: No Power Rankings next week due to most of the AHL teams having off this week because of Christmas, so I am doubling up weeks and we will see you back here for the Rankings in a double issue January 2.
Head past the jump if you didn’t link in direct to see where the remainder of the AHL teams file in as we hit Christmas week.
So is it a question of this Penguins team being a good team or a hard to play against team? I think the answer is in both the questions. Teams that are good are hard to play against. Teams that are hard to play against are usually good.
A 4-2 Penguins win and a long overdue one against a Springfield Thunderbirds team that is a lot better than their record and place in the Atlantic Division would indicate. Springfield would probably be a playoff team anywhere else in the AHL, just not the Atlantic Division which is full of great teams.
Tristan Jarry opposed Mike McKenna
Lines were…
Dominik Simon – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Jake Guentzel – Teddy Blueger – Danny Kristo
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Reid Gardiner
Cameron Gaunce – Stuart Percy
David Warsofsky – Lukas Bengtsson
Tim Erixon – Barry Goers
Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith
Lineup Notes: Chad Ruhwedel was recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the day with the injury to Trevor Daley. Pittsburgh chose Ruhwedel over someone like Warsofsky because Ruhwedel is right handed. Other notes included Gardiner for Ryan Haggerty on the fourth line, Blueger up centering Guentzel and Kristo. Tim Erixon was in for the recalled Ruhwedel and Barry Goers appeared in place of Ethan Prow.
First Period: Very even period in every facet really, with no scoring and the Penguins leading in shots 13-10. Springfield plays such a similar style to the Penguins in terms of blocking shots and getting tremendous goaltending from Mike McKenna. McKenna is going into the AHL Hall of Fame someday and would win a ton of games with the right team in front of him.
Second Period: What I said earlier about the teams being so similar happened in the following sequences.
A shot from the point by Springfield was initially stopped by Jarry but went in the net behind him off of Danny Kristo’s skate. An own goal by the Penguins that gave the Thunderbirds the lead.
About five minutes later, on the power play, Springfield would put a goal in their own net as well when David Warsofsky would get credit of a puck that would go in off of Ian McCoshen that would set off the annual teddy bear toss.
More similarities. Both teams got breakaways on the same shift but were stopped by the puck stoppers.
Penguins edge ahead for good on an Oskar Sundqvist goal. Tim Erixon put the puck on net and Sundqvist was there to push it across.
For good measure, the Penguins got another power play goal in the period when Sundqvist skated in close, threw a puck off the pads of McKenna in an impromptu set play where it leaves the puck wide open to Garrett Wilson to put across the line to open the Penguins lead to 3-1.
Third Period: Thinking to myself, “Jake Guentzel hasn’t scored yet” as Guentzel races by me at center ice, and scores to make it 4-1.
Good patience by Guentzel to let SPR player go down to block shot and then move into open slot and shoot
Springfield would get one back late when Jarry stopped the initial three attempts flopping all over the crease but couldn’t stop the fourth one. With McKenna vacated for the extra man, Springfield would get no closer and the Penguins would hold on for their fifth straight win.
Three Stars: 3) Garrett Wilson (goal, +1) 2) David Warsofsky (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Oskar Sundqvist (goal, assist, +1)
Wheeling Update: The Nailers were unable to complete the comeback like last night against the Fort Wayne Komets again tonight in Indiana and lost 4-3. Garrett Meurs and Cody Wydo scored goals for Wheeling.
Video highlights…
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Content wise for the blog this week, I will have the Week 10 AHL Power Rankings here on Monday at 4. With there not being a ton of games next week with a lot of teams off now till after Christmas, Penguins included, I have decided to combine Weeks 11 and 12 so the next time you will see the AHL Power Rankings after Monday will be January 2. Also the Wheeling Wrap will be here Tuesday at noon.
Comments Off on RAPID RECAP: Pens WIN 4-2
Posted by nafsnep on December 17, 2016
Five straight wins for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins as they cruise past the Springfield Thunderbirds tonight by a 4-2 score.
Pens used a big second period to ice the game away. After an own goal by the Penguins, the Thunderbirds put one in their own net and the Pens never looked back from there ending their second period with a power play goal by Garrett Wilson.
Last Game: Last night vs. Rochester, the Penguins won 4-1. Casey DeSmith improved to 7-0-2 on the season and Lukas Bengtsson picked up his first North American goal in the third period. For Springfield, they hosted Binghamton last night and won 3-1. Reto Berra stopped 35 of 36 shots and Greg McKegg figured in on every Thunderbird goal with two goals and an assist.
Last Meeting: October 29 in Springfield, the Penguins lost in overtime 2-1. Reid McNeill scored a goal but Chase Balisy scored in overtime to give the Thunderbirds the win.
Record: For WBS: 18-5-3-0 (39 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For SPR: 11-9-3-2 (27 pts., 6th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Seems like the Pens are beating everyone these days, but they have yet to beat the Thunderbirds. Wilkes-Barre will need their best if they want to get to the Christmas break with five wins in a row.
I asked my pal John on the concourse tonight during the first intermission of a 1-0 Penguins lead at the time and he offered that the Americans were running with the Penguins step for step. There were 25 shots total in the period (13-12 Penguins) and Wilkes-Barre led 1-0 off of a guffaw turnover by Rochester right to the wrong man in Jake Guenztel who buried it past starting Americans goaltender John Muse to give the Penguins a lead they would never relinquish.
Wilkes-Barre would avalanche the visitors in the second period and led 3-0 and were outshooting the Americans 13-3 at one point.
A good team crushed a bad team tonight. Wilkes-Barre never let off the gas pedal tonight in a game when you looked at the records and statistics coming in you had that shadow of a doubt that they could have. Starting goaltender Casey DeSmith lost his shutout with 1:22 left to play. DeSmith improved to 7-0-2 and Wilkes-Barre won their fourth straight game.
About DeSmith, and this headline (compliments of Kaitlyn from Twitter) – DeSmith didn’t face a ton of shots tonight, but when he did they came in a flurry and shut down Rochester. DeSmith has not allowed opponents to one goal in five of his last nine starts.
Lines were…
Dominik Simon – Kevin Porter – Tom Kostopoulos
Jake Guentzel – J-S Dea – Danny Kristo
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Ryan Haggerty
Stuart Percy – Chad Ruhwedel
David Warsofsky – Lukas Bengtsson
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry
Lineup Notes: Derrick Pouliot was recalled to Pittsburgh on Thursday with the injury to Kris Letang. Only lineup change that affected Wilkes-Barre was Ethan Prow taking Pouliot’s spot.
First Period: Penguins started strong. Garrett Wilson rung a post. Pens were really knocking on the door. Shorthanded, Ryan Haggerty was denied twice and Oskar Sundqvist was denied on the followup rebound by John Muse. Rochester then couldn’t score on a small flurry in front of DeSmith in what was going to be a precursor of things to come.
Jake Guentzel stole a Rochester outlet pass and made it 1-0 Penguins…
If you don’t have a Twitter account and are wondering what the attribution is from the Penguins to me is in this tweet, it’s because they initially credited this save to Tristan Jarry.
If you are looking for a turning point in the game, you found it here with the saves by DeSmith. If Rochester makes it a 3-1 or even 3-2 game in the power play, who knows what the third period brings.
Third Period: Penguins didn’t GIF this one, but Lukas Bengtsson scored his first North American goal with a sweet dangle on John Muse and backhanded it past Muse to give the Penguins a 4-0 lead.
Coal Street highlight package will have it.
You would think that the Penguins, up big on home ice in the third period, would let off.
Nope.
Rochester didn’t get in their own zone for a while. Penguins were still sniffing for their fifth goal.
But it was Norfolk Admirals Legend Kyle Bonis* that would break up Casey DeSmith’s shutout bid with 1:22 left in regulation.
Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (26 saves on 27 shots) 2) Jake Guentzel (goal, assist, +2) and 1) David Warsofsky (goal, assist, +4)
Notes: Third straight game where a Penguin scored his first goal of the year. (Percy, Gaunce, now Bengtsson) … Jake Guentzel had his fourth one goal, one assist performance in five games since returning from assignment from Pittsburgh…David Warsofsky has 11 points (2-9-11) in his last nine games…10 different players scored the last 10 goals for the Penguins. That is depth.
Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Hershey 3-2 in a shootout. There aren’t shootouts in playoffs, just saying….Providence does nothing until 4:38 left in their game with Bridgeport. Down 2-0, the Bruins explode for three unanswered goals and run their point streak to 13 games with a 3-2 win. Frank Vatrano (down on I hope is a conditioning stint) scored a goal, which is 37 straight games where Vatrano has scored a goal. Thirty. Seven. Straight. Games. If he sticks around, the Pennsylvania teams are in trouble….Springfield beats Binghamton 3-1 and Hartford picks up a 2-1 shootout win over the Syracuse Crunch.
vs. 
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 