Comments Off on Two on One – Two for One — Pens LOSE 3-2 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on November 25, 2016
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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are drawing opponents on the up and up right now.
The Hershey Bears are the defending Eastern Conference Champs and whitewashed the Pens 4-0 on Wednesday, this after coughing up a two goal lead to these very Penguins in the third period last Saturday.
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are a pesky team that, the last time these two teams met, would not go away seemingly and came into the contest Friday night winners of three straight.
Make it four.
A 3-2 overtime win for the Sound Tigers tonight where all three goals were scored on two on one rushes. The Penguins could not solve goaltender Eamon McAdam all night it seemed but manufacture a point anyway. Good teams do this.
The Pens had come into tonight’s game against Bridgeport 4-0 and outscoring their opponents by a 16-6 score coming off of a loss the prior game. The winner in net for every single one of them? Casey DeSmith. DeSmith started tonight for the Penguins and took the overtime loss.
Lines were…
Dominik Simon – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Garrett Wilson – Oskar Sundqvist – Josh Archibald
Thomas DiPauli – Kevin Porter – Danny Kristo
Patrick McGrath – Jarrett Burton – Reid Gardiner
Derrick Pouliot – Chad Ruhwedel
David Warsofsky – Tim Erixon
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Lineup Notes: Oskar Sundqvist and Domink Simon returned from injury. Simon missed about a week, Sundqvist missed just one game…J-S Dea was a healthy scratch. Lukas Bengtsson was scheduled to start the game but was a late scratch in favor of Tim Erixon. Others were Sahir Gill, Ryan Haggerty and Barry Goers. Stuart Percy is still listed as an injury scratch.
First Period: Steve Bernier’s goal at exactly one minute of the first period was all the scoring in the period. It was a quick two on one that Bernier had and took the shot that beat DeSmith just one minute into the period.
Pens ended up 2-for-2 on the penalty kill for the first period. Bridgeport’s first power play was bad, registering just one shot on goal and their second one was better, registering four. Wilkes-Barre had one power play and couldn’t get anything past goaltender McAdam.
Second Period: Penguins did everything right this period. They started the period coming out strong with pucks at McAdam, got an early power play, then Jarrett Burton scored his first of the season off of a perfect pass by Dominik Simon…
Fourth line came though for the Penguins. Great shot by Burton.
Penguins looked like they were going to turn the tide in their favor. Immediately after that goal by the Penguins, the Sound Tigers took a penalty. Wilkes-Barre did everything but score. Goaltender McAdam lost a stick, as did another Bridgeport player. They forced the Sound Tigers into an icing after the power play expired.
So what happened after that?
Bridgeport scores to go ahead 2-1. Tanner Fritz setup Ross Johnson on a two on one to reestablish the lead for the Sound Tigers.
A team that the Penguins couldn’t put away the last time these two teams met had not trailed this game going into the…
Third Period: Penguins are in a 0-for-24 slump on the power play. Gotta think that one or two of them would have helped them in this game. They could not score one the only penalty awarded by the officials in the period.
Eamon McAdam continued to make saves he had no business making, three shots quick in on him in close that he turned away.
Josh Archibald scored from a low angle that finally beat McAdam to put the Penguins even with the Sound Tigers at 2-2. Wilkes-Barre managed to manufacture a point out of essentially nothing, as McAdam wasn’t giving them anything.
Overtime: Connor Jones scored the third two on one goal for the Sound Tigers in overtime. Danny Kristo inadvertently took out Casey DeSmith in the areas allowing Jones to score the game winner. After a brief review by referees Geno Binda and Terry Koharski, the goal stood.
Here is the goal. Sorry for not cutting up every goal tonight. My brother was in and wanted to watch the game with me streamed to the TV vs. me in a corner with a cat on the computer…
Three Stars: 3) Devon Toews (two assists, +2) 2) Josh Archibald (goal, +1) and 1) Connor Jones (game winning goal, +1)
Around the Division: Providence gets over .500 for the first time in a while and beats St. John’s up in Newfoundland by a score of 2-1…Hershey beats Springfield 5-2 in Massachusetts. These two teams rematch tomorrow night in Hershey…Lehigh Valley puts away Binghamton 4-3. The Senators had come back each time on the Phantoms but weren’t able able to put Lehigh Valley away…Albany beats Hartford 4-3 in overtime.
Last Game: Wednesday in Hershey, the Pens were shutout 4-0. For Bridgeport, the Souped Tigers were in Hartford and won 4-2. Steve Bernier had a pair of goals.
Last Meeting: November 18 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won 4-3. Carter Rowney had a goal and an assist good for first star honors. Jon Landry had two assists in the losing effort for his team.
Record: For WBS: 12-4-1-0 (25 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BRI: 11-5-0-0 (22 pts., 3rd place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Bridgeport remains a very strong, very dangerous team. The Penguins are in for a good fight these next two games against Bridgeport. Expect Casey DeSmith to start this one and for the Penguins to come out better than they did Wednesday in Hershey.
Radio: For WBS: WILK NewsRadio / For BRI: I don’t think Sound Tigers games are on radio. Here’s the link to Mixlr where you could here the Sound Tigers call if you want to.
Comments Off on Bear Bites Back — Pens LOSE 4-0
Posted by nafsnep on November 23, 2016
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The unreasonable Penguins fan will be mad with this result.
That’s because the unreasonable Penguins fan expects their team to win 85-0 every game.
Don’t be an unreasonable Penguins fan.
Here’s what I wrote in my Gameday setup this afternoon…
Bears cannot be happy with the way Saturday went. Expect a relentless attack from Hershey tonight. Pens can’t be thinking about the turkey dinner yet or they’ll get embarrassed tonight.
Final result was a 4-0 Penguins loss. I wouldn’t call it an embarrassing loss, but whenever you get shutout of a game or lose by multiple goals, it’s not the first topic of conversation.
It’s also unreasonable to expect the Penguins to sweep the Bears all 12 games in this season series. The Bears are a good team and well coached. They were legitimately embarrassed by coughing up a two goal lead in the third period last Saturday against this very Penguins team. To think that this did not stick with Hershey and wasn’t a focus point in practice this week is unreasonable.
I mean if you disagree, this is an open forum and the comment section is always available. If no one comments I assume I am correct in my analysis, but I am not mad at this loss at all.
Now, if the trend continues and the Pens are swept by Bridgeport, themselves a very dangerous team, then the unreasonable fan may be onto something…
Tristan Jarry opposed Vitek Vanecek.
Lines were…
Tom Kostopoulos – Carter Rowney – Danny Kristo
Sahir Gill – Kevin Porter – Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Thomas DiPauli – Jarrett Burton – Reid Gardiner
Derrick Pouliot – Chad Ruhwedel
David Warsofsky – Lukas Bengtsson
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith
Lineup Notes: Derrick Pouliot is down for his conditioning stint, playing his first game for Wilkes-Barre since January 16 at Syracuse. Oskar Sundqvist was a surprise injury scratch. Obie said on radio that he picked up a minor lower body injury in practice Tuesday. It isn’t expected to be long term. With Jake Guentzel currently on recall to Pittsburgh, Danny Kristo took his spot on the first line, making his debut in a Penguins sweater.
First Period: Better start by the Penguins to start in contrast to Saturday. Wilkes-Barre had six shots on the board before the Bears registered their first. Both goalies made saves on breakaways. Vanecek on Josh Archibald and then later Jarry on Ryan Bourque when the Penguins were on a power play.
Second Period: Game was settling into a defensive battle, with just five shots by the teams nineteen minutes into the second period. Then, with 20.5 seconds left, Zach Sill scored his first goal of the season on this shot that broke the 0-0 deadlock…
Bears had started to setup and control the offensive zone time before breaking though on the goal by Sill.
Third Period: Pens weren’t going to win this game tonight after Josh Archibald was stopped for the second time on the breakaway by Vanecek. Hershey comes right back down the other way and scores this goal that made it 2-0 for the Bears…
Referee Evgenii Romasko appeared to be out of position slightly to not be able to initially blow the play dead on the initial stop by Jarry. I guess in hindsight he was in perfect position because he allowed play to continue and Christian Thomas to score the goal. After an officials review, the goal stood.
That goal wasn’t the reason why the Penguins lost this game. Something seemed off here by Wilkes-Barre. They seemed to be chasing the game since around the half way point and the score line showed.
Three Stars: Vitek Vanecek (24 save shutout) 2) Christian Thomas (goal, even) and 1) Zach Sill (game winning goal, +1)
Observations: Derrick Pouliot had a good game, drawing three tripping penalties. Noticed Danny Kristo a lot in the first half of the game, but not so much in the second half. Shots ended up 24-18 favoring the Penguins.
Around the Division: Bridgeport beat Hartford 4-2. One of their goals was scored in this manner…
Not only is Hartford a bad team (in last place in the Atlantic) but there have ZERO puck luck.
Other finals included a Lehigh Valley 1-0 win in Binghamton in a game that was similar to the Pens / Bears game somewhat in a defensive battle. Rookie Alex Lyon picked up his first AHL shutout with 28 saves….Providence beat Rochester 6-4. The Amerks have lost four in a row.
Last Game / Last Meeting: Saturday in Hershey, the Penguins were down two goals in the third period when they stormed back to take the game in overtime 4-3. Tom Kostopoulos’ goal with 67 seconds left tied it, and Carter Rowney’s hand / eye coordination with a defender draped on him ended it for the Penguins in the comeback win.
Record: For WBS: 12-3-1-0 (25 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For HER: 8-4-3-1 (20 pts., 4th place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Bears cannot be happy with the way Saturday went. Expect a relentless attack from Hershey tonight. Pens can’t be thinking about the turkey dinner yet or they’ll get embarrassed tonight.
Other Game to Watch: Binghamton hosts Lehigh Valley tonight. B-Sens are trending hot and the Phantoms have stayed hot. Should be an interesting clash of styles tonight on the Southern Tier.
Next Five Games: @ BRI 11/25, BRI 11/26, @ STJ 12/3, @ STJ 12/4, HER 12/9
Comments Off on Wheeling Wrap 11/22
Posted by nafsnep on November 22, 2016
Tuesday at noon means a look at the ECHL affiliate in Wheeling.
The Wheeling Wrap returns after a one week hiatus as the Nailers were playing a school day game with the Brampton Beast last Tuesday.
Back on Friday, November 11, the Nailers hosted division rival Reading and beat the Royals 4-1. Freshly assigned from Wilkes-Barre, Adam Krause got the goal scoring early for the Nailers in the second period at just 40 seconds. But less than a minute later the Royals would even the score. Going into the third period, the Nailers responded with three straight goals to cruise to the win. The power play struck once and goaltender Doug Carr stopped 25 of 26 shots, good for second star honors.
The Nailers had off Saturday before heading North of the Border to Canada, where the met the Brampton Beast for the first of a home and home Sunday afternoon. Adam Krause struck twice, and J.P. Anderson stopped 27 of 29 as the Nailers beat the Beast 5-2. Kevin Schulze chipped in a goal and picked up two assists.
Tuesday morning in front of a school day crowd of 5,182 in West Virginia, Wheeling would sweep the Beast in a wild, knock down, drag out 6-5 win. The Nailers jumped out to a 6-2 lead when Brampton struck late in the second and then two more in the third in a nail biting finish for the home team which sent the school kids home happy. Kevin Schulze continued his giving ways, assisting on four of the Nailers six goals. The Nailers chased starting goaltender Bryan Pitton, then Zachary Fucale battened down the hatches and stopped the next 11 Nailers shots.
Last Friday night, the Nailers traveled to Indianapolis and took on their Twitter buddies the Indy Fuel. The action on the ice wasn’t as kind as the Fuel dismantled the Nailers by a 6-1 score. Christian Hilbrich scored the only goal for the Nailers on the power play. Doug Carr took the loss stopping 24 of 30.
Saturday, the Nailers continued their road trip with a four and a half hour trip West to Moline, Illinois for a date with the Quad City Mallards. They won 3-2 on a late goal by Brett Stern. Stern also notched and assist. Goaltender J.P. Anderson stopped 33 of 35 to pick up the win and Adam Krause continued his tear and scored a goal and picked up two assists, figuring into every goal for the Nailers on this night.
This past Sunday, the Nailers would sweep the Mallards with another 3-2 win. Josh Shalla picked up his team leading ninth goal of the season for Wheeling. Michael Webster picked up his first professional goal in the second period. The Nailers went ahead on a power play goal then needed a penalty kill in the third period to secure the win. J.P. Anderson started in back to back games and stopped 23 of 25.
The Nailers currently sit in third place in the North Division with a 9-4-1-0 record, good for 19 points and just two points off division leaders Manchester and Adirondack. Wheeling has won nine of their last eleven games.
The week ahead sees the Nailers host the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for a pair at WesBanco Arena on Saturday and Sunday of this week.
Comments Off on Battling Back the Bear — Pens WIN 4-3 (OT)
Posted by nafsnep on November 19, 2016
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When the Hershey Bears get a multiple goal lead on an opponent at Giant Center, it’s lights out for the opponent.
You can’t stop a Chris Bourque train.
Zach Sill will hit you into next week if you try to take liberties and look like you want to come back.
It’s hard to think when a sellout crowd of 10,000+ is yelling and screaming for their home team en route to another win for the storied Hershey franchise.
Yeah, well none of that fazed the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins who, were down for most of this game and down two goals in the third period when the come back happened.
A Garrett Wilson single to center, through the pads of Joe Cannata and in for a 3-2 Bears lead.
Watching the game on AHL Live, on my computer in my cats basement, even I could feel the tension of the Bears faithful. The Bears weren’t going to blow this lead, against this team, were they?
Were they?
Tom Kostopoulos, the captain and living legend of Wilkes-Barre teams past and present, scored on his own rebound with 64 seconds left and poof, the lead was gone.
Penguins possessed for much of the overtime that followed and Carter Rowney swept in a puck using the stick blade as almost and extension of his arm, harmlessly past a sprawled out Cannata who never sealed off the post.
There would be no Chris Bourque train.
No Zach Sill booming hit.
A crowd of 10,355 left the Giant Center with their mouths agape, stunned as to what happened.
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WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 