Last Game: Last night in Wilkes-Barre against the Binghamton Senators, the Pens won 4-1. Tom Kostopoulos notched his 399th and 400th points in a Penguins sweater and was named first star of the game. For Bridgeport, the Sound Tigers were in Hartford last night and won 5-4 in overtime. Adam Pelech scored the overtime game winner 50 seconds into overtime and was named first star of the game.
Record: For WBS: 6-1-1-0 (13 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BRI: 6-3-0-0 (12 pts., 3rd place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: Don’t underestimate this Bridgeport team who own victories over Springfield, Lehigh Valley and Albany, all teams who are expected to contend. Pens will need a full 60 minute effort if they want to get out of Southern Connecticut with the win tonight.
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 C.D. Kostopoulos — Pens WIN 4-1
Posted by nafsnep on November 4, 2016
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This game was a tale of two hockey games.
For the first thirty minutes of the game, the Penguins played bad. They trailed on the scoreboard and were getting run around by an undermanned Binghamton team in a classic trap style game. A lot of guys on the Senators side were stepping into bigger roles and were showing that the faith in the coaching staff bestowed upon them in a road game against a premier opponent.
For the final thirty minutes of the game, you would swear that there was only one hockey team playing. The Penguins rip off four goals, including two more points for Tom Kostopoulos and the Penguins win 4-1. Wilkes-Barre has held their opponents to just one goal in the last seven straight regulation contests. We all knew that the defense was going to be good going into the season, but this good?
Oh, if you are struggling with the headline, as you can see, so am I. The Roman Numeral for 400 (as in points scored by Tom Kostopoulos in a Penguin uniform) is CD.
Some times the puns flow. Sometimes they don’t.
Anyway.
Tristan Jarry opposed Matt O’Connor.
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 – Jarrett Burton
Reid McNeill – Chad Ruhwedel
Barry Goers – Steve Oleksy
Cameron Gaunce – Ethan Prow
Tristan Jarry – Casey DeSmith
Lineup Notes: First time for Jarrett Burton in the lineup since October 26 against Albany. Patrick McGrath took warmups.
First Period: Pens had a goal disallowed on a Jake Guentzel interference incidental contact with the goaltender call. Referee Mike Mullen was right on top of the play and washed it out immediately. Explanation to Clark Donatelli’s bench was not met with much opposition. But you can tell in the way that the rest of the game unfolded that the call bothered the Pens.
Binghamton came out and started running around on the Penguins. Mike Blunden then stole something from Tristan Jarry of value to him…
Second Period: Penguins had a power play and looked terrible in the process. It was shaping up into a classic trap game. The undermanned, underdog team, comes into the living room of the big bully and slaps him around.
If Jarry lets in this Triston Grant would be goal, it’s probably a different outcome…
Jarry just went post-to-post to make the save of the night on Grant and keep this a one-goal game w/ 6:10 to play in the 2nd.
Shots at this point was something like 13-13 at this point. Then the Penguins took over.
A Chad Ruhwedel shot from the point was deflected in by Jake Guentzel and it was a tie game. Tom Kostopoulos had the secondary assist here for his 399th point in a Penguins uniform.
Exactly two minutes later, on a power play, Tom Kostopoulos whacked in a rebound through the pads of O’Connor for his 400th point and a 2-1 Penguins lead and a power play goal.
Third Period: They weren’t done.
Garrett Wilson had yet to find a goal yet this season but erased that in fine fashion on an odd man rush. Wilson waited and froze O’Connor and sniped one past him for a 3-1 Penguins lead. Now watch Wilson get hot now. Could be the start of something great.
O’Connor was needed agains stoning Kevin Porter after the face off else it would have been 4-1.
Oskar Sundqvist made sure it would get to 4-1 on a cannon of a shot that deflected off of O’Connor, off the post and into the net that extended the Penguins lead to three.
Late, Binghamton had a long 1:56 of five-on-three power play time after back-to-back penalties by the Penguins. Binghamton’s inability to score on a two man advantage Saturday in Hershey led to their undoing. The B-Sens lost that one 7-1. Back to the present, the B-Sens weren’t able to get anything past Jarry as he saw everything.
Three Stars: 3) Garrett Wilson (goal, assist, +2) 2) Oskar Sundqvist (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, +1)
Around the Division: Lehigh Valley wins 4-2 in Providence. I think that the Bruins are bad more than Lehigh Valley is good….Hershey battles back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Springfield 3-2 in overtime. I think that the Penguins inability to win over the Thunderbirds is a style thing more than it is anything….Bridgeport beat Hartford 5-4 in overtime. That’s a surprise because Hartford is awful, but it’s a rivalry for these two teams so maybe the Wolf Pack got up for that one but still lost.
Standings: I better start doing these by percentage points if I want these to be accurate, so here goes… Penguins (.813 percentage points) — Springfield (.668) — Bridgeport (.667) — Hershey (.625) — Lehigh Valley (.563) — Hartford (.389) — Providence (.333)
Wheeling Update: Bad night for the Nailers who lose 6-1 to Toledo. Cody Wydo scored the only goal for Wheeling.
Video highlights…
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Pens will bus now to Bridgeport for the second of their three in three. Gameday setup will hit the blog Saturday at 3 p.m.
Last Game: Sunday at home against Syracuse, the Penguins won 6-1. Kevin Porter continued to terrorize the Crunch scoring two goals. Casey DeSmith stopped 22 of 23. For Binghamton, the Senators were in Hershey Saturday and lost 7-2. Phil Varone and Casey Bailey scored for the B-Sens.
Record: For WBS: 5-1-1-0 (11 pts., 1st place Atlantic Division) — For BNG: 2-3-0-1 (5 pts., 6th place North Division)
Why you should care: Both teams will be well rested with no games this week, so expect a good contest between these old division foes. Pens can’t take Binghmaton lightly as the Senators always play the Penguins tough.
It’s Tuesday afternoon, so it’s time now once again for the Weekly Wheeling Wrap, where I look back at the week that was for the Penguins ECHL affiliate in Wheeling, West Virginia.
The Nailers played home and home series against the Kalamazoo Wings this week that started Friday in Kalamazoo. In a game that featured 93 total shots from both sides, it would be the Wheeling Nailers that would come away victorious with a 3-2 shootout win in Michigan against the K-Wings.
Doug Carr stopped 45 of 47 shots sent his way. His counterpart Joel Martin stopped 43 of 45. It was Ross McMullan in the sixth round of the shootout that won it for the Nailers. Gage Quinney and Nick Sorkin scored in regulation for the Nailers.
The teams trekked back east to WesBanco Arena for a Saturday night rematch in West Virginia and it was the Nailers leaving little doubt about who won this contest as they obliterated the Wings by a score of 8-1.
Josh Shalla had a hat trick to go along with two assists, Captain Derek Army had a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Doug Carr stopped 22 of 23 shots sent his way as the Nailers would sweep the home and home series with Kalamazoo.
Doug Carr was named on Tuesday morning the ECHL Goaltender of the Week for his performance against Kalamazoo.
The Nailers are in fifth place in the North Division with a record of 2-2-1-0, good for 5 points and fifth place in the six team division.
The week ahead for Wheeling sees the Nailers play another home and home series, but this time against the Toledo Walleye. That series opens up Friday at 7:35 in Wheeling before shifting to Ohio for a 7:15 start in Toledo. The Nailers return home Sunday afternoon for a date with the Kalamazoo Wings at 5:05.
Comments Off on Kevin Loves Crunch Bars — Pens WIN 6-1
Posted by nafsnep on October 30, 2016
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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.
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)
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.
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WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 