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Casey DeSmith is a goaltender that, for the longest time, was buried on the depth chart in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers for much of their season.

He did not see regular season action for the Nailers until December.

No, that is right, December. You put your kids to school in September, had a Halloween and Thanksgiving, before DeSmith saw action for the Nailers. That was in a December 5 game where he came in relief in mop up duty as the Nailers were dispatched by the South Carolina Stingrays by a score of 6-1.

DeSmith didn’t start seeing regular action for the Nailers until January. He didn’t pick up his first win until January 22. You celebrated Christmas, rang in a New Year and were probably complaining about how the Penguins should fire Clark Donatelli then.

DeSmith set the all time record for saves any a Wilkes-Barre / Scranton goaltender with a 59 save performance in Game 3 against the Providence Bruins as the Penguins sweep the Bruins in 3 games by a 5-4 score in double overtime.

Think of all the stud goaltenders and legends that have come and gone through here. Fleury. Murray. Curry. Chioido. Thiessen. Casey DeSmith, a guy that the Penguins signed on a PTO, stared down the Providence Bruins attack of names like Czarnik, Khokhlachev, Vatrano and Griffith and dismissed the second place team in the Atlantic Division in three games. All in overtime. Sweep.

And how about Clark Donatelli? Here is a guy that Penguins fans wanted to run out of town on a rail. The fact that he stuck to his guns and trusted in DeSmith over the guy we all expected and hoped for in this series in Tristan Jarry speaks volume about how in tune Donatelli is with the team and how much he has his finger on the pulse of what works and what doesn’t.

The Penguins will not know their second round opponent for at least a week, as Hershey and Portland are 1-1 in their series with Game 4 set for next Saturday.

DeSmith opposed Zane McIntyre.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Daniel Sprong
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Dominik Simon
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Josh Archibald

Niclas Andersen – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: No shuffling in or out personnel wise for the Penguins. Daniel Sprong was put on the top line. Casey DeSmith started his third straight game. For Providence, Zane McIntyre made the start in net for the Bruins.

First Period: It did not take long for the Penguins to get on the board. Jake Guentzel…

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…:35 in and it was 1-0 Penguins. Steve Oleksy with the initial shot that Guentzel collected and finished.

Zane McIntyre was forced into some key saves and it easily could have been 2-0 or 3-0 Penguins early on. Providence did not register its first shot on goal till around 4:30 into the period. With ex-Penguin Max Talbot in the box for a high sticking penalty, Dominik Simon scored the first power play goal of the series for either team and it was 2-0 Penguins.

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Penguins scored twice on six shots.

Providence couldn’t get anything going. Due to technical difficulties on AHL Live, I was on the home feed and heard Providence Bruins broadcaster Craig Durham say that this showing by the Bruins was uncharacteristic of the Providence team that finished second in the division.

Second Period: Casey DeSmith stopped Noel Acciari early on when the Penguins turned it over in their zone. Wilkes-Barre’s fourth line had a good :40- of zone time just cycling the puck in the zone with the Bruins doing little to take it off of them.

Then the Penguins turned it on again. Jake Guentzel hit Dustin Jeffrey with a perfect thread pass. The recipient was tripped by Zane McIntyre, Penguins power play.

Off of the ensuing power play, Daniel Sprong took a low, quick shot that went in for a goal that made it 3-0 Penguins…

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Blink and you’ll miss it. Caught McIntyre leaning, went near side low.

DeSmith again. This time stopping Frank Vatrano twice in close. DeSmith would later stop a Vatrano bid with a flashy glove save. I noticed then that the Penguins had 3 goals on 11 shots.

Shots dried up for the Penguins but time started to move quickly for the Penguins. But off of a face-off after a media time out, Austin Czarnik scored that brought the P-Bruins to within two again. The Pens were caught scrambling.

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Pens could have packed it in and played tight, but the offense quickly exploded again and they were back ahead by three on this firecracker by Tim Erixon…

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Wilkes-Barre started to look a bit too lax for my liking after getting scored on. They made something out of nothing and were back ahead by three heading into the…

Third Period: Bruins would outshoot Wilkes-Barre 20-5 and score three times to force overtime.

Chris Breen from the blue line that made it 4-2…

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Tommy Cross from almost the same spot that made it 4-3. This was power play goal…

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Pens were being outplayed, outshot and out hustled. What they didn’t need to do was do something stupid.

Will O’Neill did something stupid…

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Austin Czarnik scored his second of the game that tied it at 4.

Dustin Jeffrey had a chance to end it in overtime on a partial breakaway but could not get the shot off.

Overtime: J-S Dea had two shots blocked early. Casey DeSmith stopped one with his mask. Dustin Jeffrey had a chance to end it. Shots were 13-11 Bruins here. No one scored. It was off to…

Second Overtime: P-Bruins ended up on the penalty kill when Alex Khokhlachev cleared a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Then, on the penalty kill, Brandon DeFazio slashed the stick of Will O’Neill in two. The Penguins had :17 of 5-on-3 to work with and called their timeout.

Providence killed it all.

Past half way, Tom Kostopoulos centered Jake Guentzel…

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Ballgame.

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Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (59 saves on 63 shots) 2) Austin Czarnik (two goals, assist, +1) and 1) Jake Guentzel (two goals, two assists, double overtime game winner, +2)

Not only have the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins qualified for playoffs for 14 straight years, they have made it to the second round for six straight years. It’s one thing to make it. It’s another to make it past the first round. That these Penguins, left for dead by many, including myself, not only get past the Providence Bruins but sweep them, speaks volumes to the personnel in the room and the coaches. You and your #FireDonatelli hashtag on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook be damned.

Pens will draw the winner of the Hershey / Portland series which like I stated in the open will go at least four games with Game 4 set for next Saturday. It’s 1-1 heading to Hershey for Game 3 this Thursday. Game 5 would be Sunday, May 1 if necessary. You would think that Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Finals starts the following Wednesday at the very least.

I will keep you posted.

Sunday at some point I will have an update to my postseason charts. I will tweet a link sometime Sunday.

Now, go. Forget about hockey for at least a week. Rest up. We still have work to do.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.       

  3                                           4

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Daniel Sprong is a highly touted prospect that was mismanaged in Pittsburgh earlier in the season and sent to his junior team. It’s been an up an down year and no doubt an emotional roller coaster ride for the 19 year old. No idea what is going though is head when his junior team, Charlottetown, is dismissed from the QMJHL playoffs and he heads to Wilkes-Barre and suits up for the Penguins in the span of about 48 hours.

Score goals. Big goals.

Two goals from Sprong, one the overtime game winner, and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Providence Bruins in the best of five series as the series shifts to Providence Saturday night with a 4-3 overtime win Thursday night in Wilkes-Barre.

The footnote in the game and the series is going to be what is going on in goal for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Casey DeSmith led the team out for warmups and started and won his second straight game. Tristan Jarry was the backup again after initially being pegged to be the Game 2 starter.

You ride the hot hand if you are Clark Donatelli. The worst the Penguins could have done was a 1-1 split heading to Providence. If things fell apart for DeSmith, Jarry is right there.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Niclas Andersen – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: There weren’t any. Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched.

First Period: Bad luck bit the Penguins.

They got the first power play of the game early but a Daniel Sprong turnover to Noel Acciari led to this…

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…and the Bruins were up 1-0 on another shorthanded goal.

But the Penguins continued to pressure and hit the Bruins forwards at every opportunity. Pens couldn’t do anything with a full power play. It was looking like it was going to be 1-0 Bruins after one but then this happened…

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Will O’Neill’s stick snaps in two on a clear and the puck sat there for Chris Casto to collect and score to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Providence just robbed the hen house with the wolf watching. Or something.

Second Period: But then the wolf woke up. And he was angry.

Penguins killed off a carryover 5×3 to start the period. Then they got one back when Tim Erixon unleashed a slapshot from the blue line.

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Then Daniel Sprong atoned for his first period turnover and tied the game. Nice centering pass by Kael Mouillierat, Jeremy Smith didn’t know what hit him.

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Shots were 8-3 Pens through half way of the second period. Every time Providence touched to puck, there was a Penguin player there ready to lower the boom. I counted one Providence shift where they turned the puck over three times on account of hits by the Penguins.

The offense wasn’t finished. The opposite of what happened last night in overtime happened when Tom Kostopoulos finished off this service by Carter Rowney.

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I called it a meat grinder period by Wilkes-Barre with the home team playing the role of butchers and the Bruins playing the role of ground chuck. It was one of the most aggressive periods played by the Penguins all season and arguably the best period played under Clark Donatelli’s tutelage thus far.

Third Period: Providence didn’t take long to even the score at three. Frank Vatrano.

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Providence needed to score a dirty goal and got one. Puck may have deflected off of DeSmith’s skate and in but nonetheless, the Bruins showed life.

Pens did a good job of killing a Bruins power play. Hitting picked up. Some borderline illegal, but it’s playoffs.

Nothing was decided. It was off to…

Overtime: DeSmith made a pad stop and the Bruins were hunting to finish the game. Then Nic Anderson took a puck over the glass delay of game penalty. Bruins to the power play with fresh ice. The Penguins appeared to have scored when Kael Mouillierat beat Jeremy Smith to a puck. Mouillierat knocked Smith over and the Penguins scored on the empty net. Referee Keith Kaval initially signaled goal but consulted with the linesmen and trailing referee Kendrick Nicholson and rightly washed the goal out on account of contact with Smith.

The Penguins killed the penalty.

Sprong ended it shortly there after…

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That one counted.

The Penguins have played nearly perfect hockey so far this postseason. They have brought it to the Providence Bruins and the Bruins have not responded at all, other than to make the Penguins work that much harder to win. The Penguins have, the Bruins haven’t. The Penguins have all the momentum now. The Bruins are one or two sequences away now from their season being over.

Three Stars: 3) Carter Rowney (assist, -1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, -1) and 1) Daniel Sprong (two goals, +1)

Video highlights…

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The series now shifts to Providence for Game 3 at 7:05. I will probably bring back my postseason charts for Friday with analysis of anything that the data I chart gives me. I may make a blog post out of it. I don’t know yet. Stay tuned.

Bruins in 4? Huh. What idiot said that.

Oh, wait.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.       

  2                                           3

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Regular season accomplishments are fine and all, but when the playoffs start, all of the regular season accomplishments, records and what have you don’t mean a thing. Playoffs are their own animal.

For the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, they started the animal in the eye tonight, and it blinked.

A Carter Rowney overtime goal at 1:09 is enough to give the Penguins a 1-0 series lead and a 3-2 overtime win tonight.

The Penguins still need to win at least a game in Providence. Games 3 and 4 are there and if there is a Game 5 it is in Rhode Island as well.

Even if the Penguins would have lost this game tonight, they were only one or two adjustments away from completely turning the series around. Now that they have the series lead, they can really focus on putting the Bruins down for good when the series restarts for Game 2 Thursday.

It was Casey DeSmith vs. Jeremy Smith tonight in goal.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – Teddy Blueger – Daniel Sprong

Niclas Andersen – Steve Oleksy
Ryan Parent – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Patrick McGrath took warmups but was scratched. Tristan Jarry was reassigned by Pittsburgh in the morning and was the backup tonight and is pegged as the Game 2 starter.

First Period: Pens set the tone early getting the first four shots of the period. Providence quickly caught up on the shot board but DeSmith was up to the challenge. Much like Saturday the physicality and hitting was dialed up with the Pens dishing out the majority of the blows.

Carter Rowney won a face off to Will O’Neill. O’Neill put it towards goal and Jake Guentzel got a stick on it and it was 1-0 Pens.

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It was the perfect reward for the Penguins who matched Providence’s speed. DeSmith played a solid 20 minutes with some tough saves.

Question was, could the intensity be sustained?

Second Period: The second period started out very well for the Penguins. :18 in, Dustin Jeffrey knocked one past Jeremy Smith to double the Penguins lead.

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Casey DeSmith continued his sorcery in net denying Max Talbot twice in quick fashion.

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But Providence is too stacked of a team to go one, no less two periods without scoring. The Pens were caught in a miscommunication and Seth Griffith knocked one in far post for an easy tap in and the Bruins were dangerously back within one.

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The final five minutes were crucial here for the Penguins to either re-establish the two goal lead or take it to the break as it was and not get scored on again. They escaped up 2-1 heading into the…

Third Period: Penguins played well, but got bit on a shorthanded goal by Colby Cave that tied the game at two:

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The Bruins were trying to slow the game down and it worked. They were looking for their spot and found it when Cave scored shorthanded. Again, the Pens played well, but could not muster another one past Smith and it was heading to…

Overtime: Carter Rowney.

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Pens chipped a puck in deep. Tom Kostopoulos got to it, centered to Rowmey who knocked it in. I don’t think Providence touched the puck once in the overtime only just to knock it out of their zone.

Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (31 saves on 33 shots) 2) Dustin Jeffrey (goal, even) 1) Carter Rowney (overtime game winning goal, assist, +1)

Video highlights….

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I do not think that there is any doubt that Clark Donatelli goes to Tristan Jarry for Game 2. Casey DeSmith did what he was supposed to do, stop pucks while the starting guy was on recall to Pittsburgh. He did a fine job of it and if Jarry were to fall ill or get recalled back to Pittsburgh at some point down the line I have the full faith in his abilities. But Pittsburgh wants Jarry to get the playoff experience and that is what they will get.

Expect Providence’s best Thursday. They did not play a great overall game and at times were frustrated by the Penguins physicality. Expect them to crank it up looking to even the series up heading back to Rhode Island Saturday for Game 3.

Gameday for Game 2 hits the blog Thursday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!