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In a game that meant nothing to Hershey seeding wise and a game that still had substance to a Penguins team who needed to win and get outside help to overtake the Providence Bruins for the two  seed in the Atlantic Division and home ice, it was the play of Bears ECHL callup Vitek Vanecek that helped the Hershey Bears defeat the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 2-1 in a shootout.

Vanecek is a name that Penguins fans need to get familiar with as he is next in the Hershey pipeline of excellent goaltenders that have gone through there. With half of a team in front of him with the Bears resting regulars like AHL MVP Chris Bourque, he stopped 25 of 26 shots and was perfect in the shootout round to help his team win a meaningless points game for them but showed a preview of coming attractions of sorts for the Bears fans, coaching and management.

He opposed Casey DeSmith.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Jarrett Burton
Josh Archibald – Teddy Blueger – Patrick McGrath

Ryan Parent – Steve Olesky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers

Casey DeSmith – Sean Maguire

Lineup Notes: Tom Sestito was sent down from Pittsburgh in the morning. Niclas Andersen and Harrison Ruopp played Saturday but were out of the lineup for Ethan Prow and Ryan Parent. Adam Krause and Tyler Biggs were out as well with Jarrett Burton and Patrick McGrath in for Krause and Biggs. Casey DeSmith started his third game in a row, making it the first time since John Curry did it for the Penguins back in January 2011.

First Period: No scoring but the Penguins had two power plays they couldn’t do anything with on Vanecek making is AHL pro debut up from South Carolina in the ECHL. Pens looked like they carried the momentum in the period but couldn’t get anything past. Shots after one were 10-5 Penguins.

Second Period: It was shaping up to be one of those games where the only thing that happened was a team taking a penalty. The Bears took one, the Pens took three. Neither team scored. The Penguins only had two shots on goal through about 11:30 played in the period. One sequence that happened was Ryan Parent chipping a puck past a Bears defensemen and centering to Patrick McGrath that nearly chipped one past Vanacek.

Third Period: Riley Barber finally broke the scoreless deadlock with a rocket of a shot on the power play…

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…that game the Bears a 1-0 lead.

J-S Dea took a penalty and Vanecek denied Dustin Jeffrey shorthanded.

Then a moment which may be a bit of a concern for the Penguins going forward, Madison Bowey took a shot that clipped DeSmith up high…

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…DeSmith would finish out the shift but at the next stoppage was replaced by Sean Maguire who was making his pro debut. Talk about getting tossed out of the frying pan, into the fire, right?

Casey DeSmith would go to the locker room and was not seen at all the rest of the game.

Dustin Jeffrey scored on a nice drop pass by Josh Archibald that tied it and spoiled the Vanecek shutout…

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Pens took two penalties late which gave the Bears a 5-on-3 power play heading into…

Overtime: Wilkes-Barre was able to kill it all off then after a stoppage played three on three with 1:40 to play. No one scored.

Shootout: Christian Djoos and Riley Barber scored in Rounds 2 and 3, Carter Rowney and Dustin Jeffrey were both denied in their attempts and the Bears took home the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (21 saves on 22 shots) 2) Jakub Vrana (power play goal, even) and 1) Vitek Vanacek (25 saves on 26 shots)

Donatelli to Tom postgame on the status of DeSmith:

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Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Syracuse 5-2…Providence beats Bridgeport 6-1 and as a result are the two seed…Portland beats Springfield 3-1.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were actually pulling into Wheeling, West Virginia just as the Pens / Bears game went final. They took a sleeper bus down and back to Estero, Florida. Game 3 is this week between the Nailers and Everblades.

Note: Daniel Sprong’s junior team was eliminated from the playoffs tonight. Sprong is tabbed to join the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins fairly soon.he was 4-11-15 in 12 games for his Charlottetown Islanders side.

Here is the first round playoff schedule for the Penguins and Bruins:

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AHL only makes teams travel once in the first round. It must be a building issue for the Bruins with the Penguins opening up playoffs Wednesday.

Anyway, if I see video highlights of tonight’s game and can work in an edit, I will put them up later.

I will update my charts for the final time this regular season and have the final AHL Power Rankings up on the blog sometime Monday. I haven’t decided when. I would like to do a quick AHL Calder Cup Playoff Preview for all the teams and offer predictions before the full workup for Pens / Bruins on Tuesday. Stay tuned here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The Providence Bruins and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins better get used to one another. They will be seeing a lot of one another in the coming weeks.

That is because with a Hershey Bears win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms tonight, the Bears win the Atlantic Division and the Providence Bruins and Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are playing for second place and home ice in their five game series which should begin next weekend.

So tonight, a 3-1 Bruins win, was a playoff preview.

Long and short of things, this was a competitive game that the Penguins were in until the very end. The issue that doomed the Penguins besides the fact that they faced a well coached team with its full compliment of players was the 0-f0r-6 on the power play. The Penguins could not score on the power play tonight in a close game and it cost them. How many times is that said, seen or heard in these types of games?

So tomorrow decides home ice. Pens are in Hershey facing a Bears team with nothing left to play for in their final game of the regular season as division champions and the Providence Bruins head to Bridgeport where the Sound Tigers are still jockeying for playoff positioning. Here is how the scenarios can play out on the AHL’s final day of the regular season:

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For this game, Casey DeSmith opposed Jeremy Smith. No lineup changes were made for the Pens but for Harrison Ruopp in for Etahn Prow on defense.

Pens had their awards pregame, here is who went home with what:

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First Period: Providence jumped out early and took control but it was Casey DeSmith that made a diving save to keep the Pens in it and the game goalless. Pens had a power play that they couldn’t score on but had many looks. Then, Jake Genteel led Carter Rowney up ice on a two on one and Rowney finished to give the Pens a 1-0 lead…

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Every whistle was met with pushing and shoving. The Penguins were the more physical team on the ice and it was frustrating the Bruins.

Shots at the end of one were 20-9 Penguins. Wilkes-Barre subtly dominated the period.

Second Period: But with a lineup full of starts like Austin Czarina, Alex Khokhlachev and Frank Vatrano, in a one goal game, that isn’t enough.

Through two consecutive power plays, the Pens only had one shot on the board.

Finally the Bruins were moving their skates to a point to where they forced a Penguin power play. It did not take long for Providence to finally break through and score on their first power play of the season against the Penguins. Austin Czarink scored on the far dot off of a one timer and it was a tie game.

DeSmith came up big denying Co-Rookie of the Year Frank Vatrano on a breakaway.

It was 1-1 going into the third. Tom had this observation…

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And this was a period where it was 10-3 in shots favoring the Bruins.

Third Period: Czarnik again. Quick transitioning play and it was 2-1 Bruins.

Pens had two more chances to score on the power play in the period but couldn’t. With DeSmith eventually pulled for the extra man, the Penguins never found the equalizer.

I tweeted this with 18.2 seconds left…

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What a jinx I am.

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Three Stars: 3) Alex Khokhlachev (two assists, +1) 2) Carter Rowney (goal, -1) 1) Austin Czarnik (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Lehigh Valley 4-2 to lock up the Atlantic Division Championship…Bridgeport loses in Albany 3-0 in a game that had 280 penalty minutes. No, that’s right, two hundred and eighty penalty minutes….Hartford loses in St. John’s 2-1…Springfield beats Portland in overtime 3-2.

Standings: Hershey (.640 points percentage) — Providence (.620) — Penguins (.607) — Portland (.587) — Bridgeport (.580) — Hartford (.559) — Lehigh Valley (.487) — Springfield (.400)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 4-1 in Game 2 of the Kelly Cup Semifinals to the Florida Everblades that ties the series 1-1. The series shifts to Wheeling April 20. Anton Zlobin had the goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Pens and Bears go off Sunday at 5. Gameday setup for that hits the blog Sunday at 1.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Look, I don’t care that the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are out of playoff spot. The Penguins and Phantoms slugged it out for 40+ minutes in a knock down, drag out goaltending duel for the ages.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are trending upwards and have won six of their last seven games coming in to tonight contest. They shutout the Penguins the last time these two teams met with a goaltender up from the ECHL who posted a dazzling 40 save performance.

But on this night, it was the Penguins own ECHL goaltender that preserved the win and Jake Guentzel that scored a gritty, go ahead goal in the third period that propels the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to second in the division with a 2-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night.

It was the aforementioned Casey DeSmith vs. AHL All-Star Anthony Stolarz.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Adam Krause
Jake Guentzel – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Mattias Plachta – J-S Dea – Dominik Simon
Tyler Biggs – Teddy Blueger – Josh Archibald

Niclas Andersen – Steve Olesky
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Will O’Neill – Barry Goers

Casey DeSmith – Sean Maguire

Lineup Notes: Barry Goers, Steve Oleksy and Tyler Biggs all returned to the lineup for the Penguins tonight. Brian Foster was sent to the Wheeling Nailers earlier in the day. Harrison Ruopp, Jarrett Burton, Patrick McGrath and Ryan Parent were the healthy scratches for the Penguins this evening.

First Period: Phantoms would jump out of the gates first when Lehigh Valley won an offensive zone face-off to Robert Hagg who wired it over DeSmith’s shoulder for a 1-0 Phantoms lead.

About two minutes later the Penguins would tie it on the shot by Will O’Neill and the deflection of J-S Dea…

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Some milestones on that assist by Will O’Neill…

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Then both goaltenders started making saves. DeSmith with a lunging save on Petr Straka and then denying Nicholas Aube-Kubel on a two-on-one rush.

Tyler Biggs had some drives to the net but Stolarz made the save.

Second Period: Was becoming the Anthony Stolarz and Casey DeSmith Show.

Stolarz was under bombardment early, denying Jake Guentzel off a nice feed from Tom Kostopoulos that kept it 1-1.

Stolarz would makes more saves with some saves on Ethan Prow in the high slot, then flicked out a pad on Adam Krause again and then again on Steve Oleksy. Barry Goers rang a post behind Stolarz.

Wilkes-Barre was looking for a dirty goal on the Phantoms netminder, throwing pucks at his feet and at his doorstep but he turned away all 14 shots sent his way in the period by the Penguins.

Casey DeSmith denied all seven shots sent his way.

Third Period: Stolarz made some more ridiculous saves, this time on his back, denying Dominik Simon on his back that kept the game tied at one a piece.

Pens were pressuring the Phantoms with everything. It was going to take a dirty or a deflection goal that was going to beat Stolarz.

So who better than the rookie, Jake Guentzel, with this deflection goal of a Carter Rowney shot that put the Pens ahead 2-1…

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Seth dropped this in after the goal…

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Teams traded power plays but neither took advantage. With Stolarz pulled for the extra attacker, the Phantoms never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Casey DeSmith (26 saves on 27 shots) 2_ Anthony Stolarz (40 saves on 42 shots) and 1) Jake Guentzel (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Hershey could have sewed up the Atlantic Division title tonight with the mess that is the Binghamton Senators. They didn’t. The B-Sens beat the Bears 4-2 up on the Southern Tier that keeps the door open for the Penguins or Bruins to slip in and take the Atlantic Division title….Hartford beats St. John’s 4-1 on The Rock to preserve their dim playoff chances, but those chances were extinguished for good as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers get a late goal by Bracken Kearns to beat the Portland Pirates up in Maine 3-2 that locks in the Eastern Conference playoff teams as the Sound Tigers are the last team to qualify. Springfield and Providence were idle.

Standings: Hershey (.635 percentage points) — Penguins (.615) — Providence (.615) — Portland (.588) — Bridgeport (.588) — Hartford (.567) — Lehigh Valley (.493) — Springfield (.392)

Wheeling Update: The Wheeling Nailers take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Kelly Cup Semifinals over the Florida Everblades by a 6-3 score. Cody Wydo had a goal and three assists for first star honors. Andrew Ammon scored twice. Game 2 is tomorrow in Florida.

Wilkes-Barre closes out the regular season home schedule against a rested and hungry Providence Bruins team that will be gunning for home ice of their own. Gameday setup hits the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!