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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!

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“A” for effort in this game, a 5-3 Pens loss to the Hershey Bears. A win today would have gotten the Penguins to within one for the Atlantic Division Championship but now the deficit is five with both teams having three games remaining including one in Hershey next Sunday in the regular season finale for both teams.

It was a valiant effort by the Penguins, scoring twice in the third period that tied things, but too many defensive gaffes at the end of the game doomed Wilkes-Barre / Scranton.

I know that some Clark Donatelli haters read the blog. So I offer this next tweet that flies in the face of your theory that he has no idea what he is doing…

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The Penguins were into their backups backup backup today as Casey DeSmith was called in and signed to a PTO Sunday morning which ushered in the recall of Tristan Jarry to Pittsburgh. Donatelli didn’t know how long Jarry would be up for but is confident in Foster and DeSmith.

If the Pens would have beat the Bears twice in this situation, it would cast serious doubts in the Bears minds moving forward.

It almost happened.

Justin Peters opposed DeSmith in the other goal.

Lines were…

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

Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Ryan Parent – Will O’Neill

Casey DeSmith – Brian Foster

Lineup Notes: Other than in goal, Kael Mouillierat was back in the lineup after getting sent down Sunday morning and was in for Jarrett Burton.

First Period: Pens lost an offensive zone face-off and the Bears broke up ice on a two on one and Jakub Vrana passed to Ryan Bourque who scored to make it 1-0 Bears.

Pens couldn’t score on two power plays in the period and Justin Peters was dialed into the game, stopping everything coming his way in all forms. Pens were the better team in the period, outshooting the Bears 12-6.

Second Period: Oddest sequence of the season. J-S Dea was finishing off serving a high sticking penalty from the second period and went into the penalty box at the start of the third period without his helmet. The Penguins would kill off the remaining time of the Dea infraction but Dea was not allowed back onto the ice. Why? He didn’t have his helmet with him. Tom explains…

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Kostopoulos jumped onto the ice to “replace” Dea but the Penguins were assessed a too many men on the ice penalty as a result. Tom further clarified that Dea’s strap broke in the box as he was already there fastening it to his head right before the period started. Too much time passed to allow Dea to get his helmet replaced and back to him before his penalty expired.

Horribly odd sequence that nearly went the Bears way but the Penguins killed that too many men penalty and another penalty after that to keep the deficit at one thanks to nice stops by DeSmith in goal.

Pens would lose Reid McNeill to injury as he went in for a hit on the far boards and went down holding his knee. He needed assistance of two teammates to get off the ice, putting no pressure on his right leg.

Bears would double the lead on a turnaround shot by Garrett Mitchell that caught DeSmith off guard.

Pens would get on back on a late power play when Kael Mouillierat redirected one in that cut the Bears deficit to one…

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Pens got it even for the first time in the period when Dominik Simon raced past everyone and backhanded one in that tied the game at two a piece.

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Credit to the Bears, they had an answer for every piece of adversity that occurred in front of them.

1:01 later, Garrett Mitchell scored his second of the game when he scooped a puck off of DeSmith’s pad and flipped it in to give the Bears a 3-2 lead.

Pens would answer on a power play when a puck caroms off of a body right to Carter Rowney who put it in a gaping net that made it 3-3.

(no GIF of this one, sorry)

But the Bears would answer again a little over two minutes later when they beat out an icing call and Chris Bourque connects with Chandler Stephenson that put the Bears ahead for good at 4-3. Bourque would add the empty net goal that iced it away and made it 5-3.

Three Stars: 3) Will O’Neill (three assists, even) 2) Chris Bourque (goal, three assists, +4) 1) Chandler Stephenson (gaol, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Portland beats Hartford 3-2 which punched the Pirates ticket to the postseason….Lehigh Valley continues to play spoiler and beats Bridgeport 4-1…Providence edges Springfield 3-2.

Standings: Hershey (.644 percentage points) —  Penguins (.610) — Providence (.610) — Portland (.596) — Bridgeport (.582) — Hartford (.555) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.397)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are preparing for their first round matchup against the Florida Everblades with Game 1 going off this Friday in Estero, Florida.

Coal Street infographic…

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I will update my charts later tonight then have the Week 27 AHL Power Rankings up on the blog Monday at 4.

Midweek, I am probably going to look at the remaining games for the Bears, Bruins, Pens and Sound Tigers to see where these teams could possibly end up seeding wise for the Calder Cup Playoffs and do my best to predict a first round opponent for the Penguins.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Benjamin Franklin said once that there were two guarantees in life.

Death and taxes.

If Franklin were around today, he would add a third.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins qualifying for the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Penguins were established in 1999. This is their 17th season of existence in the American Hockey League, which has been around for 80 years.

The Penguins have made the playoffs for the fourteenth consecutive season.

Teams have come and teams have gone, Norfolk, Saint John, Manchester to name three that have dismissed or defeated the Penguins en route to their own Calder Cup Championship. But one thing remains certain.

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins get knocked down, but they get up again. 13 straight years without a Cup? Whatever. We will get you stupid fools next year. Oh, you want to call up half the team when Pittsburgh regulars get hurt? Alright fine. Make it tougher on us. We will see through it.

Complain all you want about the price of a hot dog, the coaching, the goal song, whatever. The fact is this, there is a line the goes from the parking lot at the Mohegan Sun Arena to half way to Albany full of fans, media types and front office personnel that would trade places with you in a heartbeat. You want to know why? The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are a model AHL franchise.

Like it or not, reality is, despite the lack of a Calder Cup Championship banner in the rafters, the Penguins are the envy of the league.

One of these years though, that lack of a banner in the rafters, will change.

Only question that remains is, is this the year?

The Penguins defeated the Hershey Bears on their own ice to lock up the 14th consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs winning tonight 4-3. Total team effort. Stellar display of goaltending by Brian Foster, yes, Brian Foster, to lock up the postseason berth.

Foster opposed Dan Ellis.

Lines were…

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

Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Ryan Parent – Will O’Neill

Brian Foster – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Steve Oleksy was out of the lineup with a lower body injury sustained in Friday’s shutout loss to Lehigh Valley. Jarrett Burton slotted in for the recalled to Pittsburgh earlier in the morning Kael Mouillierat. Tonight was a scheduled night off for Tristan Jarry. With Matt Murray leaving the game in Philadelphia with an apparent head injury, Jarry’s status for tomorrow remains up in the air.

First Period: Excellent start by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. They pressed the Bears, limited opportunities at Foster and scored three goals in the process.

They killed a Ryan Parent trip then got the first of two goals from Dominik Simon in the period when Ellis, slightly out of position, allowed enough time and space for Simon to open the scoring.

They got the second goal of the night on a nice centering pass by Tom Kostopoulos to Carter Rowney who slipped it past Ellis to make it 2-0 Penguins.

They got burned by a defensive gaffe and miscommunication by Foster when Liam O’Brien knocked one in to cut the Bears deficit to one.

Undeterred, the Penguins went on a power play, didn’t score on it but Simon scored his second of the period on a nice redirect of a Josh Archibald slap pass in the slot.

Shots were 7-6 Pens at the end of one and compared to last night a great period by the Pens who came into this game losing three in a row.

Second Period: Pens went ahead 4-1 on a Reid McNeill shot that was tipped by a falling Jarrett Burton. That goal ended Dan Ellis’ night. Enter Justin Peters. That settled the Bears a bit because they got one back off the stick of Carter Camper on a next level redirection of a Ryan Stanton shot.

Special teams took over. Neither teams was able to score. Foster was solid on the penalty kill and the Pens only put one shot on Peters after he relieved Ellis.

Third Period: I noticed in the intermission that the Pens only had one shot on Peters in the second period. The Bears were riled up and ready for the third. After killing a penalty by the Pens the Bears were sniffing for the third goal. Then Tim Erixon knocked the net off deliberately resulting in a Bears power play. After two separate sequences where Brian Foster’s mask came off, Chris Bourque scored his 200th AHL goal on a wicked blast of a shot that Foster got some of, but not all of.

Pens needed to stop taking penalties but then Dominik Simon clipped Travis Boyd with a high stick and drew blood. 4:00 power play to the Bears. Here is where Foster came up big and won the game for the Pens. Several good chances by Hershey but they were unable to get it equal. After the Pens killed it, I head and felt a hush over the Bears crowd that that was it, the last bullet had been fired.

With Peters pulled and after a time out by Head Coact Troy Mann, the home team never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Chris Bourque (goal, even) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (two assists, +2) and 1) Dominik Simon (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley 6-4…Hartford beats Springfield 6-2…Providence beats Portland 6-1. 

Standings: Hershey (.639 percentage points) — Penguins (.618) — Providence (.604) — Portland (.590) — Bridgeport (.590) — Hartford (.563) — Lehigh Valley (.493) — Springfield (.403)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in Reading tonight and won 4-2 in their final regular season game. The Nailers now set their sights on the Florida Everblades in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Coal Street infographic:

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And video highlights courtesy of the Bears….

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Rematch between these two teams Sunday at 4:05 from Wilkes-Barre. The Gameday setup hits the blog at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!