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This game was a lot closer than the scoreline would indicate.

The shots at one point of the second period were 19-9 Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Then the Hershey Bears took the game over from a standpoint of it felt like they were on a perpetual power play.

A lot of turning points from this one but the one that stood out the most was a third period stand with about seven minutes played where the Hershey Bears set up shop in their offensive zone and continually cycled the puck and continually generated chance after chance at Tristan Jarry and an already tired Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins defensive corps trailing 2-1.

Another turning point you could say was the Bears inability to score on any of the five power play opportunities that the referees awarded them tonight.

It was a game that the Penguins were prepared for and one that they executed the game plan perfectly.

The final tonight was 4-1 Penguins, but the game was much closer than that as it was 2-1 late and the Bears in desperation mode pulled starting goaltender Dan Ellis in favor of an extra attacker for an empty net while the Penguins found the empty net twice.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Dominik Simon
Mattias Plachta – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald
Adam Krause – Jarrett Burton – Patrick McGrath

Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Barry Goers
Ryan Parent – Will O’Neill

Tristan Jarry – Franky Palazzese

First Period: Bears power play woes would get started off the bat when Carter Rowney had a Grade A chance on a shorthanded try on a Penguins clear. He skated in unabated towards Ellis and was denied but in the scrum that ensued Chris Bourque was penalized for roughing.

The Penguins would get a full two minutes of five on three when the Bears were called for two separate penalties but would not cash on the two man advantage. Will O’Neill was slashed but referee Cameron Voss thought that he sold the play a bit too much and also put O’Neill in the box for embellishment so the teams were four-on-three. In that sequence, Tom Kostopoulos knocked home a loose puck on the crease of Ellis to put the Penguins ahead 1-0.

How crucial is it for the Penguins to score the first goal with half of the regulars up in Pittsburgh? I should dig up the stat line on scoring first under Donatelli.

Hershey would respond 1:09 later as Travis Boyd took a shot that Riley Barber pounced on and poked home to tie the game at one.

Then Tom Sestito fought Liam OBrien. Video…

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Liam O’Brien, channeling his inner Dennis Bonvie, did the following after the fight…

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I suppose that O’Brien didn’t take kindly to getting punched in the head by Sestito after being prone on the ice. Sestito was assessed a ten minute misconduct for continuing the fight, so O’Brien’s antics were justified in my eyes. Total heel move doing that three or four times to the Wilkes-Barre faithful, but hey, as the band ‘The Jam’ used to sing, “That’s Entertainment.”

Second Period: Penguins would edge ahead on a shot from Barry Goers at the point that would get tipped in by Dustin Jeffrey to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

Then, the turning point I referenced in the lede.

Bears would go on a power play and only manage one shot on goal at Jarry. An adjustment had to have been made by Bears head coach Troy Mann because Hershey set up shop in the Penguins end and stayed there the remainder of the game. They forced the Pens into a too many men on the ice call when the Pens were hemmed in deep and were trying to exchange tired bodies for fresh ones.

The Penguins killed that penalty but the pressure was mounting into the…

Third Period: Tristan Jarry robbed Christian Djoos coming down the slot with the glove that I hope runs in the Coal Street highlight reel package I can embed later because it was a highlight reel save.

Then, the stand.

Bears set up and just came with chance after chance at the Penguins keeping the puck in the zone and not allowing for the Penguins to clear or Jarry to cover up. Barry Goers made a big block that he told Tom about postgame…

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It really felt like a continual power play for Hershey, but the Penguins withstood it all and came out unscathed.

Teams traded power plays but neither could score. Then Mann pulled Ellis giving the Bears the extra attacker. Dustin Jeffrey flipped one in the air from about 160′ away that found the Bears empty net to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Ellis was pulled again and this time Tom Sestito of all people scored which made it 4-1 and made Chris Bourque mighty angry…

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Bourque was assessed a 10 minute misconduct for his antics. He was mad that the linesman missed Josh Archibald potentially being offsides during the sequence that led to the Sestito goal.

Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, even) 2) Dustin Jeffrey (two goals including the game winner, +2) and 1) Tristan Jarry (25 saves n 26 shots)

Barry Goers to Tom postgame:

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Won’t have long to wait. These two teams rematch Sunday afternoon.

Around the Division: Providence goes into Toronto and wins 5-4. Despite the loss though the Marlies are the first team to clinch a playoff berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs….Bridgeport beats Portland 2-1 in overtime…Hartford beats Springfield 4-3 in a shootout. Lehigh Valley was off.

Standings: Hershey (.635) — Penguins (.627) — Providence (.603) — Bridgeport (.594) — Portland (.556) — Hartford (.556) — Lehigh Valley (.477) — Springfield (.435)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win in Kalamazoo by the score of 5-2. John McCarron had a goal for the Nailers in the win.

Coal Street infographic…

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And video highlights…

The Gameday setup for what is essentially first place in the Atlantic Division will hit the blog Sunday at 1.

Let’s Go Pens!

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If the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose out to the Hershey Bears for the Atlantic Division Championship at the end of the year by a few points, it will be this weekend here that they can point back to and say cost them. Or, at the very least, this weekend will have played a big part.

But for one lineup change for both teams, it was the same teams and just a different day. Same goaltenders too, with Tristan Jarry opposing Stephon Williams again. It was the same scoreline as well, a 3-2 win for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The Sound Tigers started the weekend in Syracuse Friday and lost 5-2. They came to Wilkes-Barre with a goaltender that gave up five goals the last time he saw the Pens and were stymied by him Saturday. Today, they were lulled to sleep by the Sound Tigers and Justin Florek scores all the goals for Bridgeport and beat a Penguins team that had come into the weekend winners of three of their last four games. A Penguins team decimated by call-ups that was still managing to keep its head above water.

Not so fun fact: The first ever hat trick scored by a Bridgeport Sound Tiger against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

So a crushing weekend for a Wilkes-Barre team pursuing first place being pursued by a Providence team on a tear for second or higher. It will be interesting to see how Clark Donatelli prepares his team for a huge weekend against the Hershey Bears in a weekend home and home next weekend.

I have a lot of videos here in this recap, so hit the jump if you didn’t link in direct…

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In my Rapid Recap tonight, I used a run-on sentence to sum up the play of Bridgeport Sound Tigers starting goaltender Stephon Williams tonight and summed up the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins night as a whole.

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A puck left harmlessly in the crease of Williams as the Penguins were pressing for the third goal late may have been another key to the way this one went, a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Penguins were unable to take over first place in the Atlantic Division with Hershey losing 2-1 to St. John’s earlier in the evening.

Williams was opposed by Tristan Jarry, back from illness.

Lines were…

Kael Mouillierat – Dustin Jeffrey – Josh Archibald
Mattias Plachta – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – J-S Dea – Adam Krause
Jarrett Burton – Oskar Sundqvist – Patrick McGrath

Will O’Neill – Barry Goers
Tim Erixon – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Tristan Jarry – Franky Palazzese

Lineup Notes: Harrison Ruopp skated the extra in warmups. As eluded to in the lede, Conor Sheary and Dominik Simon were recalled to Pittsburgh an hour and a half before the game in the wake of the news that Evgeni Malkin will miss 6-8 weeks with a wrist upper body injury. In the Simon / Sheary transaction, Tom Sestito was sent back. Coal Street earlier in the day recalled Adam Krause. Krause is the twelfth player from Wheeling that started the season there. Seth mined a gem that the Pens have averaged roughly one new call-up from the ECHL affiliate in West Virginia very five games this season.

First Period: Stephon Williams was quickly introducing himself to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and was clearly in revenge mode. The last time that Sound Tigers head coach Brent Thompson put Williams out there to face the Penguins, they put five pucks behind him. Not this time. Williams slides over to stop Josh Archibald one-thing a shot from a Kael Mouillierat setup on a 2-on-1 and then later Ty Loney took a shot from the high slot that Adam Krause got to but Williams got over in time to deny.

Turning point of the game would end up coming 10:52 into the first period when Kane Lafranchise tripped Mattias Plachta then four seconds later Matt Careener took a cross checking penalty and the Penguins were on a 5-on-3 for 1:56. The Penguins could not score. Bridgeport ground through and Williams made stop after stop with his glove.

Then Adam Krause found himself alone in on a breakaway. Not only did Williams stop Krause, he denied the rebound attempt then lost his stick then stopped the puck in his chest.

The Penguins threw 16 shots at Williams and he stopped them all.

Second Period: A dirty goal was going to be the only thing that beat this hot Bridgeport goaltender in Stephon Williams. Who else but Tom Kostopoulous to deliver it on a power play that made it 1-0 in favor of the Penguins:

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While the teams were four-on-four, Steve Oleksy blocks an initial shot but the puck caromed right to Colin Markison who had all day and all the space needed to fire one past Jarry that made it 1-1.

Dustin Jeffrey attempted a shot through  heavy screen. Any mortal goaltender is fishing that one out of his net and the Pens are glove tapping to Val Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love” in front of a bunch of fans wearing ecto plasma St. Patricks’ Day Penguins themed hats, but not Stephon Williams. He made the glove save like David Wright sees a line drive at third base for the New York Mets.

Third Period: Bridgeport scored to make it 2-1 off a quick developing 2-on-1 that Carter Verhaeghe blew by Jarry. Will O’Neill tossed a shot into traffic that got blocked by Bridgeport which resulted in the odd man rush.

Oh, that Williams guy. His glove had eyes I tell you. A Tim Erixon shot from the point through bodies is gloved by the Bridgeport netminder.

Then the Sound Tigers made it 3-1 on a power play when James Wright takes the shot from the point and Mike Halmo deflects the puck past the five hole of Jarry to make it 3-1. Deflating goal to give up considering the Sound Tigers power play is ranked 29th overall in the AHL and dead last on the road.

Pens couldn’t score on a power play but figured it out and scored on another when Kael Mouillierat ripped a shot off a face-off win just two second into the man advantage that made it 3-2.

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Then Carter Rowney was denied of a goal that I celebrated as one from my seat that surely should have gone in but was swept away at the last second that ultimately preserved the win for the Sound Tigers. With Jarry pulled, the Penguins never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Carter Rowney (two assists, -1) 2) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, -1) and 1) Mike Halmo (goal, assist, +1)

If I was the one picking three stars it would have been 3) Rowney 2) Halmo and 1) Williams 30 saves on 32 shots)

Carter Rowney picked up two assists, giving him nine points (5-4-9) in his last four games. I think he is making a case for AHL Player of the Week. We will see.

Around the Division: You know about the Hershey loss from the lede but let me link that 2-1 loss to the IceCaps here…Lehigh Valley lost in Hartford 4-2…Springfield beat Portland 3-2 in a shootout and Providence continues the home point streak that dates back to December 4 with a 3-2 overtime win against the Toronto Marlies.

Standings: Hershey (.639 percentage points) — Penguins (.631) — Providence (.600) — Bridgeport (.574) — Portland (.568) — Hartford (.533) — Lehigh Valley (.484) — Springfield (.432)

All of a sudden it’s Providence who is snaking up on Hershey and Wilkes-Barre for first or second in the division. The P-Bruins have a game in hand on both the Bears and the Penguins, too.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers won tonight at home against the Kalamazoo Wings by a score of 4-2. Brian Foster stopped 18 of 20, including a penalty shot. Cody Wydo had two goals.

Coal Street infographic and the video highlights…

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These two teams rematch Sunday at 5. It’s an hour sooner than you think. Make sure you set your clocks ahead an hour.

Let’s Go Pens!