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With half of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins normal roster either injured or on call-up to Pittsburgh, the Penguins needed a big game from a role player tonight.

They got that in the form of Anton Zlobin tonight, on recall from Wheeling this morning. Zlobin’s performance was supplemented by none other than Carter Rowney and the Penguins beat the Springfield Falcons in overtime in a late nail biter on a power play goal by a score of 4-3.

The game plan tonight was ride a strong performance by Matt Murray in goal and get scoring from somewhere, anywhere, and hope for the best. 42 saves on 45 shots by Murray tonight and the third line of Zlobin, Rowney and Tom Kostopoulos were a combined +6 tonight.

It was Matt Murray vs. Niklas Treutle.

Friday morning, the Penguins called up two and signed one. Up from Wheeling were Anton Zlobin, Patrick McGrath and Derek Army. Army was signed to a professional tryout agreement.

Lines were….

Ty Loney – Kael Mouillierat – Josh Archibald
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Derek Army
Anton Zlobin – Carter Rowney – Tom Kostopoulos
John McCarron – Matia Marcantuoni – Patrick McGrath

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Ryan Parent – Niclas Andersen

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Ryan Parent was making his Wilkes-Barre season debut. He last appeared in two games for the Pens in playoffs last season. Harrison Ruopp and Clark Seymour were the healthy scratches as was Brian Foster. Tyler Biggs, Barry Goers and Dominik Uher (week to week) along with Sahir Gill and Dominik Simon (day to day) were the injury scratches.

First Period: Penguins needed a quick start to set the tone and the pace and got it, twenty seconds in, when Steve Oleksy scored his first of the season with Tom Kostopouls providing interference in front:

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I thought at the time that Tom Kostopoulos scored that goal, but the house scored it and kept it Oleksy’s.

The next part of the game plan was take advantage when the opponent gives you a power play opportunity. With half of the firepower in Pittsburgh, Clark Donatelli has been improvising recently with Tom Sestito parked in front of the crease on the power play.

It worked.

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Nifty redirection by Sestito there.

Springfield would outshoot the Penguins 12-8 in the period thanks in large part to being on the power play three consecutive times to close out the period but the Penguins penalty killing led by Matt Murray kept them off the scoresheet.

Patrick McGrath and Stefan Fournier fought to close out the period in what Mike O’Brien called on radio, “one of the best fights we have seen all year.”

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Second Period: Matia Marcantuoni was injured in the first period and did not come out for the second so the Penguins skated a forward short and may need to dress seven defensemen tomorrow against Bridgeport.

Niklas Treutle settled into the game nicely and denied Tom Sestito on a mini breakaway. Sestito tried to go five hole but was stopped. Tretule then stopped Anton Zlobin on a mini break also. It was clear that the Falcons netminder was settling into the game.

Springfield continued to press and finally got a goal when Steve Delisle threw a puck at Murray from the far wall and past him to cut the lead to one. The Falcons continued to press and Murray was needed to make some more big time saves. Reid McNeill blocked a shot in an unprotected area of the leg and went of the ice into the locker room with assistance.

Here is video if it in slow motion:

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Third Period: But a shot off of a leg / ankle wasn’t going to faze McNeill, as he would return to the ice and assisted on this goal by Zlobin which made it 3-1 Penguins just :28 into the period…

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It was Zlobin’s first goal in the AHL since March 14, 2014 when he scored against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

But the Falcons continued to press with loads of time left in the period and eventually tied it.

— Greg Carey cashed in on rebound left by Matt Murray on a Philip Samuelsson shot that made it 3-2 on a power play.
— Carey then struck when the Penguins won a defensive zone face-off, tried to clear but Carey put a shot on net that may have deflected off of Steve Oleksy and in that tied the game:

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Pens got a power play but couldn’t cash on it. Mike O’Brien succinctly noted that the last place Falcons were playing with nothing to lose and the depleted, first place Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins were playing and looking tense.

Corey Potter dumped a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Will O’Neill hit the post on the ensuing late power play but the teams headed to overtime tied 3-3.

Overtime: Pens won a faceoff, got it in the offensive zone and moved the puck around and, well…see for yourself…

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So ends the four game losing streak that the Penguins were on coming in. So ends the four game losing streak that Matt Murray was on.

Three Stars: 3) Anton Zlobin (goal, assist, +2) 2) Tim Erixon (assist) 1) Greg Carey two goals, +2)

No idea on those selections. Carter Rowney was 1-2-3. Matt Murray made 42 saves, a career high for him.

Around the Division: Hershey continues its tear with a 6-2 thrashing of the Binghmaton Senators on the Southern Tier. After a scoreless first, the Bears scored six times on eight shots to win….Bridgeport battles through a Danick Martel hat trick to overcome the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a score of 6-3…The Hartford Wolf Pack continue their tear, beating All-Star goaltender Mike McKenna and his Portland Pirates by a score of 5-0 and Albany overcomes a loaded Providence team 4-3 in a shootout.

Standings: Penguins (.689 percentage points) — Hershey (.628) — Portland (.602) — Providence (.556) — Bridgeport (.554) — Hartford (.543) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.444)

Wheeling Update: Good on the Wheeling Nailers, who have been pillaged on the low end of all of these call-ups, on beating the Reading Royals 3-2 tonight on the road. Casey DeSmith stopped 24 of 26.

Pens bus back home for a Saturday night game against Bridgeport. Gameday setup for this will hit the blog Saturdsay at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.      

  5                                       3

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Tonight felt a lot like the early years of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins existence.

– Home black jerseys in livery not seen in these parts in 15 years.
– Sellout crowd.
– Hated, long time rival in the Philadelphia Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
– Fights and penalties. 60 minutes in total.
– Controversy with the officiating and questionable calls.
– The opponent walking away with the two points.

A 5-3 loss, the Penguins third in a row and six of the last seven for an all of a sudden slumping Penguins team that is without it’s number one goaltender due to injury (Matt Murray) and number one defenseman due to call up (Derrick Pouliot)

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins once robust lead in the Atlantic Division has been trimmed to mere percentage points now by none other than the other big time rival in this state, the Hershey Bears. The Bears have not lost in regulation in ten games.

Lots of things to get to in this one.

Tristan Jarry opposed Anthony Stolarz

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Ty Loney – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Josh Archibald – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – John McCarron

Reid McNeill – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill

Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster

Lineup Notes: John McCarron was in for Dominik Uher who was out with injury. J-S Dea is now the only Penguins player to appear in every game this season. Defenseman Ryan Parent skated the extra man in warmups. Josh Archibald replaced Uher on the third line and McCarron took Archibald’s spot on the fourth.

Before the game John Slaney became the fourth member of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame Class. He was inducted into the Class by original members Kevin Blaum and Dennis Bonvie:

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First Period: Penguins jump ahead on a Will O’Neill power play goal with Tom Kostopoulos screening in front of Stolarz that made it 1-0 Penguins. Pens think they score again but have the goal taken away by referee Olivier Gouin as he either new the whistle or had the intent to while Kostopoulos was whacking away on Stolarz as the puck squirted through. A back and forth period saw the Pens ahead 1-0 with the shots being 12-11 Phantoms.

Second Period: Phantoms cashed on a carryover power play on fresh ice that tied the game. Taylor Leier got the last deflection on an Andrew MacDonald blast from the point that made it 1-1.

Then, after a Lehigh Valley power play had just expired, Colin McDonald scored to make it 2-1. What happened here was Tristan Jarry made a diving, poking save on an Andrew MacDonald attempt that got him out of position. With McDonald right in front with time and space, Jarry had no chance. It was a goal I’m sure he would want back, but the Penguins needed to dig out of a 2-1 hole.

Things didn’t get any easier as Chris Conner stole a puck at center ice, put a deke on a Penguins defender and scored an NHL caliber roof job on Jarry that made it 3-1.

That was your turning point.

It was your turning point because the Penguins would get on tilt (a poker term for playing on the edge after being dealt a bad hand) and it would see J-S Dea tangled up with a Phantoms player, Dea giving words to the Phantoms bench coming off, slowly, while play was going on in his end. Linesman Bill Lyons sees all of this and correctly whistles the idling Dea for too many men.

Now every whistle and stoppage was escalated. Reid McNeill and Maxim Lamarche engaged in a fight that McNeill easily won via uppercut. Anything to spark an all of a sudden lifeless Penguins team. It worked. Scott Wilson cashed on a big rebound left by Stolarz on the power play and it was a one goal game again.

Then the play and sequence which will get talked about at the water cooler Monday.

Pavel Padakin scores his first goal of the season while Tristan Jarry has a Phantoms player laying on top of him. With Jarry prone on the ice and the puck in the net, there is no way that referee Gouin is going to allow the goal to stand, right?

Wrong.

After brief consultation with Linesman Lyons and Luke Murray, the goal was allowed to stand. Apparently, Gouin ruled that a Tom Sestito pushed Tyrell Goulbourne on top of Jarry, thus not allowing Jarry to play his position but the goal standing anyway because Sestito pushed Goulbourne into Jarry.

I thought the call sucked. If it was reversed, I would openly say that the Penguins got away with one. I think at the very least there needs to be some moderation of the rules that either takes both players off the ice like you see with hooking and diving plays or just a penalty to the player that puts the opposing player on the goaltender thereby not allowing the goaltender to play his position.

I was mad on Twitter about it, but I have seen it happen before where goals like that are allowed to stand. It’s a terrible sequence to be on if you are the team that is getting scored on.

Anyway.

Third Period: Scott Wilson brought the Penguins to within one when he received a pass from Conor Sheary that hit his skate and kicked to his stick and in the net.

With time dwindling, the Penguins never found the equalizer. Josh Archibald had all the time and space in the world but fired wide late. With Tristan Jarry vacated Colin McDonald hit an empty net at center ice that salted the game away.

Three Stars: 3) Chris Conner (goal, assist, +2) 2) Scott Wilson (two goals, -2) 1) Andrew MacDonald (three assists, +2)

Two point nights for Wilson, Sheary (two assists) Kael Mouillierat (two assists) and Will O’Neill (goal, assist)

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Albany 4-1. The Sound Tigers have now won four in a row…Hartford beats St. John’s 4-1…Hershey beats Syracuse 5-1 and Springfield beats Portland 6-2. Providence was off.

Worth noting that with the win tonight the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have now won five games in a row.

Standings: Penguins (.682 percentage points) — Hershey (.620) — Portland (.616) — Providence (.557) — Bridgeport (.544) — Hartford (.533) — Lehigh Valley (.511) — Springfield (.443)

Wheeling Update: Elmira beats Wheeling in a shootout 4-3. Paul Cianfrini had two goals.

Pens now are at the All-Star break and will report next Thursday for practice before getting on a bus bound for Springfield, Massachusetts for next Friday’s game against the Springfield Falcons.

As for me, the Week 17 AHL Power Rankings will be up here on the blog Sunday at 3 p.m., the big board chart refresh will be up sometime soon and I am heading to Syracuse for AHL All-Stars as a fan. I’ll have a bunch of stuff on the Twitter side and probably the blog so keep it locked here on the blog this weekend.

Let’s Go Pens!