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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins had won seven straight games coming into Saturday night in Syracuse and were the toast of the Atlantic Division and held the current longest winning streak in the American Hockey League.

No one in a Syracuse Crunch jersey was impressed or cared enough to notice.

Playing from behind didn’t seem to matter midweek in St. John’s but it finally caught up to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Saturday as they lose 4-2 in Syracuse against the Crunch. The last team to beat the Penguins before the streak beat them again. Thankfully for the Penguins, this is the last regular season meeting between the two teams.

Matt Murray vs. Adam Wilcox

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Dominik Simon
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – J-S Dea
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – Matia Marcantuoni – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Harrison Ruopp

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Conor Sheary was recalled to Pittsburgh Friday in the wake of the Nick Bonino injury….Dominik Simon jumped up to the top line wing spot in place of Sheary….Dea took Simon’s spot on the second line wing….Matia Marcantuoni centered Loney and Sestito on the fourth line. On defense, Ruopp was in for Clark Seymour. No Oskar Sundqvist again who was with the team but technically a healthy scratch.

First Period: Physical period. Nearly every stoppage led to pushing and shoving. The Penguins found themselves on a double minor penalty kill when Derrick Pouliot was called for hooking, didn’t like the call from referee Keith Kaval, and was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty for disputing the call. The Crunch scored twice on both ends of the power play and were up 2-0. Adam Erne scored his third goal of the season against the Penguins with a tip-in then Tye McGinn then stuffed the second Crunch goal past the pad of Murray that doubled the Crunch lead.

Here are the goals, that occurred :49 apart…

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Penguins got one back when Steve Oleksy lowered the boom on Philippe Paradis with a big hit. Dominik Simon picked up the puck, dished to Josh Archibald who zipped the puck past Wilcox and in which brought the Penguins to within one…

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Then in the final minute, Kael Mouillierat tried to force a pass deep into the Penguins offensive zone which caught the Penguins defensive corps deep and the Crunch capitalized.

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Matt Peca set up Mike Blunden on the two on one and the Crunch were able to bring a two goal lead into the…

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre took three penalties in the period and trailing by two goals is never a recipe to mount a comeback. However, the Penguins were able to generate a lot of shorthanded chances and actually outshot the Crunch 10-6 in the period despite being on the penalty kill three separate times in the period. No scoring in the period, but the trailing Penguins started to pick the pace up on the Crunch heading into the…

Third Period: J-S Dea cashed on a Carter Rowney shot and a rebound that brought the Penguins within one on the power play…

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The Penguins were on the come seemingly all period, but Wilcox was more than up to the challenge, in this instance stoning Sahir Gill in close then later robbing Kael Mouillierat on a Penguin power play. But the penalties and undisciplined play by the Penguins handcuffed them, as they kept taking penalties.

With Murray off, Wilcox continued to make big stops on Penguins furious rushes and chances. Wilkes-Barre weren’t able to find the equalizer and Tanner Richard hit an empty net to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Mike Blunden (goal, assist, +2) 2) Matthew Peca (assist, +1) and 1) Adam Wilcox (25 saves on 27 shots)

Around the Division: Hershey beats Springfield in a shootout 4-3….Portland continues their tear and sweep Bridgeport at home 3-1 tonight and Hartford beat Lehigh Valley 2-1. Providence was off.

Standings: Penguins (.750 percentage points) — Portland (.625) — Hershey (.600) — Providence (.526) — Bridgeport (.526) — Hartford (.487) — Lehigh Valley (.451) — Springfield (.421)

Wheeling Update: Nailers fall 4-3 to the Toledo Walleye in Ohio tonight. Anton Zlobin had a goal and an assist and was a +1 and extended his point streak to 7 games.

Pens now have a week to regroup and prepare themselves for what is brewing as a big, big test in Portland against the second place Pirates next Friday and Saturday.

I’ll have my big board chart refresh on the blog sometime Sunday afternoon and the Week 15 AHL Power Rankings on a special time on Martin Luther King Day, at noon Monday. Check them out then.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Here’s why I think tonight’s game, a 6-4 Wilkes-Barre win over the St. John’s IceCaps, is a statement win for the Penguins.

– If you want to play a defensive battle like last night, a 2-1 win for the Pens, it doesn’t matter.
– If you want to play run and gun and just score ten goals combined like tonight, it doesn’t matter.
– If you want to score first, like the IceCaps did last night and again tonight, it doesn’t matter. The Penguins have allowed the first goal four times during the seven game winning streak.

Good teams win games that they are good at winning. Great teams adapt to whatever the opponent throws at them and still find ways to win.

Bolstered by a career high three assist night by Derrick Pouliot, a goal and two assists both by Scott Wilson and Conor Sheary, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins come from behind twice tonight and win their seventh straight game under Head Coach Clark Donatelli and remain undefeated in 2016.

Tristan Jarry vs. Zac Fucale

Lines were the same as they were Tuesday night but for one change besides Jarry in goal. Maria Marcantuoni was in for Ty Loney on the fourth line. In case you forgot…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Conor Sheary
Josh Archibald – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Sahir Gill – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Sestito – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen
Will O’Neill – Clark Seymour

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

First Period: Penguins didn’t get scored on :21 in tonight. But they got scored on. This first goal took just one minute, exactly.

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Josiah Didier flubbed a shot from the blue line collected by Lucas Lessio which he backhanded at Jarry. Jarry made the save but the puck pinballed to Jacob de la Rose who dished to Max Friberg who scored to make it 1-0. It was the first even strength goal allowed by Tristan Jarry in 195:59.

Then, after the teams traded some penalties, Charles Hudon, who was in the penalty box for the IceCaps, walked out of the penalty box and dropped to Gabriel Dumont who passed to Mark MacMillan who put it off of Jarry and into the net to make it 2-0…

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The Penguins would respond in kind with two goals in the span of :25. The first one by Dominik Uher after Sahir Gill won a hard board battle on the near wall…

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Then Conor Sheary scored this goal…

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It was the seventh straight game for Sheary in which he has recorded at least a point.

To this point, it was a tale of two halves of the period. The Penguins were trampled underfoot in the first ten minutes, then came alive with the quick strike offense in :25 then started taking control.

But then the Kael Mouillierat Penalty Machine™ fired up. He took a lazy slashing penalty. The Penguins bench wasn’t happy with the officiating crew of Garrett Rank and Mike Mullen. Tom Sestito expressed his displeasure and :25 into the St. John’s power play and was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty and it was a 5-on-3 for the IceCaps.

Thankfully, just two seconds into the 5-on-3, John McCarron took a tripping penalty but it mattered little as Gabriel Dumont scored on the 4-on-3 power play with Tristan Jarry screened in front…

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Mouillierat has been playing professional hockey for the better part of six years. He’s what you would consider a veteran, yet every single game it seems he takes a penalty. Out of the 31 games he has played this season for the Penguins, he has taken a penalty in 16 of those games. If he was a younger player, he would be scratched because of the penalties.

St. John’s would outshoot the Penguins 17-7 in the period.

Second Period: Both teams came out firing in the middle frame, chances were back and forth and quick. But then Steve Oleksy took a penalty and Bud Holloway wasted no time in extending the IceCaps lead by two once again…

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But the Penguins struck quickly again as Oleksy would take a shot from the point that totally missed the net. But the carom was perfect to Matia Marcantuoni camping out on the far post to Fucale’s right and he stuffed the puck in to bring the Penguins to within one…

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1:19 later and on a power play, Kael Mouillierat atoned for his penalty in the first with this goal…

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Scott Wilson cycled around the net, centered quickly to Mouillierat unmarked low slot and it was a tie game once again heading into the…

Third Period: 1:20 into the third period, Scott Wilson dropped to one knee and proposed that the Penguins take the lead on this knee drop, one timer, power play goal…

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Josh Archibald added another goal for the Penguins with this deflection from a Clark Seymour blast from the blue line…

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This goal chased Fucale in favor of Eddie Pasquale and was the fifth time that the Penguins have scored six ore more goals this season.

Period seemed to crawl along as compared to the second period.

The Penguins took two consecutive penalties towards the end of the game. With Pasquale pulled for an extra attacker, the IceCaps were unable to convert thanks to Tristan Jarry. He had one save that stood out, this one on a shot by Bud Holloway…

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Notes: The Penguins were outshot in the game 40-19 but end up sweeping the IceCaps in the four game season series this year and are 9-1 all time against the IceCaps at Mile One Centre in the regular season….The 36 saves made by Tristan Jarry were a career high for the Penguins rookie, who wins his 10th game….The Penguins power play is 5-for-12 in the last three games….The seven game winning streak the Penguins are on is the longest current streak in the American Hockey League….The Penguins have had one eleven game winning streak, two four game winning streaks and this current seven game winning streak.

Three Stars: 3) Morgan Ellis (goal, assist, even) 2) Derrick Pouliot (three assists, +1) 1) Conor Sheary (goal, two assists, -1)

Around the Division: For the second time in as many nights, they all watched us.

Standings: Penguins (.770 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.579) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.514) — Lehigh Valley (.474) — Hartford (.459) — Springfield (.431)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Here are the video highlights…

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And the Coal Street post game infographic…

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The Penguins will travel back to the States Thursday and practice Friday in Syracuse in advance of their only game of the weekend against the Crunch Saturday night. But for anything breaking, look for the next blog update to be the 3 p.m. Gameday setup for the game against the Crunch Saturday at 7.

Let’s Go Pens!