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On the first shot of the game tonight, St. John’s IceCaps captain Gabriel Dumont scored a goal on Matt Murray :21 in. It was the fastest goal allowed by the Penguins this season and injected a ton of energy into an IceCaps side that came into the game losing four of their last five.

Any mortal team with any mortal goaltender probably rear another goal, then possibly another, then likely pack it in this far away from home all the way out in Newfoundland and lose the game.

Not the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Backstopped by a 33 save performance by AHL All-Star goaltender Matt Murray and a goal ahead goal by IceCap killer J-S Dea in the third period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win their sixth straight game by a score of 2-1.

It was the aforementioned Matt Murray vs. Zach Fucale.

Lines were…

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

Matt Murray – Tristan Jarry

Lineup Notes: Clark Seymour was in for the recalled Adam Clendening. No other lineup changes. Oskar Sundqvist did not make the trip as he is still ill. Also not on the trip is Tim Erixon, who is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Obie said on radio that his status for Syracuse Saturday is still to be determined.

First Period: As noted in the lede, :21 in Gabriel Dumont scored the fastest goal allowed by the Penguins this season…

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Penguins were caught straight out flat-footed for the start of the period. Later, caught in a line change, St. John’s pounced on the opportunity to go tic-tac-toe passing but the shot went wide. Murray needed to be sharp and was.

The Penguins finally started to come alive as the period wore on. Scott Wilson stepped into a shot on a one-timer that went off of Fucale’s mask and caromed to Steve Oleksy but the puck deflected out.

Murray was again called upon late when Lucas Lessio took a shot that rebounded to Stefan Fournier but Murray got over in time.

Then, Nic Andersen shot a puck at the blue line at Fucale that Josh Archibald deflected in, but it was ruled immediately that the puck was deflected in via a high stick…

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Second Period: Much better period by the Penguins who controlled play early and often. Derrick Pouliot would bring the Penguins even on the power play with this shot…

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Wilkes-Barre would continue to come in waves and nearly went up 2-1 but Zach Fucale made this timely save while down and seemingly out…

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The Penguins would outshoot the IceCaps 8-5 in the period. Scott Wilson fought Mac Bennett in the period and his presence was missed when the Penguins were on a late power play and did not register a shot on goal.

Third Period: J-S Dea became the fourth Penguins player to reach double digit in goals with this shot…

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Dea took the initial shot, followed his rebound, shot again and that went in.

Nick Hart had this gem…

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IceCaps could not convert on two power play opportunities. The Penguins were undisciplined with constant penalties but St. John’s was unable to convert. After a timeout with Fucale pulled, St. John’s was never able to find the equalizer.

Some out the door notes…

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Three Stars: 3) Conor Sheary (assist, even) 2) Gabriel Dumont (goal, +1) 1) Matt Murray (33 saves on 24 shots)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins (.764 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.579) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.514) — Lehigh Valley (.474) — Hartford (.459) — Springfield (.431)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Here is the infographic from Coal Street…

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And the video highlights…

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One more thing, John Slaney was announced as the fourth member to be enshrined in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins Hall of Fame. Release here. Slaney is already an AHL Hall of Famer and is currently an assistant coach with the Arizona Coyotes. The Hall of Fame Ceremony will be held January 30 when the Penguins host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Meanwhile, the rematch tomorrow vs. the IceCaps goes off at 6 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time. Gameday setup will hit the blog Wednesday at 2.

Let’s Go Pens!

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It’s the case of two teams passing each other going in different directions. The Utica Comets came into this game having lost four in a row (0-3-1) and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins came into the game having won four in a row.

No one turned around to say hello tonight, as the losing streak continues for the Comets and the winning streak rolls on for the Penguins after a 4-2 win Saturday night at home.

Credit Utica for playing an equal style of hockey with the Penguins all night. Physical, in your face all night long that would knock another team off it’s game if that team wasn’t the Penguins who do the same thing night after night after night. The game was really decided via the power play, with the Penguins striking twice.

Tristan Jarry opposed Joe Cannata tonight. It was Jarry’s first appearance for the Penguins since December 16.

Lines were…

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 – Adam Clendening

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

Changes Since Last Night: Kael Mouillierat and Tom Sestito were back from injury. Mouillierat missed about two weeks (December 27) and Tom Sestito missed about a month and a half (November 28) – the Penguins went back to the standard 12 forwards, 6 defensemen. Tim Erixon was scratched on defense. John McCarron skated the extra in warmups. Mouillierat was up with Wilson and Sheary on the top line, the second and third lines were untouched, J-S Dea centered Sestito and Loney. Oskar Sundqvist missed his second game due to illness.

First Period: Both teams opened with early, quality chances which were stopped by the goaltenders. Teams then settled in then the Penguins were off on a power play. Pens cycled the puck around and Tom Kostopoulos finished this feed from Conor Sheary…

[tweet https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/685982256847024129]

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Kostopoulos became the third Penguins to reach double digits in goals this season, joining Dominik Simon (12) and Scott Wilson (16)

Utica responded with a long offensive shift. Hitting picked up a bit. Then, with 5 seconds left, Will O’Neill found the back of the net to double the Wilkes-Barre lead.

Had to think that was a bit of a crushing blow to the Comets, who were building something that may have resulted in a tie game, but they never did and trailed by two heading into the…

Second Period: If you weren’t aware of the hitting that went on in the first period, you started to notice it in the second period. Nearly every puck put deep or whistle blown led to bodies getting smashed into other bodies or into the wall. Then, late, the Penguins find themselves having to kill 1:27 of 5-on-3 time. With four seconds to go in the period, Hunter Shinkaruk scored to give the Comets life and it was a 2-1 game all of a sudden. The goal ended Tristan Jarry’s shutout streak at 183:59.

So how the Penguins responded going into the third period would be key.

Third Period: Penguins miss on the first power play given in the third period but not the second as Scott Wilson would score to give the Pens some breathing room and make it a 3-1 game. Conor Sheary won a face-off back to Derrick Pouliot who passed to Wilson who one -timed it home for the goal.

Tristan Jarry came up big for the Penguins as Utica was pressing. But with Cannata pulled, Alex Friesen scored with 1:45 left to bring the Comets to within one again. This was the first even strength goal allowed by Tristan Jarry since October 28.

Scott Wilson though iced the game away with an empty net goal with seconds left and the Penguins held on.

Three Stars: 3) Jordan Subban (two assists, even) 2) Conor Sheary (three assists, +1) and 1) Scott Wilson (two goals, assist, even)

Scott Wilson became the AHL league leader in goals scored tonight with 17 and 18.

Around the Division: The Portland Pirates are all the way up to second place in the division and are 8-2 in their last ten games after beating St. John’s 4-1 tonight in Newfoundland….Hartford beats Bridgeport at home 5-4….Albany beat Lehigh Valley 4-2….Providence beats Springfield 4-2….Syracuse beats Hershey 4-2.

Standings: (Penguins .757 percentage points) — Portland (.603) — Hershey (.568) — Bridgeport (.539) — Providence (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.487) — Hartford (.444) — Springfield (.429)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 6-3 to the Orlando Solar Bears. Brian Foster took the loss. Matia Marcantuoni had a goal.

Here is the post game infographic….

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/686037335050448896]

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And the video highlights…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1xiV2_1ccA&feature=youtu.be]

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The Penguins travel tomorrow to St. John’s for the first of two starting Tuesday. The game is 7:30 Newfoundland time, which is a 6:00 start in Wilkes-Barre.

I’ll have the charts updated on the page Sunday sometime and the Week 14 AHL Power Rankings on the blog Monday at 4. Look for the Hall of Fame Announcement to come sometime Monday as well. When that happens, I will have a blog about the two newest enshrinees.

Let’s Go Pens!