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Looking at the standings in this league, I can tell you that there are a lot of bad teams in the American Hockey League.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are not one of them.

Don’t believe me? The Toronto Marlies came into Wilkes-Barre last night as the second best team in the League and needed a shootout to beat the Penguins. They scored three shorthanded goals to even get to the shootout but how often do you see teams in professional hockey give up three shorthanded goals? It doesn’t happen often.

Anyway, that same Marlies team short of AHL points leader William Nylander and short Antoine Bibeau who was recalled to the parent Maple Leafs today rolled into Hershey tonight with Ray Emery in goal, who just signed his PTO an hour and a half before the start of the game Friday and beat the Bears 6-2. Hershey had won seven in a row at home coming in and were bolstered by the addition of Chris Brown who had cleared waivers earlier Saturday.

A 3-0 shutout in Syracuse tonight against a Crunch team decimated by call ups and injuries. Brian Foster, up from Wheeling and forced into the starting goaltender position with the injury to Tristan Jarry earlier this week in Allentown, recorded his first shutout at the AHL level, the Penguins recorded their fourth shutout in five games and the Penguins have not allowed an even strength goal in 305:29.

Again, there are a lot of bad teams in the AHL. The Penguins aren’t one of them.

Foster was opposed by Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Scott Wilson was recalled by Pittsburgh earlier today as a result of Daniel Sprong getting sent back to his junior team, so it was an all hands on deck situation forward wise for the Penguins. Here is a look at the lines:

Josh Archibald – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Sahir Gill – J-S Dea – Ty Loney

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Brian Foster – Casey DeSmith

Lineup Notes: With Wilson recalled to Pittsburgh, Josh Archibald was slotted into the top line. The second and third pairs were left untouched and Sahir Gill, making his WBS season debut, took Archibald’s spot in the fourth line. The defense pairing was also untouched.

First Period: Penguins muster not much offense in the period but for this Oskar Sundqvist centering attempt to Tom Kostopoulos that went in:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678368288213237760]

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The Crunch would outshoot Wilkes-Barre 17-3 in the period and go 0-for-2 on the power play, threw everything but the kitchen sink at Foster but were unable to score. It’s the microcosm of the Crunch’s season, really, one that has been crippled by injuries and call ups.

Second Period: Sleepy periods by both teams. Penguins had this would be be power play goal taken away when referee Garrett Rank ruled that the net was knocked free of the moorings before the puck had crossed:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678383092709593088]

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Brian Foster stayed active in net, denying Jeff Tambellini and Philippe Paradis Grade A scoring attempts. The Pens outshot the Crunch 11-6 thanks to an 8-0 headstart to begin the period.

Third Period: Feeling going into the third was that the 1-0 lead was not safe. So what do the Penguins do? Score twice in a span of 1:46.

First, Will O’Neill scored from the blue line when the Crunch turned it over right to him…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678395131460980737]

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Then Carter Rowney with a strong forecheck which forced a turnover which resulted in Tom Kuhnhackl which made it 3-0:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678396189046349824]

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Tampa Bay prospect Anthony DeAngelo is going to have nightmares on the bus to Hershey tonight of Brian Foster. Foster denied him with the pad about halfway into the period…

…then in the dying seconds of the game with Vasilevskiy pulled:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678403112093229057]

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Three Stars: 3) Matthew Peca (no shots, -1) 2) Will O’Neill (goal, +1) and 1) Brian Foster (30 save shutout)

Around the Division: I gave you the Hershey final in the open. The other finals were Hartford beating Utica in a shootout 2-1…Portland beat Bridgeport 2-1…Springfield beat Providence 4-2 and Binghamton beat Lehigh Valley 2-1, speaking of bad teams.

Standings: Penguins (.796 points percentage) — Hershey (.607) — Bridgeport (.583) — Portland (.540) — Providence (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.483) — Springfield .464) — Hartford (.429)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at three all late but lose 5-3 in Moline, IL against the Quad City Mallards. Riley Brace had a goal and two assists, John McCarron had a goal and an assist. Toledo beat Manchester 2-0 at home tonight to expand their lead on the North Division by 4. The Walleye are in Indy tomorrow.

Pens are now off until December 26 in Hershey against the Bears. I’ll have my chart refreshes Sunday and the Week 11 AHL Power Rankings up Monday.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I’ll use the lede in my Rapid Recap one post down for the lede here.

The Penguins were cruising in the third period of tonight’s game and heading to a power play up 3-0.

Then the bottom fell out.

A 4-3 shootout loss for the Penguins tonight to the Toronto Marlies. The game leading in was dubbed as a matchup between two heavyweight teams that were about as evenly matched from top to bottom. Even so in goal with the Penguins bringing in Casey DeSmith from the Wheeling Nailers this morning and the Marlies signing Ray Emery to a PTO hours before puck drop. It was a battle backups tonight in goal with Brian Foster squaring off against Antoine Bibeau.

To see it end in a shootout is mildly disappointing, to say the least.

The lineups were unchanged forward wise and defense wise. But in case you forgot…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Brian Foster – Casey DeSmith

First Period: Wilkes-Barre would jump out to a 2-0 lead but not before a long 5-on-3 for the Penguins that seemed rushed, panicked and disorganized. Brian Foster was called into the game early, denying a Nikita Soshnikov breakaway attempt on the 5-on-3.

Clark Seymour scored on a rocket of a shot from the top of the circles to give the Penguins an early 1-0 lead…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678014373772808197]

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Scott Wilson would double the Penguins lead when he outworked Stuart Percy on this play…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/678014146374430720]

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At this point the Penguins were firing on all eight cylinders. They wanted to win for their coach Jay Leach, the injured Tristan Jarry and probably for Brian Foster in goal.

First Intermission: I always look for people to give me insight as to what they are seeing. There is a man by the name of John that I always visit on the concourse of nearly every home game. After the first period, I went over and visited. He cautioned me that the Penguins were getting worn down by the Marlies and that it was something that the Penguins used to do to opponents all the time. It was just something he gave me to watch out for as the game went on.

Second Period: The Marlies were working the Penguins again, forechecking them hard, but about half way through, Toronto was without a shot. The Penguins outshot the Marlies 16-7 in the period but were not able to extend the lead further.

Third Period: Penguins cash on a power play when Derrick Pouliot gets one past Bibeau to make it 3-0. The Pens were rolling and about to head on another power play.

Then my buddy John’s premonition came true.

Mark Arcobello scored on a wired wrist shot that beat Foster at 4:38 and the Marlies were on the board. The goal snapped a shutout streak of 225:07 that the Penguins as a team were on.

Hockey is a funny game. You can go three full games without allowing a goal, then give up two in the span of :39, while killing the same penalty.

That’s what Nikita Soshnikov did when he scored to make it 3-2.

The Penguins would not score on that power play, but Mark Arcobello gift wrapped another for them immediately after the one they got scored on twice shorthanded expired.

You knew it was coming…

[tweet https://twitter.com/CVSethLakso/status/678032092148707328]

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Rich Clune got a step on a Penguin defender and slipped it past Foster and the game was tied.

Collectively, you simply cannot allow something like this to happen. You just can’t.

Quick, blame the goaltender!

Wrong.

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/678057720881274881]

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The Penguins took that eight cylinder car I referenced in the first period and got it to the end of regulation overheating, with a crack in the windshield, a busted tail light and three flat tires heading into…

Overtime: Penguins would have to kill a too many men on the ice call and did. It was onto a…

Shootout: Dominik Simon’s attempt was poke checked away, Scott Wilson missed his chance high and J-S Dea’s chance went wide. Foster stopped Arcobello on a shot that went wide, William Nylander when he tried the five hole but wasn’t able to stop Soshnikov’s attempt…

[tweet https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/678044369828622340]

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Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Richard Clune (goal, +1) 2) Scott Wilson (goal, assist, -1) and 1) Nikita Soshnikov (goal, +1 and the game winning shootout goal)

Derrick Pouliot took two penalties tonight and was on the ice for two of the Marlies shorthanded goals. There is a lot of talk about whether he should be in the NHL with Pittsburgh or here. I don’t think he made a case to get called up tomorrow with tonight’s performance.

Around the Division: Utica beats Springfield 7-4…Hershey coughs up a 3-1 lead in Allentown and loses 6-4 to the Phantoms…Providence beats Bridgeport 3-2 in overtime and Rochester crushed Hartford 7-1.

Standings: Penguins (.788 percentage points) — Hershey (.630) — Bridgeport (.603) — Portland (.521) — Providence (.519) — Lehigh Valley (.500) — Springfield (.444) — Hartford (.429)

Wheeling Update: The only organizational team to win tonight, the Nailers defeated the Quad City Mallards 4-1 tonight in Moline, IL. Anton Zlobin played and had an assist. Derek Army and John McCarron both had a goal and an assist in the win. Franky Palazzese stopped 39 of 40 shots to collect his eighth win of the year. The Nailers are now just a point off the idle Toledo Walleye for the top spot in the North Division and rematch the Mallards on Saturday.

Here is the post game infographic…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/678064778045190148]

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Update on Tristan Jarry as told to Tom:

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/678050273886121984]

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If I see video highlights tomorrow I will edit them in.

Onto Syracuse tomorrow. Gameday setup for this hist the blog Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!

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There was an innocuous sequence in the third period in tonight’s game that stood out and stuck with me.

With less than 10 minutes to play in the third period with the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins cruising, the linesmen ruled icing on a questionable call which caught a tired Penguins group on the ice against a Phantoms team looking for anything to build momentum. It was probably the best sequence for the home team to this point.

Off the ensuing face-off, rookie goaltender Tristan Jarry makes a glove save forcing a whistle and allowing the Penguins to make the needed change.

It is that kind of goaltending that you see out of veteran goaltenders, not a rookie playing in his ninth professional game thrust into the starting goaltender role on the best team in the AHL.

Jarry and the Penguins blanked the Lehigh Valley Phantoms again tonight, 3-0 the score. Jarry hasn’t allowed a goal in 144:02, the Penguins haven’t allowed the Phantoms to score a goal on their home ice in 150:33 going back to April 19, 2015 of last season and it is the first time in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins franchise history that the Penguins have recorded three consecutive shutouts in as many games.

Jarry opposed Jason LaBarbera, making his first start since November 8.

Lines were…

Scott Wilson – Kael Mouillierat – Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – J-S Dea – Josh Archibald

Derrick Pouliot – Clark Seymour
Tim Erixon – Will O’Neill
Reid McNeill – Niclas Andersen

Tristan Jarry – Brian Foster

The Uher line was untouched. Rust up from the fourth line to the top line. Kuhnhackl from the fourth line to the second with Rowney centering. Dea continued to center the fourth line with Loney up from Wheeling and Archibald back from being a healthy scratch. The defensive pairings were not touched.

Sahir Gill and Harrison Ruopp were the healthy scratches. The vague injury updates were Matia Marcantuoni listed as day to day, Tom Sestito and Steve Oleksy both week to week and Tyler Biggs out “indefinitely” with a lower body injury. All that means is that they haven’t evaluated whether he is day to day or week to week yet. I just wish they would say what they injuries are and stop this goofy hiding behind the curtain nonsense. Anyway.

First Period: The best part of the recent call-ups to Pittsburgh was that existing great role players were going to be given a chance to step into an even bigger role. The plan worked to perfection in the first period. In a word, a dominating period by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. They won every battle and ran circles around a Phantoms team that either didn’t realize that they were playing in a game or looked totally and completely disinterested in engaging in the contest. Shots were 11-3 Penguins after one and Wilkes-Barre was ahead after one after this goal by Clark Seymour, the Penguins defenseman’s first goal in the AHL:

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/677284490914357248]

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Second Period: More of the same for the Penguins. Nothing really going for the Phantoms offensively. The Penguins couldn’t get anything going either with a power play, but then the Penguins tried a dump in, Jason LaBarbera came out to play it, turned over to J-S Dea forechecking hard and this happened…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/677300113316962304]

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Lehigh Valley hit two posts in the sequences that followed. The Penguins continued their dominance, winning battles and getting passes and shots through. LaBarbera wasn’t good to this point, but he was the sole reason that the game was not 6-0.

Third Period: Penguins came out blazing to open the third period, beneficiaries of a carryover power play but did not score and were collectively 0-for-3 on the man advantage for the night. They later took a penalty, and had about three shorthanded chances and didn’t allow the Phantoms a single shot on Jarry on their power play.

Bryan Rust made it 3-0 when he finished off this nice tic tac toe for his first goal of the season…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/677314179964018689]

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Terrible first period by the Phantoms who fell behind 1-0, were outshot 11-3 in the first then matched the Penguins shot for shot the rest of the way for a cumulative total of 25-17.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, +2) 2) Clark Seymour (game winning goal, +1) and 1) Tristan Jarry (17 save shutout)

Around the Division: Portland beat Springfield 5-2. Everyone else in the division was off.

Standings: Penguins (.800 percentage points) — Hershey (.654) — Bridgeport (.607) — Portland (.521) — Providence (.500) — Lehigh Valley (.482) — Springfield (.462) — Hartford (.444)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were idle tonight. They were surpassed in the North Division lead by the Toledo Walleye this morning who beat the Indy Fuel at home in a kids game 5-1. The Nailers travel to Moline, IL to take on the Quad City Mallards for a doubleheader beginning Friday while the Walleye can extend the North Division lead even more Thursday in Brampton when they take on the Beast.

Here is your post game infographic…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/677321231083900928]

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The Phantoms may put together a highlight package or they may not. If I see it and can edit, it’ll go here.

One more thing before I go, both Seth and Tom confirmed on Twitter that Tom Sestito will get a new PTO.

Let’s Go Pens!