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Down 5-1 after twenty minutes tonight, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you shut the radio off and went back to your Sunday afternoon.

But this is proving to be a special group of Penguins. A five goal second by the Wolf Pack, a five goal period by the Penguins in the second, a game tying goal by ex-Penguin Jayson Megna with 1:09 left to tie it and Scott Wilson scored in overtime to seal the stunning, come from behind overtime win by the score of 7-6 and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin have won 11 games in a row.

Matt Murray opposed Mackenzie Skapski.

The only lineup changes that the Penguins made were Reid McNeill for Niclas Andersen on defense and Tyler Biggs for Josh Archibald up front.

First Period: Hartford was the rested team, having not played last night while the Penguins were bussing up playing their third game in less than three days. It showed in the first period.

At 1:39, Marek Hrivik opened the scoring after he dispossessed Dave Warsofsky in front of the net.

1:05 later, Nick Tarnasky scored to make it 2-0, and the early rout was on.

Hartford scored what appeared to be a disputed goal, but he call on the ice was right, take a look at three looks here…

It was Ryan Bourque on the left hand side of the third replay that scored the goal and not Chad Nehring. The Penguins were disputing whether Nehring played the puck in the air with a high stick.

Tom Kostopoulos put the Pens on the board finishing this three on one…

Hartford tacked on two more goals before the end of the period. Ryan Bourque cashed his second goal of the night when the Wolf Pack won an offensive zone draw, the save by Murray popped right to Bourque who swept it past Murray and in.

For good measure, Chad Nehring got a step on two Penguins defenders and scored to make it 5-1 before the period expired.

Second Period: Matt Murray was relieved by Tristan Jarry to open the second and the Pens are done, right? There is no way that they come back from four goals on the road after playing three games in less than three days right?

Wrong.

They needed 16:06 to turn a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 lead.

It started with a carryover power play from the first period. The Penguins did not score on the power play, but the relentless pressure remained and Kael Mouillierat banged home a ping ponging puck and the Pens were down three…

Later, Derrick Pouliot cross checked Ryan Bourque in the corner. Innocent enough, the referee raised his arm and the Wolf Pack were getting a power play out of it. But Wolf Pack were particularly mad with Pouliot, setting off a giant scrum. Here’s where I think the game turned in the Penguins favor.

Said this at the time:

Nothing came from the four-on-four that followed, but then Hartford took a penalty, and the comeback was officially on when Derrick Pouliot scored this goal from the point to make it 5-3.

It got worse for Hartford. Steve Oleksy took a high sticking call, Hartford put their league worst power play on the ice, and Kevin Porter scored his first goal in a Penguin sweater shorthanded…

Tom Kuhnhackl would get injured when he was slashed on a breakaway. Carter Rowney took the shot in his absence and missed. But the Penguins had all the momentum still down 5-4.

Scott Wilson with this neat wraparound goal that tied it.

Kevin Porter scored his second of the period and the Wolf Pack, and the rest of the American Hockey League, left their mouths agape…

The comeback was complete, but it was hard to believe that there was still a whole period to play.

Third Period: Magnus Hellberg relieved Skapski in the Hartford net. He came out sharp and denied J-S Dea in the slot. Jarry made a save of his own while Hartford was shorthanded.

Jayson Megna hit a post. Conor Sheary streaked past everyone and had a chance alone on Skapski but the Wolf Pack goaltender shouldered it clear. Jarry made a big save on the Megna – Brian Gibbons line. The chances were coming fast and furious for both teams.

With the teams skating four a side, Jayson Megna finally scored on his old team…

Celebrating emphatically after your rested team blows a four goal lead only to tie like it’s Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final?

Overtime: A Conor Sheary point shot rebounded to Scott Wilson all alone in the kitchen of Hellberg and won the game for the Penguins…

Comeback complete, for real.

Three Stars: 3) Jayson Megna (goal, even) 2) Kevin Porter (two goals, +1) and 1) Scott Wilson (two goals, including overtime game winner, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey finally breaks the goalless drought and beats Rochester 3-1…Portland beats Providence 3-2 in a shootout and Springfield beats Albany 2-1 in overtime.

Standings: Penguins (.923 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.750) — Springfield (.577) — Hershey (.567) — Portland (.500) — Hartford (.438) — Lehigh Valley (.433) — Providence (.357)

Wheeling Update: Two goals from Riley Brace, three assists from Ty Loney was enough to extract revenge and defeat the Evansville IceMen 4-2 at home for the Nailers.

I can edit in some Sullivan quotes. On Tom Kuhnhackl…

On the vibe in the room…

The Penguins will probably have a few days off before they take to the road again Friday up to Binghamton. The Week 6 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. I may have a special piece this week on the blog on the winning streak. I just haven’t put all the ideas together at the moment, so stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins set a franchise record tonight in winning their tenth straight game with a 3-1 win over the visiting Rochester Americans tonight. It’s important in many ways.

One, it’s a record that is broken. It isn’t often that a team at this level wins ten straight. The Penguins have been around for 15+ years and prior to tonight, it hasn’t happened.

Two, try and find a weakness on this team. There isn’t one. There is no reason to think that the streak ends tomorrow when the Pens face-off in Hartford against the Wolf Pack Sunday afternoon.

Three, the Penguins have let other teams dictate how they are going to play and then countered that. St. John’s wanted to play run and gun. That’s fine. Hershey is a disjointed team that is a rival that gets obliterated. Rochester allows the Penguins 42 shots on goal. Andrey Makarov stops 40 of them. Rochester coming in was last in the AHL in defense. The Penguins shut down Rochester, only allowing them 16 shots at starter Tristan Jarry.

It’s fun. Yeah, it’s November and we aren’t at the quarter pole yet of the season, but this is fun.

No lineup changes for the Penguins tonight. Tristan Jarry started and was opposed by Andrey Makarov.

First Period: 90% of the period was spent in the Penguins offensive zone. Shots were 16-4. The Penguins far and away controlled every aspect of the period but had nothing to show for it. They failed to cash on the only power play of the period.

Remember when the Penguins would have a game one night and go 0-for-7 on a power play and only have like 3 or 4 shots on goal? Not anymore. When Wilkes-Barre goes on a power play, they get chances, and they are several and all good quality.

Second Period: The Penguins dominate the second period, outscoring opponents 21-6 coming into tonight’s game. It came through again for them when J-S Dea collects a puck at his own blue line, walked through the neutral zone and fires a shot at Makarov that went in. It was the baseball equivalent of a change-up. Makarov was sitting dead red (fastball) and instead got the change. The Penguins finally had they goal they were searching for.

Shots at one point were 27-7 in favor of Wilkes-Barre.

Dave Warsofsky scored on a power play to double the Penguins lead to 2-0. The League’s top rated power play connects again.

Shots were 32-8 Penguins heading into the…

Third Period: Rochester came out with pop but the Penguins and Jarry closed off any would be chances. Wilkes-Barre had a couple of power play opportunities, didn’t score on them but had several good looks. Going back to what I said at the open, this is a very, very positive sign going forward.

Jarry loses his shutout bid with 18.7 left when Phil Varone got in behind the defense and caught Jarry on his heels and slipped it five hole to cut the deficit to one.

Amerks head coach Randy Cunneyworth used his timeout and pulled Makarov. Off the ensuing face-off, Oskar Sundqvist dived to break up a pass up the ice at center ice and the momentum of the block knocked the puck into the empty Rochester net just seven seconds after the Americans scored to make it a closer game than the score line would indicate.

So not only do you have all of those things I mentioned at the open keeping this streak going, you have karma. Bring it.

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (15 saves on 16 shots) 2) Dave Warsofsky (power play goal, +1) and 1) J-S Dea (goal, +1)

Here’s perspective on the streak in the form of a Coal Street Infographic…

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/665724667890638848]

Around the Division: The Hershey Bears were shutout again tonight, this time 5-0 to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Bears have not scored in 165:07 and face Rochester tomorrow. You have two teams playing their third game in three days and between them, just two goals have been scored all weekend by both teams…Springfield continues to win, this time 4-3 over Binghamton…Lehigh Valley loses 2-1 in overtime to Albany…Hartford, Portland and Providence were off.

Standings: Penguins (.917 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.750) — Springfield (.542) — Hershey (.536) — Portland (.455) — Hartford (.433) — Lehigh Valley (.433) — Providence (.346)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost 2-1 to the Evansville IceMen tonight. Adam Krause had the only goal for Wheeling, Brian Foster took the overtime loss.

Here’s the video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/JjE2E31OOEc]

Pens wrap up the weekend with a 4:05 game in Hartford Sunday afternoon. Gameday will hit the blog at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!