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We may have something special brewing here.

The Penguins used a great start in the second period to roar past the St. John’s IceCaps to a 5-2 final tonight. J-S Dea (1-3-4), Will O’Neill (3 assists) and Tom Kuhnhackl (2-1-3) all had strong games. The Penguins improve to 8-1 on the season and have won seven straight and sit atop the Atlantic Division.

The opponent doesn’t seem to faze the Penguins. Hard nosed Hartford? Obliterated 4-1. Young up and coming St. John’s? Blasted tonight 5-2.

I noticed, especially in the first period when it was back and forth, that the Penguins adjusted to the opponent. St. John’s wanted to go up and down and the Penguins simply adjusted. In prior years, maybe you see the opponent come out a certain way and the Penguins try to ride out the pace and try to swing it into the way that they want to play and come out on top. This year? Seems like they adjust to the style that the opponent wants to play and take advantage of their opportunities.

Matt Murray opposed Zac Fucale.

With this being a work night, taking the veteran option on the lines for tonight:

Kevin Porter made his Wilkes-Barre debut.

Derrick Pouliot was scratched tonight. This report from Jonathan Bombulie explains part of it. If you don’t want to click off, I’ll explain. He was cited on November 1 for public drunkenness in Wilkes-Barre, taken to Wilkes-Barre police headquarters and released a sober adult.

The other part is he also is apparently dealing with a lower body injury, picked up in yesterday’s practice.

I am not going to touch this story anymore than I have. Moving on…

First Period: IceCaps usually score first because they take advantage early and pump a lot of shots on net. The Penguins matched that tempo with shots of their own. Finally, Tom Kuhnhackl got a step on a guy and blasted a shot past Fucale for a 1-0 Penguin lead. It was Kuhnhackl’s fifth straight game with at least a point.

St. John’s would find themselves on a power play and 6’6 center Mike McCarron would waste no time in redirecting a shot from Bud Holloway in front of Murray for a tie game.

Late, Zac Fucale absolutely robbed J-S Dea on the far side. Fucale had no idea where the puck was before the last minute when he blindly dove over to deny Dea’s attempt.

The first period was an absolute track meet, with 22 total shots, 12 for St. John’s, 10 for the Penguins.

Second Period: It was an offensive explosion for the Penguins in every sense of the word.

At :44, Carter Rowney floats to the slot and rips one past Fucale. 2-1 Penguins.

At 2:30 on a power play, Will O’Neill drew everyone to his side and dished to J-S Dea who blasted one past Fucale and in for a 3-1 Wilkes-Barre lead.

Tom Kuhnhackl finished a breakaway on a backhander at 3:29 that chased Fucale, who did not register a save in the period. Enter Eddie Pasquale, who hasn’t seen AHL live fire in over a year.

Three goals in a span of 2:45 by the way.

Dave Warsofsky picked up his 100th AHL point with an assist on the Dea goal. Later, he picked up his 101st with a goal from the blue line through a screen that beat Pasquale for a 5-1 Penguin lead.

St. John’s put ten more shots on Murray, but he make quick work of all of them.

Third Period: St. John’s would pump 21 shots at Murray in the period and he would only get beat on one of them when Christian Thomas swept in a rebound. Pens would only manufacture 5 shots on net in the period.

I don’t know if it was laxity on the Penguins part or desperation on the St. John’s part, but Murray looked taxed and playing like it was a one goal game.

Three Stars:  3) Will O’Neill (three assists, +2)  2) J-S Dea (goal, three assists, +3) and 1) Tom Kuhnhackl (two goals, assist, +3)

Around the Division: Hershey beat Bridgeport in a kids day game up in Connecticut by a score of 4-2…Toronto shutout Hartford 5-0 in the Connecticut capital and Utica beat Portland 3-2.

Standings: Wilkes-Barre (.889 points percentage) — Bridgeport (.667) — Hershey (.600) — Hartford (.591) — Providence (.450) — Lehigh Valley (.444) — Springfield (.438) — Portland (.375)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers are off until Friday.

Here are the video highlights…

[youtube https://youtu.be/DoXCtNZ0msI?list=PLjK7Vm3sJ6fqmpXXcHT-C9FN1GRme4DIB]

St. John’s and Wilkes-Barre rematch Friday night.

Let’s Go Pens!

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This was a heavyweight battle early on in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division. On the one hand, you have theWilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, winners of five straight facing off against the Hartford Wolf Pack, who have amassed points in every game played so far but for their first game of the season.

It was one game of a six game series that goes to the home side, the Penguins winning 4-1.

Matt Murray vs. Magnus Hellberg.

Lineup wise, Scott Wilson was back from his one game suspension, and took the spot of Ty Loney.

On defense, Reid McNeill was in for Will O’Neill.

Kevin Porter, reassigned today by Pittsburgh was not in the lineup because this would have been his third game in three days in his third city. (Washington Wednesday, Pittsburgh Thursday, Wilkes-Barre today)

First Period: Hartford is a speedy quick team and that was on full display early and often. The Pens were forced into sloppy play and general puck mishandles. They did an OK job of containing the speed of a Wolf Pack team that jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Nick Tarnasky was alone in front and slammed one home on Matt Murray.

What shots the Penguins did get to Hellberg, it seemed like he was spilling rebounds all over the place. It bit him when Nic Andersen threw a shot on net that rebounded to Tom Kuhnhackl and then pinballed to Carter Rowney cutting in near he far post and in for a tie game.

Neither team had any success on the power play in this period or the entire game.

Second Period: Pens matched Hartford’s speed with being smarter with the puck than they were in the first. In the middle of the period the game opened up to a furious pace which resulted in end to end play.

Eventually Wilkes-Barre got a chance they cashed on. Scott Wilson peeled away from the near wall and threw a shot on Hellberg that he tried to smother in his breadbasket, but never controlled. He wasn’t down in the butterfly, the puck kicked off him back to Wilson who followed the play and slipped it under Hellberg and in for a 2-1 Penguin lead.

The Penguins think they score again when Tom Kostopoulos tips in a shot but referee Garrett Rank washed out the goal immediately citing incidental contact with the goaltender before the shot was taken. The replay shown afterwards, showed something entirely different, which incited the crowd angrily.

Third Period: Penguins took control and used special teams to get them there.

Short handed, Dominik Uher and Oskar Sundqvist broke in on a two on one. Uher made a pinpoint pass to Sundqvist who stabbed at it and redirected it past Hellberg and in for a 3-1 Penguin lead.

Physicality picked up. Pens kept their cool though.

Later with Hellberg vacated, Scott Wilson scored on an empty net to seal it.

Three Stars: 3) Carter Rowney (goal, +1) 2) Oskar Sundqvist (goal, even) and 1) Scott Wilson (two goals, +2)

Matt Murray was stellar again, stopping 29 of 30. He had the secondary assist on the Sundqvist goal, the second game in a row where a Penguin goaltender picked up an assist. Tristan Jarry had an assist in Wednesday’s contest against Binghamton.

Around the Division: Bridgeport beats Albany 3-2 in the Capital District…Springfield stomps Rochester 6-1…St. John’s squeaks past Lehigh Valley 3-2…Providence beats Portland 6-4 and Hershey jumps out to a 1-0 lead but Syracuse and their 30th ranked power play strike twice and the Crunch win 4-2.

Standings: Penguins (.875 percentage points) — Bridgeport (.700) — Hartford (.688) — Providence, Hershey, Portland (.500 each) — Lehigh Valley (.375) and Springfield (.357)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lose at home to the Adirondack Thunder 4-1. Patrick McGrath scored the only goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Here is your infographic on tonights game courtesy of Coal Street:

[tweet https://twitter.com/WBSPenguins/status/660263907257360384]

And video highlights. Check out that Sundqvist shorty…

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

Pens are off the rest of the weekend, back in action Wednesday against St. John’s. I may take a look at the Wheeling / Quad City game and blog about it. If not, I will have my chart refreshes done this weekend and the Week 4 AHL Power Rankings up on the blog Monday at 4.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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In just his second AHL game, Ty Loney is making an impact and a case for keeping him around and not sending him back to Wheeling.

Tonight, a 4-3 Penguins win over the Binghamton Senators at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Loney’s fourth line of he, J-S Dea and Tyler Biggs set up two goals including the game winner in the third period of a tight contest against a good opponent.

Tristan Jarry made his professional home debut against Binghamton’s Chris Driedger.

Lines were:

Conor Sheary – Kael Mouillierat – Josh Archibald
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Simon
Dominik Uher – Oskar Sundqvist – Tom Kostopoulos
Ty Loney – J-S Dea – Tyler Biggs

Derrick Pouliot – Steve Oleksy
Niclas Andersen – Dave Warsofsky
Tim Erixson – Will O’Neill

Tristan Jarry – Matt Murray

Lineup Notes: Reid McNeill was scratched again. Tyler Biggs made his season debut. Scott Wilson was serving his suspension; Kael Mouillierat was coming off his.

First Period: Dominik Simon’s shot from the slot at 1:30 was all the offense that the first period saw. Carter Rowney tracked a puck off the near wall, passed it to Simon who ripped the shot from the high slot with Tom Kuhnhackl setting the screen in front of Driedger. It was only the ninth even strength goal scored by Wilkes-Barre all season.

Tristan Jarry saw the puck well, robbing Ryan Dzingel bearing down he left slot while the B-Sens were on a power play. Later, David Dziurzynski took a slapshot from the high slot with players buzzing around Jarry that the Penguins rookie netminder saw and tracked easily.

Second Period: Penguins scored at 1:30 in the first period. Well in the second period it took them one second longer to find the back of the net. Kael Mouillerat cleaned up a Conor Sheary to put the Pens ahead 2-0.

Pens could have stepped on it but seemed to let off after the Mouillerat goal. Later, the B-Sens cycle a puck for a good minute to Chris Carlisle on the far side who lets rip and goes bar down on Jarry.

1:10 later, Ty Loney made a cross ice pass to Tyler Biggs who finished off the pass to reestablish the two goal Penguin lead.

The Wilkes-Barre penalty kill had been one of the strengths of late, but it failed the Penguins in the second period. The B-Sens struck twice on the power play, rather quickly, with Cole Schneider doing the damage twice.

I got the sense that Binghamton wanted badly back in the game and would be undeterred. To this point, it worked.

Third Period: The fourth line struck for their second goal of the game when Ty Loney connected with J-S Dea for a goal that put the Penguins ahead 4-3 in the third period. This was a much more even period for Wilkes-Barre.

As time dwindled, the Penguins started to hunker down defensively. With Chris Dreidger pulled, the Sens never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Ty Loney (two assists, +2) 2) Cole Schneider (two power play goals, even) and 1) J-S Dea (game winning goal, even)

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beat a good St. John’s team 5-1…Springfield is finally in the win column winning tonight in Bridgeport against the suddenly cold Sound Tigers. Everyone else was off on this otherwise light Wednesday night in the AHL.

Standings: Penguins (.857 percentage points) — Hartford (.786) — Bridgeport (.667) — Portland (.600) — Hershey (.583) — Lehigh Valley (.429) — Providence (.429) — Springfield (.250)

Wheeling Update: Nailers are in action again Friday when they host the Adirondack Thunder.

Pens are in action again Friday at home when they host the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7:05

Let’s Go Pens!