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Depending on whether or not the Hartford Wolf Pack can catch the Northeast Division leading Crunch, Syracuse is probably going to win that division.

The Crunch have 82 ponts. Really depending on whether Hershey or Wilkes-Barre win the East Division and where they finish, what I am getting at here is that a Wilkes-Barre / Syracuse playoff series would be a fun one.

That was because despite a 2-1 overtime loss to the Crunch, this was a really defensive battle and a fun game to watch in retrospect. Adjust here and alter there and the Penguins can easily go seven games with this Crunch team.

Matt Murray vs. Kristers Gudlevskis.

Lines were…

Conor Sheary – Jayson Megna – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dominik Uher
Scott Wilson – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham
Pierre Leblond – Adam Payerl – Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington – Danny Syvret
Derrick Pouliot – Barry Goers

J-S Dea took warmups but was scratched. Nick D’Agostino was the only other healthy scratch. were the other healthy scratches. Injury wise, Nick Drazenovic, Reid McNeill and Bryan Rust are still, “week to week.”

First Period: Ended with the shots 10-10 and was an even period, but the Crunch opened with a large swath of offensive zone time, then it opened up considerably, then the Penguins took advantage. Seemed to me that the Penguisn were taking too many chances that weren’t paying off, including making too many passes. At one point, it was a 7-2 shot advantage for the Crunch. Wilkes-Barre nearly scored on the power play with a few good chances by Carter Rowney at the end of the period.

Second Period: Game was slowly into a defensive struggle when Syracuse’s Yanni Gourde scored from the slot to make it a 1-0 lead for the Crunch. What scant offense the Penguins did manage to generate, they did so in spurts. Syracuse enjoyed about 75% of the possession and offensive zone time, yet somehow, the shots were an even 17 all at the end of the period.

Third Period: Started really herky-jerky. At one point, the Crunch would win an offensive zone face-off, shoot and Matt Murray would make the save. This continued a couple times in a row. Pens needed something to break up the monotony of the lack of offense.

It came when Leblond went offsides entering the offensive zone but shot the puck anyway at Gudlevskis. Jake Dotchin took offense and started shoving Leblond before the linesmen stepped in. Refs put both Dotchin and Leblond into the penalty boxes which opened up four on four ice for both teams. Derrick Pouliot made a pass to Tom Kostopoulos….

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/579088073578844160]

…and the captain scored with three Syracuse players draped on him to tie the game at one a piece.

John Hynes at this point was shuffling up lines and was looking for anything to get a goal. Nothing came of it and it was off to…

Overtime: Penguins dominated the overtime period but it was the Crunch that scored when Jonathan Marchessault made a flip pass to Slater Koekkoek when the Crunch were three on one in three on three and Syracuse would take away the extra point.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Murray (27 saves on 29 shots) 2) Kristers Gudlevskis (27 saves on 28 shots) and 1) Slater Koekkoek (game winning overtime goal, even)

Around the Division: Hershey wins 3-2 in overtime in Portland. Binghamton beat Norfolk 4-3 at home. Lehigh Valley lost in Hartford, 3-2.

Standings: Hershey 85 — Penguins 79 — Lehigh Valley 65 — Binghamton 62 — Norfolk 54

Conference: 1) MCH (86) 2) HER (85) 3) SYR (82) 4) WBS (79) 5) PRO (77) 6) HFD (76) 7) POR (75) 8) SPR (73)

Penguins get help from Providence and Springfield losing in regulation. Magic number for playoffs will be 19. It was 22.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers won 2-1 in a shootout in Elmira.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Penguins are at home tomorrow against the Binghamton Senators. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 Saturday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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I could pick it up in warmups and it was enough for me to tweet this…

[tweet https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/577195407681449986]

Hartford is in a battle with about five teams, the Penguins included, for a playoff berth. Coming into this weekend, the Wolf Pack were on a six game losing streak. They needed this weekend, a three game road trip, to turn things around and get back into the playoff discussion.

Across the hall, the Penguins are coming into just the second game of the weekend after cooling off their biggest rival in two straight games. The thought may have slipped into the Penguins minds of just go through the motions and things will happen.

Well, it didn’t work. As a matter of fact, it blew up in their faces.

A 5-2 whipping today at the hands of the Hartford Wolf Pack who all of a sudden have won three straight. Not only that, the Penguins were outshot by a total of 40-13. No, that’s not a misprint. Forty to thirteen were the shots on goal including 13-3 at the end of one and 31-10 at the end of two. The Penguins were steamrolled from the drop of the puck today and the Wolf Pack never looked back.

Jeff Zatkoff opposed Jeff Malcolm today. The reason the Penguins lost was not because of the play of their goaltender. It could have easily been 7-2 tonight without the play of Zatkoff.

One line up change for the Penguins, J-S Dea was out for Josh Archibald. Derrick Pouliot did not dress, despite being sent down yesterday in the Andrew Ebbett transaction.

First Period: Penguins weathered the early Hartford storm, got a power play out of it, didn’t score. Hartford got a power play and scored immediately. It was executed perfectly. Faceoff win. Pass to point. Cross ice pass to far dot. Pass in front for a tip in goal. Red lights and fist pounds.

The assault continued. Penguins were being freight trained. Mike Kostka flipped a shot on net that Zatkoff never saw. 2-0.

Second Period: The pushback that the Penguins wanted never came. Reason? Had to kill essentially three straight penalties. First was a Scott Wilson double minor for high sticking that they were successful on. The second was a Josh Archibald slash that Conor Allen scored on from the blue line. 3-0. Shots to this point were 24-4.

Scott Harrington had a terrible game. A turnover behind his own net resulted in a shot and then a rebound to the wrong guy. His name was Chris Bourque. 4-0.

Seventeen seconds later, Josh Archibald scored on a rebound that finally gave the Penguins some life. It was 4-1.

Third Period: Exact copy from the start of the second, but it was Hartford taking penalties. Jayson Megna finally cashed from the slot to make it 4-2 cut the lead in half. After that, there was nothing that even resembled an offensive shift for the Penguins even with the benefits of a few power plays. It seems like, when the Penguins are on the power play, they don’t know how to enter the offensive zone from the blue line. If you were at the game today and saw that late third period power play, you know what I am talking about.

With time dwindling down, Jeff Zatkoff was pulled and who else but ex-Bear Chris Bourque would hit the empty net, therefore sealing the win for his team and indirectly helping his old team an hour south of Wilkes-Barre in the Bears by keeping the three point cushion intact for Hershey.

Three Stars: 3) Jayson Megna (goal, -1) 2) Chris Bourque (two goals, +2) and 1) Conor Allen (goal, assist, even)

Around the Division: Norfolk lost in Providence 4-1. Hershey and Lehigh Valley were idle. Binghamton won a crazy one, 8-7 in overtime in Adirondack.

Standings: Hershey 81 — Penguins 78 — Lehigh Valley 65 — Binghamton 60 — Norfolk 52

Conference: 1) MCH (84) 2) HER (81) 3) SYR (80) 4) WBS (78) 5) PRO (77) 6) POR (74) 7) HFD (74) 8) SPR (73)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were idle.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Nothing much to see.

Week 23 AHL Power Rankings will go live on the blog Monday at 4. Check them out then. Otherwise, the Penguins next game is this Friday up in Syracuse. Hershey plays Wednesday, in Worcester. That will bear watching.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Andrew Ebbett was recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins before the start of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins game and that left Head Coach John Hynes with a decision to make.

Who was he going to insert on the top line with Conor Sheary and Tom Kostopoulos?

The answer was Jayson Megna. It was at the right one.

Fueled by a two point performance by Megna and a 26 save performance by Matt Murray, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins draw to within three points of the rival Hershey Bears with a 3-1 win Saturday night at home. The Penguins burn off their game in hand on the Bears tomorrow afternoon vs. the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Ebbett was recalled because Sidney Crosby got sick before the start of the Pittsburgh game this afternoon and Evgeni Malkin took a bump and left the game due to injury. The lines looked like this…

Conor Sheary – Jayson Megna – Tom Kostopoulos
Tom Kuhnhackl – Carter Rowney – Dom Uher
Scott Wilson – J-S Dea – Adam Payerl
Pierre Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Bobby Farnham

Brian Dumoulin – Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington – Barry Goers
Nick D’Agostino – Danny Syvret

Matt Murray – Jeff Zatkoff

First Period: Megna made his presence felt early with a goal at 1:48 to put the Penguins on the board early finishing a nice pass from Tom Kostopoulos on the backhand. Penguins continue with pressure with Carter Rowney nearly scoring off a Bears turnover. Teams would trade power plays. Late, Conor Sheary scored on a shot that beat Bears starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer short side to put the Penguins ahead 2-0.

Second Period: You knew that Hershey was going to make a push, it was just a matter of when. The answer came in the second period. The Bears badly outshot the Penguins and were finally rewarded with a goal from Mike Moore from the high slot that beat a screened Murray and in for a 2-1 Penguin lead. Wilkes-Barre didn’t have to wait long to establish a two goal lead again though. Matt Murray made a big save, then right back down the other end the third line of Tom Kuhnhackl made a pass to Carter Rowney who shot the puck, Grubauer never controlled the rebound and a trailing Dominik Uher deposited the rebound for a 3-1 lead.

Third Period: Grubauer kept his team in it early and often, making a save on a Rowney breakaway, but the Penguins played shutdown defense the whole period and didn’t give the Bears much. What they did get to Murray he stopped. Bears couldn’t get anything past Murray even with Grubauer vacated with about two minutes to play.

Three Stars: 3) Matt Murray (26 saves on 27 shots) 2) Conor Sheary (goal, +1) and 1) Jayson Megna (goal, assist, +1)

Quite the opportunity for Megna and a blessing in disguise for both he and Hynes. That top line of Kostopoulos, Ebbett and Sheary was one of the best but with Megna it looks equal if not better.

Around the Division: Binghamton hosted tomorrow’s competition, Hartford, and lost 4-3. Lehigh Valley was in Connecticut and won 4-2. Norfolk lost 2-0 to Portland up in Maine.

Standings: Hershey 81 — Penguins 78 — Lehigh Valley 65 — Binghamton 58 — Norfolk 52

Conference: 1) MCH (84) 2) HER (81) 3) SYR (78) 4) WBS (78) 5) PRO (75) 6) POR (74) 7) HFD (72) 8) SPR (71)

Wheeling Update: Wheeling lost 4-1 to the Elmira Jackals at home. Eric Hartzell started and took the loss, stopping 32 of 35 shots.

SendToNews HIghlights: Not up yet. I will look again and probably run in the morning edits.

Penguins burn off their game in hand on the Bears tomorrow with a 4:05 start against Hartford. A win would put the Penguins just a point back of the Bears, with the same amount of games to play. Gameday setup hits the blog at high noon Sunday.

Let’s Go Pens!