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3                                              4

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In case you aren’t friends with me on Facebook, I wrote the game story for the Citizens’ Voice tonight. Look for that in Sunday’s paper.

I wanted to lead that story with something like John Hynes must want his ECHL lineup back. That’s because the Penguins have lost again, this time 4-3 to the Syracuse Crunch with a lineup more similar to his November lineup than his December lineup, that won 7 games and extended their lead on the East Division.

I can’t really put my finger on what is up with this team. Norfolk is big up front and that caused the Penguins issues. It has to be more than, “Syracuse is a good team.” Maybe it is and the Penguins have gotten here on smoke and mirrors. I doubt it. Wilkes-Barre is just going cold as other teams around them in the division is getting hot. It happens.

Two lineup changes for the Pens tonight. Alex Boak was in for Nick D’Agostino on defense and was more noticeable than D’Agostino was last night. I had people ask me why Boak over D’Agostino and the answer is simple. He’s a draft pick and the AHL is a developmental league. The other lineup change was Sahir Gill for Nick Drazenovic. It was a surprising move, as Drazenovic was all set to play in the game on the top line but was scratched late for Gill, who took warmups but didn’t take part in line rushes.

This game was a “I told you so” game if I ever saw one. Here’s why…

— Jasyon Megna scored two goals for the Penguins in the first period, the only offense for Wilkes-Barre in the game. It’s no secret that I don’t really like Megna. Most of it is schtick at this point, I respect him as a player but at times he makes boneheaded moves. The AHL is a developmental league and I have to remember that next time Megna does something dumb.

— Andrei Vasilevskiy won AHL Goaltender of the Month for December and even collected his award pre-game. He played in just five games in the month of December and in my opinion didn’t deserve the award. He replaced starting goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis after the first period when Gudlevskis was beat by Megna twice.

Syracuse jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when ex-Penguin Joey Mormina fired through a crowd of bodies and Philippe Paradis tipped in in and past Zatkoff.

The Crunch jumped ahead of the Penguins in the second period. Jonathan (don’t call me Audy) Marchessault scored when he batted down a high pass and backhanded a shot over the right shoulder of Zatkoff then Mike Blunden tipped in a Luke Witkowski shot after he got free when Brian Dumoulin fell down on after a Syracuse offense zone face-off win.

Wilkes-Barre mustered nothing that even resembled a comeback in the third period. Syracuse held the Pens to just a single shot on goal for much of the period. Henri Ikonen added an insurance goal off of a pass from the wall by Joel Vermin.

Late, Carter Rowney scored a goal with eight seconds left on the power play with Zatkoff vacated. Too little, too late.

Vasilevskiy was the third star after stopping 10 of 11….Marchessault took home second star honors with a goal and an assist…Mike Blunden was the first star with a goal.

Around the Division: Nate Schmidt Hershey beat Norfolk 3-1. Nate Schmidt, down from parent Washington earlier today, nearly scored all three goals for the Bears in the win, his shot was tipped by Casey Wellman on the third Bears goal. The two teams rematch tomorrow and Hershey can jump ahead of the Penguins with a win. Lehigh Valley beat St. John’s on The Rock 4-2. The Phantoms have five games in hand on the Penguins and two games in hand on the Bears. Binghamton lost 6-1 to the Manchester Monarchs. The Senators have lost five in a row.

Standings: Penguins 44 — Hershey 43 — Lehigh Valley 39 — Binghamton 34 — Norfolk 31

Conference: 1) MCH (54) 2) SPR (53) 3) WBS (44) 4) SYR (51) 5) HFD (44) 6) HER (43) 7) POR (41) 8) LV (39)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers win at home against the Elmira Jackals 4-2. Eric Hartzell picked up the win after stopping 24 of 26. Zack Torquato had three assists.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens get a week to regroup. They are in action again Saturday in Worcester, as they have two in New England next weekend against the Sharks and Sunday against the P-Bruins.

Content wise, I will have the Week 14 AHL Power Rankings on Monday, a post on this chart that I have been keeping up with on Tuesday and the Second Quarter Grades on Wednesday. This will be a good way to space out the content when the Pens aren’t on the ice.

In closing, thanks to the Great Jonathan Bombulie for allowing me to pinch hit for him tonight. Make sure you read all about in the paper tomorrow.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

2                                             0

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Tom Venesky from The Times Leader summarized this game, a 2-0 Penguins shutout loss to the Norfolk Admirals nicely.

[tweet https://twitter.com/TLTomVenesky/status/553739824067530753]

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Jason LaBarbera had a 27 save shutout tonight, and the Penguins have lost two straight to the Norfolk Admirals this week and three straight if you count shootout losses as losses going back to Saturday in Hershey.

After tonight, LaBarbera upped his stats against Wilkes-Barre to 4-1, with a 1.20 GAA and a .947 save percentage.

A couple things went wrong in this game that put the Penguins behind the 8-ball.

— They gave up two quick goals in the first period in a 1:37.
— One of the goals was shorthanded. It was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Penguins this season.
— They were, “on tilt” to use a poker term, when Max Friberg elbowed Nick Drazenovic in the head that dazed Drazenovic. The play went unpenalized by referee Fred Leblanc. Nearly after every whistle, the Pens were more focused on revenge on the hit on Steckel than they were trying to get back into the game they were already down 2-0 on.
— The power play continued to struggle. Late in the third period with the Penguins slowly building momentum, Marc Cantin draws a double minor for high sticking Drazenovic. Here is where you expect a team with a good power play to use this to their advantage and get back in the game. Not the Penguins, who went 0-for-6 tonight.

Matt Murray was shaky in the first half of the first period and solid the rest of the way. He stopped 9-of-11 shots in the first period and all twenty faced after that.

The Pens were held to just five shots in the second period. Norfolk did an excellent job of blocking shots and taking away shooting lanes. What LaBarbera did need to make a save on he did so without an issue.

On the two Norfolk scoring plays, the Pens were on a power play when there was a misconnect between defense and forwards entering the zone. A turnover to Emerson Etem resulted in Matt Murray making the initial save but Conor Sheary knocking in the puck inadvertently. The second goal game from Marc Cantin from the blue line with Murray screened.

Drazenovic returned in the second period and didn’t look worse for wear. Another scary moment was Conor Sheary getting in the way of a shot from his own man that crumbled him. Sheary would need assistance getting off of the ice, but returned.

Quick lineup note, with Bobby Farnham and Brian Dumoulin back in town, the Pens scratched Alex Boak and Sahir Gill. I don’t like scratching an offensive guy like Gill over someone like Farnham. And is Alex Boak better than Nick D’Agostino? That’s up for debate.

Three stars were Marc Cantin with a goal and a +1, Emerson Etem with a shorthanded goal, an assist on the Canton goal and a +2 and LaBarbera with a 27 save shutout.

Hershey beat Albany up in the Capital District by a score of 4-0. The Bears draw to three points on the Penguins for the East Division lead. They host Norfolk Saturday and Sunday.

Binghamton lost to Worcester 6-3. The B-Sens have lost four in a row. Lehigh Valley was off, they face off against the St. John’s IceCaps Saturday and Sunday.

Standings are:

1) Penguins — 44 points
2) Hershey — 41
3) Lehigh Valley — 37
4) Binghamton — 34
5) Norfolk — 31

Lehigh Valley has five games in hand. They have only played 33 games. The Pens have just played their 38th game of the season and are at the halfway point.

Conference is Manchester and Springfield for 52 points, Wilkes-Barre with 44, Syracuse with 49, Hartford with 42, Hershey and Portland with 41 and Bridgeport with 38.

I doubt anyone will want to look at highlights of this one.

Wheeling won a thrilling 6-5 game against Reading. Zack Torquato had a goal and two assists.

Syracuse tomorrow. The Crunch are a damn good team. Tomorrow won’t be easy. Gameday at 3 p.m. here on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!

          vs.          

2                                             1

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Apologies in advance for the terrible, somewhat confusing sorry effort for a pun headline tonight. I couldn’t resist the temptation.

Anyway, I called this two game series with Norfolk a trap series in my Week 13 AHL Power Rankings. Game 1 didn’t disappoint in my predictions, although this was a disappointing game, a 2-1 loss to the Norfolk Admirals.

The Penguins didn’t play bad, per se. They generated chances and got pucks on net, but a bad bounce in the first period and a costly turnover in the third period was all Norfolk and goaltender Jason LaBarbera needed.

If you missed the news earlier, Jeff Zatkoff and Derrick Pouliot are headed to Utica to represent the Penguins with Tom Kostopoulos in three weeks at the All-Star Classic.

Zatkoff started tonight and was opposed by the aforementioned Jason LaBarbera.

Lineup stayed the same from Sunday’s shootout loss in Hershey. Patrick McGrath took warmups but was a scratch.

First Period: A low shot from the point the Admirals put on net Jeff Zatkoff got a piece of. He wasn’t able to corral the rebound and put himself out of position. During that time, the puck finds its way to the stick of Charles Sarault, who puts the rebound in for a quick 1-0 Admirals lead.

Penguins had 3:20 of a double minor for a high stick on Josh Archibald to work with but couldn’t generate anything good towards LaBarbera. He wasn’t necessarily sharp tonight as much as he saw what was coming and is a professional, veteran goaltender who can make those types of saves at this level.

Second Period: Shots were 5-1 Norfolk to open the period. I got the sense that the Admirals were looking for the kill shot early on. A Penguins shot off the post. Penguins keep their legs moving to the final five minutes where Kevin Gagne holds Tom Kostopoulos in the neutral zone. Pens going to the power play .They cash on a Carter Rowney shot from the blue line that Jason LaBarbera makes a save on but loses the rebound to J-S Dea who puts in the rebound to tie the game at one each.

Third Period: Max Friberg works a puck off of Taylor Chorney and zig zags around Alex Boak and Jeff Zatkoff for an easy goal that turned out to be the go ahead and eventual game winner. Late fireworks when Tom Kuhnhackl runs Andrew O’Brien into the wall and a scrum ensues that sees referee David Banfield give Pierre Leblond a ten minute misconduct. Penguins would kill the penalty and Kuhnhackl would then fight John Kurtz.

In the final two minutes, Jayson Megna hit a post on a wide open net that would have tied the game. Penguins, with Zatkoff later pulled, would never find the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Max Friberg (goal, +1) 2) J-S Dea (goal, even) and 1) Charles Sarault (goal, +1)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins 44 — Hershey 39 — Lehigh Valley 37 — Binghamton 34 — Norfolk 29

Conference: 1) MCH (52) 2) SPR (50) 3) WBS (44) 4) SYR (48) 5) HFD (40) 6) HER (39) 7) POR (39) 8) PRO (38)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Nothing much to look at from a Penguin fan perspective.

Hershey gets another game in hand on the Penguins and now can catch and pass Wilkes-Barre for the division without the Penguins having anything to say about it, provided it breaks that way. Norfolk is a better team that its record shows, and I think that was evident tonight. Rematch Friday should be fun.

Unless I can think of anything or something happens worth blogging about, check the blog again Friday for the Gameday setup against Norfolk again.

Let’s Go Pens!