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Zach Sill’s goal with 15.8 seconds left in the third period that broke a 2-2 deadlock was the culmination of hard work and determination that epitomizes Sill’s entire career.

What allowed Sill to break the 2-2 deadlock was something that will go down in Wilkes-Barre lore as something that I have gone ahead and labeled myself. I call it, “The Shift.”

With 8:56 to go in the third period and the Penguins trailing 2-1, the St. John’s IceCaps, after a long shift, ice the puck. Head Coach Keith McCambrige uses his timeout.

Coach John Hynes sends Brian Dumoulin and Simon Despres over the board on the blue line and Brian Gibbons, Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ebbett up front.

IceCaps have Kris Fredheim, Andrew Gordon, John Albert, Kael Moulillierat and Jordan Hill on the ice.

The Penguins cycle the puck. They still cycle and cycle some more. The IceCaps try to clear and cannot. More cycling. Cycle, cycle. A shot maybe. A stick breaks. It’s belongs to an IceCap. More cycling. A couple saves from Andrew Hutchinson. More desperation clears for the IceCaps but the Penguins keep them hemmed in.

The crescendo was building. You could feel it. If we were going to win this series, it started here and now and we needed to score a goal here.

Finally, a pass to Kobasew, who darts a quick pass to a cutting Ebbett, who fakes like he is going to shoot and draws the IceCaps defense towards him, then a feather pass back to Kobasew who slams it home. Tie game.

That was 85 seconds of Penguins mastery in the offensive zone. The longest shift of the season and one that paid off. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins win the game 4-2 and force Game 6, Tuesday in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Oh, on Ebbett and Kobasew. Those two re-appeared into the lineup and I guess it is safe to say that they made their presence felt, immediately.

I am hoping that Coal Street puts video of “The Shift” up on YouTube or somewhere.

Anyway, to the rest of the game.

The Penguins made two lineup changes. Kobasew and Ebbett for Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney. Kuhnhackl I think skated the extra in warmups. It was Peter Mannino vs. Michael Hutchinson in net. JC Lipon was scratched for the IceCaps, who skated 7 defensemen and 11 forwards with Josh Morrissey back in the lineup on defense for St. John’s.

The IceCaps open the scoring and connect on power play while on a 5-on-3 in the first period. Their third straight game of scoring on a two man advantage. Will O’Neill through bodies and it was 1-0 IceCaps.

Spencer Machacek knotted things up at a goal a piece in the second with a nifty shot over Hutchinson’s shoulder while the Penguins were in 2-on-1. He looked off his man and shot it top corner.

With Scott Harrington in the penalty box for a questionable tripping call, the IceCaps score on the power play to make it 2-1. It was a soft shot from the point that redirected past Mannino to give St. John’s a 2-1 lead.

The St. John’s IceCaps were undefeated when leading after two periods.

Not anymore.

Things got chippy in the third period. Brian Gibbons was kneed which led to a penalty on Jason Jaffray. The Penguins power play woes continued as they failed to score on the advantage. Then Gibbons was run over again, but this time no call from the officials. As he was skating off the ice, Gibbons punches a St. John’s player and is whistled for the obvious roughing penalty.

After the Sill score with 15.8 left, the IceCaps went with an extra attacker. The Penguins win the face-off and Chuck Kobasew scored an easy empty netter that led to bedlam. Will O’Neill cross checks Andrew Ebbett all the way to Newfoundland it seemed and a line brawl ensued. We will have to see if there will be any discipline from the League after that, as O’Neill was called for a match penalty for cross-checking and all match penalties are reviewed automatically, but I don’t think that there will be.

Three stars were Spencer Machacek (goal, +1) Chuck Kobasew (two goals, +2) and Zach Sill (goal, +1)

Honorable mentions go to Brian Dumoulin (+4) Simon Despres (two assist, +3) and Andrew Ebbett (two assists, +2)

Both teams share a charter tomorrow back to The Rock which should be interesting.

SendToNews highlights are here. It opens with, “The Shift” and rolls from there. Click through.

To think that the Penguins have won the series tonight would be foolish. They still need to gut out two wins on consecutive nights in St. John’s where the home team never loses two games in a  row. But these are your Cardiac Penguins, right? Nothing is ever easy.

One game at a time.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Here’s how I keep my sanity.

I don’t expect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to win every game.

I do expect the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins to be prepared and compete every game.

When the Penguins lose and aren’t prepared and don’t compete, I get really disappointed.

When the Penguins lose but are prepared and compete, I don’t get disappointed.

Tonight was one of those nights.

The St. John’s IceCaps take Game 4 tonight by a score of 2-1 and have a commanding 3-1 series lead in this best of seven and can close the series out Saturday in Wilkes-Barre.

None of the heroes named Andrew Ebbett or Chuck Kobasew came out of the tunnel for Wilkes-Barre for warmups. Bobby Farnham and Mike Carman were in for Pierre Leblond and Adam Payerl. For St. John’s, Kris Fredheim was in for Josh Morrissey as a late scratch. Peter Mannino opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Penguins came out hitting everything that moved in an IceCaps jersey. St. John’s was without a shot for the first ten minutes of the period.

If you are a fan of special teams, tonight was the night for you. The St. John’s IceCaps was 2/9 on the power play, and the Penguins continue the 0-for-the-series tonight as they were 0/6.

The Penguins never were able to capitalize on their man advantage. Take away the fact that Ebbett and Kobasew are sidelined, the Penguins just could not have any puck luck on the power play this evening.

Shots in the first were an even 5 a side. In the second, it was a different tale.

The IceCaps take 19 shots to Wilkes-Barre’s 2. One of those for the IceCaps went in, a Will O’Neill had shot from the point that got through Mannino while the Penguins were on a 5-on-3 disadvantage.

The Penguins finally get one by Hutchinson in the third period, a Dumoulin slap shot from the point that deflects off of Brenden Kichton’s skate and in. Tie game.

A minute later, Brendan Mikkelson takes a roughing penalty. St. John’s power play. Josh Lunden would corral a puck behind the Wilkes-Barre net and stuff it past Mannino for a 2-1 lead for the IceCaps.

Mannino would deny Josh Albert on a breakaway. The Penguins then sought to tie the game to force overtime, but never were able to establish enough time in the offensive zone to get Mannino off in time to get going. Finally, after an IceCaps hand pass, Mannino was off, but there was a scant 38.1 seconds left and the Penguins never got the equalizer.

The three stars were: 3) Michael Hutchinson (17 saves on 18 shots) 2) Peter Mannino (29 saves on 31 shots) and 1) Josh Lunden (game winning goal)

SendToNews Highlights are here.

I smell something. Let’s see….a team that cannot score on a power play, down 3-1 in a series. Hmmm…where have I seen this before…. oh, right! The New York Rangers were in this very same position that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in now, and are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Again, this is how I keep my sanity.

Game 5 is Saturday in Wilkes-Barre. I have no idea what I could have Friday for the blog. I may just run the charts that I have been infatuated with recently and link off of Jonathan’s Friday update if there is one.

Let’s Go Pens!

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  5                                       0

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A lineup devoid of Chuck Kobasew (12 points in 12 playoff games) Andrew Ebbett (power play point man) and Nick Drazenovic (power play point man) and you are left with this debacle tonight, a 5-0 whitewashing by the St. John’s IceCaps who take a 2-1 series lead in this best of seven series.

It was frustrating. You could feel it when you watched players pour onto the ice for warmups and you didn’t see Drazenovic (who we knew yesterday was ruled out) Kobasew and Ebbett (still listed as day to day) step out onto the ice for warmups. You could then see it on the players faces when they were down 2-0, 3-0, and beyond.

There was a sequence late in the second period that goes like this…

Already down 4-0 with less than five seconds to play in the period, Harry Zolnierczyk (I think) ices a puck. It was a blatant icing, as he fired the puck the length of the ice at the top of the rings in his own zone.

4.4 seconds left. Faceoff to goaltender Peter Mannino’s left.

With .1 second on the clock, Mannino doesn’t get all of a Zach Redmond shot from the point and it trickles past him for a 5-0 St. John’s lead. Review upheld the call, and they officially put one second back on the clock.

Prior to the setup for the icing, the Arena played “Breakdown” by Tantric. I don’t know if that band is still even together these days, but the song was popular when I was in college, some 13 years ago.

Anyway, a “Breakdown” by the Penguins and a 5-0 shutout on home ice. That kind of night.

No time to wallow in your sorrows. Game 4 comes at you tomorrow night at 7:05.

Peter Mannino vs. Michael Hutchinson.

Lineup Changes: Apparently Tom Kuhnhackl, Peter Merth and Dustin Stevenson were added to the WBS lineup at some point because Kuhnhackl was in and Merth and Stevenson were announced as healthy scratches. I missed that press release if Wilkes-Barre issued it, somehow. Carter Rowney and Pierre Leblond were also inserted into the lineup for Mike Carman and Josh Archibald (healthy) and Dominik Uher (injured) For St. John’s, they dressed the same lineup. It was tweeted by Brendan McCarthy that Jerome Samson was out with food poisoning else he would have dressed for the IceCaps. Samson missed Game 2.

First Period: The Penguins went 0-for-6 on the power play tonight and now are 0-for-the-series on the man up. Coach John Hynes was experimenting with a four forward and one defenseman setup and it just wasn’t working. Rookie Conor Sheary was acting as the “defenseman” on the back end and he was turning over pucks that led to chances the other way for St. John’s.

IceCaps score on a power play. Patrice Cormier the recipient of two-touch passing by Andrew Gordon and Josh Morrissey. Then, the IceCaps score again. Turnover behind Mannino, Jason Jaffray makes it 2-0.

Penguins get a 5-on-3 power play for 1:05. Obvious turning point of the game, right? They get no goal out of it. I don’t even think they registered a shot.

Second Period: More confusion behind the Wilkes-Barre net and Eric O’Dell makes it 3-0. Then, the Penguins take two consecutive penalties. Initial call was a Zach Sill trip. Tom Kostopoulos, who looked like he had a burr under his saddle all night, takes a silly after the whistle penalty and it’s a full 2:00 power play for the IceCaps. After some nice clears by the Pens, Kael Mouillierat picks a corner and it’s 4-0 IceCaps.

Seemed like the Penguins couldn’t establish a good offensive setup, and when they did it was rushed and saved by Hutchinson.

Wilkes-Barre fails to capitalize on two power plays late and then the late score by Redmond as referenced in my open.

Third Period: Rookie Matthew Murray replaced Peter Mannino and stopped all eight shots faced. Pens had to kill a 4:00 Zach Sill double minor. That was it. Murray, for what it’s worth, looked solid in net for the Pens in mop up.

Three Stars: 3) Eric O’Dell (goal, assist, +2) 2) Andrew Gordon (three assists, +1) and 1) Michael Hutchinson (30 save shutout)

Last year it was a buzz saw Syracuse team. The year before that was this very same IceCap team but the Category 5 hurricane known as the Norfolk Admirals waiting in the wings. Before that was the Hershey dynasty. Seems like the Penguins are facing the same issues, but from within, at the infirmary. Big names are missing and it is starting to show.

But it’s only a 2-1 IceCaps lead in the series. Button up a couple of things with what you have and come back Thursday a better team. If not, then it’s another exit. Players know this, coaches know it too.

SendToNews Highlight package is here, if you want to see it.

Game 4 tomorrow. Gameday setup hits the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!