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You ever get that sense of something being lifted off of your shoulders and a sense of calm, cool, collectiveness all of a sudden?

When the clock hit zero tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza tonight, I had that feeling. In fact, at 10:32 p.m. on a Saturday night, I still have that feeling.

With a 2-1 win tonight against the Binghamton Senators, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs for a twelfth consecutive season.

Twelve years. That is something that, at the level of minor league hockey, just isn’t done. Think about where you were twelve years ago. Only the Milwaukee Admirals in the Western Conference can say that they have the same streak. They clinched last night.

It’s becoming an institution in Wilkes-Barre. It’s a great city to play in. First class facilities. A front office that goes above and beyond. Media that does the same, from Mike O’Brien all the way down the line.

The one thing that has eluded this city and this franchise, is the Calder Cup.

Pretty, ain’t she?

Peter Mannino stopped 15 of 16. Goals by Carter Rowney shorthanded and Scott Harrington on a three on one rush were what the Penguins needed to get by the Senators and overtake Binghamton for first place in the East Division.

Chuck Kobasew was the veteran scratch tonight. Brian Dumoulin did not participate in warmups either after his hit he took in Syracuse last night. Scott Wilson took warmups but was scratched for Josh Archibald.

Penguins do everything right in the first period. Puck possession and a couple of power plays. One where the Pens had extended 5-on-3 time but failed to score.

Then, a puck is thrown in to the left of Mannino. The defenseman wants to take the puck and run it back up and out of the zone but Mannino yells and instructs him to move it along the wall. What ensued was the Senators scoring in the final minute when Ryan Dzingel scored his first goal as a professional to give the Senators a 1-0 lead. Peter Mannino’s shutout streak ends at 154:19.

Carter Rowney does the same for the Penguins in the final minute of the second period. The Pens sail a puck 200 feet down the ice while killing a penalty. Rowney is there to collect it, has all day, makes a couple of moves and roofs a shot in on starting goaltender Andrew Hammond to tie the game with 15.7 seconds left in the period.

Third period saw Binghamton open with some pop but then the Penguins take a puck up ice on a two on one, which became a three on one after the patient Nick Drazenovic dished to a trailing Scott Harrington who had a wide open net to shoot into.

Binghamton then gets two power play opportunities. Peter Mannino came up HUGE in the moment, denying the Senators attempts to tie the game.

With an empty net, the visitors never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Peter Mannino (15 saves on 16 shots) 2) Carter Rowney (goal, even) 1) Scott Harrington (goal, +1)

Around the Division: Hershey loses to Springfield in a shootout 4-3…. Syracuse beats Toronto in an ugly game 6-3….Norfolk and Brad Thiessen shutout the Worcester Sharks 3-0. Thiessen had a 28 save shutout for the Admirals.

Other Games that Matter: The ridiculously hot Hartford Wolf Pack have been eliminated form playoff contention, but that hasn’t stopped the Pack from playing spoiler. Hartford crushes the St. John’s IceCaps on the Rock 7-2 tonight….The Albany Devils are looking more and more like a playoff team with a 2-1 shootout win over the Providence Bruins tonight.

Standings: Penguins 92 — Binghamton 90 — Hershey 84 — Norfolk 84 — Syracuse 72

Conference: 1) MCH (102) 2) SPR (98) 3) WBS (92) 4) STJ (93) 5) BNG (90) 6) PRO (89) 7) ALB (87) 8) HER (84)

Wheeling Update: The Wheeling Nailers win 5-0 tonight in Cincinnati. The Nailers wrapped up the regular season tonight and will start the Kelly Cup Playoffs this week.

SendToNews Highlights: Better yet, how about YouTube Highlights of the same thing sent to SendToNews?

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Peaking at the right time? That’s a question that is up for a debate. If you think so, let me know.

Wilkes-Barre closes out the regular season home schedule tomorrow afternoon vs. the Toronto Marlies. Gameday for that will be up at noon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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They didn’t clinch on the ice that their season ended on like they did last year in St. John’s, but the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins got closer to doing so with a 3-2 shootout win in Syracuse Friday night.

Chuck Kobasew scored two power play goals. Tomas Vokoun, facing his first live fire since June of last year while with Pittsburgh, stopped 23 of 25 shots.

Brian Dumoulin took a hard shot from Dalton Smith in the third period, took one shift afterwards but wasn’t seen again. You hope, with the injury to the other top defenseman Philip Samuelsson, that Dumoulin’s injury isn’t that bad or else Wilkes-Barre could be in a bind sooner rather than later. Edit: Jonathan tweeted that the injury is believed to be minor.

Tomas Vokoun vs. Cedrick Desjardins

Lineup Notes: Harry Zolnierczyk was recalled to Pittsburgh before the game. Bryan Rust made his pro debut on the Penguins third line with Dominik Uher and Carter Rowney. Injury scratches were Jeff Deslauriers, Philip Samuelsson and Zach Sill. Veteran was Tom Kostopoulos and healthies were Nick D’Agostino, Josh Archibald, Conor Sheary, Matia Marcantuoni and Scott Wilson.

First Period: Nice opening jump from both clubs. Chuck Kobasew scores on a power play goal to put the Penguins ahead 1-0. Andrew Ebbett assisted on the goal, extending his point streak to twelve games. Shots were 8-1 Penguins.

Then the Crunch took over.

Vlad Namestnikov on a power play goal with Adam Payerl setting an unintentional screen beats Vokoun near post. Wilkes-Barre gets a power play and do nothing with it. Carter Rowney slashes a guy to break up a Crunch rush. On the ensuing power play for Syracuse, Jonathan Marchessault centers to Jon DiSalvatore on a bang-bang play that puts the Crunch ahead 2-1.

The Penguins outshot the Crunch 8-1 in the games first 6:44 and then were outshot 11-0 by Syracuse the final 13:16 of the period.

Second Period: It was a Wilkes-Barre power play clinic. The Pens were given four consecutive power plays in the period, but scored on only one of them. Chuck Kobasew (again) scored on a backhander as he cashed in on a rebound of a shot from the point. Brett Connolly nearly scored on a penalty kill as he snaked around the Pens defenders and wrapped around and missed a wide open net. Of note, Bryan Rust had some late power play time.

Third Period: Penguins were really looking for the killshot, but never found it. No power plays in this period for either side. During the turn of events, Brian Dumoulin took a hard clean shot from Dalton Smith. Late, Desjardins made a couple of really nice saves to keep it square at two heading into….

Overtime: More Desjardins heroics. A stop on a Wilkes-Barre odd man rush up ice on Carter Rowney then a save on a Nick Drazenovic one timer.

Shootout: Anton Zlobin in Round 1, Spencer Machacek in Round 5. Tomas Vokoun stops all four Crunch players and Wilkes-Barre skates away with the two points.

Three Stars: 3) Vlad Namestnikov (goal, even) 2) Cedrick Desjardins (29 saves on 31 shots) and 1) Chuck Kobasew (two goals, even)

Around the Division: Hershey loses to Binghamton 5-4 in overtime…Norfolk does the same in Providence 2-1.

Other Games that Matter: Albany beats Bridgeport 2-1 in regulation. St. John’s was idle tonight.

Magic Number: One. Any point tomorrow by Wilkes-Barre should, conceivably, seal a twelfth straight trip to the dance.

Standings: Binghamton 90 — Penguins 90 — Hershey 83 — Norfolk 82 — Syracuse 70

Conference: 1) MCH (100) 2) SPR (96) 3) BNG (90) 4) STJ (93) 5) WBS (90) 6) PRO (88) 7) ALB (85) 8) HER (83)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in Cincinnati tonight and lost 6-3. Eric Hartzell was in net for this one and took the loss for the Nailers.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens / B-Sens face-off tomorrow in what will likely be the biggest game of the season for both. East Division Championship up for grabs. A trip to the playoffs. Loser probably having to travel to St. John’s for Round 1 of the playoffs. Just tons of story lines. The Gameday setup will be here for you Saturday at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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Couple things with this game, a 6-2 Binghamton thumping, which was over before the game was 10 minutes old.

1) The Pens were gassed last night and emptied the reserves in last night’s 1-0 win vs. the Albany Devils. You could tell it from the looks on the players faces last night and, obviously, the start today.

2) Really nothing much to lose for the Penguins with a two point lead in the Division. They still have a game more played than Binghamton, had been playing well while Binghamton hadn’t, and were playing their third game in less than three days.

3) The young defenseman were exploited tonight. Nick D’Agostino was a -3 in the first period. He wasn’t seen much thereafter.

4) Eric Hartzell, making his first appearance since February 25, still has some things to work on. He was a disaster in the first period, 5 goals on 15 shots.

5) Binghamton had just been destroyed at home the night prior by a fumbling Norfolk Admirals team that scored three unanswered goals in the third period and rolled the B-Sens. So to think that the B-Sens, who have been at the top of the East Division for months now, would take the Penguins coming in a whooping the home team again just wasn’t going to happen.

That’s just how hockey goes in the AHL.

Eric Hartzell vs. Andrew Hammond.

Lineup Changes: Adam Payerl was recalled to Pittsburgh this morning. With Pittsburgh locked in at the two seed with nothing left to play for in the final two weeks of the NHL season, why not call up your prospects to get them a look in a live NHL game? Josh Archibald was back in for Conor Sheary and Harrison Ruopp was out for Nick D’Agostino.

First Period: Blitzkrieg. Hartzell doesn’t control a rebound of a Patrick Mullen shot and Matt Puempel scored to put the B-Sens up 1-0. Dave Dziurzynski on a softie. 2-0. Wacey Hamilton grabs a gear and gets around Barry Goers and burns Hartzell on the post. 3-0.

Spencer Machacek got one back on the power play to make it 3-1.

Garrett Thompson scores his first pro goal as Nick D’Agostino was stripped of a puck from a Binghamton defenseman. 4-1. Cole Schnieder finishes off a tic tac toe setup and it’s 5-1 on a power play goal for the B-Sens.

Second Period: Binghamton scores another power play goal, more give and go passing by the B-Sens and Matt Peumpel gets his second of the night. Furious, furious rush by the Pens after that sequence and it’s 5-2. Guess who? Spencer Machacek again.

Things finally settled after that. But it was too late. Here’s something I mined off of the scoresheet. After the Machacek goal, the Pens were given five consecutive power plays by refs Darcy Burchell and Chris Brown.

Third Period: I got nothing. But here’s a stat for you. The Binghamton Senators ate 11-31 on the power play this season vs. the Penguins. Please keep reading…

Three Stars: 3) Alex Grant (three assists, +1) 2) Patrick Mullen (three assists, +1) 1) Matt Peumpel (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Bears battle with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and win 5-4….Norfolk loses a heartbreaker to Hartford 3-2….Syracuse was off.

Standings: Binghamton 88 — Penguins 88 — Hershey 82 — Norfolk 81 — Syracuse 69

Other Games that Matter: The only other game was Providence crushing Portland 7-2.

Conference: 1) MCH (98) 2) SPR (94) 3) BNG (88) 4) STJ (90) 5) WBS (88) 6) PRO (86) 7) ALB (83) 8) HER (82)

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Unless your name is Leah, not much to look at from a Penguins perspective.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers did not play tonight but are in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Details on that here.

My Week 27 AHL Power Rankings will be completed tonight and will be here Monday at 4 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!