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Jonathan Bombulie was right.

He said on the Penguins Pit Podcast this past Friday that this Sunday afternoon game was an unwinnable game for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins coming in from a 6 hour bus ride from Norfolk last night while the Bears rested comfortably in their beds having hosted Syracuse the night before.

Jonathan is always right. When will I learn?

The Penguins lose 2-0 to the Hershey Bears in a game which, if a power play goal here or there go in, then maybe the result is a little different. The Pens were 0-for-7 on the power play tonight, 0-for-15 for the weekend.

Whenever the Penguins are shutout, I really don’t know what to recap. Here goes…

— Eric Hartzell opposed Philipp Grubauer.

— Zach Sill missed the game due to an upper body injury. He took a Nolan Yonkman skate up high last night in Norfolk and needs further evaluation. EDIT: Jonathan tweeted that Sill is in Pittsburgh to be evaluated tomorrow and is expected to be out long term.

— Zack Torquato and Anton Zlobin were back in for the injured Sill and the scratched Carter Rowney.

— Bears Head Coach Mike Haviland was not behind the bench for Hershey due to a minor medical issue. Let this blog wish him the best for a speedy recovery and may he get well soon.

— Penguins can’t score on an extended 5-on-3 early in the first. First ten minutes was all Wilkes-Barre.

— Dustin Gazley finished off a back door pass to put the Bears up 1-0 on a power play in the first.

— The Tom, Nick and Harry line was quickly reunited by Head Coach John Hynes in the first period.

— Hershey capitalizes on a Wilkes-Barre center ice turnover early in the second and Jeff Taffe scores to put the Bears ahead 2-0.

— Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond fought Hershey captain Dane Byers after Byers popped Brendan Mikkelson with a shot to the head. Both received five minute fighting majors.

— Third Period was a slog. Shots at one point was 2-1 Pens near halfway of the period. Pens think they score on a power play goal to open but the puck hit the crossbar and stayed out.

— Three stars were 3) Jeff Taffe (goal, assist, +1) 2) Dustin Gazley (goal, assist, +1) and 1) Philipp Grubauer (27 save shutout)

Around the Division: Binghamton beats Albany in Albany 6-3. Bridgeport wins a nail biter against Syracuse in Connecticut 6-5. Norfolk was off.

Standings: Binghamton 57 — Penguins 54 — Norfolk 52 — Hershey 50 — Syracuse 40

Conference: 1) MCH (63) 2) SPR (62) 3) BNG (57) 4) WBS (54) 5) ALB (52) 6) NOR (52) 7) STJ (51) 8) HER (50)

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 3-1 at home vs. the Cincinnati Cyclones. Cody Sylvester had a goal and an assist and Peter Mannino stopped 22 of 23.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Nothing really to look at from a Wilkes-Barre perspective.

Pens return home for five straight opening this Wednesday vs. Syracuse.

I’ll have the Week 17 AHL Power Rankings here Monday, back at their regular time of 4 p.m. Wilkes-Barre time.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Well, that was fun.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, coming off of a bad performance last night, stared down ol’ buddy and folk hero Brad Thiessen in net tonight and managed to win 2-1 in a shootout. Tom Kuhnhackl broke a 0-0 deadlock in the eight round and snapped a shot past Thiessen and Eric Hartzell stopped all shooters sent his way and, with a Binghamton loss, the Penguins are right back where the started Friday evening, a point behind the B-Sens for the division lead.

Eric Hartzell vs. Brad Thiessen

Lineup Notes: The top line of “Tom Nick and Harry” was broken up as John Hynes jumbled the lines tonight. Out were Anton Zlobin and Zack Torquato and in was Carter Rowney and Denver Manderson.

First Period: The Penguins threw everything they could at Brad Thiessen and the Norfolk defense but Thiessen was like the Thiessen of old, making spectacular saves and keeping his team in it when they needed him most. Finally, a Scott Harrington blast from the point hits a bunch of bodies before Mike Carman sweeps the puck in to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Reward for Wilkes-Barre, pressing like they did to open and a tough break for Thiessen, who got beat on a fluke goal.

Second Period: More of the same for Wilkes-Barre, puck possession and offensive zone time to open. At one point, the Penguins were outshooting the Admirals 21-8. By contrast, the Admirals only allowed the Penguins 21 shots all game on Friday.

Then Norfolk springs to life. Mike Carman takes a high stick with a minute left to play in the period and who other than Devante Smith-Pelley scores on a rebound to put Norfolk even again with the Penguins at 1-1.

Third Period: Pens find themselves on a penalty kill early but kill it. Wilkes-Barre does not manage a shot on goal for the first eight minutes of the third. All of a sudden, Wilkes-Barre is the one to spring to life but right on call, the Brad Thiessen Magic is there and the Penguins are unable to find the go ahead goal. Penguins get a late power play but are unable to score.

Then a scary moment. Zach Sill trips Nolan Yonkman and in the process, this happens. Eyewitnesses in Norfolk advised me on Twitter that an EMT rushed into the Pens locker room. Sill would not return for the remainder of the game.

Overtime: The Sill tripping penalty spilled over here but Wilkes-Barre was able to kill it. Not before Eric Hartzell robs Emerson Etem with a highlight reel save. It was onto the…

Shootout: Nothing happened in the first seven rounds. Tom Kuhnhackl scored in the top of the eighth on Thiessen and Hartzell stops ex-Penguin Alex Grant to seal it for the Pens.

Three Stars: 3) Devante Smith-Pelly (goal, even) 2) Brad Thiessen (25 saves on 26 shots) and 1) Eric Hartzell (33 saves on 34 shots)

Audio: My blog pal @VAPuckHead sent me the audio of Thiessen’s post game media scrum. Take a listen:

Around the Division: Hershey defeats Syracuse 3-2 in a feisty one in Chocolatetown. The Bears have won four straight, seven at home and are 6-0 in Giant Center in 2014. Wilkes-Barre stops by for a 5:00 visit Sunday afternoon….Binghamton loses 5-2 to Rochester at home.

Standings: Binghamton 55 — Penguins 54 — Norfolk 52 — Hershey 48 — Syracuse 40

Conference: 1) MCH (62) 2) SPR (60) 3) BNG (55) 4) WBS (54) 5) ALB (52) 6) NOR (52) 7) PRO (50) 8) STJ (49)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lose to the Cincinnati Cyclones in Ohio tonight 4-1. Barry Goers scored the only goal for the Nailers in the loss.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Penguins bus overnight to Hershey for a 5:00 start vs. the Bears. The Gameday setup for this will be up Sunday at 1.

Let’s Go Pens!!

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This game can be summarized in two halves.

In the first half, the Norfolk Admirals capitalize on a power play and a weird circumstance and find themselves up 2-0 after the first period.

Then, something that will be talked about for a while, Jeff Deslauriers and John Gibson got into a fight at center ice about six minutes into the first period.

It started when Deslauriers misplays a puck that is rimmed in along the wall. Agitator Zack Stortini takes a few whacks at the puck after a whistle which draws the ire of the Wilkes-Barre net minder. Deslauriers then shoves Stortini, striking him with his blocker. Understandably a scrum ensues but nothing comes of it.

Then, skating back to the benches in the time out, John Gibson takes a whack at Deslauriers as the two were criss crossing one another.

Then, this happened. Then this.

Out of it, Deslauriers was tossed and Gibson was allowed to stay in.

The Penguins recover with a goal from Zach Sill in his first game back with the Penguins off of his recall to Pittsburgh, but that was all they could muster as John Gibson and the Norfolk Admirals win this one by a score of 4-1.

Take away the ooh’s and ahh’s of a goalie fight and here is really what happened:

1) The Penguins found themselves down after the first period to a team and a goaltender that have owned them this season. Gibson, in two prior appearances for Norfolk, is 2-0 and has only allowed one goal per game.

2) Jeff Deslauriers is slumping if you ask me, having been pulled last Friday in Providence and not being heard from or seen again all last weekend. He got beat by an Alex Grant bomb from the blue like that Devante Smith-Pelly gets a stick on for a 1-0 Norfolk lead then later gives up a rebound to John Kurtz that is redirected in via Kurtz’s skate with no distinct kicking motion.

3) Wilkes-Barre comes out with vim and vigor to start the second, really knocking on the door and ready to breakthrough when Stortini, he of is 184 PIMs, is a bit aggressive. This sends Deslauriers off the deep end and after Stortini. They are separated. Gibson throws a “what the hell man” whack at Deslauriers and then Deslauriers jumps him and is tossed. At the time, a good thing for Wilkes-Barre as they were tilting the ice in their favor.

But we forget about the Achilles heel on this team. It’s the power play, ranked 27th in the AHL and what cost the Pens the game tonight, in my opinion.

4) In the first 6:18 of the third period, the Penguins had THREE straight power plays given to them by referee Steve Patafie. I mean, literally, one after the other after the other. They could not score or muster a single good scoring chance to tie the game. I don’t care what team you are, on any level of pro hockey or otherwise, but you are not going to win many games when you are trailing by a goal in the third period and are unable to score a power play goal when you basically get three of them in a row.

It showed too, because John Hynes put Bobby Farnham out there for one.

5) Norfolk scores on their only power play of the period. Smith-Pelly slams home a goal off of nice tic-tac-toe passing to seal it for the Admirals. Dave Steckel scores a meaningless empty netter to make the score 4-1 late.

The two teams rematch tomorrow at Scope Arena at 7:15. If you are John Hynes you roll with Eric Hartzell in net. If I am Norfolk coach Trent Yawney, am I placing ex-Penguins goaltender Brad Thiessen out there in what could be the biggest game of the season for both teams, with the Admirals now trailing the Penguins by a single point in the division for second?

Time, always tells.

Personnel wise, two lineup changes for the Pens from Sunday. Obviously, Zach Sill was back in the lineup. So too, was Tom Kuhnhackl. Out was Denver Manderson and Carter Rowney. Harrison Ruopp took warmups but was scratched.

Divisionally, Binghamton won their game at home 5-2 against Albany. Hershey won theirs 4-1 in Syracuse. Binghamton leads the East with 55 points, Wilkes-Barre has 52, Norfolk 51, Hershey 46 and Syracuse 40.

With the Devils loss to Binghamton, the Penguins remain fourth in the Conference with 52 points.

Wheeling beat Toledo 4-1. Cody Sylvester had two goals.

Here is the SendToNews highlight package.

Rematch tomorrow at 7:15 from Scope. Gird your loins….

Let’s Go Pens!

* – Bert Sugar was a legendary boxing writer who died in 2012.