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Boy, is this going to be a fun rivalry next season.

That is when the Adirondack Phantoms relocate to Allentown, closer to Wilkes-Barre and likely into the East Division and become more of a familiar opponent for the Penguins.

The Pens won this game, a very physical and scrappy one, 4-1. Their power play came to life and they scored twice on the man advantage, and beat the Phantoms 4-1.

Tom Kostopoulos scored two goals, Brian Dumoulin the other and Harry Zolnierczyk and empty netter in the final minute.

There was some monumental off ice news this afternoon out of Coal Street as the first ever Hall of Fame Class was announced. The Pens said at the the start of the year that they were naming two players and a non-player, called a “builder” into their inaugural Hall. Today, it should come as no surprise that Dennis Bonvie and Alain Nasreddine were named as the players and Former State Representative Kevin Blaum was named in the “builder” category.

Basically the name synonymous with the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins is Dennis Bonvie. No one has worn his Number 27 since his retirement and if you ask me, the number needs hoisted into the rafters sooner rather than later. Nasreddine is probably the second most popular Penguin in the 15 year history and serves as assistant coach to John Hynes. There would be no Northeastern Pennsylvania Civic Arena and Convention Center / First Union Arena at Casey Plaza / Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza / WIlkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins without Kevin Blaum.

So no real complaints about this Class being named the inaugural one. The ceremony for it is Saturday, February 22 when the Penguins face the Providence Bruins.

Anyway, back to this game.

Harrison Ruopp and Carter Rowney were in for Barry Goers and Denver Manderson, respectively.

Jeff Deslauriuers vs. reigning AHL Player of the Week, Cal Heeter.

First Period: Very chippy, very physical open by both teams, who were throwing hits and fists to open the game. The Pens ended up down a whole two minutes on a 5-on-3 but were able to kill it off. Then, Tom Kostopoulos scored a goal when Nick Drazenovic stripped a Phantom behind Heeter’s net and dished to Tom Kostopoulos for his first of the night for a 1-0 Pens lead and ending Heeter’s shutout streak at 126:13.

There must have been some bad blood with Harrison Ruopp against the Phantoms, as nearly every altercation involved him in some regard. He and Kris Newbury fought and Newbury got the better of him in a fight late in the period.

Second Period: Jason Akeson scored on the James Neal play off a face-off win to put the Phantoms on the board. Then, the Pens were the ones that found themselves the beneficiaries of a 5-on-3 and, unlike the Phantoms, were able to score two goals and essentially put away the Phantoms for the rest of the game. Tom Kostopoulos’ second of the night and Brian Dumoulin finishing off a 3-on-1 to put the Pens ahead 3-1.

Third Period: For most teams, in a physical, scrappy game like this one down 3-1 you think they would pack it in and go away quietly right? Not the Phantoms. They would outshoot the Pens 13-4 this period and at one point 10-1, throwing anything and everything they could at Deslauriers, but the WBS net minder and the defense would hold bend but not break. Harry Zolnierczyk would pot an empty netter to put the game away for good for the Pens.

Three Stars: 3) Jason Akeson (goal, -1) 2) Jeff Deslauriers (31 saves on 32 shots) 1) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, assist, even)

Around the Division: Binghamton beats Hershey at home 4-2. Norfolk, down 3-0 to Portland and then 4-3 late, beat the Pirates up in Maine 5-4 in a shootout. Syracuse loses to Providence 1-0 in a shootout.

Standings: Binghamton 49 — Penguins 46 — Norfolk 43 — Hershey 36 — Syracuse 36

Conference: 1) SPR (54) 2) MCH (54) 3) BNG (49) 4) WBS (46) 5) PRO (46) 6) ALB (45) 7) NOR (43) 8) STJ (39)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight.

SendToNews Highlights: Phantoms haven’t posted them yet. If I remember to check later I will and link accordingly.

Pens travel home for a 7:05 game against Hartford. Gameday for that will be up here on the blog at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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If you go to work tomorrow morning and are asked how the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins fared the night before against their division rival Syracsue, you can tell your co-worker that they lost to an Olympic goaltender and not be wrong.

I’m referring to Kristers Gudlevskis, who will represent Latvia in Sochi, Russia next month. He was good for the Crunch tonight. I think the Crunch scouting and defense was a bit better and of course the scoring, but telling yourself that you lost to an Olympic goaltender takes the sting away a bit, doesn’t it?

A 4-2 clunker to the Crunch tonight and the first regulation loss to an I-81 opponent all season. It had to end sometime.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. the aforesaid Gudlevskis.

Lineup Notes: The Penguins sent Cody Sylvester, Peter Merth and Nick D’Agostino to Wheeling this afternoon. Bobby Farnham returned from injury. Harrison Ruopp took warmups, but was scratched in favor of Reid McNeill.

First Period: A couple of early chances for both teams. All of a sudden, the Pens found themselves defending a 5-on-3. They block many shots, but not all of them as Vlad Namestikov scores to make it 1-0. Then, Jon DiSalvatore tips in a Brett Connolly shot and it’s all of a sudden 2-0. Prior to, the Pens were letting the Crunch get some spark.

Second Period: Crunch come out and pressure like hounds on a steak, McNeill breaks a stick. Crunch pound the puck off the back wall which banks to Connolly for Syracuse and into the net and it’s 3-0. John Hynes takes a time out. It wasn’t good enough as later, Deslauriers can’t quite corral a puck, Philip Samuelsson misplays it, the Crunch crash the net and score and it’s 4-0 Syracuse.

That sequence would spell the end for Deslauriers, enter Eric Hartzell.

Two things here. One, while the loss will go on Deslauriers record, this one was not on him at all. Two, message received by the Penguins as the Crunch only took five more shots at the net the rest of the night that Hartzell stopped.

Pens get their first power play of the night. Mud. Then Philip Samuelsson takes a delay of game, puck over the glass penalty. Uh oh…

Well, the Penguins kill it, and at the time that Samuelsson hit the ice out of the box, Denver Manderson hits him for a breakaway that Samuelsson cashes on to cauterize some of the bleeding addend Gudlevskis shutout bid.

Third Period: My amateurism is showing through here, as I totally forgot to explain my elongated headline in my lead. Samuelsson would add another goal, his second of the night and the season, on a nifty pinch in on a rebound chance. He seemed to be the only nationality (Swedish) that the Latvian goaltender (Gudlevskis) was not able to figure out as he stoned Harry Zolnierczyk (Canadian) multiple times and even stopped Mike Carman (American) twice.

Okay, I’m stretching it with that last one, I don’t really remember any memorable shots from Carman tonight, but the scoresheet says he had two and he’s American, so let’s just go with it.

You get the point. Gudlevskis was good when he had to be, and his Crunch team did the rest.

Three Stars: 3) Philip Samuelsson (two goals, +1) 2) Brett Connolly (goal, two assists, +1) and 1) Jon DiSalvatore (goal, two assists, +1)

Around the Division: Binghamton was in Rochester and won 3-1. Everyone else was off.

Standings: Binghamton 47 — Penguins 44 — Norfolk 41 — Hershey 36 — Syracuse 35

Bingo, Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk all have 35 games played. Hershey has 33 and Syracuse 34. Games in hand mean jack if you don’t win them.

Conference: 1) SPR (54) 2) MCH (52) 3) BNG (47) 4) WBS (44) 5) PRO (44) 6) ALB (43) 7) NOR (41) 8) STJ (39)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers lost to the Reading Royals in Reading tonight 6-2. Peter Merth and Nick D’Agostino were both -2.

SendToNews Highlights: Pens put the YouTube package up this Thursday morning, so here’s the video:

Pens practice tomorrow and will probably bud up to Glens Falls tomorrow afternoon for Friday’s game against the Phantoms. If there is anything worth blogging on, I will have something here. If not, Gameday for that will be up Friday at 3.

Edit: Totally slipped the mind last night that the AHL will have their All-Star roster announcement Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. So, I will have something to talk about Thursday afternoon. Check in later for that.

Let’s Go Pens!!!