Comments Off on D – Pens WIN 5-3
Posted by nafsnep on December 13, 2013
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What’s the D for?
Well, a few things.
1) Tom Kostopoulos scored his 500th professional point tonight.
2) The Pens rode “D”efense to another victory, this time a 5-3 win over the Hershey Bears.
3) The Bears are back to .500.
D is the Roman numeral for the number 500.
Get it?
Anyway, a thriller tonight in Wilkes-Barre. After going up 3-0 in the first period on three power play goals (yes, I wrote “three” then “power plays” and mean in all one period) the Penguins slowed a bit in the second then played a pretty even third, got some puck luck and won the game and sit in sole possession of first place in the East Division.
Eric Hartzell vs. David Leggio. Michal Neuvirth, sent to Hershey for conditioning yesterday, did not make the trip.
Penguins signed Barry Goers from Wheeling to a PTO before the game. He’s a defenseman. With the recall of Brian Dumoulin to Pittsburgh and now apparently Peter Merth injured again, Goers got the call. Other scratches were CJ Severyn, healthy.
First Period: Pens get a quick power play and cash even quicker, a Scott Harrington shot from the point that Toim Kostopoulos deflects for a 1-0 Pens lead. Then the Pens go on a power play, don’t score, then a fight between Harrison Ruopp and Dane Byers after Byers boarded Harry Zolnierczyk. Paul Thompson at the net front receives a nice pass from Anton Zlobin cutting to the net to Thompson for the virtual empty netter. Then, Penguins headed right to the power play again and Brian Gibbons would finish off a nice back door pass to make it 3-0.
I mixed in something shortly thereafter that mentioned the Penguins not letting off because they were in a trap at this stage of the game. Turns out, I was almost right….
Second Period: Penguins get outshot 11-3 in the period and 2-0 on the score sheet. Much back and forth to open the period, then finally the Bears got on a bit of a run: Ryan Stoa from the slot, a laser that goes in. 3-1. :55 later, Nic Deschamps deflects a lazy Peter Leblanc shot from the blue line and in. 3-2. If the Bears would have come all the way back to tie and then win the game, the tweet above would have lead and the headline would have been, “Nafstradamus – Pens LOSE….”
Thankfully, we didn’t have to go there.
Third Period: Pens would kill an early penalty. Then Tom Kostopoulos benefits from a Derek Whitmore turnover to score his 500th professional point.
Then the Pens get a power play. Time to pile on, right? No, you’re wrong!
Nic Deschamps scores on a breakaway. Hartzell stopped the initial shot, lost the rebound, Deschamps found it and he stuffed it past and cut the deficit to one again.
Pens kill a bonehead Bobby Farnham goalie interference call then Nick Drazenovic scores in a pile to extend the lead to 5-3 for the Penguins. It was too much, too late for the Bears.
Three Stars: 3) Scott Harrington (two assists, -1) 2) Brian Gibbons (goal, assist, -3) 1) Tom Kostopoulos (two goals, -1)
I should note that Gibbons is three points back (27) of the active leaders (30) for the AHL scoring lead. Depending on call-ups, production and such, I may start mentioning it on the blog from time to time.
SendToNews Highlights: Better than a link to the SendToNews package, the YouTube highlights!
There’s snow in the forecast tomorrow. 4-6 inches. Hershey is already saying that they will make a determination on their game (home, vs. Binghamton) by mid-afternoon. Utica, in case you were wondering, is about an hour north of Binghamton. Basically, if you get the opposing team in, with the officials (Ryan Fraser scheduled to work the game, he’s a Central PA resident if I remember right, linesmen are local guys) it’s game on. If the roads are treacherous, the team may, for the safety of the fans, cancel the game. Anyway, check the Pens website or stick with me on Twitter if you are planning on going tomorrow but use your judgement. Push come to shove, watch it on TV. It’ll be on MyNetwork TV.
Last Game: Wednesday at home vs. Springfield, the Pens lost 3-2. Paul Thompson scored his first goal of the season for the Penguins in the loss. For Hershey, they were in Binghamton Wednesday and rallied late and beat the B-Sens 4-3 in a shootout. David Leggio stopped 39 of 42 shots and was named first star of the game.
Last Meeting: November 30 in Hershey, the Penguins lost in overtime 3-2. Mike Carman and Pierre Leblond scored for the Pens in the loss.
Record: For WBS: 14-7-1-2 (31 pts., 1st place East Division) For HER: 9-8-2-3 (23 pts., 5th place East Division)
Why you should care: Tough weekend ahead for the Penguins, who welcome the Hershey Bears for a Friday contest. The Pens are clinging to the top spot in the division barely, while the Bears are warming up and looking to get out of the division basement and beat their division rival.
Promotion(s): Tobyhanna Army Depot Teddy Bear Toss
Other Game to Watch: Whenever two teams play outdoors, that’s a game to watch. Lake Erie and Rochester are playing in the “Frozen Frontier” at Frontier Field in Rochester, NY tonight.
Next Five Games: UTI 12/14, WOR 12/20, SYR 12/21, NOR 12/27, @ HER 12/28
Comments Off on Weekend Setup
Posted by nafsnep on December 12, 2013
Nothing much out of Coal Street today. They skated for over an hour at Mohegan Sun this afternoon. A big weekend looms…
…for the Penguins and Binghamton Senators, both who are at risk of not being at the top of the East Division when the zambonis make their final cuts Sunday evening across AHL rinks. The Penguins got some help with the return of Nick Drazenovic from injury Wednesday night while the Senators lose J-G Pageau and Cody Ceci to recall to Ottawa Thursday.
…for the Norfolk Admirals, who get an army back from Anaheim with the returns of Alex Grant, Dave Steckel and Nolan Yonkman. They also signed Chris Collins to a PTO. Collins had been in the ECHL with the Bakersfield Condors and was their leading scorer. The Admirals are all of a sudden thin at goal however, with John Gibson’s status in question.
…the Syracuse Crunch, who are spiraling down to the AHL East Division basement and do not under any circumstances want to go there. The Crunch are as pillaged by injuries as we are, and the Crunch lineup is what it is.
…for new opponents. The Utica Comets make their debut in Wilkes-Barre Saturday night. The Comets are last in the AHL with 14 points, but have received 11 of those points on the road.
…for the AHL in general. Another outdoor game, this time the Lake Erie Monsters and the Rochester Americans at Frontier Field in Rockester, NY Friday night.
Gameday setup for the Friday evening tilt with Hershey will hit the blog Friday afternoon at 3 pm.
Comments Off on Falcons Soar — Pens LOSE 3-2
Posted by nafsnep on December 11, 2013
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The season series may be over, but I have a funny feeling that this won’t be the last time we see this Springfield Falcons team this season.
The Falcons are essentially a mirror image of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Flashy guys who can score, bangers that can mix it up combined with solid D and good goaltending.
The better team won tonight, 3-2. The Falcons sweep the two game series between these two teams and are off to Norfolk to play the Admirals this weekend.
First Period: Patrick McNeill used to terrorize the Penguins while a member of the Hershey Bears. He scored the first of two goals in the game in the first period when Broc Little had a puck in the corner that drew the attention of the Pens. Little passes to McNeill who snaps a shot past Deslauriers for a 1-0 Springfield lead.
The Penguins would get their chances on the power play tonight but just would not convert.
Mike O’Brien had a tweet in first intermission that pretty much summed up the evening in general:
To this point, yeah, Springfield had the better of the chances and made the most of them.
Second Period: Cody Bass and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond fought in a great battle that I hope the Pens YouTube feed puts up so I can straight link on here. Pens had a power play, Harry Zolnierczyk flubs a one timer destined for the back of the net otherwise but the Falcons kill it. Then, Cody Sylvester and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault tangle in the far corner and Audy-Marchessault throws a punch but Sylvester is the only one taken off the ice. The Falcons win a face-off and get the puck to McNeill who scores quickly on a shot that Deslauriers was screened on.
Third Period: Harry Zolnierczyk is awarded a shorthanded penalty shot. He scores on it to bring the Pens within one. I think, if memory serves, that was the second successful regular season penalty shot in team history. I could be wrong though. Anyway, later, whole four-on-four Paul Thompson takes a nice centering pass on a rush up ice from Drazenovic and scores (finally) to tie the game at two. For Thompson, it was his first goal of the season and long, long overdue.
But, the momentum was snuffed away as Tom Kostopoulos takes a penalty and Jonathan, don’t call me Audy anymore, Marchessault scores off the face-off to put the Falcons ahead 3-2.
Springfields power play is thing of beauty. 1) Win face-off. 2) Pass to guy. 3) Shoot 4) Celebrate with teammates.
Penguins with a furious rush in the final minute with Deslauriers pulled never found the equalizer.
Three Stars: 3) Paul Thompson (goal, even) 2) Harry Zolnierczyk (shorthanded penalty shot goal, +1) and 1) Patrick McNeill (two goals, assist, even)
Around the Division: Hershey rallies to get by Binghamton in a shootout 4-3. St. John’s has their way with Syracuse and win 5-1. Norfolk was off.
Last Game: Saturday in St. John’s, Canada the Penguins won 3-0. Jeff Deslauriers had a 30 save shutout. For Springfield, the Falcons were in Hartford Sunday and beat the WolfPack 4-2. Sean Collins had a goal and an assist for the Falcons.
Last Meeting: November 10 in Springfield, the Penguins allowed a late goal to ex-captain Ryan Craig and lost 4-3. Simon Despres had two goals for Wilkes-Barre in a losing effort.
Record: For WBS: 14-6-1-2 (31 pts., 1st place East Division) — For SPR: 16-4-1-1 (34 pts., 1st place Northeast Division)
Why you should care: A battle of division leaders Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre. It’ll be interesting to see the patchwork WBS lineup matchup against a Falcon team coming in at or near full capacity.
Other Game to Watch: Hershey and Binghamton can’t seem to get enough of each other recently. They play, again, this time about an hour north of Wilkes-Barre.
Next Five Games: HER 12/13, UTI 12/14, WOR 12/20, SYR 12/21, NOR 12/17
No change to the top two this week (!!!) so that means your Grand Rapids Griffins and Albany Devils remain top dogs in the Week 10 Chirps from Center Ice Power Rankings.
Everyone else, for the most part, moved around. I struggled with 21-30 this week. So let me know if your team is ranked there if I did a good job ranking your team.
Biggest gainer this week are your Bridgeport Sound Tigers while the biggest losers this week are the Binghamton Senators. Sound Tigers vault up 11 spots, while the B-Sens drop 11.
If you didn’t link through, hop through the jump to see the rest:
Has Deslauriers been the MVP of the team or, what? Every time he steps in the crease he gives the Penguins a chance to win.
I strung for the Great Jonathan Bombulie of the Citizens’ Voice tonight. Check out my story in the paper Sunday.
In it, I led with the fact that the Pens may be missing a large majority of their best players, but they still have a pretty intact blue line and goaltending department. The Pens got goals tonight from Tom Kuhnhackl, Brian Gibbons and Bobby Farnham then played prevent defense all third period and won the game.
Jeff Deslauriers vs. Eddie Pasquale
Two lineup changes: John Hynes went 11F/7D tonight. Peter Merth and Carter Rowney were out for Reid McNeill and Harrison Ruopp. Ruopp made his season debut for the Penguins.
First Period: About as inert a period you can get. With 5:27 left in the period, shots were 2-1 Penguins. It ended up 4-2 St. John’s at the end of the period. Best chances were a high slot shot by Gibbons and a Eric O’Dell cross ice saucer pass to Kael Mouillerat that Deslauriers made a cross ice post-to-post save on.
Second Period: IceCaps made their best efforts to jump ahead in the hockey game. I remember Mike O’Brien saying that the shots were 10-2 IceCaps at some point. Despite that, the Pens headed to a power play where Tom Kuhnhackl would score to break the deadlock. Brendan Mikkelson kept a puck in the far wall, fed Nick D’Agostino in the low far circle, he throws it at the net, it caroms off of Pasquale to Kuhnhackl who hacks and whacks and stuffs it past Pasquale.
Then, Mikkelson holds up Eric O’Dell on the half wall and Brian Gibbons comes in out of no where to pick O’Dell’s pocket to start a three-on-one up the ice with Cody Sylvester and Bobby Farnham. Gibbons passes to Farnham who touch passes back to Gibbons who scores an easy goal to put the Pens up 2-0.
Third Period: It took :21 for Bobby Farnham to find the back of the net for the Pens. Mike Carman tries a cross ice pass to Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Defenseman Brenden Kichton puts a stick on the puck, but in the process sets the table for Farnham to step into one and laser it past Pasquale for a 3-0 lead.
Pens let off after that, and played prevent defense. Jeff Deslauriers made some sprawling saves in the period, most notably this one on Eric O’Dell, which will likely go on Deslauriers’ highlight reel.
Deslauriers first shutout of the year, and he’s tied for wins by goaltenders with 11.
Three Stars: 3) Bobby Farnham (goal, assist, +2) 2) Brian Gibbons (goal) 1) Jeff Deslauriers (30 save shutout)
Around the Division: Norfolk, hot on the heels of the division leaders, sweeps Syracuse this weekend with a 2-1 victory in Central New York. The Hershey Bears are halted by a resurgent Bridgeport Sound Tigers and lose 4-2. Binghamton gets a point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the surprisingly good Albany Devils, who are just two points behind the Northeast Division leaders the Springfield Falcons who are the Penguins next opponent.
That means that, despite a patchwork lineup of ECHL call ups, your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in sole possession of first place in arguably the best division in the AHL, the East Division.
Wheeling Update: Nailers are a point factory right now. Nailers win 2-1 in a shootout over the Cincinnati Cyclones tonight and lead their division by 8 points.
SendToNews Highlights: Despite last night, a ton of good things to look at from a Penguins fan perspective tonight. Here you go.
Pens probably travel Sunday back to Wilkes-Barre, off Monday, and prep Tuesday for a home game vs. Springfield Wednesday.
Blog wise, barring anything huge, the Week 10 AHL Power Rankings will be here Monday afternoon.
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 