Last Game: Saturday at home vs. St. John’s, the Pens rallied for five goals in the third period and won 5-2. Coming off of suspension, Bobby Farnham was 1-1-2 and a +3. For Adirondack, last Saturday they hosted Albany and lost 5-3. Bruno Gervais was 1-2-3 in the losing effort.
Last Meeting: October 18 in Wilkes-Barre, the Pens won 6-3. Jayson Megna had two goals and was named first star of the game.
Record: For WBS: 12-4-0-2 (06 pts., 1st place East Division) — For ADK: 7-8-0-2 (16 pts., 3rd place Northeast Division)
Why you should care: The Phantoms have lost six in a row and the Pens look to make it seven. Who starts in goal tonight? Will it be Eric Hartzell, who had a solid debut Saturday or Jeff Deslauriers, who leads the AHL in wins for goaltenders?
Really, if you follow the action closely, not surprising. Pittsburgh’s not going to carry 11 forwards plus a cleared waivers Matt D’Agostini, that’s if he clears at noon Wednesday. So the recalls of Megna and Conner are insurance for Pittsburgh. Despres is left handed and, as Jonathan pointed out yesterday, Despres is the only healthy puck moving southpaw worth a call up in the organization.
So, if D’Agostini clears and is assigned to Wilkes-Barre you have him, Brian Gibbons, Tom Kostopoulos, Brendan Mikkelson and Harry Zolnierczyk as your top scorers, with a pretty solid defense corps and rock steady goaltending. I’ll take this into battle against an Adirondack team that’s lost six straight and feel damn good about my chances.
I probably won’t have anymore updates here today but for the Gameday setup with the aforementioned Phantoms at 3, then the post game recap after the game tonight. So if Pittsburgh does assign D’Agostini here, pending the waivers, I’ll probably blurb about it on Twitter.
Jonathan really has things covered in his offering today. He mentions that a forward could still go back up tomorrow as well as Simon Despres because of Paul Martin’s injury and that Despres uses his right frame of mind.*
Oh, and Matt D’Agostini is on waivers. If no one claims him, he could end up on the ice with the Penguins tomorrow in Glens Falls, NY.
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Three other things before I wrap it up. Remember the big hit in Saturday’s game Tom Kuhnhackl took by J.C. Lipon of St. John’s? Lipon was suspended two games as a result by the AHL today….Zack Torquato was named ECHL Player of the Week for the Wheeling Nailers. Torquato is on an ECHL only deal, meaning he can sign with any AHL team. He was in Wilkes-Barre camp last season if I remember correctly…..There is a new ECHL team which will take the ice for the 2014-2015 season. They are the Indy Fuel. They’ll probably face Wheeling a few times next season.
Depending if there is a call up to Pittsburgh tomorrow and the time it happens, I might have a few words on it. If not, Gameday for tomorrow’s game in Glens Falls vs. the Phantoms will be up at 3 p.m.
* – alright, it’s a terrible joke. Left handed people use the right side of their brain. Righties use their left side. So you’ll hear the joke from left handed people that they are always “in the right frame of mind”… I’ll be here all week. Try the veal….
No, not the American version. The one in Hamilton, Ontario. I criminally underrated their Bulldogs in last weeks rankings and erroneously stated that they lost two in a row. The Bulldogs sit atop the North Division at the quarter pole in the AHL season. I have atoned for my ineptness, the Bulldogs are your biggest gainer this week, up 18 spots this week.
Five teams didn’t move at all this week.
The Abbotsford Heat, winners of 13 of their last 14, overtake the Binghamton Senators in Week 8. The B-Sens step down one spot to second.
To see where your favorite team ranks, check out the rest of the rankings below. Click through the jump if you didn’t link in from somewhere else.
Comments Off on Zach’s Weekend in Wilkes-Barre
Posted by nafsnep on November 24, 2013
Kinda knew when I saw the reports from Pittsburgh about Beau Bennett’s injury that at least one Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguin would get the call.
Turns out it was two.
Pittsburgh recalled Zach Sill and Andrew Ebbett Sunday evening. For Sill, the thinking is that the Pittsburgh brass didn’t get enough of a look at him last time he was up appearing in just one game. For Ebbett, Pittsburgh clearly sending a message that they want to evaluate what they have depth-wise as Jayson Megna could be argued as a more worthy call-up.
Depth wise here in Wilkes-Barre, it all depends on the health and wellness of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Nick Drazenovic. If either one of those two can play Wednesday night on Glens Falls, then the Penguins won’t need to make another recall from Wheeling. Denver Manderson and Cody Sylvester were the healthy forward scratches Saturday night vs. St. John’s.
I suppose we find out early, as usually it’s custom to let the call-up get a practice in with the team before throwing them into a game situation.
Think that’s bad? The Syracuse Crunch have been demolished lately with recalls and injuries of their own. My blog pals at Chairman How’s Glorious Army have it all covered if you want to peek across the fence to see the state of affairs of a divisional rival.
If there’s a recall from the Wheel, I’ll have something to write about Monday. If not, check out my Week 8 AHL Power Rankings Monday afternoon at 4.
Comments Off on Hi, I’m Eric – Pens WIN 5-2
Posted by nafsnep on November 23, 2013
vs.
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Eric Hartzell is a name that Penguins fans will learn to know and learn to love in the future. The rookie goaltender making his first AHL start proved it tonight.
Bolstered by yet another strong third period, one that saw the Penguins score five goals and a 29 save performance by Hartzell.
The Penguins played an impotent 40 minutes of hockey and then come out gangbusters in the the third and absolutely steamrolled the St. John’s IceCaps and won 5-2 tonight in stunning fashion.
Eddie Pasquale vs. the aforementioned Eric Hartzell.
Zach Sill, Bobby Farnham and Nick D’Agostino were all back for the Penguins tonight so Denver Manderson, Cody Sylvester and Dustin Stevenson were scratched.
First Period: Not really much to write home about for the two teams. The most memorable thing that happened this period was something that didn’t happen for more than fifteen minutes. That was a shot by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. The first came with 4:35 left in the period. Hartzell kept the Pens in it. He had a goal waved off on him when it was ruled that it was deflected in by a kick from a St. John’s skate and not the stick.
Second Period: More Hartzell bailing out the Pens, this time on a 4:00 power play for the IceCaps, who took it to the Penguins early and often in the first two periods. Finally, Eric O’Dell would score his first of two on a rebound from a blast from the point that put the IceCaps ahead 1-0.
With the way the game had gone to this point, it looked like that was all the IceCaps needed to put away the Penguins.
Hold on though, we still have another period to play.
Third Period: Tom Kostopoulos got it started on the power play on a hack and whack job that tied the game. :29 later, Bobby Farnham does a falling down roof job that puts the Penguins ahead 2-1. Then J.C. Lipon gets a 5:00 major match penalty for a check to the head to Tom Kuhnhackl, who would be fine, but the Penguins were not able to convert.
The Pens left way too much time on the board though, as with just under 7 minutes to play the IceCaps would go to the power play and cash to tie the game at two. Eric O’Dell again.
But hold on. More time on the clock, game wasn’t over.
You like :29 apart for two goals? How about :17 apart for two goals! One by Andrew Ebbett on the power play and another on a shot off the wall from Zach Sill over the pad of Pasquale and in. After the game that Pasquale had played from Friday and into two periods Saturday, a terrible goal to give up by him.
Jayson Megna would cash in on an empty netter when Bobby Farnham does all the work but does everything but score and that was your ballgame.
Three Stars: 3) Tom Kostopoulos (goal, assist, even) 2) Bobby Farnham (goal, assist, +3) and 1) Eric Hartzell (29 saves on 31 shots)
The thing about Hartzell that I liked was that every time the Pens scored, he would skate up to the tunnel and glove tap the guys on the ice that scored. Here, like this…
Conference: 1) MCH (29) 2) WBS (26) 3) SPR (25) 4) BNG (24) 5) ALB (23) 6) NOR (22) 7) SYR (20) 8) PRO (19)
Wheeling Update: Wheeling downs Fort Wayne in overtime, 5-4. Mike Ratchuk had two goals and two assists for the Nailers including the game winner. Anton Zlobin had a goal and an assist as well.
SendToNews Highlights: Are here. Worth checking out.
Edit: You can link to the SendToNews Package, or you can just watch below:
Pens off until a Thanksgiving Eve game in Glens Falls against the Phantoms. Blog wise, short of anything breaking Sunday will have the Week 8 AHL Power Rankings here Monday. Also, we are a game away from the quarter pole so that means First Quarter Grades are due. Look for those on Thanksgiving after the Adirondack game.
Last Game / Last Meeting: Last night in Wilkes-Barre, Eddie Pasquale became the star of the show and defeated the Penguins by stopping 31 of 32 shots. The IceCaps won, 2-1. Harry Zolnierczyk had the goal for the Penguins in the loss.
Record: For WBS: 11-4-0-2 (24 pts., 2nd place East Division) — For STJ: 8-7-1-2 (19 pts., 3rd place Atlantic Division)
Why you should care: The question becomes if Eddie Pasquale starts again tonight, will the Pens have more success against him or will he steal the show again? Also, the Pens know they are better than what they showed last night, would I would expect a better performance tonight.
Promotion(s): PA Lottery Night (first 2,500 fans 18 and older)
Other Game to Watch: There are two other rematches going down in the East Division tonight. The Syracuse Crunch look to avenge a loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs in Canada last night and the Norfolk Admirals are looking for the sweep vs. the Portland Pirates at the Scope.
Next Five Games: @ ADK 11/27, BNG 11/29, @ HER 11/30, @ STJ 12/6, STJ 12/7
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 