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St. John’s IceCaps goaltender Eddie Pasquale has been a thorn in the side of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins for some time now.

Dating back to 2012, in the Eastern Conference Semifinals agains these same IceCaps, Pasquale’s heroics in that series propelled the St. John’s IceCaps to a Eastern Conference Finals berth.

Tonight, it was the same magic.

Pasquale stops 31 of 32 and his St. John’s IceCaps squeak by the Penguins tonight 2-1. Rematch tomorrow.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. the aforementioned Eddie Pasquale

Lineup was pretty much the same from Wednesday. Bobby Farnham was eligible to return but did not. Zach Sill was sent down by Pittsburgh at around 5 and was snot in time for the game.

First Period: Pens came out and flew all around the ice and threw shots on net that Pasquale saved. Finally, Jayson Megna set up Harry Zolnierczyk on a pass that Zolnierczyk buried past Pasquale for the Pens only goal of the game. Later, after a successful penalty kill, Travis Ehrhardt zipped one past Deslauriers for a tie game.

Second Period: This period was where Pasquale shone brightly. The score could have been and should have been 5-1 Penguins if not for stellar, and I mean stellar saves by the IceCaps net minder. Especially shorthanded. It appeared that there was some kind of forcefield around the net that Pasquale guarded. I remember a sequence in particular where he stoned Jayson Megna and Harry Zolnierczyk on sure goals on the same shift.

Later, Patrice Cormier gets around Brian Dumoulin and puts one past Deslauriers to put the IceCaps out front for good.

Third Period: Tom Kostopoulous thinks he scores. I do too. Only problem is, he didn’t. Puck hits the top of the crossbar, straight down and not in. Referee Trent Knorr reviewed it on replay and confirmed what I just described.

More Pasquale saves. It was his night. Nothing was getting by him. Even with some power play time late and even a 5-on-3, the Pens were not able to get one by Pasquale.

Three Stars: 3) Travis Ehrhardt (goal, +1) 2) Patrice Cormier (goal, +1) and 1) Eddie Pasquale (31 saves on 32 shots)

Around the Division: Binghamton obliterates Adirondack 6-2 in my game to watch tonight. Norfolk fights back and wins in overtime 3-2 over the Portland Pirates down in Virginia and the Syracuse Crunch lose in Montreal to Hamilton 4-1. Hershey was off.

Standings: Binghamton 24 — Penguins 24 — Norfolk 21 — Syracuse 20 — Hershey 14

Conference: 1) MCH (27) 2) BNG (24) 3) SPR 23 4) WBS (24) 5) ALB (21) 6) NOR (21) 7) SYR (20) 8) PRO (19)

Wheeling Update: Nothing to say here, the Nailers were off.

SendToNews Highlights: For you Eddie Pasquale fans, I offer the following…

These two teams rematch tomorrow. Gameday for this will be up at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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Cody Sylvester has followed the track of Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons in Pittsburgh.

That is, he scored in his “league up” debut. His goal turned out to be the game winner and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins hold off the Rochester Americans 3-1 and are in sole possession of first place in the East Division and have quietly won three in a row.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. Matt Hackett

Nick Drazenovic (injury) Peter Merth (injury) Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond (injury) Nick D’Agostino (healthy scratch) and Bobby Farnham (suspension) were the Penguins out of the lineup. The aforementioned Cody Sylvester, along with Denver Manderson and Dustin Stevenson made their Penguins debuts.

First Period: Wilkes-Barre came out gangbusters to open the game and just smothered Rochester. There was one sequence where the Amerks attempted to clear out of their zone on three different occasions and were unable to due to the high Penguins pressure they encountered. Finally, after dominating much of the period, Tom Kostopoulos deflected a Scott Harrington point shot from the blue line home with under five seconds remaining.

Second Period: Wilkes-Barre would keep the pressure on the Americans early in the second. Jamie Tardif would turn a puck over and Cody Sylvester would score his first goal of the season for the Pens and first AHL goal with a nice wrist shot. Rochester would answer with a goal of its own with a goal by Kevin Porter on a power play. Then the Penguins started playing loose in their own end and started giving the Americans multiple chances at attempting to even the game but Jeff Deslauriers was up to the task.

Third Period: In a word, a snoozer. Pens dropped back and played defense and were wholly content with taking just three shots on goal while allowing Rochester seven. The most exciting thing to happen was this Jayson Megna empty netter, where he fends off two Rochester defenders.

Three Stars: 3) Cody Sylvester (game winning goal, +1) 2) Kevin Porter (goal, -2) and 1) Jeff Deslauriers (23 saves on 24 shots)

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Penguins 24 — Binghamton 22 — Syracuse 20 — Norfolk 19 — Hershey 14

Conference: 1) MCH (25) 2) WBS (24) 3) SPR 21 4) BNG 22 5) ALB (21) 6) SYR (20) 7) NOR (19) 8) HFD (18)

Wheeling Update: Nailers fall in a shootout in Reading 3-2. Zack Torquato had a goal and an assist in the game.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

But for breaking news Thursday, next blog update comes Friday at 3 p.m. for the St. John’s setup.

Let’s Go Pens!