@      

  4                                              3

–

Brian Gibbons had 30 points in 70 games last year for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

He has 11 so far after just 6 games this season.

Aided by a four point performance by Gibbons Sunday afternoon in Manchester, the Penguins defeated the Monarchs 4-3 in overtime and are off to a 6-0 start.

Tops in the East Division? Check.

Tops in the Eastern Conference? Check.

Tops in the entire American Hockey League? Checkmate.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. J-F Berube

Tom Kostopoulous did not play today for the Penguins. He’s day-to-day with a “lower body” injury. Simon Despres was apparently dinged up Friday against Adirondack. Despres played last night in Worcester and took warmups in Manchester but was scratched in favor of Nick D’Agostino.

First Period: Gibbons had a hand in all the scoring plays for the Penguins. He got his party started by scoring a goal on the power play from a ridiculous angle from below the goal line to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

Penguins had several chances to blow the game wide open in the first, but Manchester hug around and scored a goal late in the period to tie the game at one. Sean Backman finished off a two-on-one to bring the Monarchs even.

Second Period: The whole “Brian Gibbons assisted or scored a goal for the Penguins and the Monarchs would respond later in the period” theme continued. Gibbons this time broke out of the penalty box and hit Andrew Ebbett cutting to the net to put the Pens up 2-1.

Despite getting a power play goal in the first period, the Penguins did not look good future power plays. Two consecutive man advantages for Wilkes-Barre reared more chances for Manchester than it did the Penguins.

Andrew Bodnarchuk rifled home a one timer to bring the Monarchs level with the Penguins again late.

Third Period: Mike Carman, in his second straight game, forechecked the Monarchs forwards and defenseman all afternoon long. His efforts led to Gibbons’ second goal. Gibbons stole the puck and wired home a wrister to put the Penguins up 3-2.

Late, a puck skips Zach Sill’s stick. Manchester breaks out and Nick Deslauriers slams home a rebound of a Jordan Weal blast to even the game again. Manchester wasn’t going away, having been in overtime six times prior to this game.

Overtime: It took just :22 seconds. Brian Gibbons and Brendan Mikkelson 2-on-1, Gibbons cross ice pass to Mikkelson who seals it.

Three Stars: 3) Brendan Mikkelson (goal, assist, +2) 2) Andrew Bodnarchuk (goal, even) and 1) Brian Gibbons (two goals, two assists, +3)

Around the Division: Binghamton was in Bridgeport and beat the Sound Tigers 6-5 in overtime. That one was a barn burner. The Sound Tigers were down 3-0 at one point in the first.

Standings: Penguins 12 — Binghamton 8 — Norfolk 8 — Syracuse 5 — Hershey 3

Conference: 1) WBS (12) 2) HFD (11) 3) MCH (11) 4) SPR (10) 5) BNG (8) 6) NOR (8) 7) ALB (7) 8) PRO (6)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They are back at it Saturday in Toledo.

SendToNews Highlights: Here they are for your viewing enjoyment.

If Gibbons had found his way onto the scoresheet Saturday in Worcester, a strong case would need to be made for AHL Player of the Week. We’ll see. I’d be pleasantly surprised if he was named. Normally the League announces the nomination Monday afternoon.

Monday afternoon will also be when the Week 3 AHL Power Rankings will publish. It probably a fair speculation to say that one of the two teams involved in this game today will be at the top. Stay tuned.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

          @      

  3                                              2

–

This is becoming a theme.

Penguins sleepwalk through 40 minutes in Worcester, get three goals in the third, Peter Mannino makes 28 saves and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are off to a 5-0 start after beating the Worcester Sharks 3-2.

Tom Kuhnhackl scored two of those goals. Tom Kostopoulous left the game at some point with an injury. Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons had an off night, by their standards and the Penguins still manage to come away with victory.

Peter Mannino vs. Harri Sateri

Mike Carman and Reid McNeill were in for Bobby Farnham and Nick D’Agostino, respectively.

First Period: 48 penalty minutes before the game was two minutes old. For some reason, both teams were ornery to start. I don’t think it benefitted anyone in particular. Freddie Hamilton scored a goal later on a wicked wrister on busted coverage by the Penguins. Penguins managed only four shots on goal in this forgettable period.

Second Period: Pierre-Luc Letournau-Leblond fought twice. The first fight was with fellow heavyweight Jimmy Bonneau, later with 6’7 behemoth Taylor Doherty. The Pens had three chances to get the score even in the period. Andrew Ebbett off the cross bar, Adam Payerl all alone in the slot then Zach Sill poke checked and tripped by Sateri with Sateri well out of his crease. They also had three power play opportunities but came up empty.

Third Period: I pinch hit for Jonathan Bombulie tonight and wrote a story for the Citizens’ Voice which will be in the Sunday paper. My lede was don’t bother showing up on time for a Penguins game. Why? The Pens do all their damage in the third period. The Pens have outscored their opponents 14-4 in the season. It’s clearly the reason they are 5-0 this season.

Tom Kuhnhackl scored his first of the game at 1:48 then his second with 39.6 left. His goals were bookended by a John McCarthy goal by the Sharks on a setup from Sena Acolatse who wheeled around the Penguins net and fed McCarthy on the doorstep. Andrew Ebbett scored his first goal of the season set up by a Letourneau-Leblond big hit on a Shark.

Pens bus to Worcester for a 3 p.m. start in New Hampshire.

Three Stars: 3) Andrew Ebbett (goal, assist, +1) 2) Freddie Hamilton (goal, +1) and 1) Tom Kuhnhackl (two goals, +1)

Tom Kostopoulos came into tonight with points in all games played so far. He was pointless tonight, as was Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons.

Around the Division: Hershey is in the win column. They shut out the IceCaps in Newfoundland 4-0. Syracuse avenges a loss the prior night by the Binghamton Senators by beating the B-Sens 4-1 in Binghamton. Albany wins in a shootout in Norfolk and drop the Admirals 2-1.

Standings: Penguins 10 — Admirals 8 — Binghamton 6 — Syracuse 5 — Hershey 3

Conference: 1) HFD (11) 2) WBS (10) 3) MCH (10) 4) SPR (10) 5) NOR (8) 6) ALB (7) 7) BNG (6) 8) PRO (6)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were in Cincinnati tonight and lost 4-2.

SendToNews Highlights: Here they are.

Manchester is a good team and the Penguins are in for a fight tomorrow afternoon. But, the Monarchs have gone to a shootout for a total of five of the six games played. So it will be a really good test for both squads tomorrow and one I am looking forward to.

Gameday for that will be up at 11 a.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

          vs.      

  3                                              6

–

Two things that I take away from the game tonight, a 6-3 Wilkes-Barre romp.

1) The Penguins are really, really good right now and are clicking on all cylinders while other teams are finding their sea legs.
2) Adirondack is a bad hockey team. One that got out worked and out muscled from the drop of the puck. A good team like the Penguins should have manhandled this team and did.

I guess point one could be obscured a bit because of point two. But it doesn’t matter in the short term. The Pens are 4-0 and firing on all cylinders right now. The long term will sort itself out.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. Cal Heeter

Chris Conner was called up to Pittsburgh before the game. My guess is that Harry Zolnierczyk will be back in time for tomorrows game in Worcester. We’ll see. Paul Thompson and Bobby Farnham took Conner and Zolnierczyk’s spots in the lineup.

First Period: Jayson Megna and Brian Gibbons look like two entirely different players this season. They have some magic going early on. Gibbons steals an Adirondack exit attempt then passed to Jayson Megna who fished the puck out of his skates and scored to put the Pens on the board first.

Minutes later, Bruno Gervais beats Deslauriers with an NHL-style slap shot that tied the game. It would be the closest that the Phantoms would get the rest of the night.

I say that because this next goal was a thing of absolute beauty and should be the postage stamp of things early on and a look to the future. Dominik Uher and Tom Kuhnhackl win a battle up the ice and score a goal. Uher outworks a Phantoms defender, then centers to Kuhnhackl who beats his guy and scores a goal to make it 2-1.

If that goal is any indication of how the season is going to go, that is, manufacturing blue collar goals by outworking your opponent, watch out.

The Pens nearly let the Phantoms back into the game with some sloppy play late in the first, but it broke 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Second Period: Philip Samuelsson shot a puck from the blueline that Adam Payerl deflected in to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

Jayson Megna scored his second of the night shorthanded setup by, who else, Brian Gibbons. That set off a line brawl of sorts that sort of woke up the Phantoms enough to see Nick Cousins score a goal on the doorstep to cut the deficit to two, 4-2.

Dominik Uher again with a slap shot bomb after he, again, outworked his guy to score a goal.

Link here to the picture of the scrum of the line brawl and here to the fight that Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond had with Zack FitzGerald.

Third Period: Brian Gibbons finished off a cross ice pass on the power play to put the Pens ahead 6-2. Pens buzzed after that, you could almost smell the killer instinct that the Penguins had. Rob Bordson scored a goal late when Deslauriers left a rebound.

Three Stars: 3) Dominik Uher (goal, assist, +1) 2) Brian Gibbons (gioal, two assists, +2) and 1) Jayson Megna (two goals, +2)

Around the Division: Hershey gives up four goals in the third period to lose to St. John’s on The Rock 5-1. Binghamton thumps Syracuse 6-2. Norfolk beats Albany in a shootout down in Virginia 2-1.

Standings: Pens 8 — Norfolk 7 — Binghamton 6 — Syracuse 3 — Hershey 1

Conference: Hartford 9, Wilkes-Barre, Manchester and Springfield 8, Norfolk 7, Binghamton 6, Albany and St. John’s 5

Wheeling Update: The Nailers kicked off their season at home vs. the Elmira Jackals and won 3-2. Christiaan Minella was named first star, with two goals.

SendToNews Highlights: Here they are. Pardon the terrible pun from Brian Coe.

Pens bus to Worcester overnight. The Sharks will be playing in just their second game of the season and tomorrow is their home opener. They lost to Springfield in their last game so you know they are going to be amped and ready to go. Tomorrow may be a trap game for the Pens if they aren’t careful….

Gameday for that game will be up tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Let’s Go Pens!!!