More internet issues hounded me tonight. I will put a call into the ISP tomorrow to find out what’s up. Regardless, Pens are back to their winning ways after a 2-1 victory in Western New York this evening.

Bryan Lerg, Corey Potter and Keven Veilleux were the scratches. Geoff Walker replaced BeastMode in the lineup. Jacob Markstrom vs. Brad Thiessen in net tonight. Brett Sterling, Ryan Craig and Tim Wallace had the A’s.

First period: After a Tim Wallace slash and a Geoff Walker hook it was end to end action the rest of the period. Really nice tempo by the Pens as from what I could see, and what I heard it sounded like the Amerks chased the Pens all over the rink the first period. Tangradi had a chance really late. Appeared Wilkes-Barre wanted to shoot high on Markstrom because all the shots kept going up and over him.

Second period: Tons of observations from other people watching the game that Wilkes-Barre maintained the pace and tempo. The Pens let their guard down for a few moments then BANG! Dustin Jeffrey from a nice setup from The Ticket. I love Brett’s versatility. He can score and be the ideal setup man. The very next shift Michael Caruso tied it about :30 later. Later, Eric Selleck leveled Jesse Boulerice. Geoff Walker took offense and they scrapped, Walker ended up with a 4-minute roughing call. Then in the penalty kill, Chris Collins was caught slashing. Wilkes-Barre ended up having to kill a 5 on 3. There ended up being :39 of carryover time on the 5 on 3 in the third.

Third period: Pens killed away all the penalties assessed. Jesse Boulerice made it back to the ice. Joey Mormina and Eric Selleck fought. I never got a good look at it through all the buffering. Apparently, it limits me in live-streaming video only and not blogging or twittering. Finally, Markstrom was caught slashing (yes, the goaltender) and Wilkes-Barre got its first PP of the evening. Rochester only allowed 1 SOG the entire 2:00. Later, Michal Repik was caught hooking and WBS got another man advantage. We did not score on that power play but just as Michal was coming out of the box, Ryan Craig scored to make it 2-1. After an Amerk time-out and empty net, Rochester never got the equalizer and Wilkes-Barre won the hockey game to start a new winning streak.

Eric Selleck, Dustin Jeffrey and Brad Thiessen were the three stars.

Analysis wise, I will turn you over to Jonathan Bombulie. From what I heard on radio it sounded like we controlled the game. But it’s tough to judge these when you are playing the third game in under three nights.

Around the league, Hershey lost to Charlotte 4-2. The bigger news in that game was that Keith Aucoin left with an injury. I am sure that Bears beat writer Tim Leone will have more when the team returns on Wednesday (they still have one more game in Charlotte Tuesday night) – Binghamton beat Syracuse 5-0 and Albany lost 6-4 to Providence.

Points look like this: WBS has 20 points. Charlotte, yes, Charlotte has 15. Norfolk and Bingo have 14 apiece. Hershey and Syracuse 13, Albany 12 and Adirondack 5. Hershey could have been 3 points back with a win and an Americans victory. Should be a fun year.

Penguins will have a day off Monday. Perhaps I will do something fun this week on the blog because of the slow news week that comes of life in the minors. If there are AHL stories of interest I’ll have an entry. Until then, Go Pens.

I realize that we cannot win every game. I realize that. But, I also realize that we should beat teams who are missing their big guns such as Syracuse. Top gun Kyle Palmieri is on recall to parent Anaheim. This was a game we should have won.

Well, they don’t play games on paper and we lost 4-3 tonight.

John Curry v. J-P Levasseur. Tim Wallace, Brett Sterling and Nick Johnson had the A’s tonight. Keven Veilleux was back taking the place of Geoff Walker and Corey Potter was announced as a scratch again.

Before the game Brad Thiessen and John Curry received their Goaltender of the Month Awards.

First Period: WBS had a ton of early opportunities. A ton. Came ready to play off the hop. Every shot was a legit scoring opportunity. Levasseur was leaving big rebounds all night. We steamrolled Syracuse in the first, but were unable to crack Levasseur and it was scoreless after one the shots on goal 17-9. Near scare in the game when Syracuse had a late power play on a Jesse Boulerice interference on the goaltender call when the puck deflected off Curry, hit the post then dropped straight down in the crease and out.

Second period: The Ticket opened up the period with a ridiculous wrap-around goal on Levasseur. 1-0. About six minutes later, Tim Wallace scored on a power play. 2-0. Cruise control from here right? No. Nick Johnson fought John Mitchell. Game got extremely chippy afterwards. Big hits. Whoops, Tim Wallace spotted interfering. In the ensuing power play with Robert Bortuzzo sprawled all over the ice, Maxime Macenauer flipped the puck over Bortuzzo and it found Brett Festerling’s stick on the back door of Curry. 2-1. Right after that, Levasseur misplays a puck, The Ticket basically did what he does when he is that close to the goal, and made it 3-1. The period would end that way, with Wilkes-Barre outshooting the visitors 30-16.

I wonder what was said in the Penguins locker room and also what was spoken by Mark Holick in the Crunch locker room. Play not to lose? Protect the lead? If you are Syracuse, get the puck in deeper and muck it up in front of Curry?

Third period: Brandon MacMillan scored as the Brett Festerling penalty for interference ended. 3-2. Four minutes later, Nicolas Deschamps scored to tie the game. Then, nearly two minutes later, Trevor Smith put Syracuse out in front to make it 4-3 at 7:46.

I seriously do not know how those goals happened. Apparently neither did Wilkes-Barre. In hindsight, we should have called timeout after the Deschamps goal. Nothing doing after that. So we lost.

Fourth line came to work tonight. Had all sorts of quality chances.

SOG ended 45-23 in favor of Wilkes-Barre. Three stars were Trevor Smith, The Ticket and Brandon MacMillan.

The collapse in the third has to be investigated. Think it was just lucky bounces by Syracuse versus just a complete implosion by Wilkes-Barre, but three unanswered goals in about a five-minute span is tough to explain away.

Back to Rochester tomorrow who won 6-4. The good news from tonight is that Norfolk lost at home against Charlotte 3-1. Bingo killed Adirondack 7-3 tonight. Former Senator Denis Hamel had two goals for the Phantoms.

So the standings look like this: WBS has 18 points to Norfolk’s 14. Hershey / Syracuse / Charlotte all have an identical 13 points. Albany / Bingo have 12, and Adirondack is the first AHL team to lose 10 games this year and have 5 points.

Boys are on the bus to Rochester. Rochester is probably half way home on I-90 from Albany. Game tomorrow at 5:05. We’ll start a new streak tomorrow.

Technical difficulties hounded me all night tonight on AHL Live. It was on my end with my internet service provider just being painfully painfully slow in buffering the action in Rochester tonight. Suffice to say, I wasn’t able to watch more than :30 of live action, so I gave up and simply relied on radio on 102.3 The Mountain.

Brad Thiessen v. Tyler Plante in goal this evening. Tim Wallace, Ryan Craig and Andrew Hutchinson had the A’s tonight. Brett Sterling was back from injury. Corey Potter tweaked something in the morning skate so Joey Mormina skated on D in his place. This was all before AHL Commissioner Dave Andrews. Whatever Potter had radio called, “not serious”.

Before the game was 9:30 old, Rochester was up 3-0. Ryan Del Monte even strength, Michael Duco on a power play after a Chris Collins hold to snap the penalty kill streak then Bill Thomas after a Brett Sterling slash.

At this point, we are down 0-3, and are 0-2 on the penalty kill and flirting with disaster. John Curry per radio had the stomach flu so Thiessen needed to ride the storm out. What happened next was a thing of beauty.

Chris Collins with the answer goal with 4:30 left to play in the first period. Then, Eric Tangradi cleanly puts an American into the boards. Michael Duco takes exception and fights the Big Dog, but Eric doesn’t throw punches and is rather body slammed to the ice. Referee Marcus Vinnerborg assessed a 5-minute fighting major and a high sticking call (could have called him for instigating) and Brett Sterling, back from injury, makes the Amerks pay. 3-2.

Second period saw fisticuffs in front of Tyler Plante’s crease. Apparently Mr. Plante doesn’t know who Jesse Boulerice is as per radio (again I was not able to see on AHL Live due to internet issues) Plante swung his stick at Boulerice. Jesse took exception and in the dogpile, outside of Plante’s crease he took some swings. Dumb. Momentum shift right there for WBS. Later, Chris Conner scored to tie the game at three.

Third period Eric Tangradi took a 4 minute double minor for a high stick. I thought at this point if Rochester was going to score, it was going to be here. No. Dustin Jeffrey, long known as a quality penalty killer, intercepted a pass and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 4-3 WBS.

After that, radio described Rochester buzzing all over Thiessen’s net in the offensive zone. Likely a forgettable game for Andrew Hutchinson as his name was called after some turnovers. Thiessen settled down and turned all the shots aside.

Tim Wallace scored at 16:52 of the third to make it 5-3 and it’s over right? Not so fast. Almost 30 seconds later, Scott Timmins makes it interesting to make it 5-4 unassisted. Rochester pulled Plante after a timeout but wasn’t able to get the equalizer, and Wilkes-Barre is a clean 9-0-0-0 to start the season.

Should be interesting to see what Bombulie thought of this game, as JB reported no issues in buffering from his home. I love the way we battled. It is obvious that this team can battle back from just about anything. If you are a Wilkes-Barre fan you are loving this.

Stars were 3) Duco, 2) Collins, 1) Wallace.

Elsewhere in the East, Norfolk beat Charlotte in a shootout, 3-2. Bingo, in front of 13,000+ at the Bell Centre in Montreal lost to Hamilton 5-2, Albany defeated Worcester 3-2 in a shootout and tomorrow’s opponent the Syracuse Crunch were defeated by the Springfield Falcons 3-2 in a shootout.

Points wise, we are four to the good over the nearest competition at this point which is Norfolk, with 18 points to their 14. They play Charlotte again tomorrow. Hershey is dormant until Sunday and can get leaped over in the points by Albany if the Devils defeat Rochester tomorrow.

That is about all. The boys are on the way back home probably as you read this. Get ready for some fun tomorrow vs. Syracuse. Let’s Go Pens!