HOW SWEEP IT IS - Pens crush Crunch

Game Sheet

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Conor Sheary collected two goals – including the game-winner –  and an assist to help lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 5-2 victory over the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday at Onondaga Country War Memorial Arena and a sweep of the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.

With the game knotted at one after the first period of play, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went ahead for the second time 2:39 into the frame.  Accepting a pass at the Syracuse blueline from Derrick Pouliot, Sheary was able to skate in alone to the left hashmark before firing a wrist shot inside the near post. 

Holding the 2-1 edge after two periods, the Penguins pulled away from the Crunch with back-to-back power play tallies in the first five minutes of the third.  Sheary set up on the far dot of the Syracuse zone and made no mistake with a snap shot off a circle-to-circle pass from Wilson with 2:59 gone in the period. 

Back on a 5-on-4 advantage a minute later, Derrick Pouliot pushed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lead to three at 4:30 when his bid from the center blueline zipped by the left side of screened Crunch goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis.

Tanner Richard needed only 66 seconds to get Syracuse back within two goals, swatting a puck to the right of Matt Murray’s crease that caromed off a body and through the pads of the Penguins goalie. 

Using their timeout after the Crunch tally, the Penguins settled down and maintained their 4-2 lead until Andrew Ebbett sealed the victory on an empty-net goal coming with 1:18 left in regulation.    

Though Syracuse controlled the beginning of Game 3, the Penguins were able sneak ahead, 1-0, at 7:32 after they took to their first power play of the game.  From the top of the left circle, Sheary sent a pass across the zone that Wilson one-timed past the outstretched glove of Gudlevskis.

The Crunch would even the score with 3:07 remaining until the first intermission on a shot from the point by Luke Witkowski that was partially blocked by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defense.  The puck slid slowly toward the front of the crease where Yanni Gourde was able to swat it over the shoulder of Murray. 

Murray allowed two goals on 35 shots in recording his third straight win of the postseason.  Gudlevskis made 19-of-23 shots for Syracuse. 

Tickets for Penguins Playoff Home Game C are now available by calling 570-208-7367 or online at TicketMaster.com.

BLACK AND GOLD BITS - April 29, 2015

The Penguins head into tonight's game against the Syracuse Crunch with a chance to put a quick end to the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, and can move on to the next round with a victory at the OnCenter tonight.

But if history tells us anything, it's that a clean sweep of the Crunch won't be easy.

This is the 34th playoff round the Penguins have participated in during their 16 years in the American Hockey League, and the team has swept just three of the first 33 series in which they have participated:

2001 Western Conference Final (4-0 over Hershey)
2003 Western Conference Qualifier (2-0 over Utah)
2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal (3-0 over Binghamton)


WITH A CHANCE TO CLINCH

The Penguins have played in 22 series where they have had a chance to win and advance, and have won 20 of those rounds.  They have an all-time record of 20-12 in potential series clinching contests, and have won 13 of those 20 rounds on the first chance.

The only times the Pens failed to advance in a series in which they had a chance to clinch were:

2009 East Division Final - The Penguins carried a 3-2 series lead into Game Six in Hershey, but were shut out by identical 3-0 scores in back-to-back games against the Bears

2012 Eastern Conference Semifinal - After falling behind 3-1 in the series against the St. John's IceCaps, the Pens posted wins in Games Five (3-2, 2OT in Wilkes-Barre) and Six (4-2 in St. John's) to force Game Seven.  The IceCaps captured the series finale by a 3-2 score.


IN GAME THREE

The Penguins have an all-time record of 17-15 in Game Threes, including an 8-5 mark on the road.


FOLLOW US

We'll be live in Syracuse for tonight's contest between the Pens and Crunch.  Here's how you can follow along:

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PENS PLAYOFF PODCAST - Taylor Chorney

By Brian Coe

The Pittsburgh Penguins defensive corps was beset by injuries during the 2014-15 season, and as the team closed in on the playoffs, it saw the loss of two of its biggest cogs - Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.

But those unfortunate circumstances led to opportunity for Taylor Chorney.

Now in his seventh professional season, Chorney was a huge part of the top-rated defense in the American Hockey League this season, leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with a plus-26 rating in 62 games.  He saw spot time in the NHL midway through the season, appearing in two games with the parent Penguins during late December and seeing 11 minutes of combined ice time in those contests.

But he took on a more prominent role with the big club after the injuries to Ehrhoff and Letang, when he averaged more than 14 minutes on the ice over the final five-games of the regular season.

His steady play in those contests led to an even bigger chance to show his shutdown style in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he posted an even rating and average 16.6 minutes per game.

  

“Personally I think it was a great experience,” Chorney said of his first taste of the NHL playoffs.  “Just to kind of get a chance to go up there and test your game at that level and in those pressure situations, it was a lot of fun.”

Chorney has been paired with Brian Dumoulin in Wilkes-Barre for most of the season, and that duo combined to post a plus-51 rating in the regular season.  So, when Pittsburgh needed to add an another body on the blue line as the playoffs got underway, it was only natural that Dumoulin was summoned to pair with his AHL partner.

“For us to be able experience that type of atmosphere and big circumstances, it was a lot of fun for both of us,” Chorney said.  “We’ve had talks about it throughout the year, we’ve been playing together for a long time now in a lot of games. We were saying it would be cool to get a chance up there together and kind of see how our game translates.  And I think both of us were pretty happy with the way things went.”

Chorney and Dumoulin were two of the four players reassigned to Wilkes-Barre from Pittsburgh after the NHL team’s season came to an end (Scott Wilson and Derrick Pouliot were the others).  During Chorney’s absence from the AHL roster, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posted a 7-2-0-0 regular season mark, and two impressive wins over the Syracuse Crunch in the postseason.  Still, he’s not concerned about disrupting the club’s current chemistry by being reinserted back into the lineup.

“The team’s been doing great for a month while we’ve been gone,” he said.  “It’s just a matter of kind of transiting back in and doing the same things I was before I got called up and trying to contribute in those little ways.”

FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHER’S SKATES:  When he suited up for Game One of the series against the Rangers, Chorney became the second member of his family to appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game with Pittsburgh.  His father, Marc, was a defenseman on the Penguins for parts of four seasons (1980-84), and appeared in seven postseason contests with the club.  He and his wife were able to see their son in action during Pittsburgh’s brief run this Spring.

“They came into New York for Game Two, and then from there they flew down to Pittsburgh and they caught Game Three in Pittsburgh,” said the younger Chorney.  “It was fun for me to be able to play in front of them like that in Madison Square Garden and also in Pittsburgh.  They hadn’t been back there in 30 years since my dad played there, so it was kind of a nostalgic feeling for them to come back and see the city where he started playing his carer.  Those were the first years they were married, so there’s probably a lot of memories.  It was cool for them.”

OFF DAY UPDATE - John Hynes

Pens head coach John Hynes talked to the media after Monday's practice, and discussed how some of the returning and new faces will fit into the lineup for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

First, coach Hynes discussed the returns of Derrick Pouliot, Taylor Chorney, Brian Dumoulin and Scott Wilson, who had been suiting up for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:


Hynes also talked about how adding NHL caliber talent might affect the Penguins lineup:


Hynes also addressed the arrival of Pittsburgh Penguins draftee Oskar Sundqvist, who just arrived in Wilkes-Barre after the completion of his team's playoff run in Sweden:

BLACK AND GOLD BITS - April 27, 2015

• The Penguins 4-0 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first playoff shutout since May 22, 2013, when the Pens defeated the Providence Bruins 5-0 behind a 34 save performance from Brad Thiessen.  It was also the team’s first home shutout since May 18, 2013 against Providence, when Thiessen made 30 saves in a 4-0 win over the Bruins.

• Matt Murray became the first Penguins rookie to record a shutout since John Curry blanked the Portland Pirates, 2-0, on May 14, 2008 in Game One of the Eastern Conference Final.  Curry made 19 saves in that win.

• Defenseman Danny Syvret entered the 2015 postseason with 693 professional regular season games on his resume (59 in the NHL, 634 in the AHL), but had only appeared in 19 postseason contests (5 with Hershey in 2007-08; 4 with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2008-09; 10 with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010-11).  And when he found the back of the net midway through the third period, the veteran blue liner picked up his first career playoff goal.

“I haven’t played very many games in the playoffs, and I said that to our team a couple of days ago,” he said after Saturday night’s win.  “Playing here in Wilkes-Barre, they’ve made the playoffs 13 or 14 years in a row.  I just sort of mentioned to them that I’ve been in the league a long time, and you can’t really take for granted your opportunities.  Because you never know when and if they’ll come again.”

• The Penguins defense for the first two games of the postseason featured Syvret, who joined the team at the trade deadline; Ryan Parent, who made his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut in Game One after signing a PTO; two players (Reid McNeill and Barry Goers) who had recently missed significant time due to injury; and Scott Harrington and Nick D’Agostino.

That rag-tag group did a tremendous job of limiting the Crunch to just one goal over 120 minutes of play.

“We have a pretty good system here in place, obviously good goaltending.  But our forwards do a real good job tracking the puck and are real defensively responsible,” Syvret said, spreading the credit around the ice.  “We just threw a bunch of D on the ice, but we can all play.”

But with the Pittsburgh Penguins being eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday night, and three defensemen (Derrick Pouliot, Brian Dumoulin and Taylor Chorney) being reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Syvret is well aware that changes could be coming to the lineup for Wednesday night’s Game Three in Syracuse.

“There’s guys sitting out that can all play.  I’m sure the next few games there will be guys sitting out who can play.  But as a team we’re pretty defensively responsible.”

• The pairing of Syvret and Parent on the blue line was unfamiliar to almost everyone inside the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night.  Everyone except Syvret and Parent that is. Those two skated alongside one another with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2009-10 season.

Syvret joined the Pens from the Iowa Wild, who finished the 2014-15 regular season dead last in the league, while Parent suited up for the St. John’s IceCaps, who also found themselves sitting on the outside of the playoff field this postseason.

“We were fortunate to be able to get picked up here,” Syvret said of the veteran duo, “and hopefully go on a long run.”

SUNDQVIST JOINS WBS

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forward Oskar Sundqvist from Skelleftea of the Swedish League to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

Sundqvist, 21, recently completed his second full season playing for Skelleftea in Sweden’s top professional league. He helped his club advance to its third-consecutive league championship series, where the Vaxjo Lakers ended Skelleftea’s bid for a three-peat.

During the regular season, the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Sundqvist tallied nine goals, 19 points, a plus-15 and 34 penalty minutes in 41 games for Skelleftea. His goal and point totals were improvements from the six goals and 16 points he registered in 2013-14.

Selected by the Penguins in the third round (81st overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Sundqvist added one goal, four assists, five points and a plus-3 in 15 postseason games for Skelleftea.

Sundqvist played in a team-high five NHL exhibition games for Pittsburgh during the preseason, scoring twice and adding an assist. His three points were tied for second-most on the team.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins currently hold a 2-0 series lead against the Syracuse Crunch in their best-of-five first round series. Game 3 is set for Wednesday night, April 29, at 7 p.m. in Syracuse.

GAME TWO POSTGAME REACTION

We caught up with head coach John Hynes following Saturday night's 4-0 win over the Syracuse Crunch.  Here's what he had to say about the victory which put the Pens up 2-0 in the best-of-five series:

BLACK AND GOLD BITS

News and Notes from the Pens Game One win over the Syracuse Crunch:

Barry Goers picked up two assists in Game One.  He had two assists in 16 games during last season’s Pens playoff run.

Ryan Parent (pictured), who was signed to a PTO by the Pens earlier this week, made his Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debut Friday night, going even and scoreless.

Scott Harrington, who was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre from Pittsburgh on Thursday, was a team-high plus-4 in Game One.  That mark also leads the AHL.

Carter Rowney had three points (1+2) against the Crunch on Friday.  He had two points (0+2) in seven postseason games with the Penguins last year.

Five Penguins players hit double digits in points in Game One.  In addition to Goers and Rowney, Kasperi Kapanen had two goals, Dominik Uher had a goal and an assist, and Jayson Megna had two assists.

Danny Syvret, who has appeared in more than 600 regular season games at the AHL and NHL levels combined, netted his first career postseason goal in Game One.  

GAME ONE POSTGAME COMMENTS

We caught up with head coach John Hynes, Dominik Uher and Kasperi Kapanen after the Pens Game One win over the Syracuse Crunch.  Take a look and listen:

GAME ONE - PENS DOWN CRUNCH 5-1

Game Sheet   

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were buoyed by a two-goal performance from 18-year old rookie Kasperi Kapanen and a three-point effort from Carter Rowney (1G-2A) in claiming Game 1 of the best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal versus the Syracuse Crunch with a 5-1 final on Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. 

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came into the second period holding a 1-0 lead and would break the game open with three goals in a span of 100 seconds.  Making his North American postseason debut, Kapanen doubled the score for the Penguins at 6:03, pulling a puck out of the scrum in the near faceoff circle and sending a wrister to the top left corner of the Crunch net. 

Thirty-one seconds later, the Penguins pushed the lead to three on a circle-to-circle feed from Barry Goers that Rowney one-timed past a sprawling Kristers Gudlevskis. 

Kapanen capped off the flurry for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 7:43 of the period, gathering the rebound off a shot by Goers and depositing the puck into the open net for his second goal of the match and a 4-0 Penguins lead.  Adam Wilcox would enter the game in relief of Gudlevskis, who took the loss after stopping 16 of 20 shots over 27:43 of play. 

The Crunch would get the puck past Matt Murray with six minutes left until the second intermission as Mike Angelidis picked up a turnover in the left corner of the offensive zone and slid a pass to the crease that Matthew Peca tipped through the pads of the Penguins netminder.

Danny Syvret added another for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at 12:32 of the final period on a fluttering shot from the center point that made its way through a screen and past Wilcox to put the Penguins on top by four once again. 

The opening frame remained a stalemate between the two teams until the Penguins took control during the final five minutes of the period.  Outshooting Syracuse, 7-0, during that stretch, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went ahead at 16:52 when Tom Kuhnhackl centered a pass from the behind the net that Dominik Uher banged past Gudlevskis. 

Making his first start in the Calder Cup Playoffs, Murray turned aside 22-of-23 in the win for the Penguins.  Wilcox allowed only one goal on 15 shots during the remaining 32:17 of regulation.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Syracuse continue their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with Game 2 on Saturday, Apr. 25 at 7:05pm. 

Tickets for kids ages 14 and younger are FREE with a paid adult admission.  Get your seats by calling the Pens at 570-208-7367, or place your order online via the form below:

-penguins-

It's a hockey triple header on Friday night, and we're looking for the organizational sweep!  Good luck to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Wheeling Nailers in their playoff games this evening.

THE WHITE STUFF

If it's playoff time, that must mean it's time for a new Penguins playoff t-shirt.  We're going back to white tees for this season, and these official Pens Whiteout T-shirts are available at the Pens team store inside the Toyota SportsPlex (40 Coal Street) and at the Igloo Store inside the arena during our home games.  Short sleeved shirts are just $10, while long sleeved tees are just $13.

HARRINGTON REASSIGNED TO WILKES-BARRE

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned defenseman Scott Harrington to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced today by general manager Jim Rutherford.

Harrington, 22, has spent a majority of the season with WBS, totaling 12 points (2G-10A) and a plus-19 in 48 games.

This marks the second-straight season that the blueliner has helped WBS allow the fewest goals in the AHL (third-straight season overall doing so for WBS).

Harrington played 10 NHL regular-season games with Pittsburgh this year, including his debut on Dec. 18 against Colorado.

TALE OF THE TAPE

How do the Pens and Syracuse Crunch measure up?  Here's a quick look at their regular season stats in our TALE OF THE TAPE graphic:

WINNER, WINNER, PENGUINS HAT!

These lucky fans found us on the square and gave us a HOLLER!  So we gave them hats.  Fair trade off if you ask us.

HE'S BACK! HOLLER!!!

Oh yeah, if it's playoff time, that means it's time for our main man (or Penguin) Calder to come out of hibernation.  You'll be seeing our little stoic friend around town touting the playoffs. 

PNC Field (Go RailRiders)...

Honk for Hockey!

Hey, you're stealing my spotlight!

That's it. Give me my space.

SCHEDULE GRAPHIC

PENS AND CRUNCH IN ROUND ONE

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins today announced the schedule for their best-of-five Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series versus the Syracuse Crunch in the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The full schedule is as follows: 

Game 1	Fri., April 24		Syracuse vs. W-B/SCRANTON		7:05 PM
Game 2	Sat., April 25		Syracuse vs. W-B/SCRANTON		7:05 PM
Game 3	Wed., April 29		W-B/Scranton at SYRACUSE		7:00 PM
*Game 4	Thu., April 30		W-B/Scranton at SYRACUSE		7:00 PM
*Game 5	Sat., May 2		Syracuse vs. W-B/SCRANTON		7:05 PM
* - if necessary

This will be the third postseason meeting between the two teams with the all-time series record tied, 1-1.

Games 1, 2 and 3 (tickets marked A, B and C for playoff ticket package holders) of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal are on sale now online at TicketMaster.com or by calling the Penguins offices at (570) 208-7367.