Wilkes-Barre/Scranton regroups during holiday break, will return with busy week
PENGUINS WEEKLY – Penguins (9-10-1-2) continue their rivalry series with the Hershey Bears in December
Penguins Weekly Rewind
Tuesday, Dec. 14 – PENGUINS 1 vs. Hershey 4
Less than a week after Hershey stunned Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in overtime on Teddy Bear Toss night, the Bears returned to the scene of the crime and downed the Penguins again. Hershey goaltender Pheonix Copley shut down the Penguins until Pierre-Olivier Joseph broke through late in the third period. With the goal, Joseph not only snapped Copley’s shutout bid, but he became the first Penguins defenseman to reach 10 points on the season.
Saturday, Dec. 18 – PENGUINS 3 at Hershey 8
Valtteri Puustinen (1G-1A) and Chris Bigras (2A) led the Penguins’ offense with two points each, but the Bears’ firepower proved to be too much for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In their first meeting at Giant Center this season, Hershey out-scored Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, 3-1, in both the first and second periods, then scored a pair of special teams goals in the final frame. Jordy Bellerive, Puustinen and Matt Bartkowski accounted for the Penguins’ tallies.
The Week Ahead
Tuesday, Dec. 21 – PENGUINS at Toronto
POSTPONED – TBA
Wednesday, Dec. 22 – PENGUINS at Rochester
POSTPONED – TBA
Monday, Dec. 27 – PENGUINS vs. Hershey
Once again, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton hosts the Hershey Bears. The Penguins are still searching for their first win of the season series against their I-81 rival. The Bears have started 3-0-0-0 against the Penguins for the first time since 2012-13. Hershey has only started a season 4-0-0-0 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton once, and that was during the 2002-03 campaign.
Ice Chips
– Pierre-Olivier Joseph is on a three-game point streak, amassing five points (2G-3A) in that span.
– Chris Bigras’ next game will be his 300th pro game.
– After recording no points in his first nine games as a Penguin, defenseman Mitch Reinke has three assists in his last four games.
– Valtteri Puustinen racked up seven shots on goal on Saturday, tied for the second-most by a Penguins player this season. The highest was eight shots on Nov. 10, also by Puustinen.
DIVISION STANDINGS
TEAM GP W L OTL SOL PTS Pts%
1. Springfield 25 15 7 2 1 33 .660
2. Hartford 22 13 6 2 1 29 .659
3. Providence 22 11 7 3 1 26 .591
4. Hershey 23 12 8 2 1 27 .587
5. Charlotte 27 14 11 2 0 30 .556
6. PENGUINS 22 9 10 1 2 21 .477
7. Bridgeport 27 9 14 1 3 22 .407
8. Lehigh Valley 23 6 11 4 2 18 .391
TEAM LEADERS
SKATERS GP G A PTS
Valtteri Puustinen 22 7 8 15
Jordy Bellerive 20 3 9 12
Félix Robert 18 6 5 11
Pierre-Olivier Joseph 15 3 8 11
Radim Zohorna 20 4 5 9
GOALIES GP W-L-OT GAA SV% Shutouts
Matt Jurusik*x 2 1-1-0 2.00 .926 1
Louis Domingue 9 3-3-2 2.54 .922 0
Filip Lindberg* 7 4-2-0 2.76 .915 0
* = rookie
^ = currently with Pittsburgh X = currently in ECHL
UPCOMING GAME SCHEDULE
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME
Mon, Dec. 27 Hershey Mohegan Sun Arena 7:05 p.m.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Sun, Dec. 19 (LW) Drew O’Connor Reassigned by PIT
Mon, Dec. 20 (G) Matt Jurusik Released from PTO
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