The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, currently fifth in the Atlantic Division with a 12-9-3-0 record, hit the road to visit Utica Comets on Friday, December 15th. They turn around and come back home to host the Rochester Americans on Saturday, December 16th.
Looking Back
On Wednesday, December 13th, the Penguins hosted the Syracuse Crunch at the Mohegan Sun Arena. With only 40 seconds left in the first, Rem Pitlick opened the scoring for the Penguins, assisted by Xavier Ouellet and Corey Andonovski. A three-goal second period helped the Penguins to the ultimate win, started by Jack Rathbone netting one past Matt Tomkins after a board battle. Though Syracuse eventually got on the board, Shawn Element sneaking one past Magnus Hellberg, Austin Rueschhoff gave the Penguins their lead back with the assistance of Dmitri Samorukov and Peter Abbandonato with less than 5 minutes left in the 2nd period. Matt Filipe added a shorthanded goal, as the Penguins went four for four on the kill.
Going Forward
Friday, December 15th:
The Penguins hit the road to face the Utica Comets for the first time this season. Out of the seven teams in the North Division, Utica is sitting near the bottom in sixth place, but they’ve won their last four games. In three of those four games, forward Graeme Clark has scored the game-winning goal.
Saturday, December 16th:
Quickly turning around and heading home, the Penguins face the Rochester Americans on Saturday. Last season, the teams split their series with one win and one loss, the Penguins win coming on a shootout at home. The Amerks are currently in third place in the North Division with a record of 11-7-2-1. Rochester center Jiri Kulich is tied for second in scoring with Hershey’s right winger Pierrick Dubé. Both have 13 goals so far this season.
Important Notes:
- Ty Smith is currently tied for fourth place with all defensemen in the league with 18 points.
- Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is the only team in the top 5 in the Eastern Conference for both Power Play and Penalty Kill. They are currently fifth for their Power Play and second for their Penalty Kill.
- Xavier Ouellet and Ty Smith are tied for the most power play assists on the team with 8.
- Jack Rathbone is the only player on the team to have 2 game winning goals.
- Justin Addamo has been re-assigned from the Penguins to ECHL Affiliate Wheeling Nailers .
