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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Most of the time when a team has to play three games in three days, there isn&#8217;t much enthusiasm.</p><p>But the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are anxious for this weekend&#8217;s three-game stint as the hope to build off the impressive results from last Saturday&#8217;s 6-2 win in the season opener.</p><p>And considering they&#8217;ve had an entire week of practice since then, the Penguins are just eager to play again.</p><p>&#8220;Including the six days leading up to it, it&#8217;s been about 12 days with one game,&#8221; head coach Clark Donatelli said. &#8220;The guys are itching to play some games.&#8221;</p><p>At the beginning of the season, when things are fresh, that desire to play a lot of games is even higher. Forward Garrett Wilson said if the team has to play a three-in-three, he prefers them to occur at the start of the season.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re not easy, but at the start of the season you&#8217;re still pretty fresh,&#8221; Wilson said. &#8220;It&#8217;s nicer to have one in October rather than February or March.&#8221;</p><p>All of this weekend&#8217;s opponents, Springfield, Syracuse and Hershey, have all played two games each during the season&#8217;s first week and had more time to develop chemistry in a game atmosphere.</p><p>But the Penguins haven&#8217;t been letting their full week of practice go to waste.</p><p>For as well as the Penguins played last Saturday, defenseman Cameron Gaunce believes the team has gotten even better during a week of practicing.</p><p>&#8220;Having this week was good because there were things we needed to work on,&#8221; Gaunce said. &#8220;We&#8217;re looking forward to continuing where we left off.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Who&#8217;s in net? </strong></p><p>With three games this weekend, Donatelli said Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith will both see time in net, although the order has yet to be determined.</p><p><strong>Rotate the D</strong></p><p>When Ethan Prow was assigned to Wheeling on Wednesday, the Penguins were left with eight defensemen. Before the season, Donatelli said he will rotate his defensemen to make sure everyone plays, and he plans on implementing that this weekend. Barry Goers and Reid McNeill sat out the season opener last Saturday.</p><p><strong>McGrath and the mysterious first fight</strong></p><p>With two bouts in the season opener, Patrick McGrath has eight fights left before he hits 10 and a suspension. There was some question as to if McGrath&#8217;s first bout in Saturday&#8217;s game constituted a fighting major because no punches were thrown. Earlier in the week, Donatelli said the team might ask the league to review the major penalty, but on Thursday he said the matter didn&#8217;t go anywhere.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a new rule and there&#8217;s different angles on it,&#8221; Donatelli said.</p><p>There was some question if one player in a fight gets an instigator, should the fight count as one of the 10 for the other player who was defending himself?</p><p>&#8220;The way it stands right now is a fight is a fight no matter how it starts, and you only get 10 of them,&#8221; Donatelli said. &#8220;Guys are going to have to select their spots accordingly.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of Cameron Gaunce talking about this weekend&#8217;s games, visit the online version of this story at timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">MZMHiFfhkk0 </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZMHiFfhkk0 </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Cameron Gaunce talks about the Penguins upcoming games.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Tom Venesky | Times Leader</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins eager for a three-game stint this weekend