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McConnell to coal-state Dems: Accept 4-month deal for miners; Toomey MIA

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Drums resident, New York Life agent George Shadie named to Million Dollar Round Table for 2016

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Heated Atlantic Division foe from down I-81 is heading to Mohegan Sun Arena for the first time this year when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins host the Hershey Bears Friday and Saturday.</p><p>Though the Penguins are 2-1 in three games against the Bears, those two wins haven&#8217;t came easy. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won 2-1 in overtime on Oct. 23 and 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 19, and isn&#8217;t expecting it to come any easier this weekend.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s that they&#8217;re pretty similar to us. They have a good mixture of skill and guys that work hard, and they have a good goalie, defensemen,&#8221; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton center Kevin Porter said of what makes Hershey a tough opponent. &#8220;They have a good power play, penalty kill. They&#8217;re very similar to us and when two teams go at it like that it&#8217;s usually a good hockey game, but you&#8217;re going to get get those close games &#8212; 2-1, 3-2, stuff like that.&#8221;</p><p>If there&#8217;s one thing the Penguins have going for them heading into the weekend set, it&#8217;s that their power play has been on point as of late. Of their eight goals against the St. John&#8217;s IceCaps this past weekend, four came on the power play.</p><p>&#8220;The power play was struggling a bit and then we had a good weekend in St. John&#8217;s, which I think was pivotal for us, and hopefully we can keep that going in Hershey,&#8221; Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel said. &#8220;We know they have a good, fast team, fast penalty killers. The power play, we hope to have that be the difference in the game, right? So if it&#8217;s going to be a close game we need to have power play goals for sure.&#8221;</p><p>However, the Penguins will be facing a tougher penalty kill with Hershey this weekend. St. John&#8217;s kills off 77.8 percent of their penalties while the Bears kill off 83.5 percent of penalties. Hershey&#8217;s penalty kill ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference compared to IceCaps, who rank 12th out of 14 teams.</p><p>With slim margins in each of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s wins against the Bears this season, special teams could be the difference this weekend.</p><p>&#8220;I think all special teams &#8212; power play, penalty kill &#8212; those are going to be huge,&#8221; Porter said. &#8220;They&#8217;re difference makers in most games, especially at home. If we can get a couple power-play goals and shut down their power play, we should be pretty good.&#8221;</p><p>One Penguin that will could play a role in the special teams battle is Ruhwedel.</p><p>&#8220;Really good on the power play. He&#8217;s a leader out there,&#8221; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Clark Donatelli said. &#8220;Logs a lot of ice time out there.&#8221;</p><p>Facing three games in three nights, Donatelli will likely need to play both goaltenders this season. However, with the play of both Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith this season, Donatelli can feel comfortable turning to either goalie. Jarry is 9-4 and averaging 1.99 goals allowed per game this season, while DeSmith 5-0 and averaging 1.82 goals allowed a game.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s refreshing. Both guys are playing well,&#8221; Donatelli said. &#8220;That tandem has been very good as of late and we&#8217;re excited about it. We talk about consistency and the guys play hard in front of them, and it&#8217;s good to see the guys playing well.&#8221;</p><p>With three additions likely joining the lineup, in Jake Guentzel, defender Derrick Pouliot and wing Tom Sesito, Donatelli will have plenty of options this weekend. Guentzel and Pouliot were re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday and Sesito was assigned to the team Saturday.</p><p>All three are coming down from Pittsburgh.</p><p>&#8220;Usually we don&#8217;t have as many players right now,&#8221; Donatelli said. &#8220;We have an abundance of players, so we have to manage the time and guys have to be patient. They know if they&#8217;re out it&#8217;s a numbers game. Hey, it&#8217;s a good problem to have.&#8221;</p><p>In a matchup between the two teams atop the Atlantic Division standings &#8212; both teams have 31 points &#8212; players are expecting a playoff-like atmosphere this weekend. With back-to-back home games against the Bears, there&#8217;s a Calder Cup playoffs series feel for the December two-game series.</p><p>The Penguins went seven games with Hershey in the Atlantic Division Finals last season, falling 3-2 in overtime in Game 7.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s almost like you know you&#8217;re going to see them (down the road). From what these guys have said, they&#8217;ve seen them in the playoffs every year, pretty much,&#8221; Ruhwedel, who is in his first season with the Penguins. &#8220;Every game we play against them is a heated battle, a rivalry. Two games against them and one against Bridgeport, and we&#8217;re all neck and neck in the standings right now. It&#8217;ll be exciting, a really good test for us.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penguins center Oskar Sundqvist is tied for the team lead in goals heading into the weekend series against the Hershey Bears. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_pens_to1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penguins center Oskar Sundqvist is tied for the team lead in goals heading into the weekend series against the Hershey Bears. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens-1-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">With Jake Guentzel re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Wednesday, the Penguins will get their points leader back just in time for a weekend series. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Pens-1-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>With Jake Guentzel re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Wednesday, the Penguins will get their points leader back just in time for a weekend series. </caption1><photoCredit1>Gene J. Puskar | AP file photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hershey makes 1st trip to Wilkes-Barre</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p><strong>Friday:</strong> Penguins vs. Hershey, 7:05 p.m.</p><p><strong>Saturday:</strong> Penguins vs. Hershey, 7:05 p.m.</p><p><strong>Sunday:</strong> Penguins at Bridgeport, 5 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WBS Penguins welcome rival Hershey Bears to Mohegan Sun Arena