Chirps from Center Ice

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21 saves by Ludovic Waeber and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins seal the third spot in the Atlantic Division with 87 points and a First Round date with the team that they defeated Saturday in the season finale in the Phantoms with a 2-0 win.

Here’s the First Round schedule.

For gods sake I hope it ends in a sweep because the last damn thing I want to do is come to a Sunday home game that starts at 5. And if there is overtime? On a Sunday? Which is a work night?! Egads!

Here’s how they lined up…

If some of those names on the Phantoms don’t sound familiar, it’s because they aren’t, Lehigh Valley, locked into the six seed, dressed a greener lineup and rested regulars.

Lineup Notes: Evan Vierling and Isaac Belliveau were sent to Wheeling Saturday afternoon. Scooter Brickey and Matt Quercia also yielded for the Pittsburgh reinforcements.

First Period: No scoring. No penalties. Slow start. Moving on…

Second Period: Teams traded penalties. Sam Poulin scored on a nice feed from Valtteri Puustinen and that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Great vision by Puustinen to find a streaking Poulin and better finish by Poulin for the goal.

Third Period: Penguins carried a penalty kill into the period but on the expiration of that Radim Zohorna finished off a tic tac toe play with Vinnie Hinostroza and the aforementioned Puustinen again that made it 2-0 Penguins.

My initial thought was Hinostroza was going to shoot there and it looked like he kinda did, but it was a pass to the front for the redirect by Zohorna and in.

Really it’s about uneventful hockey and just getting out clean, and that’s what they did here. Waeber, facing a more inexperienced lineup, only faced six Phantoms shots in the third.

Three Stars: 3) Alexei Kolosov (22 saves) 2) Sam Poulin (goal) 1) Ludovic Waeber (21 save shutout)

The Good: 87 points is about 10-15 points higher than I thought they would finish. They surprises all of us, and are getting hot at the right time. Maybe, just maybe…

The Bad: Not found. They sewed up the three seed and their backup goaltender got a shutout.

Turning Point: The Zohorna goal that made it two gets it here.

Around the Division: Charlotte beats Hershey 4-1. The Bears will not finish with the best points percentage in AHL history, that dubious distinction remains with our friends on the Southern Tier of New York and the Binghamton Rangers. Bridgeport beats Providence 4-1….Hartford beats Springfield 6-4.

Standings: Hershey 111 – Providence 91 – Penguins 87 – Charlotte 85 – Hartford 78 – Lehigh Valley 71 – Springfield 65 – Bridgeport 59

Wheeling Update: The Nailers needed a win in Game 2 and got one in a big way winning 7-1 in Indy over the Fuel. That series is tied 1-1. Justin Addamo had four assists. Evan Vierling had a pair of goals.

Video Highlights: Aren’t up yet. To the AHL VideoCenter you go.

I will have a generalized Calder Cup Preview from start to finish for you likely Tuesday here and we will just roll into Game 1 from there. I like their chances in the First Round against Lehigh Valley. Not so much against Providence in the next round. Explained more in depth Tuesday for you.

Let’s Go Pens!