Chirps from Center Ice

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Local reference with the blog headline, it was Jack Williams’ overtime goal 1:55 into overtime that gets Cleveland the extra point and the Penguins a 2-1 overtime loss Saturday evening.

Tightly contested game where Sergei Murashov stole one for the Penguins, the point at least, keeping his team in it.

Matt Dumba had all the offense for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, scoring a late. second period power play goal.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Opted for 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, with Finn Harding jumping in the lineup and Zach Gallant coming out.

First Period: Penguins were outshot 18-5 in the period and went down on a Zach Aston-Reese deflection in front of Sergei Murashov for a 1-0 lead.

Quick 15 minutes then the final five turned into a slog as the Monsters were given a power play followed by the Penguins. For the Penguins, they nearly got scored on shorthanded but Ole Julian Bjørgvik-Holm beat Murashov five hole but hit a post.

Second Period: After seeing the Monsters first 18 shots at Murashov in the first period, Wilkes-Barre really clamped down and only allowed the Monsters three shots at the Penguins net minder.

Penguins had 1:31 of two-man advantage and after a time out and seeing the first half of the power play pass Matt Dumba would step up and fire one in for a power play goal that tied the game at one.

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Third Period: No scoring but the carelessness with the penalties continues to be a problem. They were able to get 3 of 4 points this week because of goaltending, but they took two penalties in the period and failed to score on a power play about midway through.

Sergei Murashov with a save of the year type work.

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He fooled Cleveland’s goal judge and the in house person in charge of the goal horn.

Also, the Penguins lost Tristan Broz to injury late in the second. Matt Dumba didn’t take kindly to a hit and ended up taking a roughing penalty.

Overtime: 

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That’s Tony Brown on the call there and he’s criminally underrated in my ears as a play by play guy. Cleveland has a good one here.

Three Stars: 3) Brendan Gaunce (assist) 2) Sergei Murashov (27 saves) 1) Jack Williams (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: They took 3 of 4 points out of a non-division opponent, on the road. You take that all the time.

The Bad: The power play continues to struggle.

Turning Point: I am going to give it to Sergei Murashov’s save highlighted above because without it, it’s a regulation loss because they could have played till next November, I don’t think the Penguins were scoring another goal today.

Around the Division: Providence gets two third period goals to force overtime and win 3-2 in a shootout at home against Bridgeport, these two teams rematch Sunday….Springfield beat Charlotte 5-1 and there was a goalie fight involving Louis Domingue….Hershey is all over Rockford out in Illinois. That box is here. Hartford and Lehigh Valley had a marathon shootout that lasted 12 rounds. Hartford wins 5-4.

Standings: Providence 81 – Penguins 78 – Charlotte 64 – Hershey (56, pending outcome in Rockford) – Lehigh Valley 52 – Bridgeport 52 – Springfield 49 – Hartford 46

Wheeling Update: Nailers and Komets are in a tight one out in Fort Wayne. That box is here.

Video Highlights: 

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Back at it Wednesday when they host Springfield. Weekend Preview will be here Wednesday around lunch time.

Let’s Go Pens!

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The last time these two teams met a few weeks ago, Joel Blomqvist was pulled and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lost in overtime.

Fast forward to Friday night and Blomqvist goes the full 60, stops 22 shots and his Penguins team holds on for a 3-2 win.

Goals by Atley Calvert, Villa Koivunen, playing in his 300th professional game and Aidan McDonough.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: Joona Koppanen and Zach Gallant for Filip Hållander and Melvin Fernstrom up front and Alex Alexeyev and Chase Pietila for Finn Harding and Emil Pieniniemi on defense. Hållander was recalled after his conditioning stint and Fernstrom is day to day with an upper body injury suffered last Sunday in Bridgeport.

First Period: Zach Gallant with a beautiful setup to Atley Calvert who scores on a backhand to put the Penguins up 1-0 early.

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Then a setup behind the net by Rutger McGroarty to Ville Koivunen for a slam dunk goal that extended the Penguins lead to 2-0.

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These goals come :45 apart.

Cleveland settled in from there and the flood of goals stopped.

Second Period: The Penguins took four consecutive penalties, three in this period alone and on the final power play for the Monsters on a heavily disputed too many men on the ice call against the Penguins, Luca Del Bel Belluz scores :04 into a Monsters power play that cut the deficit to one.

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But then in the final minute of the period, Aidan McDonough with a huge goal that made it 3-1 Wilkes-Barre at the end of a large offensive zone setup by Wilkes-Barre.

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Third Period: Referees Koletrane Wilson and Stephen Huff flipped the script on the teams and started calling penalties against the Monsters. Despite this, the Penguins were unable to score.

The game tightened up when. Guillaume Richard scored just 1:15 into the period to make it a one goal game again.

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Unfortunate bounce off of the skate of Owen Pickering.

Joel Blomqvist stopped a James Malatesta. breakaway bid about halfway through.

This was a game where you could almost feel it being a one goal game.

With Zach Sawchenko pulled, the Pens iced the puck a bunch but Cleveland never found the equalizer.

Three Stars: 3) Rutger McGroarty (assist) 2) Atley Clavert (goal) 1) Aidan McDonough (goal)

The Good: Two points on the road and Blomqvist had a hell of a game, you can argue he stole one against the Monsters tonight.

The Bad: Special teams continues to be a major concern and they were careless again.

Turning Point: The McDonough goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Hershey is out in Rockford and at about 9:50 p.m. on a Friday that game is 1-1. Box here…..Charlotte clips Springfield in overtime 3-2.

Standings: Providence 79 – Penguins 77 – Charlotte 64 – Hershey (will remain in fourth no matter what happens in Rockford with either 54 (loss) 55 (point) or 56 (win) points – Bridgeport 51 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Springfield 47 – Hartford 44

Wheeling Update: Nailers with a 7-2 win at home against Kalamazoo. The K-Wings were held to just 10 shots on goal the entire game. Taylor Gauthier got the win, Nolan Renwick with a goal, Ryan McAllister a goal and two assists, Danial Laatsch had a goal and Zach Urdahl had two assists. 10 shots. That’s something.

Video Highlights: Why didn’t someone tell me to just go to teams YouTube pages earlier???

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Back at it again in Cleveland at 4 p.m. Don’t be late!

Let’s Go Pens!

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A lot to like about this one, a 4-0 Penguins win in Bridgeport.

25 save shutout for Sergei Murashov, his third of the season.

11 of the Penguins 18 skaters recorded a point.

They are getting healthier.

2/4 on the power play and 3/3 on the penalty kill.

But, consider the opponent. It’s Bridgeport, who has played better and is a bit improved, but will only be a 5 or 6 seed in the playoffs, if we are being brutally honest. Call me again when they do this against Syracuse, Rochester or Charlotte.

But that’s the pessimist in me, this was a good solid win, so let’s get into it.

Here’s how they lined up. Bridgeport didn’t post lines.

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Lineup Notes: They are getting healthy. Ryan McAllister came off the injured list but was a scratch. Alex Alexeyev is still ill, just Zach Gallant (upper body, day to day) and Raivis Ansons (week to week, upper) are injured.

Today, Gabe Klassen was back in the lineup after missing the last two as a healthy scratch, as was Rafaël Harvey-Pinard for Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen. Read into what you will on the Hayes scratch and Koppanen I think is part of the veteran rule. On defense Emil Pieniniemi and Finn Harding were back in for Chase Pietila and Scooter Brickey.

First Period: The Islanders had a late push where they owned possession time which kin dot forced the Penguins into taking a penalty. A Filip Hållander shorthanded rush up ice was denied by Henrik Tikkanen.

Second Period: The penalty kill from the first bled into the second but it was handled by the Penguins. Then Tanner Howe, who quietly has compiled a hell of a last few weeks, scores to put the Penguins ahead 1-0.

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This was later followed up by a bomb of a shot from Captain and Connecticut native Phil Kemp.

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Kemp has three this season, all against Bridgeport.

Third Period: The Penguins ran away with things in the period but it came at the expense of Melvin Fernstrom.

Travis Mitchell hit Fernstrom with a shoulder to shoulder hit which thrust Fernstrom into the boards by the Penguins bench. A 5:00 major and game misconduct was assessed to Mitchell for boarding which put the Pens on a 5:00 power play.

Gabe Klassen and Aidan McDonough scored, set up by Ville Koivunen and Harvey-Pinard, respectively.

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The only question would be whether Murashov would get a shutout or not and while he was tested late, he did earn the shutout.

Three Stars: 3) Sergei Murashov (25 saves) 2) Phil Kemp (goal) 1) Tanner Howe (goal)

The Good: Seemed like a team win, everyone pulling in the same direction, all for the common good.

The Bad: Can’t nitpick a shutout, so let’s nitpick special teams. I didn’t like them when they were on the 5:00 major, Bridgeport got too many looks in a 2-0 game.

Turning Point: The 5:00 major power play netted them two goals, and helped them run away and get them the win.

Around the Division: Providence had a 13 game winning streak coming into Saturday and at the close of business Sunday they now have a 2 game losing streak after Hartford beats the Bruins 5-2.

Standings: Providence 77 – Penguins 75 – Charlotte 61 – Hershey 52 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Bridgeport 49 – Springfield 46 – Hartford 44

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

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The P-Bruins will burn off one of their four games in hand on the Penguins when they travel to Allentown to take on the Phantoms on Wednesday. Charlotte will be in Bridgeport Wednesday also.

Wilkes-Barre will be out in Cleveland next weekend. I’ll talk to you Friday with the Weekend Preview.

Let’s Go Pens!

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I didn’t put too much stock when the Bridgeport Islanders scored first Saturday night. It happens all the time for them.

I started to worry, though, when the Islanders scored again to go up 2-0.

But my worried were allayed when the Penguins scored twice to tie the game at two heading into the first intermission.

Then the Penguins scored again, then again, but a Liam Foudy shorthanded goal shifted momentum in a big way, but the Penguins held on in a too close for comfort type of an affair.

Wilkes-Barre wins 4-3 to draw within four points of the Providence Bruins who had their thirteen game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Springfield Thunderbirds Saturday. The Bruins still have four games in hand on the Penguins.

Here’s how they lined up. The Islanders are one of a handful of teams that don’t post a lineup graphic.

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Lineup Notes: Matt Dumba and Scooter Brickey for Emil Pieniniemi on defense and Aidan McDonough for Rafaël Harvey-Pinard at forward.

First Period: Adam Beckman’s shot while there were Islanders buzzing around Joel Blomqvist’s crease goes in and the Islanders take an early 1-0 lea at 6:06.

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Then a Julien Gauthier goal comes when an Ethan Bear shot misses the net entirely, caroms hard off the back wall straight to Gauthier who had a step on Blomqvist and into a wide open net at 7:55 that gave Bridgeport a 2-0 lead.

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This is the same Bridgeport team that bussed four hours down from Springfield the night before while the Penguins were idle.

Things hit a lull for a but and settled, then a Filip Hållander goal comes at 17:26 off of a rebound that gives the Penguins some life.

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Then Atley Calvert 1:03 later from the far dot and it’s a tie game.

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Good response. They went down last week to Syracuse and its snowballed out of control after that. Bridgeport isn’t Syracuse, though.

Second Period: Sebastian Aho loves playing against his old team because he always scores.

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Not a lot of action to write home about here. Tristan Broz fought Daylan Kuefer, that was all.

Third Period: Weird sequence here. Ville Koivunen rips a shot that rings iron, referee Jack Young washes it out, play continues.

Matt Dumba who was on the ie was adamant that the shot resulted in a goal and at the next stoppage, Young and Patrick Hanrahan review on the iPad at the scorers table and, well…

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Good goal. They had to put about :50 or so seconds back on the clock.

But, a dumb D-to-D pass by Matt Dumba while the Penguins were on the only power play of the game results in Liam Foudy posting up the pass and taking the puck all the way in for a shorthanded goal.

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Special teams remain an abject, top to bottom, disaster.

A rejected blog headline was “Brickey Wall” – but where I was going here was there was a late sequence where, with Jeremy Smith pulled for the Islanders, a puck gets past Blomqvist but it’s Scooter Brickey’s stick that prevents the puck from crossing the line.

Hanrahan and Young reviewed this on the iPad and this time, their suspicions turned out to be correct, no goal.

Three Stars: 3) Tanner Howe (two goals) 2) Sebastian Aho (goal) 1) Ville Koivunen (goal)

The Good: They gritted out a win that this time, I think they deserved.

The Bad: Special teams continues to be an issue.

Turning Point: The Koivunen goal gets it here because it ultimately ended up getting them the win.

Around the Division: Providence sees their 13 game winning streak come to an end up in Springfield as they lose 3-2…..Hartford shuts out Belleville 4-0….Lehigh Valley beats Hershey 6-4…Charlotte beats Syracuse 4-3.

Standings: Providence 77 – Penguins 73 – Charlotte 61 – Hershey 52 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Bridgeport 49 – Springfield 46 – Hartford 42

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. They play again Wednesday.

Video Highlights: 

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The Sunday game in Bridgeport was moved up to 3 p.m. because of the weather. I’m actually happy to see that because I don’t like Sunday games in general, and a 5 p.m. start would have been brutal anyway.

Let’s Go Pens!

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Here’s Avery Hayes’ past month in a nut shell…

• Makes NHL debut, scores on first shot, scores another goal.
• Returns to AHL, records hat trick against Hershey.
• KO’s Zach Aston-Reese this past Sunday.
• Yet another hat trick, Wednesday in Springfield.

You can probably call Hayes King Midas, as everything this kid touches is turning to gold.

Wilkes-Barre / Scranton romps the Springfield Thunderbirds 7-2 Wednesday night behind the Avery Hayes hat trick. Tanner Howe and Ville Koivunen also scored a pair of goals and Sergei Murashov stopped 30 shots.

I looked up the stat that Providence is 17-3 against the Thunderbirds, Hartford and Bridgeport this season so far. Well the Penguins are now 30-9-0-1 against Atlantic Division competition this season. That’s not bad, and it has them solidly in second place in the division.

Here’s how they lined up…

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Lineup Notes: First of all, shout out to the graphics department in Springfield, that lineup graphic is clean.

Filip Hållander made his debut for the Penguins this season on a two week conditioning stint. Atley Calvert was also back in after a scratch Sunday at home against Cleveland. Aidan McDonough and Gabe Klassen came out of the lineup.

Sebastian Aho made his return after missing 19 games (his last game was December 27) for Matt Dumba.

On Dumba, he is out with an upper body injury, likely getting new teeth this week and hopeful it’s not a broken jaw or worse.

Alex Alexeyev is ill, not injured. Thanks to Mike Flynn who let me know that Alexeyev was a full participant in practice Tuesday. Ryan McAllister and Zach Gallant (also out with upper body injuries) skated after everyone left the ice. No sign of Dumba or the other guy Raivis Ansons who is still week to week with an upper body injury.

Not announced yet by the team, but the Wednesday ECHL Transactions have Scooter Brickey and Nolan Renwick on the way back to Wilkes-Barre which is curious, considering Hållander is here for at least two weeks and they are relatively healthy-ish on defense. Unless there is a Pittsburgh recall or recalls coming when the NHL returns from Olympic break soon.

Phew, that’s like a blog post.

First Period: Disaster start for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, who see Springfield score on their first shot of the game with Theo Lindstein scoring just :33 in…

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But that cold slap in the face woke up the Penguins, as they would rattle off four goals in the period, chasing Will Cranley after the fourth goal.

Immediately after the Lindstein goal, Avery Hayes scores to tie the game at one. Moments later, Ville Koivunen scores at 1:44 to make it 2-1 and then a boffo sequence by Cranley and his defensemen where Cranley goes behind his net to play a puck, he crosses up his pass to the defenseman and there’s Avery Hayes like Johnny on the Spot to score into a wide open net and then Cranley gets the hook finally when Koivunen finds daylight in the slot to score his second of the period.

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So two of your best players carry the mail in the period. It’s a beautiful thing.

Shots were a head shaking 11-10 in favor of the Thunderbirds, despite the 4-1 lead for the Penguins.

Second Period: If you thought the game was over, you didn’t pay attention to the Weekend Preview I ran earlier in the day where I informed you that the Thunderbirds scored 14 goals across two games in Iowa this past weekend. They are an offensively potent team.

Dillon Dube motors past Finn Harding and steps by Sebastian Aho on a power play to cut the deficit to two on a power play.

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Penguins had a late power play that they squandered and I did not like the way the period broke at all, but it was two goal lead heading into the…

Third Period: I think the message got across properly as the Penguins turned a close, two goal lead into a three goal explosion in the third to run away from Springfield and turned the game into a laugher.

Hayes gets his hat trick and then Tanner Howe nets a pair.

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You will be seeing McGroarty set up Hayes and Hayes set up McGroarty in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.

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That’s a nice setup by Boko Imama there.

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Was that the same spot? It looked like it. Nice pass by Aho there also.

Sergei Murashov stopped a Hugh McGing penalty shot, the first time that Murashov has had to stop a penalty shot in the AHL.

Three Stars: 3) Tanner Howe (two goals) 2) Ville Koivunen (two goals) 1) Avery Hayes (hat trick)

The Good: This week is a good week to wash the stink away from last weekend. I would say that tonight was a good start.

The Bad: Powerplay and penalty kill continue to be an issue. 0/3 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill. They made up for that with offense and the play of Sergei Murashov.

Turning Point: Hayes’ third goal gets it here. If Springfield scores a third to make it 4-3, the dynamic of this game changes considerably.

Around the Division: Hershey beats Toronto 3-2 in a noon game north of the border….Charlotte wins in a shootout over Rochester 3-2.

Standings: Providence 75 – Penguins 71 – Charlotte 59 – Hershey 52 – Bridgeport 48 – Lehigh Valley 46 – Springfield 42 – Hartford 40

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: If they are going to be posted it will be on the Thunderbirds YouTube page. That’s a nice way of saying that at 10 o’clock on Wednesday, they aren’t up yet.

Friday off, see you Saturday at home against the Islanders.

Let’s Go Pens!