Chirps from Center Ice

Welcome back to Wilkes-Barre Andrew Hutchinson. Two assists in a 4-1 Wilkes-Barre victory tonight in Glens falls tonight. Ran the powerplay tonight and didn’t look out of place.

Eric Tangradi played his first AHL game tonight and did look a bit out of place. He was in front of the net all night as always. Give him a few more shifts and he’ll be right at home again real soon.

Brad Thiessen v. Johan Backlund. Ryan Craig, Tim Wallace and Corey Potter wore the A’s tonight. Tom Grace said on the radio that a Captain will not be named until Game 20. That is a November 27 home game v. Rochester in case you are wondering.

Ryan Craig had a tip in goal at 2:02 of the first. WBS was buzzing in front of the Phantoms net prior to that. A Robert Bortuzzo point shot was tipped in by Craig. Outshot Adirondack 10-4 in the first period.

Second period, Carl Sneep was crushed by Zac Rinaldo. Carl had the wind knocked out of him. I was watching on AHL Live, and Adirondack does not have replay, but just looked like he got caught by Rinaldo. Thankfully, he skated off on his own power and was fine. Later, he potted his first professional goal to make it 2-0.

The fourth line put work in tonight. In the third period, Zach Sill hustled down the right point, put a shot on goal, Backlund left a delicious rebound up for Jesse Boulerice on the left side and it was 3-0. Even before that, the fourth line was getting chances. If the fourth line on any hockey team can get quality scoring chances, your team is stacked.

David Laliberte answered back 1:30 later. WBS killed off two consecutive penalties, and then got a power play of their own when Benn Holmstrom was called for a hook. Nick Johnson did what he is supposed to do, camp out in front and potted a power play goal to put the game out of reach at 4-1. No penalties the rest of the way, no real pressure from the Phantoms and we are 7-0.

Andrew Hutchinson, Nick Johnson and Brad Thiessen were Stars 3 thru 1. Tim Wallace skated on the top line with Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Tangradi and had 5 SOG. Ten Penguin skaters were +1 tonight. That is depth.

The big news out of Glens Falls was that Patrick Maroon was sent home by the team. As in, home home. Phantoms beat writer Tim McManus will probably find out more in the coming days if you so choose to follow this story but that is a huge blow to the Phantoms as he was one of the best players for them.

I missed this because well, I was watching Wilkes-Barre, but apparently Evgeni Malkin was injured and left the game tonight in a 3-2 loss to Philly. If there is a callup, stick with me over on Twitter and check me out here tomorrow afternoon if indeed there is a promotion.

Elsewhere around the AHL, Albany beat Providence 3-2 in regulation. Norfolk lost in a shootout to Portland and Hershey beat Syracuse 4-3 in overtime. We have 14 points, Hershey and Norfolk are in second with 11 points a piece, Albany 10, Bingo 9 and it goes on. As long as we keep winning, no one can catch us. That has to be the philosophy.

Back on the schtick tomorrow as Wilkes-Barre tries to escape Hershey 8-0 and set a tone in the minds of The Champs that we are the team to beat this year. Gonna be a good one. Gameday drops around 4 p.m. tomorrow. Check it out.