Chirps from Center Ice

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When Jeff Deslauriers came in at the start of the season I thought that the Penguins didn’t have a chance.

Boy, was I wrong.

The Penguins respond to a 5-0 shutout by the St. John’s IceCaps Friday last night with a 3-0 shutout of their own Saturday night. Jeff Deslauriers stops all 30 shots seen.

Has Deslauriers been the MVP of the team or, what? Every time he steps in the crease he gives the Penguins a chance to win.

I strung for the Great Jonathan Bombulie of the Citizens’ Voice tonight. Check out my story in the paper Sunday.

In it, I led with the fact that the Pens may be missing a large majority of their best players, but they still have a pretty intact blue line and goaltending department. The Pens got goals tonight from Tom Kuhnhackl, Brian Gibbons and Bobby Farnham then played prevent defense all third period and won the game.

Jeff Deslauriers vs. Eddie Pasquale

Two lineup changes: John Hynes went 11F/7D tonight. Peter Merth and Carter Rowney were out for Reid McNeill and Harrison Ruopp. Ruopp made his season debut for the Penguins.

First Period: About as inert a period you can get. With 5:27 left in the period, shots were 2-1 Penguins. It ended up 4-2 St. John’s at the end of the period. Best chances were a high slot shot by Gibbons and a Eric O’Dell cross ice saucer pass to Kael Mouillerat that Deslauriers made a cross ice post-to-post save on.

Second Period: IceCaps made their best efforts to jump ahead in the hockey game. I remember Mike O’Brien saying that the shots were 10-2 IceCaps at some point. Despite that, the Pens headed to a power play where Tom Kuhnhackl would score to break the deadlock. Brendan Mikkelson kept a puck in the far wall, fed Nick D’Agostino in the low far circle, he throws it at the net, it caroms off of Pasquale to Kuhnhackl who hacks and whacks and stuffs it past Pasquale.

Then, Mikkelson holds up Eric O’Dell on the half wall and Brian Gibbons comes in out of no where to pick O’Dell’s pocket to start a three-on-one up the ice with Cody Sylvester and Bobby Farnham. Gibbons passes to Farnham who touch passes back to Gibbons who scores an easy goal to put the Pens up 2-0.

Third Period: It took :21 for Bobby Farnham to find the back of the net for the Pens. Mike Carman tries a cross ice pass to Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Defenseman Brenden Kichton puts a stick on the puck, but in the process sets the table for Farnham to step into one and laser it past Pasquale for a 3-0 lead.

Pens let off after that, and played prevent defense. Jeff Deslauriers made some sprawling saves in the period, most notably this one on Eric O’Dell, which will likely go on Deslauriers’ highlight reel.

Deslauriers first shutout of the year, and he’s tied for wins by goaltenders with 11.

Three Stars: 3) Bobby Farnham (goal, assist, +2) 2) Brian Gibbons (goal) 1) Jeff Deslauriers (30 save shutout)

Around the Division: Norfolk, hot on the heels of the division leaders, sweeps Syracuse this weekend with a 2-1 victory in Central New York. The Hershey Bears are halted by a resurgent Bridgeport Sound Tigers and lose 4-2. Binghamton gets a point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the surprisingly good Albany Devils, who are just two points behind the Northeast Division leaders the Springfield Falcons who are the Penguins next opponent.

That means that, despite a patchwork lineup of ECHL call ups, your Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are in sole possession of first place in arguably the best division in the AHL, the East Division.

Standings: Penguins 31 — Binghamton 30 — Norfolk 28 — Syracuse 25 — Hershey 21

Conference: 1) MCH (36) 2) SPR (32) 3) WBS (31) 4) BNG (30) 5) ALB (30) 6) PRO (29) 7) NOR (28) 8) STJ (27)

Wheeling Update: Nailers are a point factory right now. Nailers win 2-1 in a shootout over the Cincinnati Cyclones tonight and lead their division by 8 points.

SendToNews Highlights: Despite last night, a ton of good things to look at from a Penguins fan perspective tonight. Here you go.

Pens probably travel Sunday back to Wilkes-Barre, off Monday, and prep Tuesday for a home game vs. Springfield Wednesday.

Blog wise, barring anything huge, the Week 10 AHL Power Rankings will be here Monday afternoon.

Let’s Go Pens!!