Chirps from Center Ice

First, the news of the day was Bobby Farnham and Brian Dumoulin were assigned to Wilkes-Barre and Taylor Chorney, Andrew Ebbett, Zach Sill and Jeff Zatkoff have been placed on waivers. We will know by noon Sunday whether they clear. I’ll leave the speculation as to what can happen amongst yourselves. I’ll have a blurb about what happens in tomorrows recap of the final preseason game in Hershey.

But about tonight’s game against Hershey, a 4-2 Penguins win. Another solid effort by the Penguins, who started out slow, finding themselves down 1-0 early after Nathan Walker was sprung on a breakaway and put one behind starting goaltender Matt Murray. Murray played the entire game and was backed up by Eric Hartzell. Hartzell will go the distance tomorrow in Hershey. These two are battling for the second spot in Wilkes-Barre, depending on what becomes of Jeff Zatkoff Sunday at noon.

The Penguins came to life in the second period. The Bears were on a power play and Jayson Megna stole a puck off of a Bear at the blue line, skated the length of the ice and dishes to Josh Archbald who scored. Murray, meanwhile, was making great save after save, in this sequence robbing Dustin Gazley after a nice setup by Kris Newbury.

Patrick McGrath, the local product in the lineup for the Penguins, fought Mike Cajkovsky, who had a size advantage. I Instagrammed the fight, which you can see here.

Penguins later score on a power play when J-S Dea cleaned up a rebound and pushed the Pens ahead 2-1.

In the third, Jayson Megna stepped by a guy and hit the post and the puck went high in the air, Scott Wilson boxed a guy out and knocked it in and scored to make it 3-1. Later, when the sides were 4-on-4, Nick D’Agostino took a shot from the blue line that never hit the net, but Bryan Rust was there to get the rebound off of the boards to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

Bears would get one back but no more as the Penguins would hold on.

Lines were:

Tom Kuhnhackl-Jayson Megna-Josh Archibald
Scott Wilson-Conor Sheary-Bryan Rust
Anton Zlobin-J-S Dea-Tom Kostopoulos
Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond – Matia Marcantuoni – Patrick McGrath

Philip Samuelsson-Barry Goers
Reid McNeill-Harrison Ruopp
Nick D’Agostino-Alex Boak

Murray-Hartzell

Scratches were:

Clark Seymour, Brian Dumoulin, Nick Drazenovic, Carter Rowney, Bobby Farnham, Dominik Uher, Adam Payerl, Kevin Ryan, Jonathan Narbonne, Tyler Murovich.

It’s hard to take anything away from preseason games. I thought that the rookie forwards showed themselves well. It’s probably going to come down to a numbers thing for guys like Alex Boak and Tyler Murovich. I’d like my chances with the first three lines we dressed tonight going into regular season play. No one was a glaring liability out there, really. We will have to see what Hynes & Company come up with this week as far as cuts go.

Pens wrap up the preseason with a 5:00 p.m. visit to Hershey. I’ll have some post game words then.

Programming note: The first of my AHL Previews hits the blog Monday at midnight. Be on the look for my North Division Preview at that time, then the Midwest Division at noon Monday as I go two-for-Monday. The schedule after that is West Division Tuesday, Atlantic Division Wednesday, Northeast Division Thursday and East Division Friday.

I don’t go heavy with the graphics or silly pun headlines when I type up preseason game recaps. Hey, it’s preseason for bloggers too.

The Penguins beat the Utica Comets tonight by a score of 4-2. Goals were scored by Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Scott Wilson and Nick D’Agostino. The Penguins defense really clamped down on the Utica offense, only allowing the Comets two even strength goals through nearly 30 minutes of playing time.

Eric Hartzell started the game for the Penguins in goal and stopped all nine shots faced. Two of those nine were even strength shots, seven came when Utica had extended 5-on-3 time. He split the net with Matt Murray.

Lines were…

Tom Kuhnhackl-Jayson Megna-Carter Rowney
Anton Zlobin-Conor Sheary-Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson-J-S Dea-Josh Archibald
Tyler Murovich-Matia Marcantuoni-Adam Payerl

Reid McNeill-Barry Goers
Nick D’Agostino-Harrison Ruopp
Clark Seymour-Alex Boak

The Penguins scratched Nolan Schaefer, Philip Samuelsson, Nick Drazenovic, Dom Uher, Tom Kostopoulos, Patrick McGrath, Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Kevin Ryan and Jonathan Narbonne

Jayson Megna, Adam Payerl and Barry Goers wore the A’s tonight.

I liked the chemistry from the Sheary / Rust line. They played in sync with one another, and with a sniper like Zlobin, will be formidable for the opposition this season.

You don’t want to take much away from a preseason game, but the Penguins defense shut down Utica tonight and it showed. No shots for the Comets for about ten minutes in. What Hartzell saw with his team shorthanded he stopped.

Goals came like this…

— Conor Sheary set up Bryan Rust in the slot after he made a nice play on a pass off the pads of starting Comets goaltender Jacob Markstrom to give the Penguins the lead in the first period.

— Penguins scored a power play goal when Jayson Megna won an offensive zone face-off to Scott Wilson who fired it in from the blue line through traffic and past Markstrom for a 2-0 Penguins lead in the first.

— Another pass off the pads play that finds its way to Conor Sheary who scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead in the second period. Setup by a nice play by, who else, Bryan Rust.

— Matt Murray was beat by a slap shot which may have deflected off of a Penguin stick to make it 3-1.

— Nick D’Agostino scored a goal with a shot from the blue line that grew eyes and found its way through bodies, off the post and in. D’Agostino scored his first pro goal against Utica last December from almost the same spot.

— Comets get a late goal to make it 4-2. Murray didn’t look set and it almost looked like it caught him by surprise.

So that’s it. You don’t take too much stock in a preseason game, but the other team is an American Hockey League team with American Hockey League players, so it’s nice to see the Penguins control and dictate the pace of play regardless of whether there is points on the line or not.

Penguins get back at it Saturday night at home vs. the Hershey Bears. I’d expect some roster moves between now and then and if so, we will blog about them.

Let’s Go Pens!