Chirps from Center Ice

       vs.       

3                                          1

–

Games like these frustrate the hell out of me.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins went 0-f0r-5 on the power play tonight.

The Providence Bruins were 2-for-6, but we will call it 2-for-5 but for a late Daniel Sprong holding penalty when the Bruins had an empty net to shoot at in desperation time for the Penguins.

Two even teams, second and third in the Atlantic Division, squaring off. Shots were pretty even for the most part, one team goes 2-for-6 on the power play and the other goes 0-for-5.

Who wins. That team tonight was the Providence Bruins, 3-1. The Bruins inch back to a point behind the Penguins with seven games to play for each team.

The Penguins have won 40 games for 13 consecutive seasons. An impressive feat. Teams that win 40 games don’t normally have the leagues worst power play.

Hershey (eliminated from playoffs) Rockford (fighting for a spot) Springfield (eliminated) Belleville (eliminated) and Wilkes-Barre are the 26th through 30th teams ranked in power play coming into tonight’s action around the American Hockey League.

It’s OK now that the Pens didn’t score on the power play tonight and lost the game, because the three point cushion they had on the Bruins coming into tonight.

None of that is going to matter in a playoff series. Where the teams are even, for the most part. Where outside factors (Bridgeport won tonight so the Pens weren’t clinching a sot tonight anyway) don’t matter.

It really isn’t a matter of if the Penguins clinch a playoff spot. It’s matter of when. But after that, I do not like their chances in a playoff series. In fact, if you asked me now, I am picking the Bruins in a five game series if said series started tomorrow against these Penguins.

The power play is a joke and it needs to be fixed. I’ve been harping on this for months. Maybe it can’t be and it is what it is. If true, it’ll be a short postseason for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

No lineup changes for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry opposed Jordan Binnington.

First Period: Was an even-ish period for both teams. Providence scored to go up 2-0, Daniel Sprong chased down a puck in his own end, centered to J-S Dea who found the back of the net that cut it to one. A big goal at the time, a one goal deficit is much better to chase than a two goal deficit.

Penguins had their fair share of opportunities to score on the man advantage, but were unsuccessful. As noted in the open, this continues to be a concern from this writers perspective. 

Providence got on the board with a power play goal from ex-Penguin Adam Payerl when he cleaned up a rebound. Later, Trent Frederic scored on a pinballing puck in the slot that may have handcuffed Jarry for a 2-0 Bruins lead. 

Second Period: More power play tries for the Penguins, more misses. The period went without any scoring, yet there were plenty of chances, 13 shots for the Bruins and 11 for the Penguins. One scary moment as Garrett Wilson blocked a shot that went off his face, he went off for repairs and did return. 

Third Period: Penguins didn’t score on their power play in the period, the Bruins scored on theirs and that was the ballgame. You could feel all the air going out of the building after Providence scored to go up 3-1 (Jordan Swarz) on the Penguins. Nothing else mattered after that.

Penguins didn’t score with Jarry out of the net for an extra attacker.

Three Stars: 3) J-S Dea (goal, +1) 2) Jordan Binnington (34 saves on 35 shots) and 1) Adam Payerl (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: No matter what happened here tonight, the Pens weren’t clinching anyway. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers beat the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-1…Hershey beats a hapless Laval team 6-3…Charlotte beats Syracuse 4-1…Lehigh Valley doubles up Belleville 4-2…Utica beats Springfield 6-5.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.693 percentage points) — Penguins (.638) — Providence (.630) — Charlotte (.600) — Bridgeport (.551) — Hartford (.500) — Hershey (.472) — Springfield (.464)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers picked up a big 5-2 win over the Manchester Monarchs. Troy Josephs had a goal and two assists, Reid Gardiner had a goal and an assist.

Video Highlights: 

Week 26 AHL Power Rankings hit the blog Monday at 4. No games Sunday, so they will get done then at a reasonable hour and out Monday at 4. Pens are back in action Tuesday at home against Hershey.

Let’s try to Go and score a power play goal Pens!

       @       

4                                          3

–

Tenacious.

That could be the word to best describe this game.

After an extremely sloppy start by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, they chip away to tie it in the third period and Daniel Sprong scored to end it in overtime. Penguins win 4-3.

The magic number to clinch a playoff spot is three. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers were defeated 5-0 by the Springfield Thunderbirds. That means with any win by the Penguins and a point lost by the Sound Tigers and the Pens are in or a point by the Pens and a straight up loss by Bridgeport and the Pens are in.

Long stretches of this game, it felt like a preseason game. Disjointed. Stick fouls. Hartford pounced and scored three straight in the second. A late Zach Trotman goal brought the Penguins to within one in the second and then the Penguins went on from there.

Michael Leighton opposed Alexandar Georgiev.

Lines were…

Garrett Wilson – J-S Dea – Daniel Sprong
Joseph Cramarossa – Sam Lafferty – Ryan Haggerty
Tom Sestito – Jarrett Burton – Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson – Teddy Blueger – Tom Kostopoulos

Chris Summers – Ethan Prow
Kevin Czuczman – Lukas Bengtsson
Jarred Tinordi – Zach Trotman

Michael Leighton – Anthony Peters

Lineup Notes: The American Hockey League suspended Andrey Pedan for two games for this hit on Peter Cehlarik on Wednesday:

Pedan was given a 2:00 minor for interference, which Providence scored on. Pedan missed Friday and will miss the rematch against the P-Bruins on Saturday.

Ethan Prow, who I was worried about, was back in for the suspended Pedan. I guess the D corps is strong in that a guy like Prow being. regular in the lineup is not a guarantee.

First Period: Seemed like a sleepy start for both teams. Jarrett Burton led a charge up ice, centered to Ethan Prow who then passed to Christian Thomas who scored to give the Penguins the lead.

But then the Penguins started taking stick fouls. Dea took a high sticking penalty followed by a Teddy Blueger hook that the Penguins were able to successful kill off, so it was 1-0 Penguins after one period.

Second Period: The slow start hurt the Penguins, who continued to take penalties. Finally, Hartford broke though and scored a power play goal to tie the game. Gabriel Fontaine tapped one in front to make it 1-1.

Nearly two minuets later, the Wolf Pack kept coming and Dawson Leedahl scored a backhanded goal that made it 2-1 Hartford.

It was later 3-1 when the Penguins lost Boo Nieves in the slot. Nieves then passed over to Scott Kosmachuk who had an easy tap in for a 3-1 Hartford lead.

Penguins come close twice on a power play and Georgiev stopped a Sprong shot with the pad then the follow-up rebound attempt with the stick on Garrett Wilson.

But then Zach Trotman was able to bring the Penguins to back within one with a turnaround shot from the point.

But then Wilkes-Barre took a too many men on the ice call with five seconds left heading into the…

Third Period: Christian Thomas scored his second of the game on this nice setup from Tom Sestito.

Thomas had two goals and an assist and figured into every goal to this point.

Adam Johnson missed on a penalty shot. He made too many moves and ran out of ice on Georgiev.

Wilkes-Barre continued to come in waves, putting a sum total 16 shots on Hartford, to the Wolf Pack’s 5. A shutdown period by the Penguins.

But there was no further scoring and it was off to…

Overtime: It was a hair on fire showing with the Pens taking seven shots on Georgiev. Finally, they broke through when Daniel Sprong held and held and held, then released….

Ballgame.

Back of envelope…

Three Stars: 3) Christian Thomas (two goals, assist, +1) 2) Scott Kosmachuk (goal, assist, even) 1) Daniel Sprong (game winning overtime goal, +1)

Around the Division: Pens get some breathing room, albeit a slim three points, on the Providence Bruins, who were shutout 2-0 in Allentown tonight by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms…Rochester beats Charlotte in overtime 4-3…Springfield shuts out Bridgeport 5-0…Utica beats Hershey 3-1.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Penguins (.642) — Providence (.634) — Charlotte (.596) — Bridgeport (.552) — Hartford (.507) — Hershey (.471) — Springfield (.463)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were defeated by the Toledo Walleye 4-1.

Video Highlights: 

Pens bus down to face what will likely be an ornery Providence team who were outshot 19-1 in the second period in Allentown. Expect a battle Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

Gameday setup is here at 3 Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!

       vs.       

2                                          5

–

Shots fired?

I think everyone knows that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins and Providence Bruins are destined for another date in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

Head Coach Jay Leach rolled out Zane McIntyre as his Providence Bruins hit the ice for warmups. McIntyre is undefeated in regulation against the Penguins coming into Wednesday’s action. 2-0-2 with a minuscule GAA and save percentage.

Until tonight.

McIntyre looked pedestrian, Penguins looked sharp. The results followed. A 5-2 Wilkes-Barre win over the Providence Bruins.

I stop short at saying it’s a statement game. After all, Providence dressed 10 rookies tonight. It seems the Bruins bring the best out of the Penguins and vice versa. But the Penguins needed a better effort after the terrible game against Bridgeport Sunday and got one in a big way with a lot on the line. We will see what the result brings on Saturday night when these two teams rematch.

Lazy legging lines tonight cause it’s a work night and even though I took Thursday off, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to.

Michael Leighton backed up Tristan Jarry. Sam Lafferty was the only lineup change from Sunday, replacing Gage Quinney, who is day to day with an upper body injury and won’t play this weekend.

First Period: Better start in contrast to Sunday for Wilkes-Barre. Passes were on the mark, legs were moving, et cetera. Penguins missed on their only power play of the period and had a few good shorthanded chances.

However, Providence took a 1-0 lead to intermission on a shot from Jakub Zboril which may or may not have been tipped in the final minute of the period.

Shots were 14-10 Penguins after the first. A good period, despite the score.

Second Period: Penguins score three straight goals on McIntyre to take a quick 3-1 lead.

Daniel Sprong threw a nothing turnaround, backhanded shot at McIntyre that went in. Sprong followed it up about three minutes later in front via the five hole that made it 2-1.

Later, Joseph Cramarossa pounced on a turnover and wired a shot over the glove of McIntyre that made it 3-1.

But the Providence goaltender and his defense settled in and, coupled with the fact that the Penguins were again giving away penalties like candy on Halloween, Providence edged to back within one.

That didn’t come on a power play, but Anton Blidh put one over the glove of Jarry that dug the Bruins out of the hole they were in, slightly.

Third Period: Penalty trouble continued for the Penguins, but they managed to not allow another Bruins power play goal.

Teddy Blueger raced up ice and flipped a shot past McIntyre to give the Penguins a two goal lead and some breathing room as Providence was bearing down on every shift.

Time quickly became the enemy of Providence and with McIntyre pulled Jarred Tinordi hit the empty net from center ice to make it 5-2.

Three Stars: 3) Joseph Cramarossa (goal, even) 2) Garrett Wilson (assist, +1) and 1) Daniel Sprong (two goals, +1)

Around the Division: Two other games in the Atlantic. Bridgeport hosted Hershey and won 6-4… Hartford hosted Springfield and won 4-3 in a shootout. 

Magic Number: Will be 7 with Bridgeport winning.

Standings: Lehigh Valley (.684 percentage points) — Penguins (.642) — Providence (.634) — Charlotte .596 — Bridgeport (.552) — Hartford (.507) — Hershey (.471) — Springfield (.463)

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Penguins leave for Hartford tomorrow. But for anything of substance, check me out again Friday at 3 for your Gameday setup.

Let’s Go Pens!