Chirps from Center Ice

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Headline tonight doesn’t contain a pun. A run and gun affair in Hershey ends in a shootout loss for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Something seemed off for the Penguins, who never trailed in the game, but never had more than a one goal lead in this Saturday night affair in Hershey.

Tristan Jarry appeared in net again for the Penguins in a back to back start and again was outstanding. Beat on a rim around and then shorthanded in the second and a blown assignment in the third. He opposed Ilya Samsonov, who won his first game in net for the Chocolate and White this season.

Penguins don’t score in the shootout round, Hershey elected to shoot first and scored in the top of the second and the third and take the extra point. Penguins lose 4-3.

Lines were…

Notes: No changes up front, same lineup as Friday at home. Will O’Neill returned and replaced Matt Abt. Ethan Prow and Jeff Taylor were paired up on defense.

First Period: :06 in, Liam O’Brien and Penguins captain Garrett Wilson dropped the gloves…

Wilson with a few stiff shots and the takedown.

Tristan Jarry looked dialed in as he was Friday at home. He had a glove save on one of the thirteen shots on goal for the Bears in the period. Then Stefan Elliott fell down and Liam O’Brien had a chance at Jarry that he made a save on.

Zach Aston-Reese scored the only goal in the period when a puck found his stick in his own end, he took it out and scored with a Bears defenders stick in his skates…

Chris Summers took a puck to the face in the final minute…

…and was helped off.

Shots were 13-5 Bears heading into the…

Second Period: Chris Summers returned for the second period but at some point Sam Miletic was lost to injury.

In the first minute of the period, Bears went for a dump in and the puck took a funny bounce where Mike Sgarbossa deposited it into the empty net when Jarry came out to play it.

Penguins re-establish the lead when Teddy Blueger raced and collected a puck off the side wall, then went back to the slot and flipped a puck past Samsonov to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.

Penguins had two back to back power plays but they were a nightmare. So much so, that Hershey scored on one of them when Riley Barber snuck behind the Penguins defense and scored shorthanded.

Woof indeed, Taylor. Woof indeed.

Sam Miletic was injured in the second period. He was hit by Connor Hobbs. No penalty on the play. Here is the sequence…

Third Period: Adam Johnson found Ethan Prow for a wide open net off a nice pass that gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

But :51 later, Beck Malenstyn scored to tie the game again.

They lost him on defense, pass found him and connected.

Penguins had to kill a bunch of penalties which included a 5-on-3 against and got out of it. Tristan Jarry carried the Penguins to overtime.

Overtime: I Periscoped it. I remembered that I had that live streaming device and decided now was as good a time as ever to start a stream. Here it is, all 5:00, here for you.

If you didn’t click in and watch all eight minutes (there were stoppages) then you missed…

No scoring in overtime, so out was off to a shootout.

Shootout: Nothing doing in round one. Riley Barber went over Jarry’s glove in the top of the second, Jimmy Hayes was unsuccessful in his attempt and Shane Gersich scored in the top of the third to seal the extra point for Hershey.

That thing I talked about in the open? It could have been Sam Miletic who, it looks like, will be out for a bit.

Or something else, summarized here again by Tom…

Three Stars: 3) Tristan Jarry (35 saves on 38 shots) 2) Mike Sgarbossa (goal, assist) and 1) Riley Barber (goal)

Around the Division: Charlotte thumps Syracuse 6-3…Lehigh Valley beats Binghamton 5-2…Bridgeport beats Hartford 5-4…Springfield beats Providence 4-2.

Standings: Charlotte 16 – Springfield 12 – Lehigh Valley 11 – Penguins 11 – Hartford 9 – Bridgeport 7 – Hershey 7 – Providence 5.

Wheeling Update: The Nailers pick up their first win of the season with a 3-2 shootout win in Reading. Troy Josephs scored in regulation for the Nailers, he was assigned Saturday afternoon. John Muse picked up the win in his first regular season action of the season, stopping 37 of 39 and all four Royals shooters in the shootout.

Highlights: Hershey was the first, despite using the term I despise…

Penguins are off now until next Friday where they host the Hartford Wolf Pack for a pair of games next weekend on home ice before bussing to Bridgeport on Sunday afternoon. I will fill in news and notes as I get them here on the blog this upcoming week. The Week 4 AHL Power Rankings will be here on Thursday for sure.

Let’s Go Pens!