Chirps from Center Ice

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3                                         4

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Had this tweet at some point during the game tonight which setup the game story you are reading right now:

Prow’s two power play goals setup a stunning comeback for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton who defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night.

Prow has ten goals on the season, the first Penguin to double digit goals this year. Definitely the team MVP and likely the lone Penguins representative for the All-Star Classic a month from now in Springfield.

Tristan Jarry opposed Christopher Gibson.

Lines were:

Lineup Notes: With J-S Dea back, Ryan Scarfo took warmups but didn’t dress. Garrett Wilson cleared waivers and will most likely be assigned in time for the NHL roster freeze.

First Period: The Penguins were asleep to start. 1:10 in, Chris Bourque and Michael Dal Colle worked a little give and go on the near side, drew Jarry down and Dal Colle tucked it past to give the Sound Tigers the early lead.

Tyler set the next goal up perfectly.

Pens had to kill back to back penalties but got out of those unscathed. They looked a bit stronger, but didn’t have anything to show for it on the scoreboard and were already down two goals.

Second Period: Better quality period for the Penguins who get a goal from Ethan Prow on the power play. Shots were 11-7 in the period favoring the Penguins but it seemed like the quality chances were not there.

Here’s the Prow goal:

Pens couldn’t score on a power play after that.

Crazy sequence where Christopher Gibson came way out of his crease to challenge Troy Josephs. Josephs couldn’t dangle around Gibson and the Penguins couldn’t score on the open net left by the Sound Tigers netminder. Gibson also broke his stick in the process, but the Penguins could not threaten for a goal.

Third Period: Pens overload on the near side and lose Mitch Vande Sompel who gets time and space and buries a shot over the blocker of Jarry to reestablish Bridgeport’s two goal lead.

(no goal video here)

Pens got back to one with a shot from Jeff Taylor that was tipped in by Linus Ölund. Big goal at the time because it set the Pens off in a rabid attempt to tie the game.

The Pens had a little over five minutes left to score another goal to potentially force overtime.

Who else but Ethan Prow?

On a power play, no less, and the game was tied.

It was then off to…

Overtime: It would have been bonkers if Prow scored in the overtime frame to net a hat trick and win the game, but it was Kevin Czuczman on a three on one rush that completed the stunning comeback for Wilkes-Barre.

That’s Tristan Jarry with the great setup there and of course Czuczman with the finish.

Three Stars:

Around the Division: Providence was in Hartford and were shut out 3-0, Lehigh Valley hosted Hershey and shut out the Bears 5-0 Springfield hosted Syracuse and beat them 3-2.

Standings: Charlotte 46 — Bridgeport 39 — Springfield 35 — Lehigh Valley 34 — Penguins 34 — Providence 29 — Hartford 27 — Hershey 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers were in Norfolk and were involved in a wild, thirteen goal game. They led the Admirals by a bunch then Norfolk came back to tie it and force overtime where the Nailers won in a shootout 7-6. Nick Saracino continued his tear, with a pair of goals and an assist. Cam Brown scored the only goal in the shootout. Yushiroh Hirano had three assists.

Video Highlights:

Pens are back at it Friday in the Facebook Watch AHL Game of the Week in Hershey.

AHL Power Rankings Thursday. Check back then.

Let’s Go Pens!