Chirps from Center Ice

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2                                              5

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First goals of the season for Mat Abt, Oula Palve and Anthony Angello including Chase Berger’s first multi point game and first fight, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins throttle the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 5-2 Saturday night at home, ending the Sound Tigers four game winning streak coming into tonight.

For Abt and Palve, it was their first AHL goals of their respective careers.

Casey DeSmith opposed Jakub Škarek.

Lineup:

Lineup Notes: Michael Kim jumped in for Kevin Czuczman. I don’t know what’s up with that. Jordy Bellerive and Chase Berger flipped lines. Graham Knott took the warmup as the healthy scratch.

First Period: A shot from the point by Stefan Noesen was bobbled by Škarek and put in by Sam Miletic to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead early.

Parker Wotherspoon tied it a few minutes later when Matt Lorito wheeled around the net and found Wotherspoon in front for a shot and a goal while DeSmith was being screened in front.

(Taylor didn’t GIF any away goals and Bridgeport didn’t care to put them up either)

Second Period: Matt Abt finally got the monkey off his back.

Long time coming for Abt, the bench was thrilled for him. He’s had an enormous weekend, potting that goal to go with two assists Friday in Lehigh Valley.

Wilkes-Barre hit two posts before dialing in and Adam Johnson connecting for a goal through a crowd that made it 3-1.

Matt Lorito would pull one back for the Sound Tigers, digging a Seth Helgeson shot which was stopped by Casey DeSmith off of his pads and into the net to cut the deficit to one heading into the….

Third Period: Had the sense coming in that the next goal would have won it for either side. I know it sounds crazy when you are up one but if Bridgport bags a third and ties it, then it becomes a whole different game and then a survival game. With an opponent like Bridgeport, riding a four game winning streak coming in, not a game you want to play.

Thankfully, the contest didn’t go in that direction.

Adam Johnson connected with Anthony Angello for his first goal of the season that made it 4-2.

Second assist to Matt Abt. That’s a four point weekend and AHL Player of the Week territory if you ask me.

Oula Palve notched his first AHL goal when he deflected a Thomas DiPauli shot off of his knee and into the net that made it 5-2 and blew it open.

For good measure, Chase Berger and Parker Wotherspoon fought to rile up the crowd.

Pens hung on from there, Bridgeport didn’t get any closer and Wilkes-Barre kept firing, hitting two posts in the final minute.

Three Stars: 3) Oula Palve (goal, assist) 2) Matt Abt (goal, assist) and 1) Adam Johnson (goal, assist)

The Good: Bridgeport could have been a pesky team, but the Penguins were simply the better team in all areas Saturday and it was an elementary win.

The Bad: Can’t really think of anything that stuck out. That’s good, right? Bad for this segment though.

Turning Point: Anthony Angello’s goal setup by Adam Johnson’s speed that made it a two goal contest again early in the third opened up the floodgates for the Penguins as Palve scored 1:11 later and the rout was on.

Around the Division: Providence beats Charlotte 4-1 to stay tied in point with the Penguins for tops overall in the Atlantic….Hartford loses 2-1 in overtime to Lehigh Valley to fall out of first place for the first time all season….Hershey finds themselves in penalty trouble and get beat at home by the Belleville Senators 3-1….Springfield gets back in the win column with a 6-3 win over the Laval Rocket.

Standings: Penguins (on percentage of .659 to Providence’s .630, we aren’t doing percentages anymore though) and the Bruins 29 — Hartford 28 — Springfield 26 — Lehigh Valley 25 — Hershey 21 — Bridgeport 20 — Charlotte 19

Wheeling Update: Nailers lose 4-1 to Kalamazoo. Ryan Scarfo had the lone goal for the Nailers in the loss.

Wilkes-Barre goes 9-2-1-1 in the month of November. Casey DeSmith goes 7-1 in November also. December is usually when they get hot, the car is already warm.

Video Highlights:

Pens have a week in between games, next on ice Friday at home against Texas. But for anything breaking, talk to you then. If you are wondering about Mailbag, interest wasn’t there enough for me to generate doing it bi-weekly. Maybe I will do it once a month. If there’s anything you want to ask, drop a line in the comments or send me an e-mail. That always works.

Let’s Go Pens!