Chirps from Center Ice

           vs.            

6                                                      2

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Tonight was just the second home game I missed in the ten or so years that I have been a season ticket holder. I have a sick cat. My buddy Barry hasn’t been eating, and a long story short is a likely diabetic which is causing pancreatitis which is causing his liver to fail on him. He was at the vet today and goes back Thursday. I am hoping that with supportive care that he pulls out of this and gets back to a semi normal lifestyle again.

Based off of that, this blog recap is going to be a bit on the fly.

Maybe it’s good that I missed the game. The Penguins lose 6-2. They look nothing like a playoff team right now. Providence wins their sixth straight and the Penguins, with an injection of Anthony Angello back from Pittsburgh, couldn’t do anything to look competitive after the second period.

Casey DeSmith opposed Dan Vladar.

They lined up like this.

No Varone yet. Lafferty was recalled Tuesday.

First Period: Missed all of it. Here’s the timeline.

Shot from the point. Vladar leaves loose chance and Sam Miletic smacks it in.

Josiah Didier charged at a puck left in the high slot off of a face-off draw and stepped into one and scored to make it 1-1.

Seemed like an even period from the vibe off of the Twitter feed.

Second Period: It wasn’t an even period.

:41 in and Cameron Hughes scored to make it 2-1.

About 65 passes on that play in a phone booth walking through the teeth of the defense.

Cameron Hughes picks a corner and it’s 3-1.

Niclas Almari caught watching again. He should sit next to me in Section 104 next game. I don’t move my legs much either when I’m at a Penguins game.

Riley Barber opened his scoring account and scored to make it 3-2. Miletic stripped Jack Studnika and he and Barber were off on a two on none.

Bruins respond in kind a few minutes later and Cooper Zech scored on a weird looking shot which beat DeSmith up high that made it 4-2.

Bruins controlled play, outshooting the Penguins 18-7 in the period.

Third Period: Bruins connect at the tail end of a power play as it expires and then later on a 5-on-3 to go up 5-2 then 6-2. The Penguins had a 5-on-3 that they could have had chance to score a goal on but made far too many passes and the time expired.

Penguins don’t connect on their five on three, the Bruins connect on theirs.

Three Stars: 3) Josiah Didier (goal, assist) 2) Cooper Cech (goal, assist) 1) Brendan Gaunce (two assists)

The Good: Good start, going up 1-0 and then only 1-1 at the end of one.

The Bad: That second period where they got steamrolled where they had the game essentially taken from them, doesn’t show me any signs that this team is anything close to a playoff team. Phil Varone isn’t going to fix this. They have a lot of issues which Providence exposed these past two games.

Turning Point: Failing to score on that five on three with time left in the third is a glaring miss.

Around the Division: Strange, but the Pens and Bruins were the only game in the division.

Standings: Hershey 74 — Hartford 71 — Providence 70 — Charlotte 64 — Springfield 62 — Penguins 62 — Lehigh Valley 54 — Bridgeport 45

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight.

Video Highlights: I doubt they are going to want to cut up highlights of this dumpster fire.