Chirps from Center Ice

           vs.            

5                                                      3

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We are going to do a mailbag for Monday just so you know, so get started on your questions now.

I want to mentioned it now because as you read this recap of a 5-3 Penguins loss, you may quit halfway through like the team tonight only to remember that you have a tab open on your phone and finish strong but come up short, just like the team tonight.

I say that because it could be masked that Emil Larmi had a bad game tonight. He certainly started that way, allowing three goals on seven shots, but the Penguins, who were playing in front of the biggest crowd of the season on military appreciation night (no love for the Space Force, what the heck!) let a Lehigh Valley team run over them and run away with the game and all the Penguins did was take penalty after penalty (five total, most at inopportune times) and give up a shorthanded goal (that was one of three early ones let in by Larmi)

Kirill Ustimenko started in his first AHL game tonight for Lehigh Valley and stopped 38 of 41 shots. At times, you could have sworn that he was playing in his 100th AHL game, not his first. The Phantoms played a rounded, disciplined game and have quietly won three straight. The Penguins now have loudly lost two straight and with Charlotte’s overtime win at home against Hartford, have overtaken the Penguins for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

Isaac Ratcliffe beat Larmi shortside for a 1-0 Phantoms lead. Then Jamie Devane beat the tar out of Kurtis Gabriel off of the ensuing face-off. Then Kevin Roy scored to tie the game.

The Penguins started great, producing a lot of shots at Ustimeko, but after the Roy goal nothing got by.

Lehigh Valley scored a shorthanded goal when Maksim Sushko scored. Sushko scored again to make it 3-1. Penguins had to kill back to back penalties before the end of the first.

In hindsight, if I am Mike Vellucci, I pull Larmi for Casey DeSmith. The Penguins don’t play again until Wednesday and it’s a two goal deficit with time to make up ground to start the second, but he didn’t.

Kevin Roy had a breakaway that Ustimenko stopped.

But Kyle Criscuolo scored with a give and go play and it was 4-1 Phantoms.

In the third, a lollipop of a shot caromed off of Larmi and in scored by Gerry Fitzgerald.

Larmi didn’t allow anymore gaffes in net, the Penguins only took two penalties in the period offset by two taken by Lehigh Valley and then Myles Powell scored his first Penguins goal by driving the net. Later, Jan Drozg scored with seconds left to make it 5-3.

Oh, and the Penguins lost Chase Berger to injury in the first and Kevin Czuczman to injury in the second. I didn’t see what happened to Berger, but Czuczman ran into DiPauli and was knocked out. He was staggered getting helped off the ice by two other players.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was that play?

Here’s how they lined up.

Niclas Almari came out or John Nyberg.

In the division, Hershey beat Springfield 5-2 to go tops in the Atlantic after Hartford lost 4-3 in overtime to Charlotte. Bridgeport beat Providence 4-2.

Hershey leads with 65 points followed by Hartford with 64 then Charlotte and Providence with 57 then the Penguins (56) Springfield (54) Lehigh Valley (48) and Bridgeport (39)

I can’t think of anything good to come out of this. The bad was probably the shorthanded goal that they gave up early in the first. The Phantoms took the lead from there and never looked back, it’s probably the turning point too.

Reading beat Wheeling 5-3. Ryan Scarfo had a goal. Craig Skudalski did too. Funny story about Skudalski, he worked at the Ford dealership I buy my trucks from and gave me a ride over to work the one morning I dropped it off there for service.

Don’t forget about the mailbag for Monday. Pens are back in action Wednesday on the road.

Let’s Go Pens!

           vs.            

0                                                      3

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Turning point of this game, a 3-0 Penguins loss on Friday night against the Hershey Bears, was in the middle of the second period when they just went down 2-0. Pheonix Copley, the starting goaltender for the Bears on this night, hadn’t been tested much to this point.

The Penguins rattled off a couple of good chances in succession, but Copley wasn’t having any of it. You needed a cheap one to beat him tonight but with the way the Bears were playing as a unit tonight, it wasn’t going to happen.

Copley collects his second shutout of the season, both against the Penguins but he lost that game in a 1-0 Penguins shutout win a while back. Wilkes-Barre’s eight game point streak is also over.

That’s pretty much it, on a night where Wilkes-Barre was out possessed in the first and went down early on a Matt Moulson tap in goal on a power play off a rebound of a Christian Djoos one timer. In the second it was a busted rush up ice for the Penguins that turned into a rush up ice for Hershey which resulted in a Garrett Pilon goal that made it 2-0. You could argue that this sequence here was the crusher that sealed the deal for Hershey and not be wrong. An empty net goal by Liam O’Brien late in the third was the other goal.

I could remember, but for the second period buzz which Copley shut down, a Kevin Roy breakaway and a Joseph Blandisi follow up attempt in the first period which Copley stopped. Also, a Chase Berger deflection on a Zach Trotman shot. That was about it offense wise for the Penguins.

Wilkes-Barre had a great penalty kill sequence in the third period when they were on a two man disadvantage. P-O Joseph broke his stick blocking a shot and was without it but still managed to get in the way and Penguins starting net minder Casey DeSmith stopped a one timer from going across the goal line. It really was a sight to see and the sole bright spot on an overall bad night for the Penguins.

That’s really it. They get Lehigh Valley Saturday night at home. Better luck next time, I guess.

Here is how they lined up.

They jumbled up the combinations and put Adam Johnson on the top line. Myles Powell was recalled from Wheeling and I liked what I saw from the guy. I think he hit a Bear on every single one of his shifts Friday. Brandon Hawkins was the extra on ice. Emil Larmi backed up and scuttlebutt on the concourse is that Dustin Tokarski broke his finger.

Garrett Pilon (goal), Matt Moulson (power play goal) and Pheonix Copley (31 saves) were the three stars in that order.

Around the Division: If Hershey was going to win this game Friday, then you wanted to see Hartford do the same. They couldn’t. Charlotte beat them 6-0. Lehigh Valley beat Springfield 4-1. Bridgeport and Providence were off.

Standings: Hartford and Hershey 63 — Providence 57 — Penguins 56 — Providence 55 — Springfield 54 — Lehigh Valley 46 — Bridgeport 37

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Lehigh Valley in Saturday, game is on WYOU if you are local. Gameday setup Saturday afternoon here at 3.

Let’s Go Pens!