Chirps from Center Ice

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Maybe too early to call it a breakout game for Radim Zohorna, who had a pair of goals and assisted on another in this 4-2 Wilkes-Barre win Wednesday night, but more games like this from the rookie and you can probably point back to this night as to where it all started.

The Penguins deal the Bears their first regulation loss of the season in probably their most complete game of the 2021 campaign. They were close Saturday when the last played against these Bears, but they didn’t get any offense and one player, Connor McMichael, supplied all of the offense for the Bears. Tonight, I didn’t hear play by play man Nick Hart say McMichael’s name very much and the Penguins get a good win against a hated rival.

Max Lagace opposed Ilya Samsonov.

Here is how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: 

First Period: Pens killed 1:06 of five on three quite effectively with some nice stick work by Will Reilly who broke up a pass attempt.

Bears got on the board first with a goal from Will Graber.

(the Bears didn’t GIF any goals and Taylor took the night off)

Radim Zohorna answered right back with a goal that tied it.

Nice play here. Guy riding him, he keeps control of the puck and scores the goal.

Second Period: Anthony Angello stuffed in a rebound of a Freddy Gaudreau shot to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

Which didn’t really last long because Mike Sgarbossa inadvertently blocked a teammates shot, collected the puck and shot it in for a goal that tied the game at two,.

Radim Zohorna scores his second goal of the night with a very nice crossover move that put the Pens ahead. Just look at this…

Nifty move.

Third Period: Zohorna would set up Nick Schilkey for his first goal of the season with this nice pass and better shot that gave the Penguins a two goal cushion.

Penguins played it cool from there but not without some close calls. Mike Sgarbossa hits the post twice on one shift, for example.

The Bears would pull Samsonov but never found any success. Zohorna missed a chance at the wide open net and his hat trick bid.

Three Stars: 3) Nick Schilkey (goal, assist) 2) Anthony Angello (goal, assist) 1) Radim Zohorna (two goals, assist)

The Good: As I mentioned in the open, probably the most complete game of the young campaign. Seems like the wheels are chugging in the right direction.

The Bad: Can’t really come up with anything other than the start, taking three straight penalties to start the game and giving the Bears a five on three says to me that you weren’t prepared to play the right way. Thankfully, they came away unscathed.

Turning Point: Schilkey’s goal that gave the Penguins the two goal lead gets the nod here. Play an almost perfect game and get a goal to go up two, the opponent probably isn’t coming back from that.

Lehigh Valley and Binghamton also played Wednesday. Box here. They are ranking the teams by percentage because the Bears have more points than the Phantoms, but the Phantoms are ahead of the Bears coming into Wednesday’s action.

Wilkes-Barre’s next game is another televised deal on Friday against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, at 5 pm.

If Coal Street runs a video package, it will go in this spot.

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.