Chirps from Center Ice

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This is one of those games where I don’t mind the loss because the effort was there. The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins battled the Hershey Bears to a scoreless draw early in the third period when the scoring action finally heated up. The two teams finally started taking things out on each other in a penalty filled second, but it was the Bears who scored first, followed by the Penguins on a power play and then Hershey added one with under five to play and then an empty net goal with .3 seconds left to win 3-1 at home Saturday afternoon.

The two teams rematch Sunday evening in Wilkes-Barre.

Tyler had a bit of a foreshadowing tweet.

And wouldn’t you know it the Bears would score on a fluky goal that opened the scoring. Off a skate and in.

Penguins would head to a power play with a gotta have it chance to tie the game and they score when Drew O’Connor connects for a goal that leveled it.

Soon after, Jon Gruden was hauled down and he was awarded a penalty shot. He missed.

(no video here, he skated down the right side, cut across and tried to go five hole on Bears starting goaltender Zach Fucale.)

Alex Alexeyev scored on a dart with 3:30 left to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.

Brian Pinho would hit another empty net, his sixth I think this season, with .3 left to play to make it 3-1 Hershey.

Here is how they lined up. Sometimes I write these stories in reverse.

Three Stars: 3) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (goal) 2) Alex Alexeyev (goal, assist) 1) Zach Fucale (31 saves)

The Good: It was a competitive game. A young, inexperienced team took one of the better teams in the AHL in Hershey to the edge and nearly won.

The Bad: I have a feelingI am going to be typing up “competitive” a lot here these next few seasons. The Penguins lack a true scorer, and one would have definitely come in handy today.

Turning Point: You can either go the save by Fucale on Gruden which kept it 1-1 or Alexeyev’s go ahead goal with minutes to spare.

They rematch Sunday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre. Different result or more of the same?

Let’s Go Pens!

Stay safe.