Chirps from Center Ice

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4                           5

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This one is going to sting for a bit.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, down 4-2 in the third period Tuesday night, pull themselves up by the bootstraps and rally to tie the game at four with a little over two minutes to play, when quickly developing Penguin killer Cole Schwindt scores with 1:31 left in regulation to sink the Penguins ion regulation. It’s Schwindt’s fifth goal against the Penguins.

I didn’t feel like recycling “Holy Schwindt” as a pun headline.

Penguins lose 5-4.

Rematch Wednesday.

Here’s how they lined up…

No lineup changes to speak of. They went with the exact same lineup they did on Saturday.

First Period: Valtteri Puustinen got the party going with a slick wrist shot that beat Knight that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Later, on a power play, Anthony Angello scores on a spin-o-rama play that beats Knight again for a Penguins power play goal.

But then it was Scott Wilson skating in and scoring on a ridiculous angle with a backhand roof job over the shoulder of Nappier that put the Checkers on the board.

Second Period: Penguins don’t score on a double minor power play after Taylor Fedun was split open by a high stick. Charlotte has a top ten penalty killing unit.

Max McCormick and Cale Fleury score :56 apart on screwy plays. On the McCormick goal, there was a loose puck in front of Nappier’s crease he pounced on and swept across to tie it. Then on Fleury’s goal, a shot from along the side hits Fleury’s blade and deflects in to give the Checkers a 3-2 lead.

Clear the crease on the first play. Nothing you could do on the second play.

Pens were shut down in the second period. No shots after the double minor power play expired until about 2 minutes to play in the period. You can’t really have that, especially after you come into the period up one and right after a double minor penalty you fail to score on.

Third Period: Kole Lind extends the Penguins deficit to two with this goal right after the Checkers killed a penalty.

Then the Penguins started their comeback sparked by Jonathan Gruden when he digs a puck out of the pads of Spencer Knight and sweeps it past him to pull the Pens within one.

Then the Penguins were awarded a power play and Michael Chaput scored to tie the game at four.

But that apparently was too much time left on the clock for the Checkers as Cole Schwindt would play hero on the night and score to make it 5-4 Checkers.

Oh, Schwindt.

The Good: Two power play goals scored and a nice comeback.

The Bad: Couldn’t find a way to get it to overtime and questionable man marking leads to the Schwindt tally.

Turning Point: Sometimes it’s obvious. Schwindt’s goal gets it here.

Around the Division: Only other game in the division on Tuesday was Bridgeport hosting Rochester. Amerks win 3-2 in overtime.

Standings: Springfield .622 percentage points – Hartford .619 – Hershey .600 – Providence .579 – Charlotte .568 – Penguins  .489 – Lehigh Valley .488 – Bridgeport .467

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off tonight.

Video Highlights: 

Rematch Wednesday. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!