Chirps from Center Ice

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So this was a game in hand on idle Hershey that the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins have on the Bears. They have two. They now have one. Games in hand don’t mean anything if you don’t win them.

They won this one. Considerably.

After going down 1-0 in the first, the Penguins rattle off five straight and roll the Marlies 5-1 Tuesday night. The teams rematch Wednesday.

Louis Domingue opposed Michael Hutchinson.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jamie Devane for Filip Hallander. who is on the trip and day to day with a lower body injury. Jordy Bellerive went to the top line in Hallander’s place. Juuso Riikola was back in the lineup for Cam Lee. Taylor Fedun is not on the trip.

First Period: Pens trailed 1-0 on a Joey Anderson power play goal, the only power play of the period. They outshot the Marlies 13-11 in the period but seven of those shots were taken from just inside the blue line.

Easy, easy work for goaltender Michael Hutchinson, especially when you aren’t putting any traffic in front of the net an either screening or tipping pucks in front of the net.

Here’s the Joey Anderson goal. The Pens couldn’t win a faceoff and it cost them.

That’s a shot from just inside the blue line and a player screening the goaltender and tipping a shot for a goal. That’s how you do it.

Second Period: Hah. The Penguins must have gotten the message because they exploded for four goals. Two of the goals came off of tips.

Here’s the first, a Will Reilly shot that Kasper Bjorkqvist deflected for a goal that tied it at one.

Anthony Angello let a shot go that caught Hutchinson off guard, and I think he needs to take that shot more often.

:25 later, Jamie Devane put in a rebound and it was 3-1 Penguins.

Later, Kyle Olson deflected a Mitch Reinke shot and it was 4-1. The second deflected goal of the period.

Also Olson’s 23rd birthday. Birthday biscuits.

Third Period: Toronto started kicking the door down, but Domingue kept them out with some acrobatic saves. You kind of got the feeling that if Toronto scored one, they would likely score another.

Well, it didn’t happen. The Penguins only took one penalty in the period and then Michael Chaput created a turnover and scored off of said turnover.

If it wasn’t hugely evident leading up to it, it was clear after. Ballgame.

Three Stars: 3) Kasper Bjorkqvist (goal) 2) Will Reilly (two assists) 1) Louis Domingue (30 saves)

The Good: I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one that caught the points I raised in the first period recap. The Pens needed to generate more traffic in front of Hutchinson and in the second period and beyond they did. The second period effort won them the game because of lessons learned from the first.

The Bad: I couldn’t really find anything. Toronto is so Jekyll and Hyde. It was painfully evident in this game alone.

Turning Point: The goal :25 after the Pens made it 2-1, the one scored by Devane on a rebound made a tough night for the hosts even tougher and rougher.

Around the Division: They all watched us.

Standings: Hershey in fifth with .550. Pens in sixth with .525. Bridgeport in sixth with .492.

Who Plays Who Tomorrow: Pens are in a rematch against the Marlies….Hershey hosts Lehigh Valley and Bridgeport is in Utica.

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights:

More tomorrow for the rematch.

Let’s Go Pens!