Chirps from Center Ice

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I thought the games final 1:30 off a 3-2 Penguins loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday night was a microcosm of how the game went.

Penguins down by two with starting goaltender Filip Lindberg pulled for an extra attacker, get a goal from Alexander Nylander to pull within one, but after the ensuing face-off and the same six on five man power, they couldn’t get any closer and time ultimately runs out on them.

That’s how the game went for them Wednesday. Scoreless, quiet first followed by Syracuse getting a goal on a boffo shot by Alex Barré-Boulet through a Penguins defenders legs and right past Lindberg for a goal, then a goal from Drake Caggiula slamming home a puck though bodies in front followed by a Gage Goncalves pass in from that deflects off of Syracuse captain Gabriel Dumont and in for a 2-1 lead for Syracuse at the second intermission. Penguins would get close with a power play in the third, but a Daniel Walcott slam dunk far post from a pretty feed from the near wall put the game out of reach for Wilkes-Barre somewhere in the third period.

It was a game that they were in till the end, just couldn’t finish their chances. They had two golden opportunities in the first when Caggiula dished to Nathan Legare but Legare was unable to finish and then Ty Glover misses a seemingly wide open net for what could have been a 2-0 lead.

That’s pretty much it. Here’s the goals in the order they occurred.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: 

Max Newton was signed earlier in the day to a PTO out of ECHL Reading. For what it’s worth I didn’t notice his #58 on the ice at all tonight. Maybe I need to pay more attention.

Three Stars: 3) Gage Goncalves (two assists) 2) Drake Caggiula (goal, assist) 1) Daniel Walcott (goal)

The Good: It was close.

The Bad: Should have won. Game in hand wasted. Not like they don’t have a thousand of them, but still would have been nice to get one.

Turning Point: The Walcott goal that made it 3-1 was it. So much so that I knew it immediately.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley beats Cleveland 2-1 in overtime. Friday’s game just got that much more important….Springfield rebounds nicely after a bad weekend with a 2-1 win over a very good Milwaukee Admirals team out in The Good Land.

Standings: Hershey 54 – Providence 51 – Charlotte 42 – Penguins 41 – Lehigh Valley 41 – Bridgeport 39 – Hartford and Springfield 37

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: You know you are late with a blog post when the team has the highlights up half an hour before you even sit down to hammer out a blog post.

Back at it Friday for a massive game at home against the Phantoms.

Let’s Go Pens!