Chirps from Center Ice

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They are in a slump.

Other teams in the division, specifically the ones close to the Pens, aren’t.

Apologies to those who look forward to the Weekend Preview. For reason I won’t get into, I never had time for it this week. It’s been a hell of a week.

Anyway, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins lose this one in Allentown 4-2 on Friday and have lost two straight and are a paltry 4-6 in their last ten.

I can’t put my finger on it. They are dealing with a lot of call-ups but are getting some bodies in the form of Ty Smith and Taylor Fedun back. They could use some forward help.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Ty Smith was back. Tommy Nappier was recalled from Wheeling earlier in the day but didn’t dress. Alex Nylander was named as Xavier Ouellet’s replacement at the All-Star Classic in a few weeks.

First Period: At even strength? They were great. On the penalty kill? They sucked. They went 0/2 and were down 2-0 after the period.

Tyson Foerster scored the first goal then Cal O’Reilly scored the second goal.

The Penguins had a power play and, get this, Lehigh Valley who was the team with one less player had more shots during the 2:00 time frame.

So yeah, one of those periods.

Second Period: No better. Ronnie Attard is a beneficiary of the Phantoms playing the role of the Harlem Globetrollers to the Penguins defenders playing the Washington Generals, slams home a shot for a 3-0 Phantoms lead.

Less than 90 seconds later, that may Foerster again doubles up his goal tally for the night with a goal that mercifully ended Filip Lindberg’s night. Enter Taylor Gauthier.

Pens shut down the shots after that but they were on the power play two times in the period but failed to cash out for a goal.

Third Period: They got two goals from their two best players on the ice all game in Tyler Sikura and Corey Andonovski to make things interesting.

It wasn’t that interesting as they would not get closer. They did pull Gauthier for the extra man and heated up, but couldn’t get a third. Had a feeling that if they would have got a third, they woulda got the fourth.

If if’s and but’s were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.

Three Stars: 3) Sam Ersson (34 saves) 2) Olle Lycksell (three assists) 1) Tyson Foerster

The Good: Nice to see that some of the players played a full 60 tonight.

The Bad: You can’t send 9 guys to Wheeling.

Turning Point: Attard’s goal was way too easy and a blueprint for how easy it was for the Phantoms and how tough it was for the Penguins.

Around the Division: Hartford beats Providence 2-1 in overtime….Charlotte doubles up Rochester 4-2…Springfield beats Belleville 5-1.

Standings: Hershey 59 – Providence 55 – Charlotte 48 – Lehigh Valley 45 – then a four way tie for last with the Penguins, Springfield, Bridgeport and Hartford with 43 points.

Wheeling Update: Nailers are outing Kansas City taking on the Mavericks. That box is here.

Video Highlights: I may be able to work an edit in the morning, hopefully.

More tomorrow after Bridgeport.

Let’s Go Pens!