Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins continue their 25th season with a road trip Friday in Hartford then return home for their opener against the Springfield Thunderbirds. They went 1-1 in Charlotte last weekend.

Music to Set the Mood…

We will get to see in person how this retooled, new team does at home. The Penguins went 12-16-6-2 at home last season. They need to do better than that, as that was last in the Atlantic, the Conference, and 29th overall last year.

Only way is up.

A Quote…

There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.
Robert Burns

They went 3-1 in preseason, but went 1-1 against live fire against a really good Charlotte team and 0/9 on the power play, still searching for their first power play goal.

I neglected in the last game recap to give a turning point. I’m still working out the bugs of sitting in front of a computer screen and hammering out these blog posts after a long summer.

The Penguins had a power play down 2-0 about midway through the third period. The game had that getting away from you feel and play by play man Nick Hart said that the upcoming man advantage wasn’t exactly gotta have, but it would have been nice if the Penguins could cash and cut the lead to one.

The Checkers killed it, then later scored, essentially putting the game away. That’s your turning point.

Two games in and they haven’t scored a power play goal yet. I don’t go to practices, but you have to think that special teams was a huge sticking point this week at practice, one would hope.

The Setup

A trip to Hartford Friday then the opener Saturday against Springfield.

The Wolf Pack were impressive last weekend, beating a very good Providence team 3-2 on the road in a shootout then defeating the Springfield Thunderbirds on the road 3-1. Hartford opens it’s home campaign Friday against the Penguins.

The Springfield Thunderbirds played a pair at home last weekend against the aforementioned Wolf Pack Saturday and the Providence Bruins on Sunday. They lost 3-1 to Hartford Saturday in their home opener and scored :09 into the third period Sunday to beat the Bruins 4-3.

Records

The Penguins are 1-1 in the Atlantic. The Wolf Pack are 2-0 and are in the Atlantic and the Thunderbirds are 1-1.

I thought about giving you the standing position but these are early days. Maybe in November.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Lots. They traded Ty Glover and Mark Friedman to Vancouver in exchange for Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek, whose contract was terminated so he can return back overseas. They signed Libor Hájek to an AHL deal after a PTO with Pittsburgh then sent Isaac Belliveau to Wheeling on Thursday.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

Are they going to score a power play goal this weekend? Will it benefit them? How much will they play from behind? Will they ever score a goal in the first or second periods?

Hartford is as good as a test you can find in the third game of the season and the second weekend of the same. Don’t discount Springfield either, but the Penguins could and should beat these teams.

They still have a veteran issue, having to cycle out players because of the rule. I had a few of you this week say that this could be a problem because you never have the same lineup as the night prior. Good points, you have to see how J.D. Forrest navigates through these tough lineup decisions.

Who’s in goal?

Figure Magnus Hellberg again Friday in Hartford and Joel Blomqvist, still in search of his first AHL win on Saturday at home. Is it a confidence thing with Blomqvist? If so, send him to Wheeling? I think it’s too early to have these discussions, quite honestly. Blomqvist can’t quarterback a power play, after all.

Old pal Louis Domingue will probably get the start for Hartford Friday and Vadim Zherenko is possible in the opposing net against the Penguins this weekend.

Who is running the show?

Don’t know yet. League hasn’t posted this weekends referees yet. I’m sure they are competent enough, I’d hope.

Looking ahead…

Wednesday home game against the Hershey Bears, a Friday off, then Hartford stops in next Saturday then the Penguinsn travel down to the home of the defending champs and play Hershey next Sunday at 3.

The book then closes on October and the page flips to a busy November.

Give us a bold prediction…

The team, on paper, is too good to get blanked on the power play, it would seem. They get a power play goal a piece in each game, but go 1-1 again leaving us all scratching our heads at a .500 hockey team heading into the final week of play in October.