Chirps from Center Ice

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I said about a week ago that Joel Blomqvist may be the best goaltender in the Penguins organization. He will be in the NHL one day, probably sooner rather than later, and my suspicions as to why were on full display in the third period in Providence on Saturday.

Bruins fire thirteen shots at the Penguins goaltender, thirty in total but fall 2-1 to the Penguins. Justin Addamo and Alex Nylander scored for Wilkes-Barre / Scranton.

They need all the points they can amass, and this week they got five out of a possible six. They have a road game in Hershey on Wednesday followed by a travel day on Thanksgiving then a 4 p.m. Friday start in Charlotte then again on Saturday. That’s a hellacious road trip against a pair of teams that the Penguins are battling with in the beehive known as the AHL’s Atlantic Division.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Jansen Harkins got the Jonathan Gruden treatment today, getting recalled and sent back all within two hours. So he was unavailable for the Penguins Saturday. Lineup was otherwise as the team noted above.

First Period: Besides Having to kill four penalties in the period, they got a goal from the returning Alex Nylander…

Immediately after, or :57, Providence ket the press in their zone and Reilly Walsh scored to tie the score at one.

Again, having to kill four penalties was less than ideal. Not only because it increases the chance of the other team to score, it kills whatever momentum you are building towards to get a goal for yourself.

Second Period: Two teams trade power play opportunities but the Penguins are the ones to nudge ahead by a goal thanks to Justin Addamo.

First point as a Penguin for Matt Filipe. Jagger Joshua is making a case for player of the week with his fourth point in as many games.

Solid period for the Penguins because I got the sense that the Bruins were going to throw the sink at them. It didn’t happen.

Third Period: Providence’s power play sucks, in the bottom third in the AHL, and they could have used a couple of goals but came up empty. Blomqvist stopped all thirteen shots put in his direction. He’s good.

Three Stars: 3) Joel Blomqvist (29 saves) 2) Alex Nylander (goal) 1) Justin Addamo (goal)

The Good: Good to see Addamo jump in there and score a big goal. They were good as a team this weekend and swept a team who looked like they were turning the corner and, at times, made it look easy. Have the Penguins turned the corner?

The Bad: Another one of those games when I am struggling to come up with something. Let’s just move on.

Turning Point: The Addamo goal gets the two points. but there were saves in the final five minutes that I thought were ticketed for the back of Blomqvist’s net that never made it there. Team effort.

Around the Division: Lehigh Valley demolishes Belleville 8-1….Hershey shuts out Bridgeport 4-0….Hartford beats Syracuse 5-2.

Standings: Hershey 24 – Hartford 20 – Penguins 18 – Charlotte 18 – Springfield 17 – Providence 15 – Lehigh Valley 14 – Bridgeport 9

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were off. Nailers are in Fort Wayne on Sunday.

Video Highlights: Bookmark the AHL’s Video Center if you come here looking for the highlights. Looks like there are highlights for every AHL game which is nice to see.

Weekend Preview will be up likely Tuesday. Talk to you then.

Let’s Go Pens!