Chirps from Center Ice

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Alternate headline for this one would have been pediophobia, a fear of teddy bears.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, on their teddy bear toss night, were humbled and defeated 5-1 by the Providence Bruins.

The line of Georgii Merulov (2-3), Jesper Boqvist (2-2) and Justin Brazeau (1-1) terrorized the Penguins to a tune of all five goals scored and five assists. The Penguins had no answer for that line Saturday night at all. It is rare that a single line like that completely dominates in a hockey game at this level. I can’t remember when a single line completely murdered the Penguins like that. The 2010 Hershey Bears? The Norfolk Admirals the year they won six million in a row? I can’t remember. The Penguins had no answer for that line and were completely humbled.

Arkoudaphobia is a fear of bears, by the way.

Can’t beat Hershey (Bears) can’t beat Providence (Bruins, a synonym for a bear) but can beat or compete with pretty much every team in the AHL that they play.

Alex Nylander scored a power play goal with :03 left on it in the third period. There were some rogue teddy bears that hit the ice (after they all rained down in the second intermission) which I found hilarious.

The Penguins were in the game into the second period, only down one off of a Merkulov goal at 5:53 of the first period, but that’s when Providence went to work, netting a pair of goals by Brazeau and Boqvist. Brazeau was lest alone in the slot and fired a high shot that went in and Boqvist scored his goal off a rebound left by Penguins starting goaltender Joel Blomqvist.

Blomqvist had a bit of a ride. I thought he should have been better overall, but was left out to dry by his team. Remarkably, Xavier Ouellet was the only player to finish in the negative for the Penguins. Every other player was a -1 or worse. Ty Smith was a -3. Seven others were -2. Yikes.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup was Taylor Fedun and Lukas Svejkovsky out for Colin White, returning from injury and Tanner Laderoute making his WBS debut.

Three stars were all Providence Bruins. Jesper Boqvist (two goals, two assists), Brandon Bussi (30 saves) and Georgii Merkulov (two goals, three assists)

The Good: The assumption is kids in need will get those teddy bears.

The Bad: Penguins had no answer for a one dimension line that sent them into another dimension.

Turning Point: There was a sequence in the second period where they were already down 1-0 and a goal mouth scrum where they couldn’t score. Had they did, teddy bears would have rained down and who knows what would have happened to the momentum and ultimate outcome from there.

Around the Division: Not going to give you boxes tonight. Hershey beat Cleveland 6-0, Springfield beats Bridgeport 5-1, Laval beats Hartford 5-1 and Lehigh Valley leads Charlotte late. Saturday’s scoreboard here.

Standings: Assuming that Lehigh Valley result holds.

Hershey 36 – Hartford 33 – Providence 29 – Penguins 25 – Springfield 24 – Lehigh Valley 24 – Charlotte 22 – Bridgeport 13

Wheeling Update: Nailers are losing to the Tulsa Oilers big. Box on that here.

I don’t think anyone wants to watch video highlights. I sure don’t.

More midweek when Syracuse stops by. They stopped Hershey’s nine game win streak. Should be fun!

Let’s Go Pens!