Chirps from Center Ice

This is the last Wednesday game for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins until February 21 when they have to start paying off the home games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms they still have left. The real magic with the Phantoms doesn’t come until March, when the teams meet five times. After hosting Toronto Wednesday, they hit the road for five straight and aren’t home against until Saturday February 17, when they take on the Laval Rocket.

Music to Set the Mood…

So there’s no mention at all about Wednesday in this song. Moving on…

The Setup

Toronto drops in for their only visit of the season this Wednesday then it’s off to Hartford and Allentown for a pair of really important road games this Friday and Saturday.

The Marlies are a lot like the Phantoms in that they are playing at or slightly above average and their standings position reflects that. You always think when you look at the North Division standings to expect that the Marlies will be at or near the top. Well, Cleveland and Syracuse are playing really well then you have three teams in Rochester, Laval and Belleville who are within three points of one another. It’s a more competitive division because last place Utica is only two points out of a playoff spot.

Toronto went to Allentown on Saturday and won in a shootout. Then they turned around and played Hershey on Sunday and the Bears scored with seconds left in regulation to tie and under five seconds left in overtime to win 4-3 in overtime. A stunning loss for the Marlies.

Hartford impressed me by a mile after getting smoked in Wilkes-Barre. They travel all the way out to Cleveland and win in regulation in both contests, beating the division leading Monsters twice on their home ice. The Wolf Pack still have five games in hand on the Penguins. They play Charlotte at home on Wednesday.

Lehigh Valley dropped a pair of 4-3 decisions this week. After coming back from 0-3 to tie it against the Pens Friday, they lose 4-3. Then they lose 4-3 in a shootout to Toronto Saturday. They will host Hershey on Wednesday and on Friday.

Records

The Penguins are 23-15-5-0, good for third in the Atlantic with 51 points.

The Marlies are 17-14-6-1, good for sixth in the North with 41 points.

Lehigh Valley will have played Wednesday and Friday but enter the week with a 17-16-5-2 record, seventh in the Atlantic good for 41 points.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Pittsburgh sent down a small mercenary unit on Sunday morning when they assigned Valtteri Puustinen and Ryan Shea to Wilkes-Barre and assigned John Ludvig for conditioning.

Remaining up in Pittsburgh are Jansen Harkins and Colin White.

On recall from Wheeling are Owen Headrick. Raivis Ansons is also a recall but he’s injured.

Injured along with Ansons are Sam Houde, Avery Hayes and Jonathan Gruden.

What can we learn from the Penguins this week?

The nice shot of reinforcements from Pittsburgh is great but don’t expect it to last because it never does, so take advantage of it while you can.

Puustinen should help on the power play. Ludvig will probably play Wednesday and Friday, but not Saturday or maybe he won’t travel to Hartford Friday and they will play him Saturday. Shea should get all games. Does Gruden return? What about Hayes? Can they continue the elevated play? How long will the power play (scoring in the past two games) stay hot?

I expect them to win against Toronto because they played with confidence against the best team in the league on Saturday night and came up on the losing end. I expect a battle in Hartford who again impressed me because I was expecting the Wolf Pack to take a nose dive. That didn’t happen. Anything can and usually does happen in Allentown when the Pens and Phantoms meet.

Who’s in Goal? 

No reason to stray from Blomqvist being your number one in this instance. Who knows though. Maybe rarely used Garrett Sparks will start against his old squad Wednesday. Expect Hellberg if not. This could be a week where you see Hellberg get two of the three stars because don’t forget that Blomqvist is facing a cross country trip to San Jose for the All Star event next Monday.

Keith Petruzzelli, Louis Domingue and Felix Sandstrom for the opposition this week. Just a hunch.

Who’s running the show?

Riley Brace and Mason Riley get the life of Riley and are the referees Wednesday with Brandon Grillo and Chandler Yakimowicz as the linesmen.

And another week of no weekend refs posted yet by the League. I guess we will find out when they drop the puck.

Looking ahead…

Just one next week, a Friday visit to Allentown. I may bust out the old Gameday blog for that one and go old school.

Give us a bold prediction…

I think they sweep the week handily and Providence, due for a slip, has trouble with the Charlotte Checkers and the Penguins are tied or are a point ahead of the Bruins for second in the division.