Chirps from Center Ice

vs.

0                                 3

–

If you do this right, then this next sentence is wrong.

Probably the most important game of the season for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

Seeing the Hartford Wolf Pack edge ahead of them for third on Tuesday night, the Penguins needed a response against a team that has owned them on their home ice and frustrated them the last time these two teams met.

They respond, in a huge way, to the tone of 3-0. The first shutout of the season for Joel Blomqvist and first of his North American career. Jagger Joshua had a pair of goals.

The depth scoring answered when the top liners of Sam Poulin and Vinnie Hinostroza had a quiet night.

Huge game, gets them back to third with the Hartford loss in Charlotte Wednesday which I will get to in a bit.

I stop short at saying confidence building, because the power play is a downright abomination. But there’s time and they can still work on that, we hope.

Here’s how they lined up…

Lineup Notes: Debut for Vasily Ponomarev, return of Jonathan Gruden and Raivis Ansons. This trio replaced Matt Filipe, Lukas Svejkovsky and Tanner Laderoute. Laderoute was released from his PTO and was returned to the Wheeling Nailers. On defense, Xavier Ouellet and Owen Headrick were in for Taylor Fedun and Ryan Shea, who was recalled to Pittsburgh in the Gruden back to Wilkes-Barre transaction yesterday.

First Period: Jagger Joshua cleaned up the loose change in front…

…and the Penguins were off to the races.

But not without some bumps, as the Penguins found themselves on the wrong end of a two man advantage for :46. Phantoms power play was hitting at a 26% clip recently and were good on the road but the Penguins were able to get through it fairly unscathed.

Second Period: Penguins had three power plays in this game and let’s just move on and hot say anything bad about them and just say nothing about them at all.

Jagger Joshua bags his second of the night with a roof job after Corey Andonovski took a big hit to make a big play.

Said this at the time…

Third Period: Kind of a grit your teeth and hope for the best because the next goal here was going to be huge. If the Penguins score it’s 3-0 and a steeper hill to climb for the Phantoms. If Lehigh Valley pulls one back, it’s hang onto your butts and a white knuckle finish.

Thankfully, the Phantoms did not score any goals in the period. The teams traded power plays then the Penguins got another crack. Later, with the Lehigh Valley net empty, Dmitri Samorukov scores from about 190 feet away and makes it 3-0…

The only question from here was will Blomqvist do the thing?

Yeah, he did the thing.

23 saves for the Penguins rookie. Probably the best prospect in the organization and the future in goal for Pittsburgh. He’s overdue for this shutout and let’s hope there are many more this season to come.

Three Stars: 3) Corey Andonovski (two goals) 2) Jagger Joshua (two goals) 1) Joel Blomqvist (23 saves)

The Good: Felt good walking out of the arena and not getting blasted by cold air, right? That’s playoff weather for you. Think the players knew? I think so. Hell of a response against a team that has their number, moreso then the Bears, if that makes sense.

The Bad: That power plays stinks, man.

Turning Point: Lots of moving targets tonight. The second Joshua goal, the :46 kill of the Phantoms two man, take your pick.

Around the Division: Hartford loses 4-0 in Charlotte. The Checkers take all four points from the Wolf Pack, while Hartford only walks away with one point in North Carolina….Laval beats Bridgeport 5-1.

Standings: Hershey 88 – Providence 75 – Penguins 68 – Hartford 67 – Charlotte 66 – Springfield 57 – Lehigh Valley 57 – Bridgeport 47

Wheeling Update: Nailers were out in Iowa and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Heartlanders. Tanner Laderoute had a goal in his return for the Nailers. Taylor Gauthier had 29 saves.

Video Highlights: 

Enjoy the weekend off, they aren’t back in action until Sunday at 3 in Cleveland. Weekend Preview will most likely be up Saturday, I want it to be as fresh as I can make it in time for the Sunday-Monday set out in The Land.

Let’s Go Pens!