Chirps from Center Ice

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Long time readers of the blog know how I am constantly chasing pun headlines. Well, Vicki from the booster club saw me on the way out of the game, a 3-0 Penguins shutout loss to the Utica Comets, and simply told me that she had the headline for the blog tonight.

If you talked with Vicki, they sucked tonight. The Penguins gave up two unassisted rushes to the Comets which resulted in goals and got scored on in a five on three.

I can’t disagree there. But I thought it was a bit milder.

Sure, they lost in front of a sold out crowd on a Saturday. They put 39 shots on first star Akira Schmid, carried play in large parts in the first and second period and but for a few dumb spots where their defense turned the puck over to the other team, were in the game.

What drove the nail in the coffin was a five on three goal against that made it 3-0. Jonathan Gruden hitting a post on a power play is the closest they got to scoring Saturday.

Still haven’t scored a goal at even strength this weekend, but I think that’s being overexposed a bit because they scored two power play goals and lost Friday in Syracuse.

Here’s how they lined up:

Lineup Notes: Lukas Svejkovsky for Vasiliy Ponomarev up front, Owen Headrick for Taylor Fedun on defense. Ponomarev’s absence is probably call up related. Won’t know that till Sunday.

First Period: Graeme Clarke makes it 1-0 Comets just 1-0 in.

Can’t really blame Ludovic Waeber here 100%. More like 50/50. Are you expecting the team ahead of you to no show the first two minutes of a game? No. But you should still make the save.

I called it a good period despite the score, they outshot Utica 14-6 and, but for the Clarke goal, controlled the pace of play.

Second Period: More of the same, a defender falls down and Samuel Laberge finds daylight and scores to make it 2-0 Comets.

Just queue the Benny Hill music with this one. Again, 50/50 on the defense and the goaltender.

They failed to score on a power play and gave Utica two chances on the man advantage. What’s troubling about that is they came back to back, giving the Comets :59 of two man advantage.

Utica cashed on it, when Brian Halonen was the last to get a piece of a puck that deflected off Waeber and in.

Third Period: Uneventful for offense for either side. The Penguins outshot the Comets 15-5 in the period, so the effort was there, the finishing was not.

Jonathan Gruden ran over Robbie Russo, cross checking him up high but with no infraction identified by either Mathieu Menniti or Casey Terreri. He also rang iron on a Penguins power play.

Three Stars: 3) Samuel Laberge (goal) 2) Graeme Clarke (goal) 1) Akira Schmid (39 save shutout)

The Good: I’m not going to pile on, but I thought they played decent. They got exposed at the absolute worst times giving up two essentially breakaway goals that you’d like to see your goalie make a stop on, and could not generate anything quality wise offensively.

The Bad: Defense plays too fast and loose, lacks direction most nights. They can get bailed out because they have an AHL All-Star playing goal most nights and can connect for a goal or two, but when it isn’t there, man, it sucks.

Turning Point: The Halonen goal that made it 3-0 made an already steep hill to climb even steeper.

Around the Division: Hershey shuts out Cleveland 5-0 for their 11th shutout of the season, which is a franchise record….Bridgeport beats Lehigh Valley 2-1….Charlotte beats Providence 3-2 in overtime, just what you didn’t want if you are a Penguins fan, both teams getting points…..Springfield beats Syracuse 6-4, so the magic number for the Penguins stays at 11 and Hartford continues its nosedive with a 5-1 loss in Toronto, that’s seven losses in a row for the Wolf Pack.

Standings: Hershey 97 – Providence 78 – Charlotte 72 – Penguins 71 – Hartford 67 – Lehigh Valley 62 – Springfield 61 – Bridgeport 51

Wheeling Update: Nailers win 3-1 at home against Fort Wayne. Jordan Martel had a pair of goals for the Wheeling in the win.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it Sunday at 3:05ish in Allentown. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!