Chirps from Center Ice

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There are a lot of guys either hurt or on recall for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins right now.

So the Penguins have had to plug deep into their ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, for players.

One of those players is Evan Vierling.

A two point night for the man, a goal and an assist and the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are off to the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 overtime win against the Cleveland Monsters.

I’m burying the hero of the night, Radim Zohorna, who scored the overtime game winning goal for the Penguins. It was Zohorna who took a penalty in the third period who put the Penguins down a bit against the Monsters but it was Zohorna who kept the puck the entirety of overtime it seemed and scored a beautiful goal crashing the net to give the seemingly masterful Penguins yet another overtime game winning goal all of a sudden.

For the first time in a while, the team is postseason bound.

Technically with Springfield losing to Belleville, they were in and Zohorna’s heroics were moot, but don’t tell the fans.

Here’s how they lined up….

Lineup Notes: As the graphic states, the AHL debut for Mathieu De St. Phalle. Jagger Joshua returned from injury. A reader was nice enough to fill me in that he heard that Joona Koppanen was injured in practice and Jonathan Gruden is injured. Owen Headrick out for Scooter Brickey was the other change.

First Period: Evan Vierling scores his first AHL goal with a nice hardworking play set up by Lukas Svejkovsky who was like a hungry dog on a bone with the puck, keeping it in. Svejkovsky throws a puck at the net and Vierling is there to deflect it home.

Second Period: I didn’t like the way they presented themselves. Something seemed off, and it was proven true when Roman Ahcan tipped in a shot similar-ish to the way Vierling tipped his (in exactly the same spot, almost) that tied the game at one a piece.

The sloppiness continued, but the penalty kill and their All-Star goaltender bailed them out the remainder of the period.

Third Period: Avery Hayes, obviously feeling it from scoring his first AHL goal last game, scored his second in front that put the Pens ahead 2-1.

Clutch, indeed, he nearly scored seconds before.

The Penguins had a power play with 3:03 left to play. I said at the time that a goal here would be huge.

They didn’t get a goal and instead Cleveland got a goal that tied the game at 19:00.

Stanislav Svozil with a shot from the point.

Brief huddle by the officials to discuss goaltender interference but since no one knows what it is or what it looks like, why bother. The goal stood.

Overtime: By this time the Springfield score went final so it didn’t matter, the Pens were in, but what would the vibe be?

I would say, pretty, pretty good.

Three Stars: 3) Jagger Joshua (two assists) 2) Evan Vierling (goal, assist) 1) Radim Zohorna (overtime game winning goal)

The Good: Ticket punched. All that matters is securing at least third place and trying to possibly chase down Providence for second place for a possible First Round bye.

The Bad: They got murdered on the face-off dots and that led to both Cleveland goals.

Turning Point: The Zohorna goal gets it here, it’s late, let’s not overthink it.

Around the Division: Light night by AHL on a Friday standards. Springfield is shutout in Belleville 3-0….Lehigh Valley scores three straight to take down Providence 3-2 in overtime….Hershey pummels the Iowa Wild in Des Moines 7-2.

Standings: Hershey 103 – Providence 84 – Penguins and Charlotte 77 – Hartford 70 – Lehigh Valley 67 – Springfield 63 – Bridgeport 55

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

Back at it at 5:00 p.m. for a road game in Bridgeport. More then.

Let’s Go Pens!