Chirps from Center Ice

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After giving up seven goals last Saturday in the home opener against the Charlotte Checkers and taking the loss, Penguins goaltender Filip Larsson was looking for a bounce back.

He had to wait a day because the NHL parent sent a goaltender down for a conditioning assignment, but on Saturday night Larsson rebounds in a big way, with 41 saves, his team does the rest and Wilkes-Barre / Scranton sweeps the weekend and beats the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-0 on Saturday night from Allentown.

I think that even if the Phantoms managed to somehow win, with 40+ saves, you pin the loss on the lack of offense moreso then the goaltender.

Oh, studsa tillbaka is “rebound” or “bounce back” in Swedish. Larsson is a Swede.

The more you know.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Corey Andonovski and Marc Johnstone were back in for Avery Hayes and Raivis Ansons up front and Mats Lindgren made his AHL debut on defense for Filip Král.

Injury Updates: 

All I can say, four games into the season is yikes.

First Period: About 3:05 in, Sam Poulin and Emil Bemström find themselves on a 2 on 0 and it was Bemström who scored to make it 1-0 Penguins at 3:05.

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They looked good in the period, offense looked fluid and Larsson was sharp, assisting on the Bemström goal. There was a power play about halfway through that looked bad, though.

Second Period: I think the Penguins had more icing infractions than shots in the period considering they only mustard three shots in a slog of a period for both sides with no scoring.

Third Period: Penguins were still nursing a one goal lead and the Phantoms were already up to 30 shots in the game, so you wanted something in the form of insurance while there was still a lot of time on the clock.

Just about three and a half minutes in, Joona Koppanen got on the scoresheet with a goal that gave the Penguins some breathing room and doubled their lead.

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Hell of a shot.

Phantoms were generating shots but they weren’t resulting in goals, so they decided to pull Kolosov for an extra attacker with over five minutes to play, and with under a minute to play, Sam Poulin sets up Boris Katchouk, who has had himself a heck of a weekend, for an empty net goal.

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All that was left was whether or not Larsson would do the thing and well, he did the thing. 41 save shutout.

Three Stars: 3) Ollie Lycksell (4 shots) 2) Emil Bemström (goal) 1) Filip Larsson (41 save shutout, assist)

The Good: I think the doubts we carried with us all week on Larsson’s shaky play Saturday night last can get put to bed. The kid looked as good as advertised against a Phantoms team that peppered him all night. This wasn’t a 13 save insulated shutout. He stopped 40+ shots and kept his team in it.

The Bad: I’m not nitpicking a road shutout, let’s just skip this.

Turning Point: The Koppanen goal gave them separation and put more desperation on the Phantoms. I don’t think it would have mattered because nothing was getting past Larsson Saturday.

Around the Division: The Chicago Wolves beat the Hershey Bears in overtime to win 3-2 in Hershey. The Bears, who were 8-0 in overtime last year, lose in their first opportunity this season….Cleveland splits another weekend series, this time beating the Charlotte Checkers 4-2….Hartford beats Bridgeport 5-4 in overtime and Springfield beats Providence clean 4-2.

Standings: Charlotte and Penguins 6 – Hartford and Hershey 5 – Springfield 4 – Providence and Lehigh Valley 2 – Bridgeport 1

Wheeling Update: The Nailers were beaten 4-1 up in Maine against the Mariners. Sam Houde had the only goal in the loss for the Nailers.

Video Highlights: Will likely be a later edit.

Power Rankings Monday, maybe.

Let’s Go Pens!