Chirps from Center Ice

So the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are down four injured defensemen through four games. They didn’t (that we know of) see anyone go out in the Saturday road game in Allentown.

They sure as hell aren’t playing like it though, shutting out the Phantoms Saturday 3-0 where Lehigh Valley put up 41 shots. Filip Larsson had a hell of a bounce back and was sharp as a tack after letting in six a week before against Charlotte.

Now, the Syracuse Crunch are on the radar for a home and home series starting Friday in Syracuse.

Music to set the mood…

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A Quote…

I had no idea a living being could sustain so much injury and go on living.
— Yann Martel, Life of Pi.

Always wondered where the “day to day” injury description came from, apparently hockey coaches read that book.

The Setup

Another home and home for the Penguins. It’s must be a thing. I don’t know if you saw or not but I resurrected the AHL Power Rankings from the ashes and if you go in depth on the team capsules you will note that there are a lot of teams playing other teams on home and home backs to backs. Some are playing the same opponent three times in a row which I think is silly.

But I digress. The Penguins swept their home and home with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a 4-3 score on Friday and a 3-0 score Saturday. Friday they scored all four goals in the first. Saturday I thought was a much better played game structurally (but for the icing fest in the second period) and certainly would be a building block for the coaching staff to help mold the identity of this team.

For Syracuse, they played a three in three. They played a pair in Laval and were beat 5-2 Friday and 1-0 Saturday. It’s hard to lose 1-0 in today’s AHL. Like, it happens, but conceivably you don’t score a goal but allow just one and lose.

The Crunch then travelled to Belleville and beat the Senators 5-2 on Sunday.

Records

The Penguins are 3-1, on six points and tied with Charlotte for second in the division.

The Crunch are 3-2, on six points and are in third in the North.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall….

Who’s Up, Down, Out?

Defensemen Dan Renouf, Filip Kral, Marc Clurman and Isaac Belliveau are all out. The long termers are Renouf and Kral, out week to week and Clurman is day to day along with Belliveau.

Who knows if those statuses change. Jagger Joshua is the lone forward out week to week, that we know of.

Sam Houde is with the Wheeling Nailers.

It was actually quiet week transactionally for the team, with nothing doing on the wire for Coal Street all week. I guess that’s good?

One other transaction for the opponent. Conor Sheary was sent down to Syracuse by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Sheary cut his AHL teeth with the Penguins in 2014-15 and 2015-16. You may see him in both games, but for certain I would think he plays Friday in Syracuse.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

Can the offense and the power play stay hot? All indicators indicate yes, as long as Boris Katchouk and Emil Bemstrom keep hopping over the bench and on the ice. I think the defense is OK, shielded a bit by the team putting up 3+ goals a night and getting bailed out by reasonable goaltending. When may the luck run out? When they start hitting really good teams on the schedule. Who’s a good team? Too soon to know, really.

Early returns are the team is good. Building up credit while you are young is good. Anyone over thirty gets this reference in real life scenarios.

Who’s in Goal? 

You ride the hot hand and put Larsson out there Friday in Syracuse and then let Sergei Musharov take the Saturday start. You continue to do this until one plays his way into the bonafide starter role. I think the faith is Larsson as the starter as long as Joel Blomqvist plays the role of the NHL backup while Pittsburgh somehow still carries three goalies but Musharov isn’t coming from overseas to play second fiddle to anyone. We will see.

For Syracuse you can expect Brandon Halverson Friday and Matt Tompkins Saturday, or Halverson for both starts. Who knows.

Who’s Running the Show?

Riley Brace and Adam Tobias get the duties on Friday with Justin Johnson and Jason Brown on the lines. Saturday sees Jordan Deckard and Jared Cummins in the orange arm bands with Bill Lyons and Chandler Yakimowicz on the lines.

Looking Ahead…

A Wednesday visit to Bridgeport, a Friday off (woo hoo!) then November starts with a Saturday visit from the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Give us a bold prediction…

No reason to veer off course here. They score power play goals in both games and win both of them. Musharov outduels Larsson and the Penguins have a good problem to have and continue the two headed goaltending monster approach.