Chirps from Center Ice

After an up and down week where they spilt with a team they are tied in points with in Charlotte and a thrilling overtime, oh-my-god-they-nearly-blew-it game against Springfield, the Penguins are where they were last week, and the week before and the week before that and…you get the idea. In a group that is locked in tight with one another pursuing a Bear off in the distance that seems like it is getting away, despite the Bears run of play in these recent weeks.

It would appear that one of the teams would need a bit of a push. Hell, it may as well be the Penguins, right?

Music to Set the Mood…

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A Quote…

No matter the circumstances that you may be going through, just push through.
– Ray Lewis

I don’t think you need to go that deep, just saying.

The Setup…

A midweek visit from the Toronto Marlies then a Friday off, but that comes at the expense of a Saturday home game against Lehigh Valley and a 5 o’clock visit to Hershey on Sunday.

Wilkes-Barre split with Charlotte last week and won a nail biter in OT against Springfield on Saturday. In the games that they won, Boris Katchouk had a hat trick plus a goal Wednesday then Emil Bemström had a hat trick with the OT game winning goal on Saturday. Prior to that, Vasily Ponomarev had a hat trick in Hartford.

In games where hat tricks were not scored resulted in all losses. 4-0 blanking by Charlotte Friday, 5-0 shutout loss last Sunday to Providence and a 6-1 throttling by the Hershey Bears on December 4.

The trend of, “a hat trick gets you a win, otherwise you lose” seems a bit far fetched. Or does it?

Toronto comes in after hosting the Pacific Division’s Bakersfield Condors this past weekend. I have always wanted to do the AHL’s version of six degrees of separation. If the Penguins beat the Marlies, are they then better than the Condors who also beat the Wranglers? I should start with the worst team and work my way to the best team one day and see. I don’t think I will, though.

Lehigh Valley had a run up in Canada against the Marlies and lost 6-3 then split a pair of 3-2 decisions in Cleveland against the Monsters.

Hershey had a down week by their standards, losing 3-0 in Hartford, needing a late goal and some heroics to tie and win in sorry Syracuse and lost to a Charlotte club 2-1 Saturday night.

So, keeping with the theme, the Penguins could use a push because seemingly they are better than all the teams I just mentioned above, save for the Marlies, who they will see for the first time Wednesday.

Records

The Penguins are 14-7-1, good for 29 points and third place in the Atlantic Division.

Toronto is 13-4-2-3, with 31 points and in fourth in the North.

Lehigh Valley is 10-10-4-1, with 25 points and seventh in the Atlantic Division, but will have played Providence and the Marlies Wednesday and Friday respectively.

Hershey leads the Atlantic with a 18-7-3 record and 39 points. The Bears will have played Toronto Saturday before playing the Penguins, so they will be the fresher of the two teams when they meet Sunday.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

No better time to check out the Roster Page for all of the latest and where everyone is. They are seemingly in good shape and doing alright, personnel wise. Nate Clurman went up to Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

Will they make a push or is it going to be like this for a few weeks with Providence, Charlotte, Springfield and maybe Lehigh Valley?

Someone has to step up and take the second seed and be there if the Bears falter hard enough to be caught for the lead. The Penguins have played consistent enough to be considered but, one could argue, that so have the Bruins, Checkers, Thunderbirds and even the Phantoms.

Like, how are the Phantoms only four off of the Penguins when they haven’t looked good at all? Imagine if the Penguins don’t get that key power play goal that gives them the two points or say, more recently, that they don’t have a player like Vasiliy Ponomarev get them a hat trick.

But they have and to date but for some clunkers, are finding ways to win. That’s what I would expect this week. They find a way to win all three games.

Who’s in Goal? 

Blomqvist – Larsson – Blomqvist is what I would go with. Or, call up Murashov and have him get the start in Hershey.

Really good point was made by someone this week was that Murashov is just eating starts in Wheeling which helps acclimate him to the North American game vs. playing backup to Joel Blomqvist.

Artur Akhtyamov, Cal Petersen and Hunter Shepard for the opposition if you made me guess.

Who’s Running the Show?

Mason Riley and Adam Tobias will hand out discipline and Ryan Knapp and Jud Ritter will keep them onsides on Wednesday. Bobby Jo Love and Jim Curtain with Chandler Yakimowicz and Tommy George are here Saturday and Curtain will take the trip down I-81 to meet up with Jake Kamrass with Jeremy Faucher and Richard Jondo on the lines.

I don’t mind seeing Jim Curtain, he’s one of my favorite refs. Calls it straight, let’s them play.

Looking Ahead…

The Penguins close out 2024 with a Friday home game against the Hershey Bears and then a Saturday trip to Hershey.

Give us a bold prediction…

They win a game this week without the requirement of a hat trick being scored for them.