Chirps from Center Ice

          vs.        

0                              9

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Yes, you are reading it all right. Both the scoreline and the headline. Vasily Ponomarev leads AHL rookies in points (35) and is yet somehow not an AHL All-Star. Baffling, and maybe downright insulting.

And yes, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins beat up the Hershey Bears like they owed them money to a tune of 9-0.

It’s just the second regulation road loss for the forward depleted Bears, who are missing a ton of offensive firepower but are generally OK on defense on goaltending.

Not tonight, though.

Four goals for Vasily Ponomarev, a hat trick also for Ville Koivunen and 27 saves for Sergei Murashov, his first AHL shutout and he wasn’t even named a star of the game.

Valtteri Puustinen, Colton Poolman, Owen Pickering, Marc Johnstone and Dan Renouf were held off the score sheet for the Pens Wednesday. Only Bogdan Trineyev, Chase Priskie and Garrett Roe for the Bears weren’t on the ice for any even strength goals scored.

Historic night.

Biggest margin of victory over the Bears….biggest margin of victory ever….seven hat tricks this season shatters the franchise record of five, and they had two in one game, also first time ever.

I said in the Weekend Preview that if they beat Hershey then the rest (with Charlotte this week) takes care of itself.

I think we are getting to the point to where a win should be expected. Not given, but expected.

The Penguins jumped on the Bears from the outset with Ville Koivunen scoring at 4:39 off a nice feed from Boris Katchouk.

Vasily Ponomarev would net a power play goal at 6:42 and it was 2-0.

Ponomarev again at 9:12 and that was all for Clay Stevenson in net for the Bears, enter Hunter Shepard.

It didn’t matter.

Ville Koivunen netted the free coffee goal at 14:15.

This was just the first period.

More in the second.

Koivunen for his hat trick at 1:36 at the expiration of a Penguins power play made it 5-0, Sam Poulin creeping behind the defense off a very nice pass from Joona Koppanen to make it 6-0 at 7:02,  Koivunen for his fourth at 13:09 and then Filip Kral, who had four assists, tucked in a goal that made it 8-0 at 17:28.

The only question is would the Penguins score ten and would Ponomarev get a hat trick of his own?

Ponomarev would at 3:17, back on Clay Stevenson who went back in net for the Bears to start the third, but the Penguins would not continue shattering franchise records by scoring a tenth goal, something they have never done.

Here they are, in all their glorious glory. Pick your favorite and let me know in the comments.

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That goal was my favorite, by the way.

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Whew.

Lost in the ether was a strong effort in net from Sergei Murashov whom I thought was a good call to go in net against the Bears. What offensive mustard the Bears put on Murashov when they weren’t having to put out fires on the backs their defensemen or fishing pucks out of the net or scheduling audiologist visits after Todd Nelson gave them an earful in intermission, were all shut down rather easily by the Russian rookie net minder.

But again, buyer beware, Hershey has a lot of forwards hurt.

Lineup wise, Atley Calvert made his AHL debut on the fourth line in place of Corey Andonovski and Colton Poolman was in Scooter Brickey.

Three Stars: 3) Filip Kral (goal, four assists) 2) Vasily Ponomarev (hat trick) 1) Ville Koivunen (hat trick plus one)

The Good: Again, they jumped on Hershey like they owed them money. I said in the Power Rankings earlier this week I don’t think the Bears win the division this season. I think the Penguins are the best team in the division but they just haven’t played enough games to have people notice yet.

The Bad: They didn’t get ten?

Turning Point: I think the power play goal scored by Ponomarev back in the first set the ball in motion and it was downhill from there for the Bears and just a runaway train for the Penguins.

Around the Division: You won’t believe this, but there was another team that scored nine goals. Lehigh Valley throttles Bridgeport 9-2…Hartford loses 6-5 in overtime in Belleville.

Standings: Hershey 57 – Providence and Charlotte 51 – Penguins 50 – Lehigh Valley 48 – Springfield 42 – Hartford 40 – Bridgeport 24

Wheeling Update: Nailers were off.

Video Highlights: 

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They fly to Charlotte Thursday and we will be back here Friday.

Seriously, Vasiliy Ponomarev isn’t an AHL All-Star.

Let’s Go Pens!