Chirps from Center Ice

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4                            5

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So Todd Nelson ripped into this Hershey Bears team really badly on Saturday after their 5-0 loss on home ice Saturday. So much so that the Bears took down the video of his post game availability because he was so mad at the way his Hershey Bears lifeless effort against a pedestrian Syracuse team.

They have a lot of guys sick and half the team is up from the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, but Nelson didn’t use that as an excuse.

His team responded in kind and defeated the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Barely.

A would be game tying goal from Boris Katchouk was adjudged to be deflected into the net with a high stick with 2.2 seconds left. It was the right call. Despite the fact that you can’t review the sequence (you should) – replay showed that Katchouk’s stick was almost above his head when the shot by Mac Hollowell deflected off of Katchouk’s stick and in.

Again, the right call, despite the lack of replay to confirm the obvious, in my opinion.

EDIT: Went back and looked and turns out it was, blatantly a high stick.

https://twitter.com/nafsnep/status/1889521139904328150

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Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Atley Calvert and Corey Andonovski were out for Emil Bemstrom and Vasily Ponomarev up front and Nikolai Knyzhov was back in on defense for Scooter Brickey.

First Period: A lot happened!

Five goals in the period, three for Herhsey and two for the Penguins. Andrew Perrott scored in his Bears debut off of a face-off win from Garrett Roe to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

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The Penguins would respond under three minutes later when Emil Bemstrom scored to tie the game at one.

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Hell of a pass by Owen Pickering there.

But then Hershey would rattle off a pair of goals in under two minutes. Hendrix Lapierre raced past Jack St. Ivany to slip one past Joel Blomqvistr to make it 2-1 and then Ethan Bear from the top of the near dot that made it 3-1.

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A melee would ensue which saw Vasily Ponomarev dismissed for a major boarding penalty which started it all, Nikolai Knyzhov and Hershey’s Justin Nachbaur for a secondary altercation and Dalton Smith getting a game misconduct for being an aggressor, jumping Ponomarev.

There were other secondary and tertiary infractions given out of that fracas, but I had no issues with the way refs Liam Maaskant or Patrick Hanhrahan handled things there.

:30 later, the Penguins found themselves on a 4-on-3 power play and Valtteri Puustinen scored to bring the Penguins to within one.

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Whew.

Second Period: The Penguins were flat out being outworked by the Hershey Bears in the period. The Bears tacked on a power play goal to start the period to extend the lead to two.

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That was Mike Vecchione cleaning up the loose change in front.

Hershey outshot the Penguins 7-6 in the period but many of the six shots for the Penguins came in one late desperation shift.

It was 4-2 to end the period and this was familiar territory for the Penguins because this is where they were Saturday against Cleveland, but it felt different.

Third Period: Better effort for the Penguins, who get a goal from Avery Hayes that brings it to within one.

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Hayes is high sticked and doesn’t bat an eyelash and scores. What an effort.

Penguins pull Blomqvist for the extra attacker but Spencer Smallman scored on an empty net that made it 5-3.

But hold up, Mac Hollowell scored his first as a Penguin to bring Wilkes-Barre to within one.

Pens then put the pressure back on the Bears and scored what looked like a tying goal but Katchouk redirected the puck in the net illegally.

No issues with the way that Liam Maaskant or Patrick Hanrahan handled the game, in my opinion.

Three Stars: 3) Ethan Bear (goal, assist) 2) Hendrix Lapierre (goal, assist) 1) Spencer Smallman (goal, assist)

The Good: They showed resolve in the eleventh hour, but ran out of time.

The Bad: Getting back to the headline, who wants it more? The Penguins were loaded by Pittsburgh during the Four Nations break and couldn’t beat a rag tag group of a lineup of half ECHL players? These were two points lost, poorly, by the better team on paper. Games in hand be damned.

Turning Point: I suppose you can give it to Spencer Smallman and his goal that made it 5-3 at the time or you could give it to the referees taking the would be Katchouk tying goal off the board.

Around the Division: I suspect that all of the games that the AHL played on this night (six total) they would have played on Super Bowl Sunday. With that said, none of the other teams in the Atlantic Division played.

Standings: Hershey 63 – Penguins 56 – Charlotte and Providence 55 – Lehigh Valley 50 – Springfield 49 – Hartford 43 – Bridgeport 26

Wheeling Update: Nailers are off until Saturday, when they take on the Bears ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays.

Video Highlights: AHL VideoCenter is your best bet for you sickos.

Back at it Friday. I’ll have the weekend preview up on the blog around lunchtime.

Let’s Go Pens!