Chirps from Center Ice

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4                              5

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21 shots in the first period and four goals for the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins.

19 shots and zero goals after.

The Penguins lose a heartbreaking game in overtime 5-4 to the Providence Bruins on Sunday afternoon. There are serious holes with this team. They are like bullies. They beat up on weakling teams but if you step up to them and smack them back they cower and run away,

They may be constructed like a championship caliber team, but they are not a championship caliber team.

Kirk MacDonald has his hands full, and it doesn’t get any easier this Wednesday against the North Division leading Rochester Americans.

Here’s how they lined up:

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Lineup Notes: Emil Bemstrom and Atley Calvert for Matthias Laferriere and Matty De St. Phalle up front, Colton Poolman for Scooter Brickey on defense.

First Period: Before the game was five minutes old and within 48 seconds, the Penguins put three goals on the board in nearly consecutive fashion. Rutger McGroarty, Colton Poolman and Boris Katchouk all scored on the relatively steady Michael DiPietro. The Bruins, playing in their third game in as many games (just liked the Penguins) looked absolutely  gassed. Here’s all the goals.

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Providence called time out and it worked because ex-Penguin Billy Sweezey scored his first as a Bruin to get one back for the home team.

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The game settled a bit but then Katchouk won a face-off back to Emil Bemstrom who stepped into one and re-established the three goal Wilkes-Barre lead.

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The Penguins pumped a season high 21 shots on goal in the period.

Second Period: Providence gets two goals 1:11 apart from Jeffrey Viel and Max Jones to make it an uncomfortable one goal lead for the Penguins.

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Larsson loses track of the puck enough for Viel to use a sweeping wraparound chance to score.

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Deflection in front.

Jeffrey Viel is then assessed a match penalty for spearing and is thrown out of the game. On the ensuing five minute power play that killed into the….

Third Period: … the Penguins failed to score.

Momentum started to shift for those unaware, and Max Jones netted his second of the game that tied it right after half way.

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This was on a power play where Colton Poolman was assessed a penalty for knocking the net he was defending off of its moorings. Unacceptable. It was also the second consecutive penalty that the Penguins had to kill. Doubly unacceptable.

Referees Liam Maaskant and Sydney Harris were fine. Referees and officiating this weekend was great, get lost if you want to blame them for this.

They somehow got it to…

Overtime: Georgii Merkulov always scores against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. Like if you can find a betting website somewhere that takes action on AHL games and specifically if a player would score a goal in the game, put a dime on Merkulov scoring against the Penguins.

With .7 left, Merkulov scored against the Penguins and the Bruins completed the comeback.

I didn’t like Avery Hayes in this overtime. Penguins were on a rush and Hayes has a chance for a shot, but instead he passes and it’s intercepted and leads to a breakaway the other way for the Bruins which is saved by Larsson. He’s too inconsistent to be a consistent member of the lineup.

https://twitter.com/TheAHL/status/1893807233999274451

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Three Stars: 3) John Farinacci (two assists) 2) Max Jones (two goals). 1) Georgii Merkulov (game winning overtime goal)

The Good: Three goals in under a minute and four total in a period they dominated top to bottom.

The Bad: They can’t play a consistent sixty minute hockey game to save their arses at this point and it is costing them points that they will be wishing they had in April. Another three game series against Lehigh Valley looks inevitable at this point.

Turning Point: I think the Max Jones second goal on the power play gets it here because even if the game were somehow were to get to a shootout, I don’t think the Penguins would have been successful.

Turning Point 2: Failing to score on the 5:00 Viel match killed them too. They have the #1 power play in the AHL. This past weekend sure as hell didn’t look like it.

Around the Division: Hershey shuts out Charlotte 2-0. Springfield beats Bridgeport 3-2 in a shootout.

Standings: Hershey 67 – Penguins and Providence 63 – Charlotte 61 – Lehigh Valley 59 – Springfield 57 – Hartford 48 – Bridgeport 30

Wheeling Update: Nailers started an hour later and are hosting the Reading Royals. Box here.

Video Highlights: Sickos click here.

Power Rankings Monday with a new number one and then the Weekend Preview comes your way Wednesday setting up the weeks actions tarting that night in Rochester.

Let’s Go Pens!