Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins play their two of their four games in hand they have on the Hershey Bears Wednesday in Rochester and Friday in Syracuse before the Bears and Penguins meet Saturday in Hershey.

Hershey has only played six games this month. Their schedule picks way up in March, where they will play fourteen games, including nine in a row on the road.

The Penguins will play the same amount of games.

So the time is now. But, are they…

Music to Set the Mood…

–

…giving it away now?

A Quote…

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas Edison

The Setup

First place Rochester Wednesday, Syracuse on Friday and first place Hershey on Saturday.

But are they giving it away?

They had a 4-1 lead Sunday in Providence and lost 5-4 in overtime. They had what they did to Cleveland a few weeks ago happen to them. The Pens were down 4-1 against the Monsters and ended up winning 5-4 in overtime.

The night before, they ran into a buzz saw Springfield team and a hot goaltender and lost 5-3. The way the scoreboard unfurled for them Saturday could have had them a point behind the Bears. It didn’t happen.

They looked primed to make it happen when they beat Hartford 4-1 Friday.

Rochester shutout Cleveland 4-0 last Wednesday, doubled up Belleville 6-3 and shutout Toronto 1-0. Goaltender Devon Levi, who won Player of the Week, had both shutouts last week. Figure to see him out first for the Amerks in a few hours.

Syracuse shutout Toronto 5-0 Friday and then beat Laval 3-2 Saturday. Toronto got shutout twice last week and only scored one goal in their other game.

Hershey split their pair of games in Charlotte, losing 3-1 Saturday and winning 2-0 Sunday.

Records

Rochester leads the North Division with a 33-14-3-1 record with 70 points.

Syracuse is fifth in the North with a 22-17-7-4 record good for 55 points.

Hershey leads the Atlantic Division with a 31-14-5 record with 67 points.

Penguins have 28-13-6-1 record and sit second in the Atlantic with 63 points.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

They are running the gauntlet. Rochester has a better record than Hershey, I think the North Division is better than the Atlantic and the Penguins play two teams in this division this week.

The confidence level on them is low. Now, you don’t necessarily need Hershey to slip while you basically have to bat a thousand if you want to overtake the Bears for the lead in the division. Providence is charging, trade deadline is approaching, it’s not going to be easy.

Can they? Absolutely. They are a championship caliber team.

But they aren’t playing like a championship caliber team.

Losing to a hot goalie against an average Springfield team you may be allowed to get away with. But losing a 4-1 lead and blowing it in overtime against Providence is a slap in the face.

Do they lose 15 games in a row and miss playoffs? No. But are they still the favorites to win the division? I don’t think so. And I worry that the pressure may be getting to them, playing not to lose and all that.

We will see. I think seeing the respective division leaders will be good for them to see in fact how they stack up. Was last weekend an anomaly?

Who’s in Goal?

I think they made a mistake going with Larsson twice last weekend. Tristan Jarry makes $5 million a year and is an NHL All-Star. Filip Larsson may be the future, but we are trying to win games here.

If I am Kirk MacDonald, I give Tristan Jarry the starts against Rochester and Hershey and let Larsson get the Syracuse game.

But I don’t coach the team, I just blog about them.

Devon Levi, Brandon Halverson, Clay Stevenson for the opposition.

Who’s Running the Show?

David Elford and Chris Rumble are the referees Wednesday in Rochester with Tory Carissimo and T.J. Dockery on the lines.

Elford will head east on I-90 and meet up with Austin Rook Friday in Syracuse. Brandon Grillo and Luke Pye will run the lines.

Mathieu Menniti and Ben Betker get the assignment Saturday in Hershey with Bill Lyons and John Rey on the lines.

Looking Ahead…

They return home to make up the game that had to be postponed for ice issues a few weeks ago and host Belleville on Tuesday, travel to Hartford Friday and then host Belleville again Saturday and (sigh) a Sunday home game against Syracuse.

Give us a bold prediction…

Power play goals in each game, 5 of 6 points, they tie with the Bears when they wake up Sunday.