Chirps from Center Ice

The Penguins rematch against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Friday and the Hershey Bears Saturday, in a redo of last weeks action. The Penguins have had a week to sit on a bad loss where they never seemed into the contest in Hershey last Saturday, but as luck may have it sit just a point off the Atlantic Division lead.

Music to Set the Mood…

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Usually when I am not listening to Hair Nation, I am listening to SiriusXMU, where Mitski and this song are staples.

A Quote…

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
— Seneca

What? No Twain this week?

The Setup…

Home with the Phantoms whom they seem to matchup well against and then back in Hershey for the third of five against the Bears in Chocolatetown.

The Pens beat the Bears last Wednesday, the Phantoms on Friday at home then lost in a really bad uninspiring way on Saturday.

The Phantoms lost to the Laval Rocket last Saturday in a shootout that ended after 10 p.m. I don’t care how much you love this stuff, but being at a regular season November hockey game after 10 o’clock seems cruel. The Phantoms televise all of their home games so they never start on time, dual anthems and all and I guess it’s good for the city and the League in general that they have that luxury, but come on. What time did you get home if you went to that game?

The Phantoms host the Utica Comets Saturday and then travel to Hershey Sunday in a three in three weekend for Lehigh Valley.

Hershey lost clean to the Rocket last Sunday 4-3 and have off Friday.

Records

Wilkes-Barre is 15-5-1 and second in the Atlantic with 31 points.

Lehigh Valley is 11-6-1-2 and third in the Atlantic with 25 points.

Hershey is 11-7-1 and fourth in the Atlantic with 23 points.

The Rest of Those Rascals…

Providence beat Toronto last Wednesday, Belleville on Saturday and again on Sunday for a weekend sweep through Canada then bussed to Laval where they played Wednesday and lost clean, 4-1. They then bussed straight home and didn’t get in until 5:30 a.m. They have Friday off and play a home and home with Springfield Saturday and Sunday starting in Massachusetts. They are 16-4 and sit at the top of the Atlantic Division coming into the weekend with 32 points. They have a game in hand on the Penguins.

Gave you two through four above.

Charlotte hosted Toronto last weekend and split with the Marlies. They host Rochester for a pair this weekend. The Checkers haven’t played anyone in the division since November 2 (Hershey) and won’t until mid-December (Hershey) They are 10-5-2 and fifth in the division with 22 points.

Hartford lost to Springfield on Thanksgiving Eve, then split a pair out in Cleveland. They will host the Thunderbirds tonight and then travel to Bridgeport Saturday. They are 7-9-4 and have 18 points in sixth in the division.

Bridgeport lost at home on Black Friday to Springfield, then beat the Thunderbirds in Massachusetts via shootout on Saturday. They are in Utica tonight then host Hartford Saturday. They are 7-10-1-1 and have 16 points in seventh in the division.

Springfield split with the Islanders as highlighted above. They have a three in three this weekend where they are in Hartford Friday then a home and home with the Providence Bruins Saturday and Sunday. They have a 5-10-2-2 record and are in last in the division with 14 points.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Lots of action on the wire this week so let’s go from oldest to newest.

Mathieu De St. Phalle was sent to Wheeling on Sunday.

Pittsburgh re-assigned Tristan Broz and Danton Heinen on Sunday. Broz was hyped by Pittsburgh like the second coming of Christ, played one game, had two shots and was scratched in the two other games he was up for and sent back. Heinen is a point a game AHL player.

Rutger McGroarty and Boko Imama went up Monday.

Wheeling traded G Jaxon Castor to Norfolk for future considerations on Tuesday. The Nailers have a glut of really good goaltenders.

Daniel Laatsch recovered from his injury and was assigned to Wheeling on Wednesday.

Aaron Huglen I believe is the only player still listed as injured.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

I think Heinen is a cheat code. Mix in another up-up, down-down in Sergei Murashov and the Penguins are in good shape. This will be the last weekend for Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany’s conditioning assignments. Brunicke I think will go back to juniors. I haven’t been impressed by him at all.

On paper they should easily win against the Phantoms and Bears with multiple power play goals. But they don’t play the games on paper. Regardless the Penguins should be favored over both teams this weekend.

Who’s in Goal?

Who is the bigger threat? Is it the Phantoms? They have the better record than Hershey but the Penguins haven’t lost to the Phantoms yet. Is it Hershey? They are coming off their worst loss of the season last Saturday. Where am I going with this? I think you put Blomqvist out against the Phantoms and Murashov out against the Bears this weekend. I think they should, but we will see.

Aleksei Kolosov for the Phantoms and Clay Stevenson for the Bears, the same two we saw last week, for the competition is my best guess.

Who’s Running the Show?

Alex Łepkowski and David Elford are in town tonight with Bill Lyons and Davids Rozitis have the lines.

Adam Tobias and Patrick Hanrahan have the Hershey game Saturday with Lyons on the lines with T.J. Dockery.

Looking Ahead…

A very busy mid-December. They are in Hartford Wednesday, off Friday, then host Providence Saturday, Charlotte on Sunday (booSundaygamesboo) and again Tuesday. That Tuesday game will be included in next weekends Weekend Preview.

Give us a bold prediction…

Start sending me your ‘Danton’ and ‘Heinen’ pun headline suggestions now. I think Heinen will be primed for a big weekend and he helps the Penguins win both games.