Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins will look to keep the momentum rolling with a midweek drop in. by the Belleville Senators and then a Friday trip to Hershey and then returning home to close out the season series with the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday.

Music to Set the Mood…

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The team went with a beach theme last weekend and was almost trolling us with the warm vibes and music I play out by my pool.

A Quote…

“Smell the sea, and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly.”
– Van Morrison 

Okay, okay, enough of wishing it were June. I have to move this along because I have snow to shovel.

The Setup…

Gave it to you in the opening paragraph. Belleville at home, Hershey on the road, Charlotte at home.

Last week, the Penguins beat the Providence Bruins 4-1 in a head to head in Providence. This would give me calm that there isn’t anything that the Penguins would necessarily need to be worried about when going straight up against the Bruins. It’s just that Providence won’t go away, staying in lock step with the Penguins all season.

Then the Pens split with Hartford, losing Friday and winning Saturday.

A quick bus ride to Springfield on Monday saw the Pens win a squeaker against the Thunderbirds in their first trip up to Massachusetts this season.

Belleville won in overtime on Wednesday in Laval and then Friday at home against Rochester and then won in a shootout against Utica at home Sunday.

Hershey lost in overtime at home against Hartford last Wednesday, beat Charlotte in overtime and then lost in a shootout against the Checkers and then lost in overtime to the Wolf Pack on Tuesday. The Bears travel to Allentown on Saturday and then host the Checkers Sunday.

Charlotte, as you saw above, did what they did at home against Hershey and will be in Lehigh Valley Friday, in Wilkes-Barre Saturday and in Hershey on Sunday.

Records

The Penguins are 26-11-1-2 and have 55 points and are in first place in the Atlantic.

Belleville is 17-18-6 with 40 points in fifth place in the North Division.

Hershey is 18-14-4-1 with 41 points in fifth in the Atlantic.

The Checkers are 22-12-3 with 47 points and third in the Atlantic.

The Rest of those Rascals

Providence hosted Cleveland for a pair this weekend and swept the Monsters. They have the same amount of points as the Penguins (55) with a 27-8-1 record and are second in the Atlantic and host Belleville Friday, Toronto on Sunday and in between travel to Bridgeport Saturday.

Lehigh Valley had a bit of a rough weekend, scoring just one goal in home losses to Bridgeport and Syracuse. They went up to Bridgeport on Monday and lost their fourth straight. The Phantoms host Hershey and Charlotte this weekend looking to build off of their 19-15-2-2 record with 42 points in fourth in the division.

Bridgeport has been on a bit of a tear, beating the Phantoms on the road Friday then Springfield at home on Saturday and then winning their fifth straight against the Phantoms on Monday. The Islanders are 17-17-2-1 and have 37 points and in sixth place and travel to Hartford Friday and then host Providence on Sunday.

Hartford bert Hershey in overtime, then split with Wilkes-Barre this past weekend. They concluded their Pennsylvania trip with a big overtime in Hershey Tuesday. The Wolf Pack host Bridgeport and Toronto this weekend and have a 15-18-4-1 record and have 35 points in seventh place in the Atlantic.

Springfield were shelled in Charlotte midweek, then lost 4-1 in Bridgeport Saturday lost a competitive one against the Penguins Monday and are 13-19-4-2 with 32 points in last place in the Atlantic looking to ascend the standings this week hosting Toronto and Belleville Friday and Saturday.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Up: Joona Koppanen was recalled to Pittsburgh on Sunday. Zach Urdahl, David Breazeale remain on recall from the Wheeling Nailers.

Down: In the Koppanen transaction, Pittsburgh sent back Rutger McGroarty. Brayden Edwards and Max Graham went back down to Wheeling.

Out: Caleb Jones was here for a conditioning stinting got hurt. I don’t know the rules on how that works, so forget him. Daniel Laatsch (week to week, lower body), Sebastian Aho (week to week, lower body), Alex Alexyev (day to day, upper body), Raivis Ansons (week to week, upper body) are injured.

Traded: Valtteri Puustinen to Colorado. Pittsburgh is trading dead end players for a future. You don’t know what that future is until Crosby, Malkin and Letang are retired, but you can’t fault them for making moves. Puustinen had no future in the organization. It sucks to lose the firepower, but that’s what a minor league franchise is for. We are pawns in a bigger game.

Avery Hayes returned from his upper body injury and played Monday in Springfield.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

I would like to think that this is as important as week for the Penguins as any other. You had an average Belleville team here for a midweek game then head to a warming up Hershey Bears team that may be finding themselves and then host a team that has given you headaches in Charlotte? Why aren’t the Penguins six points up on Providence? You can point to Charlotte. The Checkers aren’t going away.

If you put that effort that they put in Providence and apply it to every game going forward, then I will see you in June. They are getting me to believe that they might just.

Who’s in Goal? 

I’d find a way to have Sergei Murashov start Saturday against the Checkers and work backwards. That means he starts Wednesday against Belleville and Joel Blomqvist starts Friday in Hershey.

Hunter Shepard (late of Hershey if the name sounds familiar) Clay Stevenson, Kirill Gerasimyuk would be my guess for the opposition.

Who’s Running the Show?

Damian Figueira and Andrew Bell are in charge Wednesday with Jud Ritter and Josh Cleary on the lines.

Friday in Hershey Mike Campbell and Patrick Hanrahan are the referees with Cleary again and John Rey on the lines.

Saturday sees Campbell and Rey again with Jack Young joining Campbell in dishing out discipline and Davids Rozitis on the lines with Rey.

Looking Ahead…

Off next Friday, home against Syracuse Saturday and then a trip to Lehigh Valley Sunday.

Give us a bold prediction…

Put at least four more points in the can.